God Vs Buddha?

Question

I've heard Buddhists say before, that Buddha is higher than God.

If its true that Buddhists believe this, can any them please exlain how he, a mere mortal can possibly be higher than God?

Note: I know that Buddhists have their own deities. eg: Avolakitsvara, etc.

Answer 1

well, there were many thousands of buddhas out there. and sure there was buddha sakyamuni, who is most commonly referred as buddha. sakyamuni was a human, just like you and me. although it passed about 2500 years and much drift present in the records, written evidence is that most likely man once named siddhartha gautama sakyamuni indeed lived. all other buddhas referred as humans either, though with number of poetic beautifications.

regarding the teachings. the simplest explanation is offered by sakyamuni:
1 There is suffering
2 There is a cause of suffering - craving
3 There is the cessation of suffering
4 There is a way leading to the cessation of suffering
so, buddhism generally is a method of cessation of suffering, i.e. achieving happiness. if to speak in terms of abrahamic religions, it's something like a method of finding heaven on earth. achieving of this state has additional effects like raise in analytic abilities and intellect, better results (sometimes dramatically better) in any kind of activity performed. this drives stories regarding supernatural abilities of buddhas. though there are certain schools which argue this, in my experience every human can achieve this state.

so, buddha is not a particular human, yet rather any human, who achieved particular state, i.e. liberation. being a state, buddha has little to do with god. these are different matters and are no subject for adequate comparison. it's like comparing say a newspaper and a cup of coffee. there's no adequate way to say coffee is higher than newspaper or otherwise :)

buddism and abrahamic concepts have different goals. abrahamic concepts declare rules for a happy afterlife, which regulate social behavior and confidence of participants. buddhism aims happiness for a particular human here and now. adequate social behavior is a sequence of it and afterlife goes out of question. comparing the concepts by participants of one is rather useless - most will see one side of question. in my practice, god, buddha and other names/images matter not. what matters is what you are doing and why you are doing exactly this.

regards,
mickael

Answer 2

God And Buddha

Answer 3

I've been a Buddhist (Vietnamese Buddhist) and have known many Buddhists, and I have NEVER heard any of them say that Buddha is 'higher' than God. Buddhists do not 'believe' in God, and to say something 'silly' like that statement would be 'totally ridiculous' to them ... and all of the true Buddhists I know are very 'serious' about the 'religious beliefs' although they do also have a very highly refined sense of humor. It wouldn't be 'funny,' just 'ridiculous' so I don't believe they would ever say it. And no Buddhist 'believes in any deity' ... unless it is the 'deity' inside each and every one of us. They don't have their own deities by any name.

Answer 4

There are all different sects of Buddhism that believe different things. The oldest form of Buddhism does not see Buddha as a God. He is just an enlightened individual. Some buddhists might say the same thing about Christ and have as much respect for him as someone who was in touch with God/the Divine. Buddhists believe we all have access to the divine if we humble ourselves to it. There are a few rigid sects of Buddhism, but in most cases it is a practice, not a religion in the sense that we know religion in the west.

Answer 5

Buddhism is not a monotheistic religion. It could be regarded as an atheistic religion as it has no defined gods. It doesn't deny gods from any other religion and Buddhists are at liberty to have as many or as few gods as they like. Buddha is more important to Buddhists than the Christian gods or the Islamic god or the Jewish god. To Buddhists, Buddha is higher than any of them.

Answer 6

I don't know what exactly they would mean by that. Trying to compare eastern and western religious concepts like this is like comparing apples and oranges.

True, Gautama / Buddha is not too deity-like in the western sense, as he's not omnipotent, omniscent, etc. But by the same token, if you take "God" as the character as described in the Bible, his behavior shows that he's certainly not close at all to Nirvana by Buddhist standards. Again, apples and oranges.

Answer 7

If a buddhist say buddha is higher then god, then he is not a buddhist ..... buddhist do not believe in gods. :P.

Bodhisattvas are not deities, they are people who follow the buddha's way.

Answer 8

Buddhist is from India. They say that he used to live on this world, like us. I don't think that he is higher than God. Buddhism is about living and recarination again. Again and again. But you don't have any memory of what happens. So it's very unbelievable. I totally agree that God owns Buddha.

Answer 9

Buddha is a representation of the divine. As we all are. The key here is we are too, not God, but a spark of God, every one of us. And we can choose to awaken to that divinity if we want, its our choice.

Buddha was a master who showed a way to awaken. It it my opinion that there were others and still some today to aid in a path to awaken. I believe there is no one way that is correct for everyone. Each can find his own way.... or not. Again, your choice.

Your choice appears to be Christianity, and I honor that. Would you respect a practice of a Buddhist?

Answer 10

Thats ordinary. God could kill Allah, then Buddha and Ganesh could the two probable die in a twin to the demise (as sacrifices). Then god could kill himself for coming up the different gods because of the fact gods do no longer oftentimes make different gods except they like opposition. Gods are extraordinarily aggressive recently.