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paulddraper01/21/20251 replyview on HN

Means that it rests on claims of real-world events.

As opposed to Buddhism, Taoism, Shinto, Jainism, etc.


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pitpatagain01/21/2025

It still seems like a meaningless distinction, Buddhism also rests on claims of real world events: the Buddha is a historical figure, the story of his enlightenment being a factual happening is key to the belief system.

There are ways of interpreting and practicing Buddhism in which this is less important (eg modernist, psychological, western), but that's also true of Christianity (eg the Jefferson Bible, Unitarians, etc).