On the other hand, if the teachings of the Dharma encourage one to follow the methods taught by the Buddha and the patriarchs, one must have the highest faith in the Buddhas and bodhisattvas, in order to benefit from the practice. Without faith, one would not practice for very long. With half-hearted faith, the benefits of practice would not be great. In this sense, then, faith in the Buddhas and bodhisattvas is necessary, and if we are to speak of a religion as a tradition involving faith, then Buddhism can be classified as a religion. But if a religion is limited to ritual alone, then Buddhism does not have to be considered a religion.

STUDENT:

No religion would admit that it is purely ritual. All religions claim more.

SHIH-FU:

This is true. In that case. Buddhism is definitely a religion. We must ask ourselves if these rituals are necessary or useful to the religion. In the spreading of the Dharma through the Orient, people start with such rituals. When I came to this country, I incorporated a minimal amount of ritual in my teachings. However, after practicing for a while, people here naturally developed a great respect, faith and gratitude towards Buddhas, bodhisattvas and patriarchs, and the normal way to express such feelings is through rituals.

What, then, do we mean by religion? Faith in an entity, a god, deities; faith in their existence, their power and authority; faith in the founders of such religions, such as the Buddha, Jesus, Abraham or Mohammed; faith in the teachings of such deities, people, Buddhas. It is the teachings that are of greatest importance to us, for that is what we have to work with, to learn from, to practice. In a broad sense, even Marxism may be considered a religion, although it denies the existence of a deity, because adherents have absolute faith in the teachings of its leaders: Marx, Lenin and Mao Tse-tung.