“If I were asked the question, ‘What religion are you?’ it would seem very odd if I did not say, ‘I am a Buddhist.’ After all, people look to me as a Buddhist leader! To keep things simple, it is easier for me to say, ‘I am a Buddhist.’ Yet that is not how I see myself. Rather, I see myself as a follower of the Buddha. I aspire to follow in the Buddha’s footsteps. To hold on to the label of ‘Buddhist’ and wave it like a banner is something else altogether.”
~ 17th Karmapa
Buddha Mind 