Across families
Pantheism and Secular Buddhism
Different families with 11 axes in close agreement — the sort of pairing a quiz weighting only the divine axes would never surface. Mean distance across all seventeen axes: 0.16 (0 would be identical).
The universe is the divine — not made by it, not containing it, identical to it. Scores the matrix maximum on immanence and near it on the sacredness of nature, while denying a personal God entirely.
The practice and the psychology kept, the cosmology set aside: no literal rebirth, no supernatural claims, no authority beyond what you can test in your own experience. A naturalist reading of the canon rather than a rejection of it.
Where they agree
C3 The human condition
Both sit at ignorant but fundamentally sound — a gap of 0.00.
E2 Origin of the cosmos
Both sit at beginningless or natural — a gap of 0.02.
E3 Locus of belonging
Both sit at an individual choice — a gap of 0.02.
B1 Source of truth
Both sit at reason and direct experience — a gap of 0.03.
A2 Personhood
Both sit at impersonal principle or order — a gap of 0.03.
E1 Exclusivity
Both sit at many valid paths — a gap of 0.03.
B3 Institutional authority
Both sit at individual conscience decides — a gap of 0.05.
D1 Mechanism of the ultimate good
Both sit at achieved by effort or insight — a gap of 0.07.
A3 Plurality
Both sit at strictly one — a gap of 0.07.
B2 Reading of sacred text
Both sit at metaphorical, or no text at all — a gap of 0.07.
D2 Centrality of ritual
Both sit at leaning optional or absent — a gap of 0.08.
Where they part company
A1 Divine reality
Pantheism: a divine reality certainly exists. Secular Buddhism: nothing beyond the natural. A gap of 0.76 on an axis running from “nothing beyond the natural” to “a divine reality certainly exists”.
E4 Standing of nature
Pantheism: animate and itself sacred. Secular Buddhism: between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacred. A gap of 0.40 on an axis running from “creation, given for use” to “animate and itself sacred”.
All seventeen axes
| Axis | Pantheism | Secular Buddhism | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| A1 Divine reality | a divine reality certainly exists | nothing beyond the natural | 0.76 |
| A2 Personhood | impersonal principle or order | impersonal principle or order | 0.03 |
| A3 Plurality | strictly one | strictly one | 0.07 |
| A4 Locus | fully present within it | leaning fully present within it | 0.30 |
| B1 Source of truth | reason and direct experience | reason and direct experience | 0.03 |
| B2 Reading of sacred text | metaphorical, or no text at all | metaphorical, or no text at all | 0.07 |
| B3 Institutional authority | individual conscience decides | individual conscience decides | 0.05 |
| C1 Survival of the self | leaning ends at death | ends at death | 0.15 |
| C2 Shape of time | between one life, then judgment and cyclical return | leaning one life, then judgment | 0.30 |
| C3 The human condition | ignorant but fundamentally sound | ignorant but fundamentally sound | 0.00 |
| D1 Mechanism of the ultimate good | achieved by effort or insight | achieved by effort or insight | 0.07 |
| D2 Centrality of ritual | leaning optional or absent | leaning optional or absent | 0.08 |
| D3 The body | leaning to be celebrated | between to be disciplined and to be celebrated | 0.34 |
| E1 Exclusivity | many valid paths | many valid paths | 0.03 |
| E2 Origin of the cosmos | beginningless or natural | beginningless or natural | 0.02 |
| E3 Locus of belonging | an individual choice | an individual choice | 0.02 |
| E4 Standing of nature | animate and itself sacred | between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacred | 0.40 |
Positions for Pantheism rest principally on Spinoza’s Ethics and the World Pantheist Movement statement; for Secular Buddhism, on Batchelor, Buddhism Without Beliefs (1997) and After Buddhism (2015). Per-cell sources are listed on each tradition’s own page.
The questionnaire places your answers on these same axes and ranks all 65 traditions by how closely they match. Take it.