The Buddha did so with a purpose. Please feel free to excerpt stories with full credit and a link to. The purpose of this website is to promote  understanding and knowledge. If you want to understand Buddhism, if you are trying to "determine the dharma," you must put aside Christianity or Judaism, and you must put aside Sam Harris and Deepak Chopra. I smacked into a couple of blog posts today on the question of what the Buddha said about God. But that's a whole 'other post; let's stick to the teachings of the Buddha for now.). So while he did not specifically say there is no creator god, in Buddhism, there is nothing for a creator god to do. Before I got that, I came up with “the unknown is good”. Did I hit anything? The Buddha did not teach Buddhists to seek or worship 'god' (Brahma). At the age of 29, he realized that wealth and power do not manifest happiness themselves. Buddha lived in a time totally different from our own — a time in which belief in Gods and divine interventions was incredibly natural and universal. Every task that God does in the Abrahamic religions was assigned to various systems of natural law by the Buddha. 1. And still others (as here in his replies to Vaccha), he declines to say one way or the other. 1 Peter 1:3-9 ESV / 14 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful. Buddha was a spiritual teacher in Nepal during the 6th century B.C. "As far as I can tell, there are Western Buddhists out there who believe God doesn't exist. I suggest you think about the concept of existence. Determine the dharma according to the dharma. The Buddha, or "the enlightened one," is not a God in the Buddhist tradition. Many contemporary Buddhists make prayer part of their practice. At https://www.thoughtco.com/atheism-and-devotion-in-buddhism-449718 [Accessed 20th September 2018], [6]Dalai Lama ‘The Relevance of Religion in Modern Times’ at https://www.dalailama.com/messages/religious-harmony-1/the-relevance-of-religion-in-modern-times [Accessed 20th September 2018], [7]Bhikkhu Bodhi ‘In the Buddha’s Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon’ (Wisdom Publications: USA, 2005). If the unknown is bad, and it exists, then all hope is lost, etc. Even if he believed in these things himself, he viewed the answers to these questions as not necessary to achieving enlightenment. To use the language of psychology, such a deity is an archetype of our own deepest nature, our most profound level of consciousness. What did Lord Buddha really have to say about God? Psalm 115:1-18 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful. Born to a royal family, Gautama sought enlightenment differently than his predecessors. If the unknown does not exist, the only thing that exists is—what? All Rights Reserved. If you were to have asked the Buddha if God exists, he might have said, "Who?". It means not determining or understanding the Dharma in accordance with modern secularist, humanist, rationalist, scientific, modes of thought. In fact, such misunderstanding did occur even in the Buddha’s life-time. “Why should we place Christ at the top and summit of the human race? He said "there is no GOD". So, while the Buddha never explicitly said "There is no God," it's not incorrect to say that God-belief is not supported by the Buddha's teaching. PP. The king of hell replied, "Yes, he was a good teacher but he did not believe in Jesus Christ. Atheists Buddhists, Christians, shamans, pagans, agnostics, or “undecideds” can all equally practice the Buddha’s teachings. And since the websites seem to think my comments are incoming spam, I am responding to one of the posts here. But have you ever heard a supposed Buddha quote and wondered, Did he really say that? In many parts of Asia, lay people for centuries were taught very little about the dharma except to keep the Precepts and give alms to monks, and people "filled in the blanks" with local folk beliefs and bits of other Vedic traditions. (Introduction to Tantra: A Vision of Totality [1987], p. 42). This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Gautama was born in 563 BCE in what is now Nepal. Dr. V.A. There appears to be plenty of room for atheistic or scientifically-minded Buddhists within Buddhism as well as theists and anything else too. All information on this site, including but not limited to, text, graphics, images and other material contained on this website are for informational purposes only. Monk Thanissaro Bhikkhu, a trained translator of the Buddha’s words, certainly has. So when you speak of God or gods in Buddhism, it's important to not define the word "god" as westerners usually do but to understand the word in the context of Buddhism. Video teaching: Metta and Karuna, the “most important” Buddhist practices of Love and Compassion, from H.E. Buddha Weekly does not recommend or endorse any information that may be mentioned on this website. He goes onto to describe it as a wrong view that one should think that though Brahma is eternal, we whom he created and the conditions of the world are impermanent: Earlier in the sutta, the Buddha clarifies that the views of some Brahmins and ascetics who hold views that the self is ‘partly eternalists, partly not-eternalists’ which as we know is contradicted by the Buddhist doctrine of Anatta. It means not determining or understanding the Dharma in accordance with the fanciful ideas of the worthy, but woolly-minded people who organize such things the Festival of body, mind and spirit.". Similar to his beliefs about a God, the Buddha denounced the notion of there being a soul in the human body and taught of Anatta or ‘no soul.’ He told us that instead of a soul reincarnating after death, it was a stream of thoughts, feelings, and mental energy that was based upon an individual’s karma. Subject to terms of use and privacy statement. Buddhism neither confirms nor denies the idea of God and different interpretations of Buddhist scripture and philosophy can give a diverse and rich variety of views and ideas about God as hopefully shown successfully in this article. I have to say, after doing some research on this topic, I don't have any idea, and I'm surprised that so many American Buddhists are completely certain. In the evening a third man came and he asked, "Does God exist?" In some texts such as the Puranas, he is portrayed as an avatar of Vishnu born to mislead those who … 44-45 Quoting Edward Conze ‘Buddhism: Its essence and development (Oxford 1959), P.40, “I’m a Buddhist, Quaker, Humanist, existentialist and pacifist. Even after his Supreme Enlightenment he did not call himself a God or Brahmâ or any "supernatural being," but an extraordinary man. P. 43, [2]Eknath Easwaran (trans) ‘The Dhammapada’ (Nilgiri Press: California, United States, 2008) Pp. He was condemning this idea as wrong. On the other hand, he did NOT criticize them, or any other belief. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! Karma is not being directed by a supernatural intelligence but is its own natural law. [Note: We’re speaking about Buddhism generally; there are some schools, however, which have stricter ideas on divinities, beyond the scope of this story.]. However, there is also a middle ground approach that has not been considered yet. Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases. By using Learn Religions, you accept our, Buddhism: 11 Common Misunderstandings and Mistakes, Faith and Doubt in the Buddhist Tradition, Early Buddhist History: The First Five Centuries. Yes, there is a God. The Buddha mentions Brahma explicitly in the ‘Brahmajala Sutta’ and assigns him many characteristics that people would normally ascribe to ‘God’ as believers know him today: “And then, monks, that being who first arose there thinks: “I am Brahma, the Great Brahma, the Conqueror, the Unconquered, the All-Seeing, the All-Powerful, the Lord, the Maker and Creator, Ruler, Appointer and Orderer, Father of All That Have Been and Shall Be. It is to show people how to achieve nirvana and release themselves from suffering. Of the ten major avatars of Vishnu, Vaishnavites believe Gautama Buddha to be the ninth and most recent incarnation.. Buddha's portrayal in Hinduism varies. It is recorded in the Pali Canon that the Buddha castigated two monks for misrepresenting his teachings: one for saying that sexual intercourse was no bar to a holy life, and another for saying that in the process of rebirth the same consciousness was reborn without change. God has no function, no role to play, either as an original source or as an instigator of current events. They are characters who live in other realms and who have their own problems. Please do not use more than an excerpt. It is clear from many Buddhist suttas (sutras) — supported by the views of many scholars — that the Buddha did not deny the gods. Read this entire true and powerful story by ex-Buddhist Monk Athet Pyan Shinthaw Paulu that tells of his dying, and what he saw. But it's certainly the case that there are all kinds of god-like creatures and beings called devas populating the early scriptures of Buddhism. For more explanation, see "Dependent Origination," "Buddhism and Karma," and "The Five Niyamas.". The Buddha clearly taught that all phenomena are "created" by means of cause and effect determined by natural law. Ken McLeod’s article on Buddhist prayer in Tricycle magazine (may be paywalled): “Where the Thinking Stops“. The Buddha replied: “Suppose Malunkyaputra that a man has been wounded by a poisoned arrow and his friends and family are about to call a doctor. At times, He did remain silent on this topic. Gunasekara ‘The Buddhist Attitude to God’ at https://www.budsas.org/ebud/ebdha068.htm [Accessed 20th September 2018], [11] Ven S Dhammika ‘Buddhism and the God-Idea’ at https://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/qanda03.htm [Accessed 20th September 2018], [12] Nicholas Niusuwan ‘Is Buddhism a Philosophy or a Religion?’ at https://www.huffingtonpost.com/nicholas-liusuwan/is-buddhism-a-philosophy-_b_10176992.html [Accessed 20th September 2018], [13]Barbara O’Brien, ‘Atheism and Devotion in Buddhism’. What does Buddhism say about the idea of God? Now, Buddha's attendant, Ananda, was very much puzzled: "In the morning he said no, in the afternoon he said yes, in the evening he did not answer at all. Do Buddhists believe in God? In the Vaishnavism sect of Hinduism, the historic Buddha or Gautama Buddha, is considered to be an avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu. Does it even matter? I have to know how tall he is, where his family comes from, where they live, what kind of wood his bow is made from, what Fletcher made his arrows. Never mind what you mean by God; what do you mean by "exist"? At times, He did remain silent on this topic. said the Buddha. How do you know you exist? I mean, do you really know what the Buddha said on the matter? With about 470 million followers, scholars consider Buddhism one … Suttas mentioned: Aṅguttara Nikāya 5.43 Saṃyutta Nikāya 42.6 I don’t know what I hit. Something transpired in that silence. Gautam Buddha - Does God exist - Once upon a time, Gautam Buddha was visiting a village. However, atheism is also perfectly compatible with Buddhism too, and some Buddhist thinkers reject the concept of a creator based on Buddhist philosophy and doctrine. In tantra we focus our attention on such an archetypal image and identify with it in order to arouse the deepest, most profound aspects of our being and bring them into our present reality." I’m relying on Chrome’s search of the page, finding just the two occurrences, both in the same paragraph. This is what the Buddha taught. So, what did Buddha actually say about divine beings? Moral of the story: Belief that there is God or belief that there is no God are both equally useless, one has to … Nicholas Niusuwan, A Buddhist writer for HuffPost in addressing whether or not Buddhism is a Philosophy or Religion, says the following: “Unless one defines religion as having a centralized belief system based on a god or set of gods, which isn’t the definition used by everybody, Buddhism does have religious aspects.” [12], Barbara O’Brien says: “If atheism is the absence of belief in a God or gods, then many Buddhists are, indeed, atheists.” [13]. In the afternoon another man came and he asked, "Does God exist?" There are many who contend that Siddhartha Gautama, the man otherwise known as the Buddha, was an atheist, and that his original teaching, at its core, did not include concepts such as karma and reincarnation.. Others are of the school of thought that he was an agnostic, neither avowing or disavowing such ideas, and resting instead in the simple, transpersonal state of “not knowing”. The koan, “‘What?’ is the sound of one hand clapping” argues that we are always in contact with the unknown, or are at least in those times we recognize it with a “what?”. 169 and 177, [3Eknath Easwaran (trans) ‘The Dhammapada’ (Nilgiri Press: California, United States, 2008) P.189, [4]Eknath Easwaran (trans) ‘The Dhammapada’ (Nilgiri Press: California, United States, 2008) PP. It is not the same as phenomenal things. It makes no difference whether one believes in them, or not. Born Siddhartha Gautama, his teachings serve as the foundation of the Buddhist religion. In her book ‘A History of God,’ Karen Armstrong states the following and quotes Edward Conze and his book ‘Buddhism: its essence and development’: “Nirvana literally means ‘cooling off’ or ‘going out’ It is not merely a negative state, however, but plays a role in Buddhist life that is analogous to God. In the Samyutta Nikaya he explains he knows much more than he is revealing, through the parable of a handful of leaves: “…Then the Blessed One took up a few simsapa leaves in his hand and addressed the monks thus: “What do you think, Monks, which is more numerous: these few leaves that I have taken up in my hand or those in the grove overhead?”, “Venerable sir, the leaves that the Blessed One has taken up in his hand are few, but those in the grove overhead are numerous.”, As Dr. Alexander Berzin writes, there were fourteen such metaphysical questions on which the Buddha maintained silence when he was asked about them, again neither confirming or denying them which included most of those asked by Malunkyaputra. That's why he is in hell." Submit Your Topic for “What the Teachers Say”, The Scientific Buddhist — Submit a Topic Idea. Further, the course of our lives is determined by karma, which we create. Buddhism is a religion that was founded by Siddhartha Gautama (“The Buddha”) more than 2,500 years ago in India. Buddha closed his eyes and remained utterly silent. At https://www.thoughtco.com/atheism-and-devotion-in-buddhism-449718 [Accessed 20th September 2018], [14]Karen Armstrong ‘A History of God’ (William Heinemann Ltd: UK, 1993. Buddha knowing that man to be an atheist said with firm voice as if he is in firm conviction "Yes, there is God". As Edward Conze explains in ‘Buddhism: Its Essence and Development’ Buddhists often use the same imagery as theists to describe Nirvana, the ultimate reality: Some Buddhists might object to this comparison because they find the concept of ‘God’ too limiting to express their conception of ultimate reality…We could not define Nirvana because our words and concepts are tied to the world of sense and flux… When asked if a Buddha who had attained Nirvana lived after death, he dismissed the question as improper… the word ‘exist’ bore no relation to any state that we can understand. Buddhism has a lot more to say on labels and imputing concepts than it does about gods and deities — and “religion” is clearly a problematic label. So, what did Buddha actually say about divine beings? Some even go so far as to say that the Buddha said so, too. Then, why is Buddhism considered by many to be atheistic or nontheistic? The Buddhist path embraces everyone, regardless of any belief in God — or not. 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