Ultimate reality, God and gods in Buddhism – Denise Cush

Buddhism differs from many other major religious traditions by not being based on belief in God, but upon human potential. The concept of ‘religion’ in the West tends to be dominated by the model of the monotheistic Abrahamic traditions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – so much so that some (both within and outside of Buddhism) prefer to refer to Buddhism as a ‘philosophy’ or ‘way of life’. Nevertheless, Buddhism shares many other characteristics associated with ‘religion’ such as a belief in a reality which lies beyond the senses, life beyond death, rituals, moral precepts, paths of spiritual development, monastic organisations, and has temples, sacred texts and social, cultural and political impacts, so that it might be best to call it an ‘atheistic religion’. Both Jainism and some schools of thought in Hinduism could also be classed in this way.

Ultimate Reality

Where monotheistic religions are centred on God, Buddhism is centred on the Dharma, or the ultimate truth about the way things really are. Human beings are deluded about the true nature of reality, for example thinking that impermanent things can make us eternally happy, and enlightenment consists of seeing reality as it really is. The title ‘Buddha’ means one who has ‘woken up’ to the truth. The truth is that life as we normally experience it is characterised by suffering, impermanence and lack of enduring self. We come into such a life because of ignorance and selfishness. There is however an alternative state, nirvana, free from suffering, which can be realised by living a life of morality, meditation and wisdom. However it is impossible to describe the truth in words, it can only be experienced, and the Buddha is one who has experienced it.

There are however many different forms of Buddhism, often oversimplified into the Theravada / Mahayana division. The paragraph above would be accepted by most Buddhists, but is couched in language characteristic of Theravada Buddhism. Mahayana Buddhist traditions have further and varied ideas about ‘ultimate reality’, but tend to agree that nirvana is not so much an alternate state, but a different way of seeing the same reality. Madhyamaka philosophy teaches ‘emptiness’: that nothing has independent real existence, but only relative, interdependent existence. Yogachara philosophy teaches that we think there are real, separate things, but there is only a flow of mental constructs. Other Mahayana traditions talk of ‘Buddha-nature’, not referring to the individual or individuals given the title Buddha, whether earthly or heavenly beings, but the ultimate reality behind everything which, potentially, or actually, is in all of us. So ultimate reality in Buddhism can be seen as seeing the truth about life, as nirvana, as ‘emptiness’, as ‘mind-only’ or ‘Buddha-nature’. These may be different ways of describing the same realisation, but you would have to be enlightened to know!

No God

It is clear that there is no personal monotheistic God in Buddhism, transcendent and separate from the material world, which is his creation. There is no need for a creator, either because there was never a beginning (Theravada) or because in ultimate reality, no things actually ‘exist’ (some forms of Mahayana thought). A story told by the Buddha in the Theravada Pali Canon mocks the idea of a single creator God. According to the story, the great god Brahma, traditionally the Indian creator god, was reborn just before the beginning of a particular world cycle. When Brahma observed this world coming into being, he imagined that he himself had created it. Modern Theravada Buddhism in particular rejects the monotheistic concept of God. Some forms of Mahayana Buddhism might be interpreted as including concepts of ultimate reality that begin to resemble some ways of understanding God (see below), but never as a transcendent, separate being.

Gods and Goddesses

Although some forms of modernist Buddhist thinking play down the role of gods and goddesses in Buddhism, both the earliest ancient texts and contemporary Buddhist societies feature deities and ‘supernatural’ beings galore. The deities that we associate with ‘Hinduism’ and other deities from countries to which Buddhism spread are not denied but seen as other inhabitants of the complex and multi-dimensional universe or universes in which we dwell. However, they are best understood as another life-form, superior in powers to humans, but nevertheless not immortal nor ultimate. One can be reborn as a god or goddess, as well as in human, animal, ghost, or demon form or in a (temporary) hell world. They can however help within their sphere of influence, so Buddhism in practice includes worship of a variety of such beings. This may be dismissed by some as ‘folk religion’, but they do seem to appear at the highest levels of text and practice. Indeed, a traditional story of the Buddha’s enlightenment says that the god Brahma was the one who persuaded the newly enlightened Buddha that it would be worth teaching others. Indian deities such as Ganesha and Vishnu can be seen in Sri Lankan temples, and even as far away from India as Japan, Benzaiten, a version of the goddess Saraswati, remains a popular deity.

Buddhas and bodhisattvas[1] as ‘deities’?

The simplest answer to the question ‘do Buddhists believe in God or gods?’ would be, no, not in God, and gods exist but are just another impermanent life form, or even for some more liberal, modernist Buddhists, poetic metaphors. However, particularly in some forms of Mahayana Buddhism, the multitude of different Buddhas and bodhisattvas can functionally resemble gods and goddesses, in that they are worshipped, pictured, and prayed to. The Buddha Amitabha / Amida, who in Pure Land forms of Buddhism, saves those who have faith in him to join him in the Pure Land after death, can sound a little like a Christian idea of God. Various bodhisattvas such as Avalokiteshvara / Chenrezi or Tara may be prayed to for worldly benefits as well as spiritual progress. The crucial difference that must be grasped is that neither human Buddhas nor celestial Buddhas and bodhisattvas are ultimately real, and they are not separate from ourselves. All beings have the potential to become Buddhas and bodhisattvas, and in some forms of Mahayana philosophy, from the eternal ultimate perspective, already are.

Buddha as God?

Some forms of Mahayana Buddhism use the concept of the ‘trikaya’ or ‘three bodies’ of the Buddha. The Buddha can appear in earthly form for example as the human Gautama, or in a heavenly form, for example Amitabha. However, the ultimate form of the Buddha is the Dharmakaya, or true form, which is the ultimate reality behind everything. This can start sound something like God as understood by some modern Christian theologians, such as those who would prefer to describe God as ‘being-itself’ rather than ‘a being’, or like the concept of Brahman in Advaita Vedanta Hinduism, or the Goddess in Paganism, or mystical traditions in all three Abrahamic traditions where unity with God is spoken of. Even more God-like is the idea of the Adi-Buddha, or ‘original Buddha’ in some forms of Nepali Buddhism. This ‘drawing near’ of the concepts of Buddha and God has been of use in interfaith dialogue between Christians and Mahayana Buddhists.  Nevertheless, Buddha understood as ultimate reality is not a being separate from ourselves, not a creator, not transcendent and so very different from the God of monotheism as generally understood. Therefore the quick answer to whether Buddhists believe in God is still ‘no’ rather than ‘yes’.