Noble Eightfold Path

Following on from this, ethics for Buddhists are again soteriological, as they promote a merit-producing way of life, which results in a better rebirth and eventually the chance to escape the cycle of samsara. The most essential teaching on ethics in Buddhism is the Noble Eightfold Path, indeed Rahula argued that the whole of the Buddha’s teachings are in some way an exposition of this, tailored to different subject’s capacity to understand and follow it. As such, the Noble Eightfold Path is applicable to both monks and the laity. The eight strands promote the three most important disciplines in Buddhism: “Ethical conduct (Sila), Mental Discipline (Samadhi), and Wisdom (Panna)” . Each of the eight factors of the path are interconnected

Whilst the laity are also expected to meditate, their daily lives are caught up with worldly matters, whereas monks may be seen to retreat into the Sangha for deep, undisturbed contemplation in order to reach Nirvana. The Sangha, therefore, in many respects appears to be a religious Order: there is a monastic code of discipline (the Vinaya), which the Sutta-vibhanga claims the Buddha formulated “so that ‘the pure holy life’, the practice of Buddhism, should not die out with the first monks” , suggesting the Buddha intended to preserve a way of life and body of teachings that would continue after his death. Moreover, monks play a priestly role in the community, and take part in nonmonastic devotional rituals alongside the lay community, worshipping and presenting offerings to Buddha relics in stupas. However, the devotional aspects in Buddhism are often attributed to Emperor Asoka, rather than being taught by the Buddha himself, so whilst elements of monastic life may appear religious, I

Defining Buddhism as a religion may unwittingly undermine its validity: Buddhism does not fulfil many religious criteria, most strikingly obedience to or faith in a deity. Moreover, many of the seemingly ‘religious’ aspects of Buddhism such as devotional rituals and Buddha Imagery are traceable to political and cultural developments rather than Buddhist teachings- for example Buddhism became institutionalised under Emperor Asoka who developed a more cultic and devotional form of Buddhism, and added to by foreign influences such a Hellenic art, Iranian symbolism . Core Buddhist doctrines and practices therefore, may not fit neatly into religious categories. Indeed, a potential conclusion of labelling Buddhism as a ‘religion’ and its way of life ‘religious’, therefore, is to view it as less religious than other religions, for example Christianity, which fulfils more religious criteria. This, then, creates a hierarchy of religions, and perhaps even a hierarchy of truth, and favours the western/Abrahamic traditions over eastern traditions like Buddhism. Therefore, by defining Buddhist teaching as ‘religious’, one places it into a western framework which sees Buddhism as lacking, whereas Christianity is not seen as having additional criteria that are not essential to the definition of religion. Accordingly, I think that whilst certain Buddhist teachings