Do Buddhists believe in God?

I know how Buddhists feel whenever they are asked this question by non-Buddhists. In order to be harmonious to other religions, often we try to rationalise what we as Buddhists believe in. In this post, I try to dig into this subject. After this post, I hope we are more clear on the concept of God and that we don't have to try too hard to harmonise with others by compromising on our Buddhist Dharma. We harmonise but we still stick to our Dharma. 

I know some Buddhist teachers pointed out that when the ancient followers of the Buddha asked him about how the universe came from and all that cosmology questions, the historical Buddha remained silent. Hence some people take it that he was also silent on the issue of God. But, is that true? Upon closer examination, I don’t think so. The truth is the Buddha was very direct on this. He pointed this out when he taught the doctrine of Anatta (or, non-self). Anatta negates the existence of not just the self of a person or phenomena, but that of also GOD – i.e., the enduring, permanent, almighty, omniscient, eternal GOD. 

If we understand the concept of Anatta properly, whereby the common belief of a “soul” is non-existent, and everything else is Anicca (i.e. impermanent), how can there ever be an enduring external self-existing entity called “God”? Impossible, right? It is contradictory to these fundamental teachings of the Buddha. At least, not “God” in this sense of the meaning. However, if “God” is interpreted as “Tathata” (“Suchness”), or “Dharmakaya” (“body of Truth”), then yes, Buddhists do believe in this concept of “God”.  In a way, by the concept of emptiness, everything is manifest from Suchness, and Suchness is by nature empty/ ungraspable. So, reinterpreting the way the world comes about, is that everything in existence comes from God (as Suchness). Otherwise, no external entity could ever create all these by himself. He has to be something that transcends all these. In other words, God in Buddhism is NOT an external entity somewhere in heaven. In this case, Buddhists do believe in existence of heaven and hell. Heaven is part of the six planes of existence, referred to as “Samsara” in Buddhism. Yes, Indra or Sakka devaraja is an external entity God. While he could be the “Creator God” referred to in other religions, but I am referring more to the general idea of an Omniscient and Omnipotent God. 

To answer the question – do Buddhists believe in God? The answer is, Yes and No. It depends on what is meant by “God”. At least, this is how I understand it. If “God” is Suchness, then yes, definitely. But not if it is a self-abiding external entity. 

With this in mind, Buddhists need not feel out of place whenever they are asked, "do you believe in God?" If any other Buddhists (or, anyone else) have a differing opinion, please share. But remember, I am only trying to lay out the facts for what I think is taught in the Buddha Dharma.     

If you like this post, try explore others, such as this - https://buddha-and-me.blogspot.com/2013/06/i-love-buddhism-but.html

#God #religions #Suchness