Is Buddha a GOD ?

Question

I was born to buddhism family and I am free thinker.
However, so many people claim that Buddha is a God. Especially whom are from single god religion.

As far as I understand, buddha ( Gotama ) was just a normal human. Whom married, had kid. So on so forth. And he did no magic. I could not find he turn water to wine nor feed thousand people from one bowl.

Please enlighten me with prove

I guess I forgot to let all you know

I did study buddisim for 20 years :)

Answer 1

Since you're a born Buddhist and I've just studied, I'm not going to presume to tell you that you're right. Even though you are. ;-)

Christians have this bad habit of seeing the world through their own point of view. Everyone does that, no big deal, except that Christians in the U.S. assume that their way of looking at things is universal. They have a single god at the head of their religion, therefore you must have a single god at yours.

There are parallels between Gotama and Jesus. If they acknowledged that a religion could be started by a man, they need to ask themselves if perhaps Jesus was only a man as well.

Namaste.

Answer 2

Buddha is not a god...as far I have ever read...
but he is worshiped the same way that Christians worship their god(s): Kneeling, and using his name is blessings...etc.

Buddha, however, performed or was the cause of some magic. As a baby he stood up and spoke...the animals protected him from the rain, the bowl ran upstreen instead of downstreem...etc...And his whole purpose was to bypass death...which is not a scientific possibility...

Buddha is not considered a god...but for the most part, that is merely semantics. It is a religion. People pray to him.

Answer 3

No, Buddha is not a god. He never claimed to be and most Buddhists do not believe he is. Buddha was a man. Few have ever turned any man into a god. Christianity is one of them.

And ignore the foolish on here who are, yet again, trying to preach about you needing to find the real god. They don't know to butt out and that they need to learn to keep their own religion to themselves because their religon ONLY applies to them.

Answer 4

The Buddha, like modern sociologists and psychologists, believed that religious ideas and especially the god idea have their origin in fear. The Buddha says:

"Gripped by fear men go to the sacred mountains,
sacred groves, sacred trees and shrines".

To this day, you will notice that people become more religious at times of crises, you will hear them say that the belief in a god or gods gives them the strength they need to deal with life. You will hear them explain that they believe in a particular god because they prayed in time of need and their prayer was answered. All this seems to support the Buddha’s teaching that the god-idea is a response to fear and frustration. The Buddha taught us to try to understand our fears, to lessen our desires and to calmly and courageously accept the things we cannot change. He replaced fear, not with irrational belief but with rational understanding.

Based on his own experience, the Buddha saw that each human being had the capacity to purify the mind, develop infinite love and compassion and perfect understanding. He shifted attention from the heavens to the heart and encouraged us to find solutions to our problems through self-understanding.

http://www.buddhanet.net/

Answer 5

If you are a Buddhist, this is your chance to enlighten us....

I think many people simply collectively assign Buddha god-like status because they don't know anything about Buddhism, and it fits the standard religious paradigm.

Christians worship Christ, Muslims worship Mussel, Jews worship Judah... well, maybe it's only Christians that make that mistake.... I don't know.

Answer 6

Buddha is a guide not a god. Just a wise man so I read. :)

Answer 7

' I cannot show you God, I can show you the truth ' ~ V

Your answer lies in this story my friend:

Once a man goes to the Buddha and asks, “Is there something called God?” for which Buddha answers, “God? There is nothing called God.” Minutes later another man approaches the Buddha and asks, “Is there God in this world?” “How can the world operate without God? God does exist.” replies the Buddha. Few minutes later, a third man approaches the Buddha and asks the same question, “Does God exist?” “I do not know” replies the Buddha.
One of his disciples who was watching all this asks the Buddha, “Why is it that you gave three different answers to three different people for the same question? I am unable to understand why you answered differently to each person though their query was the same.” The Buddha replied, “I gave the same answer to all three of them”. The disciple looks confused. The Buddha explains, “All the three persons who came to me had pre-conceived notions and had formed conclusive opinions on the existence or non-existence of God. Their coming to me with this question was only a pretext… to claim that Buddha also says the same thing. My reply to each of them was to convey the message, ‘I am not willing to co-operate with you. You can keep your opinions to yourself.’ So, haven’t I given the same answer to all three of them?”

Answer 8

Buddha is not God.......the Buddha was the first person to reach enlightenment....meaning he no longer had to continue
in reincarnating back to Earth and its seemingly endless karmic wheel of pain and misery. You can go on the Internet and download all the information you need. Go on Google and type Buddhism. The written history of Buddhism is your proof.....take time to read....... Peace.....

Answer 9

Buddha was not a God, he was a Man of Knowledge.

Proof? Which do you think he had more of when he left his physical Life, Knowledge of his True Self, or Faith in his Beliefs about himself?

Answer 10

There's a difference between being a god and being God. Just being worshipped doesn't qualify someone as a god. They have to have some abilities and traits that would be unique to them alone. We all know these: omniscience, omnipotence, eternality, etc.