[quote author=“JustThis”]Canzen wrote
There is nothing in the general principles articulated by Siddhartha Guatama (The Buddha) that support, acknowledge, or other wise endorse the notion of or the existence of a deity.
However this has not stopped some “Buddhist” from creating gods in their practice. In spite of what the Buddha said it seems that there is an overpowering human need for some kind of god, although, in this case they are typically not ‘creator’ gods. So don’t be surprised if you run into some ‘higher beings’ or even gods in some forms of Buddhism. This seems so typical of Humanity, a ‘realized’ man has a religion started by his followers and he cannot control what they do as the years go by. Thus a ‘religion’ gets started in spite of what the person who provided the spark for it says.
In my understanding, Buddhism does not necessarily deny the existence of a God or celestial beings per se but rather suggests that if a God does exist, i.e. some sort of creator, humans are nevertheless still subject to the problem of impermanence and the suffering that accompanies the reality of impermance. In other words, even if there is a God, praying to that God won’t solve a human’s problem, but simply represents another form of attachment destined to cause suffering.
Ultimately, Buddhists believe that the question of whether God exists or not is irrelevant. The useful question is what practices can human beings undertake to reduce or eliminate suffering from their lives here and now.
The answer, according to Buddhists, is to have insight into the futility and suffering that is caused by attaching to anything as being me or mine. It is this insight alone that can result in the ultimate liberation and freedom from suffering every human should seek. The Buddhist, through meditation practice, comes to realize directly that the delusion of self causes him to attach to things as me or mine, when in reality there is nothing that should be considered as me or mine, because everything is subject to change. Attachment to anything that is subject to change ultimately leads to suffering when changes inevitably occur.
Interestingly, the core principle of virtually all religious traditions is the idea that self-centeredness and attachment to material existence is the primary problem. And all religious traditions suggests different practices to eliminate this self-centeredness.
Unfortunately, as humans we have twisted these religious traditions in such a way as to create another form of attachment, thereby, once again separating ourselves from other humans as well as the rest of the world, thereby, prepetuating our own suffering and the suffering of others.
