People think Buddha is a god.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

I live in a very conservative Christian area. This guy was working on my house. He makes definitive statements about things he knows nothing about -- like all right-wing men I've known.

He said one day "You're going to hell if you keep meditating and worshiping Buddha."

I said, "First of all you don't know whether or not anyone is going to hell. Secondly, Buddha is NOT a god. He is a man, and he became enlightened. He is revered as an enlightened person, not a god."

This guy's response: "Ohhhhhhhh...."



I have also seen t shirts that say "I have the body of a god. Buddha."

Why is this misconception so prevalent? Can Christians not understand a religion without any gods?

[Ruby the Liberal]

1. It is a perception rooted in ignorance

of what others believe.

Ironic that - ask any Christian if Islam 'worships' Mohammed (or if he was a 'god') and they will jump right in with the - no, he was a prophet answer.

At least you had the opportunity to explain and took the time to do so.

[white_wolf]

7. Most Christians I've met do think Muslims worship Muhammad.

[Blue_Tires]

21. +1

[Manifestor_of_Light]

2. I don't think they can understand a religion without a god to worship.

Or a philosophy of life.

I think the question whether Buddhism is a religion or a philosophy is kinda stupid.

[randr]

3. The misinformed

are merely missing information.
In the words of the Incredible String Band:
"You see what you see, you see seldom what is"

[bananas]

4. Catholics consider Buddha a saint, Hindus consider him a god.

There's also a lot of Christian Buddhists and Buddhist Christians.

[ellisonz]

5. People are confused in general...

If they were less confused, there would be less suffering. By no means is this poster excluded

[SwampG8r]

6. my shirt says i have the body of a greek god

on the back is a picture of dyonesius

[mmonk]

8. To answer your last question, the answer is no.

It is built on their western assumptions.

[byeya]

9. Buddhism is something you do, not something you believe. Buddhism takes work; a skygod

isn't going to do the heavy lifting for you and won't be there to pass judgment on you either.
I usually say something along those lines and maybe add that the historic Buddha said that there
were no gods.

[GliderGuider]

10. When one's only tool is a hammer...

...everything in the world appears to be a nail.

You might consider doing tonglen for him...

[Manifestor_of_Light]

11. Yeah, I should. I have the book When Things Fall Apart

by Pema Chodron. It has the tonglen meditation in it.

Gotta breathe deeply.

[GliderGuider]

12. Back in the dark days of the W presidency I did tonglen for Cheney.

It was quite an exercise in forgiveness.

[liberal_at_heart]

13. my father's argument is that Buddha didn't die to save me.

I told my father I never asked anybody to die to save me.

[leftyladyfrommo]

15. No but he sure went through a lot

trying to find the Way. And he spent about 50 years of his life just traveling around teaching everyone he could about the way to free yourself from human suffering.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

14. Very good answer!! We didn't ask to be born.

I have no idea what the word "saved" means either.
And original sin is made up bullshit and it's a lousy explanation for evil.

When are the Christians gonna say that test tube babies are conceived without sin, as they are not produced through intercourse like the rest of us???

I am waiting........tap, tap, tap.

But they're not logical.

[leftyladyfrommo]

16. People just don't know anything about Buddhism.

But i do think it is hard for lots of people to imagine a religion that has no creator god. It is just such an odd concept for Westerners to deal with. Goes against anything they have ever heard about religion.

These are good times to practice your compassion and kindness skills.

[Gov101]

17. "without any gods?"

I'm not Buddhist so please correct me if I'm wrong but isn't it more accurate to say that Buddhists simply don't rely on gods for any sort of spiritual liberation message, nor believe in infinite gods with absolute powers? But there are traditions of spiritual beings as well as cosmological carryovers from Hinduism that assumes the existence of such beings.

Aren't devas believed to be beings who live a really long time and are more powerful than humans, and capable of influencing earthly events?

Not the same as an Indo-European style creator sky god or the kind of morally perfect, immortal, all-knowing, all-powerful sort of thing seen in other religions. Guess it simply depends on how one defines "gods" but these could be seen as simply a different type of finite deities.

[Sanddog42]

18. I think that is pretty accurate

But there's nothing in Buddhism that precludes anyone from believing in an infinite creator-god. (At least, not that I am aware of.) As far as I know, the Buddha never said that God does or does not exist. Then again, he never said the self does or does not exist either.

Also there's nothing in Buddhism that requires anyone to believe in any sort of god. Many Buddhists consider godly realms and beings as allegorical.

As for the cosmological carryovers, I think you're right about that as well, but they would be carryovers from Brahmanism, a precursor of Hinduism, which was the dominant religion in the time and region in which the Buddha lived.

[ruffburr]

19. from what i've read-

The Dali lama when asked if buddhism is a religon he replied if you like you can treat it as a religon, But in fact it is a science of the mind

[Bad Thoughts]

20. The belief that function follows form?

Undoubtedly, the image of the Buddha occupies comparable spaces in Buddhist practices as Jesus does in Christian. Moreover, it seems to be common to associate revered images with worship, even when there is no religion present. How often has Stalin's communism been described as a religion in this very forum?

[Avalux]

22. Buddhism gets lumped in with diety-based religions.

To the uniformed, it's a religion and so...there has to be a god. I prefer to not think or talk about Buddhism as a religion; it's more a spiritual philosophy to me, and that's how I present it to others. It helps with the Buddha/god confusion.

[pitbullgirl1965]

23. No they can't .

My friends very narrow minded Catholic MIL (she was disgusted my friend is a Buddhist) butted in on our conversation regarding Shakyamuni. She claimed Jesus and Christianity had been around longer.
HA! After I politely gave her a brief history Shakyamuni, I informed her that Christianity was first known as The Way, not Christianity.

Her son was in the doorway miming me to stop and mouthing the words no.
It was ok though as long as I was respectful, what could she say.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

24. Christians butt in on LOTS of conversations.

I've had several butt in on my conversations and try to convert me or tell me I'm a communist or whatever. They just can't stand to be around somebody expressing a different opinion in a private conversation without jumping in and being pushy bastards.

I've restrained myself from telling them to go fornicate themselves with a large cactus.



I read once that somebody said they were a Christian because it was such an old religion, therefore it must be true. If that was the case, they should be a Hindu or a Zoroastrian.

[pitbullgirl1965]

25. Yeah they do don't they? Very irritating and rude

I think they're insecure about their religion.They've got the persecution thing down pretty well too. Maybe deep down they know it's a hollow religion. The fact that it has been used to justify genocide against N.A., slavery, Jim Crow, et al, and people accept that blows my mind.
And then they use the lame excuse "oh but they're not REAL Christians". Yes, they are.

I would tell them to bugger off if you won't get in trouble. Better yet, refute their lies (like the older religion claim) with facts.

[yuiyoshida]

27. I have a great example right here..

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3964232

read the follow up.

[pitbullgirl1965]

26. Wait he had the nerve to say that in YOUR home?!

I just caught that! How arrogant! What a damn nerve.

[libodem]

28. It's a drag

Because other religions seem to feel free to pick on them for their lack of a God. Like in Tibet and that country just off India. The poor monks often take horrible abuse for living a peaceful and happy life. I don't think most people get that it is a philosophy of right principles and right choices not the fear of being rewarded or punished by a personal deity. People are not only ignorant they don't make an effort to become more informed before passing judgment.

It's similar to any metaphysical practice, pagan beliefs, or occult teachings being compared to Satanic cults.