This probably the millionth discussion about this topic . I've been rereading Opening the Hand of Thought and Uchiyama touches upon Buddhism as a religion. When people ask me what my religion is I always answer that I am not religious. Even though I am a follower of the Soto Zen school I might just as well say that I am a follower, or rather, a practitioner of life. To me it doesn't matter if people qualify my practice as religious because it is just another example of conceptualization, just another example of defining this or that. To life it doesn't matter either because everything is what it is regardless of the thoughts we have about or labels we put on them. On the other hand there is of course Soto Zen as an institutution with its associations, organizational structures, buildings, leaders, priests, guidelines, rituals, the whole kit and caboodle. This whole thing has nothing to do with Uchiyama's point of view but reading about it made me wonder how fellow sangha members feel about this.

Gassho,
Seibu
Sattoday/lah