[Ibby]

rkzenrage is right on all counts, HM. Christians dont neccisarily believe that, say, there's an army of saints for every concievable purpose (like St. Hubbins, patron saint of Quality Footwear!), or that Jesus came to America (like the Mormons, who are technically christian). It's not that they aren't christian, or that christanity IS any of those things, theyre just side-beliefs that the minority of people believe in.

In the same fashion, there ARE buddhists who believe in Bodhisattvas flying around on clouds fighting evil monsters, and in divinity of the Buddhas and the Lamas, but... that isn't what buddhism is. That's mythology that has arisen outside the teachings of Siddhartha, and have no real bearing on buddhism itself.

For sake of simplicity buddhism can be classified as a religion, in the same way that confucianism can be, but in practice and in nature, buddhism is a philosophy and a way of life.