is buddhist an athiest??

Question

does being a buddhist mean tht the person is an athiest coz as far as i knw buddhism has no god

Answer 1

An 'athiest' is someone who doesn't believe in any kind of god or spirituality whatsoever. Buddhism is infused with spirituality and inner awakening, which isn't so different than a lot of other religions as far as the soul is concerned. So No, Buddism isn't athiesm. It just isn't a part of the Judeo-Christian tradition, so it's hard for many westerners to understand. Especially those who think that if you don't worship Jesus then you're going to burn.

Answer 2

Buddhism itself does not have a god. However, unlike every other religion, the teachings of Buddha does not mandate that followers/believers of Buddhist teaching and philosophy exclusively "follow" Buddhism.

The current Dalai Lama once wrote, in the Art of Happines or Ethics for the New Milenium, that one needs to formulate their beliefs and forms themselves and that this can and does involve other religions Gods and beliefs, but does not have too involve them or exclude them.

He went on to point out, though, that the more devout a person becomes in his/her Buddhist studies, they will learn that the popular ideas of God/Heaven/Hell and organized religion are not true paths to enlightenment.

But the Buddhist spirit is of the self, so there are many different paths a person can take, and if a person feels they cannot live without God, Buddhism would not punish you and dissallow you from learning the Buddhist way.


To further confuse the matter, just imagine if you put Jesus side by side a modern day, bible thumping devout Christian. If you didn't know he was Juesus, I think he could easily be mistaken for a Buddhist.

Answer 3

Here is a buddhist analect to help you understand, because some times its hard for people to get this part:

Buddha had a cousin named Ananda whom he promised to answer a question for at the end of every day. One day he was traveling with Buddha and a man walked up and asked Buddha "Is there a god?". Buddha said yes. This astonished Ananda because Buddha had never acknowledged a god. Then a second man came and asked the same question. This time Buddha responded "No". This confused Ananda even more because Buddha had lied! Before sunset a third man came and asked that question again. This time Buddha merely sat with the man quietly for some time and the man said "Thank you I understand now" and left. After the sun had set Ananda asked Buddha about the three questions and he said "The answers were different because the ones who posed the questions were different. The first man was an aethiest who wished to confirm his disbelief so I answered to the contrary. The second was a devout believer, so I again answered to the contrary. Only when the third man came did I give the true answer. The third man came to me with an open mind and so to him I gave no answer, for he already knew. We must never follow blindly any faith we hold, we must never completely believe nor disbelieve on any issue, asuredly not one such as this that we can never know the answer to"

By reading this story you can see that buddhists are undecided, for the focus of buddhism is not worship but rather the purification of the self through meditation that eventual results in nirvana and the freeing of our soul from the cycle of rebirth and suffering.

The "gods" and "demons" that some Buddhists believe in were never mentioned by Buddha himself and were rather created by Tibetan Buddhists as metaphors. One needs only to read a guide to the Tibetan Book of the Dead, or the Great Liberation Through Hearing, as it is sometimes called, to realize this.

Answer 4

Buddhist practice does not require a God. Most Buddhists do not think that God has any gifts to offer. Instead, it is through meditative, thoughtful, and behavioral practice that one is able to free oneself from suffering. In this way Buddhism is more akin to a philosophy than to a western-styled "religion."

From the web site cited below:

"In the Buddhist texts Mahâ Brahmâ is represented as claiming the following attributes for himself:

"I am Brahmâ, the Great Brahmâ, the Supreme One, the Mighty, the All-seeing, the Ruler, the Lord of all, the Maker, the Creator, the Chief of all appointing to each his place, the Ancient of days, the Father of all that is and will be." (Dîgha Nikáya, II, 263).

The Buddha dismisses all these claims of Mahâ Brahmâ as being due to his own delusions brought about by ignorance. He argues that Mahâ-Brahmâ is simply another deva, perhaps with greater karmic force than the other gods, but nonetheless a deva and therefore unenlightened and subject to the samsâric process as determined by his karma. "

Answer 5

it's a tricky question to answer, as buddhism (as so many philosophies and religions) means different things to different people. some buddhism has become intermixed with local religions, and these, indeed, have a god, or, more often than not, a whole bunch of 'em. thus, they are not atheists. others consider buddhism strictly a philosophy, and gods and demons as metaphors, at best, and illusions, otherwise. what do they believe in? "nothingness", in some translations, which is not only confusing, but can also be akin to saying, "god", in its way. it's a lot of things, to a lot of folx, and, often, even THEY don't know what's going on - and that's PART of buddhism! for a set of examples of that, look into zen (a branch of buddhism) "koans". they confuse even the recipients of them (practising buddhists - generally, in fact, monks)... until they don't. hope that helps, though it, likely, doesn't.

Answer 6

The word Buddha means the "Fully Enlightened One" or "Awakened One". It is the title given to those who have attained supreme and perfect Enlightenment. Buddhists acknowledge the Buddha as the embodiment of the highest morality, deepest concentration and perfect wisdom. His followers also know the Buddha as the "Perfected One" because He has wiped out desire, ill will and ignorance, and has overcome all unwholesome actions. He has put an end to suffering and is no longer bound to the cycle of birth and death.

Buddha has left the samsara, if you're on a plane of existence you're still in samsara... and since he left it... he's no longer here. hence, he is 'Nothing'...not athiest, not god, not religious.

Answer 7

A Buddhist would probably say Buddhism is neither theistic nor atheistic.

Personally, I think the concept of the Buddha, especially in Mahayana Buddhism, converges to something close to the concept of God.

Answer 8

No, Buddhism is not Atheism. Buddhists do believe in a Divinity. They believe in the Divine Source that everyone and everything is a part of. Buddhists believe that every individual carries a spark of the Divine within them and that their ultimate goal is to use that spark to reconnect with the Divine and become unified with All. Atheists don't believe in any divinity, period, within or without.

Check out http://www.buddhanet.net

Answer 9

Athiest in simple term means not believing in the existence of god, and therefore not believing in god.
Buddhism believes in the existence of gods as living beings who dwell in heavenly realms. Buddhists however do not take refuge in them (i.e. rely on them for salvation) or neither do they make it their religious goals to attain rebirth into heavenly realms. Buddhists seek to put an end to all sufferings. They believe even in the heavenly relams, there still exist some subtle sufferings.

Answer 10

Some Buddhists esteem Buddha as a god. But the philosophy itself does not deny God or gods but it does not teach there is One True God