Has western culture, taken buddhism, and twisted it to fit with their monotheistic ideals?

Question

By this I mean, that Buddha clearly stated there was no creator/personal god?

However, many western buddhist sects appear to promote the idea of a monotheistic religion, who believes in a higher power that they call god, who can control whether or not you are granted entrance into his "heaven", or if you need a rebirth....

Answer 1

I am in the midst of reading the book - The Story of (Western) Philosophy. I'm at the part - A convergence of two great traditions, East and West. The most learned scholars in the West were scarcely aware of Eastern philosophy until the early years of the 19th century. They found that east and west had come to some of the same conclusions that had developed over thousands of years, independant of each other. Western philosophy was held back because much of it included the god factor, where Eastern philosophy was concerned with trying to live in accordance with religions moral precepts.

Answer 2

According to a Theological Scholar I heard, Buddha taught,
"be a Buddha." However, after his death his followers told people that they could only be a Buddhist, which they could only learn, through them; for a fee, of course. If true, then the religion was already corrupted. The same Scholar said Jesus's disciples did basically the same thing. None of which would surprise me. Remember the adage, "always follow the money trail." Sad but true.

Answer 3

It is even more like that for the South East Asian and Tibetan versions.
The Tibetans maintain all of the Hindoo Gods and Demons.
The Vietnamese Pure-land sects treat Buddha almost like Jesus and believe you are saved by faith. In Japan they have the Amida Buddha schools,again faith based on Buddha as a personal saviour.
Most of the Western ideas about Buddhism are derived from the Zen schools of Japan and from their predecessor schools like Shaolin in China. These are both very austere aesthetic styles focused on meditation.
Zazen is sitting meditation and Tai Chi, Kung Fu or Karate is moving meditation.

Tibetan and Northern Asian Buddhism were more militant and carry an incredible awareness of the inevitability of personal death. The Tibetans traditionally use skulls as drinking bowls and human thigh bones as trumpets to remind themselves of the transitory nature of life.
I doubt if you need to be reminded of Zen's links to the Bushido of the Samurai class in feudal Japan.

Answer 4

I have never heard of a
Buddhist group promoting the idea of God or Heaven. Are you sure you are not trying to twist it?

Answer 5

Ever wonder who is the creator of heaven and earth?
Ever wonder who was the dirty old man who made blunders and slip-ups with human errors back in the past like you and me in making a mess kicking the butts of living human kind living in misery out there?
Exodus 20.1-6

Answer 6

Probably because there is only one God who is creator of all.

Answer 7

I like ice cream, it make me happy and cools me off on a hot day.

Answer 8

its about here and now