Big (if not major) part of humanity are used to some kind of drugs too (alcohol, tobacco, sugar, coffee etc.), but we don't say there's something more to it. Religion is a drug for one's mind to make feel better and ease existential pain/uncertainty.
It teaches you to embrace the fact that you are nothing, and to make peace with the impersonal universe. That's one way to ease existential pain.
Buddhism is remarkably compatible with the modern scientific view that the universe has neither purpose nor personality. Once you throw away the anthropocentric Judeo-Christian mindset, you are left with no external, authoritative source of purpose. Many people struggle to find an alternate source of purpose, either within themselves or in something else. This can be very stressful. Buddhism relieves you by teaching you that you don't need to try so hard, you don't even need to "be yourself". It's a strangely attractive proposition.
Maybe let's not talk about Buddhism like we all know what it's really like as a religion. It IS a religion and there is much more to it than the average person seems to think.
Granted, like any belief system people are free to pick and choose if they want, but we don't base our judgement of a belief system's "religiousness" on people who have chosen the very least amount.
> Maybe let's not talk about Buddhism like we all know what it's really like as a religion.[1]
Oh really, and why not?
Maybe some of us do know what it's like...
One could argue that "the very least amount" correlates roughly with Theravada buddhism which bases its practices on a set of very early talks given by the buddha that are believed to be the core teachings.
There are a _lot_ of theravada buddhists in the world, so you could say that many have chosen "the least amount".
Why do you come to HN if not to discuss things? Should we exchange credentials before being allowed to discuss things?
I'd say that Buddhism is more like philosophy than a "real" religion. Though I agree that there's no clear definition of what "religion", especially now, where every nutjob can create his own "religion".
> Religion is a drug for one's mind to make feel better and ease existential pain/uncertainty.
This is quite a position to put forward without providing some supporting evidence...
My take on what people get out of religion is totally different. To me, two things stick out:
1) Religion is a framework for approaching life. In the same way that a Rails developer relies on the collective wisdom encompassed by their framework to answer the question, "What is the best way to accommplish this in a web app?", a religious person leans on their framework to answer the question, "What should I do in this life circumstance?"
2) Religion is glue that binds people together into cohesive communities. And, frankly, I see the utter lack of connectedness in secular life and it seems like religious people are on to something here.
