Who is the God of Buddhism?

Answer 1

Buddhists do not believe in a single, omniscient God. The Buddhist understanding of the universe includes a recognition that there are a lot of aspects of this universe, this reality, that we don't understand. Through analytical meditation and other practices we can understand the deeper truths about this reality; truths that can't be understood with our every day minds. When we reach enlightenment we will understand it, and until then there is no reason to believe that there either is or isn't a God. Buddhists aren't atheists, but they also aren't theists.

Answer 2

There is no god of Buddhism. However, there are some Buddhists who believe in a variety of gods or goddesses. There are no requirements, either way, though in general it does not acknowledge a "Creator" god, such as Jehovah/Yahweh/Allah.

Buddha himself, or Siddartha Guatama, did not claim to be a god, or accept worship.

Answer 3

Gods do not exist in Buddhism wherein God means a 'creator', 'destroyer' or a 'supreme being'. That way, Buddhism is Atheistic.

The personified images and statues that are worshiped are those of Buddha and/or the Bodhisattva.

Buddha means the perfected human spirit who has attained enlightenment (Bodh) and Bodhisattva, the one who qualifies as a Buddha but put this attainment on hold to help the other souls in their journey of self-exploration and enlightenment

Buddhism teaches to focus and meditate on oneself and not the imaginary God or the heavens.

Answer 4

Buddhists have no god or pantheon of deities. It is up to everyone to find his own way to enlightenment.

As the first answer stated, The Buddha did not explicitly address the existence of a singular God or the need to pray to him. However, he did speak of different realms of beings, one of which is the realm of the gods, who could answer people's prayers and controlled aspects of nature. Therefore, prayer to gods or a God is common in Buddhist orthopraxy. In fact, Mahayana Buddhists and Pure Land Buddhists pray to Guan Yin and Amitabha Buddha but never pray to who we know as The Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama). However contrary to the first answer, Buddhists, in particular Mahayana Buddhists, do believe in a pantheon of deities, who are sometimes labeled as Buddhas or Bodhisattvas (those who have reached Enlightenment but chose existence in order to help others reach Enlightenment as well). Theravada Buddhists, on the other hand, pray to only Siddhartha Gautama. What the first answer might be referring to is that Buddhists do not have a pantheon of deities quite as prolific as seen in the Hindu tradition and do not have deity cults such as those devoted to Shiva, Rama, or Linga worship. But yes, there is deity worship in the Buddhist tradition, such as deification of Guan Gong (a past war general revered by many Buddhists and non-Buddhist Chinese alike).

What the Buddha did teach was that praying to gods or a God would not help one reach Nirvana, as it would only create more karma and worldly distractions away from the path to Enlightenment. The first answerer may also be thinking more about Zen Buddhism or the Western take of Buddhism that primarily focuses on meditation and conscious living; rejecting any remnants of Buddha/deity worship found in older sects of Buddhism.

Answer 5

There is no god in Buddhism. The presence of a deity would be counter productive to the development of your own enlightenment.

Answer 6

You must be thinking of the hindu faith. Buddhism isnt really a religion, its a belief system.

Answer 7

None. Buddhists do not believe in any creator god or any supreme being.

Answer 8

they don't have one