Buddhist Theists vs Buddhist Atheists

Buddhist Theists vs Buddhist Atheists Jul 28, 2018 2:45:17 GMT

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Post by Aj_June on Jul 28, 2018 2:45:17 GMT

Jul 28, 2018 2:39:58 GMT clusium said:

Jul 28, 2018 2:32:51 GMT Aj_June said:

Theistic Buddhists usually do not recognise that they are theistic except for the followers of Jodo Shinshu school, who proudly say that they theistic. Bastasch on old boards was an American Buddhist of Jodo Shinshu school and called himself a theist.

Almost all Buddhists in traditional Buddhist countries like Bhutan, Tibet, Sri Lanka, Thailand etc are in some way theistic because they believe in deities such as Goddess Tara, God Amitabha or some other deities which have their own heaven. But those Buddhists claim that because none of these deities are creator gods so believing in them does not make them theists.

On Quora there is a Buddhist monk from Japan, who says that Buddhism is polytheistic, contrary to what Western Buddhists claim.

In my tour of Bhutan (which is a Buddhist kingdom) I saw that Buddhists had very strong faith in Buddhist deities and in early morning as well as evening most of them would visit temples and offer prayers to Goddess Tara and other deities. That is theistic in my book. Worshipping many deities does not necessarily mean being polytheistic if those who believe in different deities ultimately believe that there is only one highest truth (state of nirvana).