• Journal of Korean Philosophical Society
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• v.142
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• pp.99-119
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• 2017

Buddhism tends to be accepted as an institutional religion. This is probably due to the historical background in which Buddhism has been accepted as a representative institutional religion along with Christianity since the mid-20th century. In particular, Buddhism is accepted as an institutional religion based on tradition. Buddhism is also accepted as philosophy. Even if the western philosophical background is embraced that defines philosophy as the pursuit of intellectual clarity and wisdom in life, Buddhism is deemed to be classified as a philosophy that allows for the possibility of philosophical criticism without unconditionally believing the truth that Gautama Buddha discovered. The possibility of Buddhism as philosophy like this is directly linked to the possibility of Buddhism for doing philosophy. Doing philosophy in Buddhism can be presented in three processes: keeping a distance from daily life, the observation and concentration based on the distance, and the formation of a new world-view. Doing philosophy is rooted in the same way as meditation in the lives of people tired from post-capitalist everyday life. Nonetheless, Buddhism clearly has the characteristics of religion, thus posing a challenge of establishing a new relationship between religion and philosophy. The tradition of a strict separation between the religion and philosophy in Christian civilization is still working as a factor that keeps Buddhism from being classified as philosophy. In cases where the pursuit of intellectual clarity and practical wisdom in life is incorporated into the purpose of philosophy, Buddhism can be categorized into having the distinctive function of religion "spiritual peace", and sharing the common function of philosophy and religion "enlightenment." In that sense, it can also be an important task to seek a new perspective on the relationship between religion and philosophy.