Article
Do Buddhists Believe in God? Is Buddhism a Religion?
The Buddha’s first sermon, in Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s translation, does not confess a creator. It teaches the end of further becoming. Christians confess the God who made the world.
On this page
The Buddha’s first sermon, in Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s translation, does not confess a creator. It names stress, craving, the cessation of craving, and the eightfold path, and it says there is no further becoming. Buddhism is a religion in the sense that this sermon gives a path and a goal. Christians confess the God who made the world, and that Jesus is God.
Key points
- SN 56.11 states the noble truth of stress and does not name a maker of the world.
- The same sermon says, “This is the last birth. There is now no further becoming.”
- Acts 17:24
God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
Acts 17:24 · King James Version says God made the world and all things in it. - John 1:1–31:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
1:2The same was in the beginning with God.
1:3All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
John 1:1–3 · King James Version says the Word was God and that all things were made by him. - What do Buddhists believe? quotes the four truths in full. Does God exist? is the Christian claim about God.
- The confession that Jesus is God is the deity of Christ.
What the sermon does not say
Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s SN 56.11 says:
Now this, monks, is the noble truth of stress: Birth is stressful, aging is stressful, death is stressful.
Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s SN 56.11
The origin it names is craving. The cessation it names is the fading of that craving. The way it names is the Noble Eightfold Path. The speaker’s knowledge is:
This is the last birth. There is now no further becoming.
Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s SN 56.11
Those sentences do not say “God created the heaven and the earth.” They do not deny a sentence they never utter. What they teach is release from further becoming. What do Buddhists believe? quotes the four truths at length. A long discourse about Brahma in another translator’s edition is not quoted here.
What the Bible says
Acts 17:24–2517:24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
17:25 Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
Acts 17:24–25 · King James Version (King James Version) says:
God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
Acts 17:24–25 · King James Version
Acts 17:28For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
Acts 17:28 · King James Version says, “For in him we live, and move, and have our being.” John 1:1–31:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
1:2 The same was in the beginning with God.
1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
John 1:1–3 · King James Version says the Word was with God and was God, and all things were made by him. John 14:6Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
John 14:6 · King James Version records Jesus: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
The Christian claim
The sermon quoted above offers the end of becoming. Paul in Athens tells the city that God made the world and does not need their service. Christians confess that this God is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and that the Son is Jesus. That is the Trinity. Calling Buddhism a religion, on this page, means it teaches a path and a goal from its own canon. It does not mean it confesses the God of Genesis 1:1In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Genesis 1:1 · King James Version.
Frequently asked questions
Is Buddhism a religion or a philosophy?
The sermon quoted here is scripture in the Pali Canon. It gives a diagnosis, a cause, a cessation, and a path. That is a religious teaching. It is not the Christian confession that God made the world.
Does the first sermon mention God?
In Thanissaro’s translation of SN 56.11, the four truths and the last-birth sentence do not name a creator. This page does not add a denial the sutta does not speak.
What do Christians say instead?
John 1:3All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
John 1:3 · King James Version says all things were made by the Word. John 3:16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
John 3:16 · King James Version says God gave his Son so that believers would have everlasting life, not the end of becoming only. Jesus is God.
References
- Samyutta Nikaya 56.11, Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu, The four noble truths (Access to Insight. CC BY-NC 4.0. Short quotation with a link to the full sutta.)
- Acts of the Apostles, 17:24–2817:24
God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
17:25Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
17:26And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
17:27That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
17:28For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
Acts 17:24–28 · King James Version. King James Version - Gospel of John, 1:1–31:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
1:2The same was in the beginning with God.
1:3All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
John 1:1–3 · King James Version. King James Version
See also
- What Do Buddhists Believe? — Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s translation of the Buddha’s first sermon states four noble truths: stress, its origin, its cessation, and the eightfold path.
- Do Muslims and Christians Worship the Same God? — Is Allah the same God? Muslims and Christians both confess one Creator, the God of Abraham. They do not confess the same account of who that God is: Christians say Jesus is God, and the Qur'an denies it.
- Does God exist? — Christians say everything that exists depends on God, who is not one more object inside the world, and they point to what has been made and to Jesus.
- The problem of evil — Scripture records the protest against suffering. Christians answer from the cross and the resurrection, and they do not itemize a reason for each horror.
- The Trinity — Christians confess that the one God is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit: not three gods, and not one person taking turns.