Dear D.C.,
There are many possible responses to your query.
1. Provide you with links to literature to read about the "What is Buddhism" debate(s). I would assume that this kind of debate began to blossom in the 19th century with Orientalist scholarship and the emerge of the subject "comparative religion" (Max Müller etc.). Many scholars have discussed about emic and etic (Pike) views of Buddhism. Maybe the discussion about introducing the term "Buddhist theology" would be an interesting reading for you, too.
2. My personal reaction to your question was a big big sigh (kind of "Oh no! Not again!"), and I appreciated Lance Cousin's answer. My view is also that this is outside the scope of this list. I have a lot of work to do, but I do not want to miss the mails of the palistudy yahoogroup; if there are too many mails it becomes a burden to read through all of them, and the only solution is to try to keep to the core topics around Pali language. I think there are other online networks where discussions and questions about more general aspects of Buddhism are appreciated.
3. As Jim said before, we have different ways of looking at things. Your epistemological approach could be categorized as positivistic, you believe in the possibility of using defined terms as in mathematics. I did my A levels in mechanical and electrical engineering and mathematics, I used to study 3 years of mathematics and physics at university (before "a year abroad" in Thailand made me change the direction of my study), my working surrounding for working on my dissertation about Pali-Thai translations of the Tipitaka is an institute and a campus full of particle physicists, so I know what you are talking about when you point to your professional/educational background. But I would never transfer the strict system of defining and deduction from mathematics to other areas of study.
In the Wikipedia (English page, lemma "Ontology") you can read: "Ontology and language. Some philosophers suggest that the question of "What is?" is (at least in part) an issue of usage rather than a question about facts."
There are many interesting fields of discussion, but please, I am quite desperate if the mails in the yahoogroup become too numerous...
I apologize to everybody for this email of "meta discussion", and I would also suggest to continue the one or other discussion off the list, if possible.
Kind regards,
Susanne
Gesendet: Montag, 08. Dezember 2014 um 12:34 Uhr
Von: "Dc Wijeratna dcwijeratna@... [palistudy]" <palistudy@yahoogroups.com>
An: palistudy@yahoogroups.com
Betreff: [palistudy] Definition of Buddhism
Buddhism is defined as (1) a Religion or Philosophy; (2) Religion and Philosophy.
My question is: What is Buddhism?
D.C.
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Metta is being friendly to everybody