According to Webster's definition, Buddhism is not a religion. It states that religion is the "belief in or worship of God or gods"(Webster's New World Dictionarypg.505). "The Buddha was not a god"(About Buddhism pg.1). " There is no theology, noworship of a deity or deification of the Buddha"(Butter pg.1) in Buddhism. Therefore"Buddhists don't pray to a creator god"(Buddhism FAQ's pg.1). Consequently, Buddhismis catagorized as a philosophy, but is still regarded it as a religion. "The name Buddhismcomes from the word 'budhi' which means to wake up and thus Buddhism is thephilosophy of awakening"(What is Buddhism pg.1). Fittingly, "buddha literally means'awakened one'"( Buddhist Basics pg.1)."Buddha are aimed soley to liberate sentient beings from suffering"(AboutBuddhism pg.1). They dedicate their lives to showing others the way to end the viscouscycle of samsara, or reincarnation. Buddha are enlightened beings who had theopportunity to reach the ultimate goal, but turned back to help the rest of the world get towhere they were.The ultimate goal is to attain Nirvana. "Nirvana simply means cessation"(The Goalpg.1). "It is the cessation of passion, aggression and ignorance"(The Goal pg.1). "Nirvana is the highest happiness"(What is Buddhism pg.5). "It has become equated with asort of Eastern version of heaven."(The Goal pg.1). The way to reach Nirvana is " tobecome empty, to become enpty of thirst, desire, dreams, pleasure, and sorrow- to let theSelf die"(Hesse pg.11). "Freedom from the Self liberates"(About Buddhism pg.1). OnceNirvana is achieved one can escape the cyclical repetition of life, in which one isreincarnated over and over again.In Buddhism, "the world is in flux, coming into existence and passingaway"(Buddhist Basics pg.5). It is a continuous cycle. Time is often viewed to be likethat of a river. If you've seen a river you'd have seen that "the water continually flowedand flowed and yet it was always there...
