It is first of all necessary to establish what is meant by the term “God”. This term is used to designate a Supreme Being endowed with the qualities of omnipotence and omniscience, which is the creator of the universe with all its contents, and the chief lawgiver for humans. God is generally considered as being concerned with the welfare of his human creatures, and the ultimate salvation of those who follow his dictates. God is therefore a person of some kind, and the question whether such an entity exists or not is fundamental to all theistic systems.
In contrast to this notion of a personal God some modern theologians have interpreted the term “God” as representing some kind of abstract principle of good. This view was first developed in the ancient Indian Upanishads where God is equated with an abstract principle, the Brahman. The ancient Indian philosophers could entertain such a view because they also had a theory of karma, which really does away with the need for a personal God. Buddhists too have a theory of karma, which is different from that of the Hindus, and which even more unequivocally dispenses with the need for a deity.
The use of the term “God’ to denote an abstract reality by monotheistic theologians who have no theory of karma is difficult to justify, consequently this is merely a device to explain away the contradictions that arise from the notion of a personal God. In fact the actual practice of theistic religion proceeds as if God is a real person of some kind or other. Buddhism Buddhist gods Buddhism has 33 Gods the most potent one of them all is Indra. It is Buddhist beliefs that the gods and spirits are with us persistently. The mountain Meru can be compared with mount Olympus of the Greek gods.
Buddhists believe that on top of this sacred mountain are the 33 gods with Indra as their principal. Buddhism primary principal is moral strength and exercises. It is concluded in three regions. The first is the principles of lust, which belongs to the realm of animals, humans and various divine essences. The realm of the gods consists of six levels, which are the liberation of material desires. The subsequent region compromises entities that are born in the dominion of the Braham gods liberated from lust and wishes, they constitute a term of embodiment.
They divide in four stages which seventeen levels represents the degree of emancipation the spirit has reached. The last region is where mater has ceased to exist, the third and infinite Nirvana. A ceasing that does not characterize obliteration, but an absence of matter and place. The Buddhist perception of a divine entity Buddhism has been described as a very pragmatic religion. It does not indulge in metaphysical speculation about first causes; there is no theology, no worship of a deity or deification of the Buddha. Buddhism takes a very straightforward look at our human condition; nothing is based on wishful thinking, at all.
Everything that the Buddha taught was based on his own observations of the way things are. Everything that he taught can be verified by our own observation of the way things are. The Buddha pointed out that no God or priest nor any other kind of being has the power to interfere in the working out of someone else’s Karma. Buddhism, therefore, teaches the individual to take full responsibility for himself. For example, if you want to be wealthy then be trustworthy, diligent and parsimonious, or if you want to live in a heaven realm then always be kind to others.
There is no God to plead for or to ask favours from, Buddhists sees it as there was no corruption possible in the workings of Karma. Do Buddhists believe that a Supreme Being created the universe? Buddhists would first ask which universe do you mean? This present universe, from the moment of the ‘big bang’ up to now, it is but one among countless millions in Buddhist cosmology. The Buddha gave an estimate of the age of a single universe-cycle of around 37,000 million years that is quite plausible when compared to modern astrophysics.
After one universe- cycle ends another begins, again and again, according to impersonal law. A Creator God is redundant in this scheme. No being is a Supreme Saviour, according to the Buddha, because whether God, human, animal or whatever, all are subject to the Law of Karma. Even the Buddha had no power to save. He could only point out the Truth so that the wise could see it for themselves. Everyone must take responsibility for his or her own future well being, and it is dangerous to give that responsibility to another.
The Buddha argues that the three most commonly given attributes of God, omnipotence, omniscience and benevolence towards humanity cannot all be mutually compatible with the existential fact of dukkha, which is the “argument from evil” which in the Buddhist sense could be stated as the argument from dukkha, suffering or unsatisfactory. The Buddha did not encourage speculation on the existence of Iswara, among his disciples. He wanted them to confine themselves to what was within their field of awareness, that is, to understand the causes of suffering and work for its mitigation.
He preached that the individual was a product of ignorance and an illusion that were responsible for all the suffering and evil. He therefore urged his disciples to become aware of the various aspects of their individual personalities and work for Nirvana, which was, but the total extinction of this individuality and cessation of all becoming and changing. From the enlightened to a supreme being Gradually the concept of God, as contrasted with the Absolute, began to appear in Buddhism. Its sources are back in the early days of this differentiation of the followers of the Lesser Road and the Greater Road.
It was among the latter division of Buddhism that the dual conception of God and the Absolute finally matured. Step by step, century by century, the God concept has evolved until, with the teachings of Ryonin, Honen Shonin, and Shinran in Japan, this concept finally came to fruit in the belief in Amida Buddha. Hinduism Brahman Brahman is the central theme of all the Hinduisms believes. Brahman is the indescribable, inexhaustible, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, rudimentary, eternal and absolute principle who is without a beginning and without an end. He is not like the other gods either.
He is incomprehensible even to almost all the gods. Brahman is not adulated in the temples and other places of worship but in one’s heart and mind as the in dweller of the material body. He could also be described as a pantheistic God. That is why we do not see any temples or forms of ritualistic worship existing for Brahman either at present or in the past. We only hear of fire sacrifice, later to be called Nachiketa fire. Perhaps the sacrifice was more a meditative or spiritual practice involving the sacrifice of soul consciousness than of ritual worship.
Whatever it is, the fact is that Brahman of the Upanishads is more appealing to the seekers of Truth and Knowledge than seekers of material gains. Even during the Islamic rule when the principles of monotheism challenged the very foundations of Hinduism, Brahman was never brought into the glare of public debate to challenge the invading and overwhelming ideas of the monotheistic foreign theology. Brahma Brahma is one of Hinduism many deities. He is depicted as the rudimentary creator. Among his creations are the Universe, animals, plants and man. He is depicted as an entity with four arms, the four arms symbolises the four cardinal points.
In his four hands the Brahma is carrying an item, each with its own representation. The jar containing water symbolises the source of life, since water is the spring of all living. A spoon, which epitomizes the sacrifices, conducted during worship. In one of his arms there is a lotus flower, it denotes the Universe, humanity and purity. There are also illustrations of him portrayed with the four books of Veda in his hands. Brahma also has a vessel, the goose, which is significant for wisdom. Another characteristic that separates Brahma from the other deities are that he has four heads.
There is a legend concerning the acquirement of Brahma’s four heads. When the first woman was created she was carved out of his own body. Her beauty immediately enchanted the supernal, but she resisted and hid from Brahma. To be able to have supervision over his beautiful creation he acquired himself three new heads. In present time Brahma is seen as inconsequential God and the extent of his worship is greatly less than it has once been. There are very few shines dedicated to him. His wife, Sarasvati, is the goddess of wisdom and learning. Many, especially the students or the brahmacharis of the Vedic schools, worship the celestial entity.
