How did Buddhism passed from being a philosophy to a religion?

GEMT: How did Buddhism passed from being a philosophy to a religion?
Since Buddhism teachings include not worshipping any God…how come it became a religion where they praise one…Buddha?

Answers and Views:

Answer by Me From China
No one knows, but the government covered it up because of 9/11

Answer by Use your brain
once, sidharta was a prophet. His teaching just like Moses, jesus, abraham, noah’s etc. But people around him altered the teaching and just like we find now.

budhism = refer to Bodi’s tree
Christinity = Christ = refer to cross (actually the right name was nazaranian =nazaret)
Judaihsm = Jehuda =JAcob =Israel (same person in three names)
Hindu = refer to Hindustan river

Answer by Jeff S Oops
Which kind of Buddhism?

Most of them teach that our karma from this life effects what sort of creature we’ll end up as in the next life. That isn’t philosophy. that is religion.

Answer by Quintus
Because of the special interest groups who want to make a profit from religion and reap the benefits.

Answer by A is for Atheist
It is the Tibetan Buddhists that worship Buddha as god. Orthodox Buddhists do not.

Answer by Believer
Many so called eastern “religions” are really just a philosphy of man.

Answer by Wayf
In reality, Buddhism is a religion.

In fact, it has many gods, although
they are not considered the same
way as most people view “gods”.

They are more like guides.

It seems most Westerners do not
really have a full grasp of Buddhism.

Answer by Mettā
It didn’t. Only when it moved to the West did it become more philisophical in application.

Buddhism is a religion, albeit an atheistic one, in practice through the rituals and rites that those who practice Buddhism with discipline use in regards to their beliefs about life and its purpose. It is a highly ritualized religion.

Worship of Buddha is common in many countries where Buddhism is rooted. In one respect, it is due to the Hindu roots of those societies. In another respect, worship in Buddhism and as it pertains to the Buddha is not the same type of worship found in Western religion. Buddha is revered but not worship as a creator-deity.

Answer by Kyle S
Probably the sheer mass of people who follow Buddhism made it necessary to define it as a religion. There are two main schools of Buddhism which then fall into further sects and subcategories, each with their own doctrine, philosophies, stories and interpretations of the Buddha. Tibetan Buddhism, Zen Buddhism, Esoteric Buddhism and Tantric Buddhism are all subcategories of just one school of Buddhism.

Answer by Rick G
It would seem that like all men, once they die, the clerics take over. There has not been one that hasn’t had his message rendered into various forms because of the disagreement of the clerics.

Since Siddhartha rejected the teachings of Hinduism, and sought a different approach to the meaning of life, his teachings were never intended for him to be any person’s God.

Look at what the Jews did to the words of Moses, so that Jesus condemned them for putting tradition above the law. Then look at what the clergy of Christendom did to Jesus’ teachings. They decided that the kingdom he spoke about was THEIR authority over elements of the world of mankind and we had the good old Dark Ages as a result.

Answer by Adeikov
Buddha was made into an emanate figure (almost a god), but he was just a man, with a few things to say on various things, became a philosopher, generated a coherent philosophy, that philosophy grained momentum and fanatics clustered about it.

Where there be fanatics, there be the seed of a religion, that self-perpetuates from father (or mother) to son (or daughters); if the religion is esoteric enough even the so-called wise/intelligent ones get muddled by admiration.

When so many generations patron this philosophy, it becomes a tradition, and increasingly sacred and unquestionable, as generations each fall to it charm.

At some point, it is pouted by high-minded intellectuals, becomes ever impregnable against opposition, and it becomes a *dominance*, a religion.

Buddha may say you should question, but really? Why is Buddha made the centre?

Were not the Vedas (as I hear), propounded by multiple unrelated individual of like mind in that particular region (India, I think).

Why is the Buddha made higher than these Vedic philosophers?

Answer by Been There
Simple … praise and respect for a role model is not the same thing as worshiping a higher power who supposedly can “save” you through belief and grace.

When I do my offerings, I understand that the primary reason for this ritual is to generate feelings of generosity within myself. Through acting out my offering, I am learning on all three levels: visual, auditory, and kinetic. The purpose of this is to “rehearse” what a humble and generous heart should feel like. Buddhism is about retraining and reframing how we approach life.

When I do my prostrations, I understand that I am bowing down to the potential for all of us … and certainly myself to … to discover the same truths that Siddhartha Gautama discovered, thereby awakening and earning the honorific title of “Buddha”. I am again rehearsing … rehearsing to view all beings as worthy of compassion and love and respect.

One can praise without worshiping. One can honor without worshiping. One can feel gratitude without worshiping.

Answer by Bradwast88
Buddha NEVER asked his followers to worship him.Important thing is live way he taught.But followers have been worshiping Buddha just to pay the respect.So if you worship Buddha you take it as a religion, if not it’s philosophy.Worshiping some imaginary being won’t end the suffer.If you want to eliminate your suffer you have to dedicate for it.NO one will help with that.
Thanks.