Atheism and Buddhism

Can you be an Atheist and a Buddhist? Are these approaches to life mutually exclusive? I use to tell people I am a Buddhist then in passing mention I am an Atheist as well, which would confound and confuse, so now I generally just stick to the "I am an Atheist" approach to self labelling.

The famous quote from the Buddha is what empowers me to cover myself in both blankets:

"Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it."

While this may seem like a common sense approach to a philosophy to base ones life on, you will find literally no "religion" espouses this view other than Buddhism. Can you imagine Christian or Islamic teachers telling you to use your own reason and accept only that which makes sense to you?!

Why would I call myself a Buddhist? Buddhism when you boil it down, amounts to living ones life by doing as little harm as possible, living with kindness and compassion and trying to be aware of the moment. Buddhism also has a strong sense of a duality of existence, that is we are made up of both the mind and body.

The concept of trying to be aware of the moment, to quiet the mind and not let it race along with thoughts at breakneck speeds is something that very much appeals to me. No matter that I am very bad at quieting my mind!

Meditation is also something I strongly believe in, and was once a great practitioner of, as of late I have rarely made time to meditate. This is something I aim to change in the coming days.

Do I believe in the Buddhist notions of nirvana or reincarnation? No, I do not believe in either of these two tenants of Buddhism. I don't believe that disqualifies me from owning that label and following some Buddhist practises.

One of the major problems I always had with traditional Buddhism was the formal priesthood and temples, both of which are concepts I would argue go against the teachings of Buddha. One of the major reasons I stopped using the label Buddhist for myself was the fact that everyone seemed to associate the temples and monks with Buddhism, and I wanted to distance myself from this. Then I happened upon this quote from the Dali lama:

This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.

Suddenly I feel its safe for me to once again wear the moniker of Buddhism. Now does that mean I believe or support everything that the Dali Lama says? Well, if you have ever read the bullshit that the Dali Lama says about sex, its clear that I can't support all of his views. He also believes in Nirvana and reincarnation, so there is still a huge gap in terms of beliefs between the two of us!