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Unlock This CourseReasons to Believe: First Cause, Design and Experience showed why some people believe in God. Agnosticism and Atheism: Reasons for Doubt and Unbelief showed why others doubt. Buddhism teaches no creator God, so for Buddhists the question is different: why trust the Buddha and follow his path?
Buddhists believe the Buddha gave up a life of comfort to look for the end of suffering, and that he found it. He then spent about 45 years teaching anyone who would listen, rich or poor. He lived simply and kindly. For Buddhists, his life shows that the goal can be reached. You will study his life in Siddhartha Gautama: From Prince to Enlightenment.
The Buddha did not ask people to believe him just because he said so. A group called the Kalamas once told him they were confused, because every visiting teacher praised his own ideas and attacked everyone else's. The Buddha told them not to accept a teaching only because it is tradition, or written in scripture, or taught by someone they respect. They should accept it when they know for themselves that it leads to well-being and happiness.
This is why the Dhamma is described as ehipassiko, 'come and see'. A Buddhist tries the teaching out, as you might test a recipe by cooking it. Buddhists do appeal to religious authority, because they trust the Buddha as a guide who has already walked the path. But that trust, called saddha, is meant to grow as a person sees results for themselves.
Key terms:
Many people turn to religion for answers to the biggest questions. The Buddha set some aside. A monk called Malunkyaputta demanded answers to questions such as these:
Malunkyaputta said he would give up being a monk unless the Buddha answered. The Buddha replied with a parable.
A man is shot with an arrow thick with poison. His friends fetch a doctor. But the man says, 'I will not let this arrow be pulled out until I know who shot me, whether he is tall or short, and what kind of bow he used.' The man would die before he found out. In the same way, said the Buddha, a person who refuses to practise until every big question is answered will run out of time. Suffering is the arrow. The urgent thing is to pull it out.
So when a Buddhist is asked whether the universe is eternal, or what happens to an enlightened person after death, 'the Buddha did not say' is a proper answer.
Remember, the search for meaning and purpose leads many people to religion. Buddhism gives that search a clear goal: enlightenment.
Buddhists differ on how much rests on their own effort. Theravada Buddhists stress personal practice and testing. Remember, Pure Land Buddhists put their trust in Amitabha Buddha, so for them faith plays a bigger part.
Most Buddhists follow the path because they were born into a Buddhist family and community. A child may grow up with a shrine at home, visit the vihara with their family, give food to the monks, learn to chant and join in festivals. In Thailand and Myanmar, many boys spend a short time living as novice monks.
How do Buddhists respond to this? They see a Buddhist upbringing as a great help, because it gives a child good habits and good friends on the path. But the Buddha told the Kalamas not to believe something only because it is tradition. So inherited belief is not enough. Each person has to 'come and see' for themselves. Many Buddhists in Western countries were not brought up Buddhist. They chose the path as adults.
No God or soul. People who believe in God may feel a path with no creator and no lasting soul leaves out what matters most.
Rebirth is hard to prove. Critics say there is no clear evidence for it, and that science explains life without it.
It seems pessimistic. Buddhism talks a great deal about suffering.
It seems demanding. Moral rules, regular meditation and giving up craving take years of effort, with nobody to do it for you.
Upbringing. A person raised without religion, or in another faith, may never consider it. Some are also put off by the unanswered questions.
No God is needed. The path works by cause and effect, and each person can test it. Many Buddhists also find that letting go of the idea of a fixed soul is freeing, because it weakens selfishness and craving.
Rebirth. Traditional Buddhists trust the Buddha, who is said to have remembered his past lives. Secular Buddhists set rebirth aside. The Buddha told the Kalamas that a kind person gains either way: a good rebirth if there is one, and a happy life now if there is not.
Not pessimistic. A doctor who names an illness and offers a cure is not being gloomy. Buddhists believe suffering can end.
Not too hard. The Buddha taught a Middle Way between luxury and harsh self-denial, and the training is taken step by step.
Upbringing. Nobody needs a Buddhist childhood to 'come and see'.
Do not write that Buddhists have 'blind faith' in the Buddha. Saddha is trust that is meant to be tested. Do not say the Buddha was unable to answer the big questions. Buddhists believe he chose to set them aside because they do not help to end suffering.
Paper 1 style. Parts (a) and (b) test AO1. Parts (c) and (d) test AO1 and AO2.
(a) Identify three factors that may lead people to doubt or reject religious belief. [3 marks]
(b) Choose one religion. Outline two reasons why some people may be influenced against this religion. [4 marks]
(c) Choose one religion. Explain why some people are led to follow this religion. [6 marks]
(d) 'People are religious only because of the way they were brought up.' Evaluate this statement, showing you have considered different points of view. In your answer you should refer to at least one religion. [12 marks]
(a) 1. Lack of clear evidence (1). 2. Scientific explanations of the universe (1). 3. A non-religious upbringing (1).
(b) Some people are influenced against Buddhism because rebirth is hard to prove (1), so they doubt a path whose goal is to escape a cycle of lives they are not sure exists (1). Others think Buddhism is pessimistic (1), because its teaching says so much about suffering (1).
(c) Some people follow Buddhism because of the Buddha's example. Buddhists believe he was a human being who reached enlightenment, which shows them that the goal is possible.
Another reason is that the Dhamma can be tested. It is ehipassiko, 'come and see', so when people meditate and find their mind becoming calmer, their saddha grows.
The search for enlightenment also gives life a purpose. This means Buddhists have a clear goal, without waiting for every big question to be answered, as the parable of the poisoned arrow teaches.
Finally, many are brought up in a Buddhist family, where visiting the vihara makes the path a normal part of life.
(d) Plan. For: most Buddhists were born into Buddhist families, shaped by a home shrine, the vihara and festivals; in the same way a non-religious upbringing often leads to unbelief.
Against: the Buddha told the Kalamas not to accept a teaching only because it is tradition, so Buddhists are meant to test it (ehipassiko); many Western Buddhists chose the path as adults; people also believe because of their own experience, the search for meaning, or arguments such as design.
Possible conclusion: judge each point as you go, and deal with the word 'only'. For example: I disagree. Upbringing is the most common starting point, but Buddhism itself teaches that inherited belief must be tested, and many people choose a religion as adults.
In part (b) each reason needs its own development. 'Rebirth is hard to prove' earns one mark. Adding what follows from it, such as 'so they doubt a path whose goal is to escape a cycle of lives', earns the second.