Categories - Intertwingled: Information Changes Everything - page 35

Words are the interface. Hide the words, and most software, websites, and taxonomies are
rendered unusable. But words are also infrastructure. They are the parts through which we un-
derstand the whole. In business, salesmen in suits are replaced by websites with words. The
depth and breadth of products and services is defined by categories. In all types of organization,
trust is built (in part) on taxonomy. Words that fit together are indicative of a strong mission,
vision, and brand. While words play on the surface, they are accepted as tokens of substance.
Experts use big words to garner authority. Politicians use small words to gain power. In tax-
onomies and poems, semantics is more than it seems.
Of course, half the time our words are wrong, and the consequences of classification are unin-
tended. When we choose a word, it's packed with meaning, but lots gets lost in transit. Consider
the placement of Buddhism in Religion in Dewey. The interesting question is not whether the
reality of half a billion Buddhists merits more than a decimal point, but whether Buddhism be-
longs in Religion (or Philosophy) at all.
The Buddha himself did not employ the concepts of religion and philosophy. These are our concepts, not
his. Hence, to interpret his teaching as one or the other of these is to put it in a framework he would not
have recognized. This need not mean the interpretation is simply wrong, but it may well be mislead-
ing . xxxv
While Buddhism has much in common with religion and philosophy, there are meaningful dis-
tinctions. Like religion, Buddhism has rituals, beliefs, and ethics, but it is not a system of faith
and worship centered around a divine being. There is no God. Buddha was a man. And like
philosophy, Buddhism appeals to reason and aims for insight, but its practice of meditation
seeks an understanding deeper than words.
Figure 2-11. Buddhism isn't religion or philosophy.
When we use the handle of religion or philosophy, we introduce baggage. And we can't be sure
of its contents, because the meaning changes from intent to interpretation. This is not a problem