Buddhism Faithscore: 46/100

Overview

Buddhism scores 46 out of 100 in Faithscore's evidence-based evaluation, indicating weak evidentiary support with significant gaps in historical, textual, or predictive verification.

Faithscore applies court-like evidentiary standards across six weighted criteria. Every system is scored against the same rubric — religious or philosophical — to surface objective comparisons. Read the full methodology.

The six weighted criteria

• Textual fidelity — preservation, manuscript count, and accuracy of source documents.
• Historical verification — independent corroboration, hostile-witness testimony, archaeological confirmation.
• Scientific testability — falsifiable claims, observable evidence, repeatable predictions.
• Internal consistency — logical coherence of doctrine and absence of contradiction.
• Prophetic accuracy — ratio of fulfilled to unfulfilled predictions, dated against earliest manuscripts.
• Explanatory power — how well the system accounts for the breadth of human experience.

Denominations of Buddhism

• Theravada — Faithscore 88/100
• Soto Zen — Faithscore 88/100
• Thai Forest Tradition — Faithscore 86/100
• Vipassana Movement (Modern Insight) — Faithscore 85/100
• Gelug (Yellow Hat) — Faithscore 84/100
• Rinzai Zen — Faithscore 84/100
• Tiantai — Faithscore 83/100
• Sakya (Grey Earth) — Faithscore 82/100
• Huayan (Flower Garland) — Faithscore 82/100
• Kagyu — Faithscore 81/100
• Engaged Buddhism — Faithscore 80/100
• Tendai — Faithscore 79/100
• Nyingma (Ancient School) — Faithscore 78/100
• Triratna (Western Buddhist Order) — Faithscore 77/100
• Shingon — Faithscore 76/100
• Jodo Shinshu (True Pure Land) — Faithscore 75/100
• Vajrayana (Tibetan) — Faithscore 74/100
• Zen (Chan) — Faithscore 74/100
• Won Buddhism — Faithscore 74/100
• Shambhala Buddhism — Faithscore 73/100
• Mahayana — Faithscore 72/100
• Soka Gakkai — Faithscore 72/100
• Pure Land (Jodo) — Faithscore 70/100
• Nichiren Shu — Faithscore 60/100
• Nichiren Shoshu — Faithscore 52/100

Compare Buddhism

• Buddhism vs Christianity
• Buddhism vs Islam
• Buddhism vs Hinduism
• Buddhism vs Secularism
• Buddhism vs Evolution/Naturalism
• Buddhism vs Agnosticism

See also

• Faithscore methodology
• Evidence library
• All 313 religions

Scholarly sources for Buddhism

The Faithscore analysis of Buddhism draws on the following peer-reviewed scholarship, primary research institutions, and academic publishers.