Atheism and Devotion in Buddhism

Atheism and Devotion in Buddhism - By Barbara O'Brien, About.com Guide

If atheism is the absence of belief in gods, then many Buddhists are, indeed, atheists.

Buddhism is not about either believing or not believing in God or gods. Rather, the historical Buddha taught that believing in gods was not useful for those seeking to realize enlightenment. In other words, God is

unnecessary in Buddhism. For this reason, Buddhism is more accurately called nontheistic than atheistic.

The Buddha also plainly said that he was not a god, but "awakened." Yet throughout Asia it is common to find people praying to the Buddha or to the many clearly mythical figures that populate Buddhist iconography. Pilgrims flock to stupas that are said to hold relics of the Buddha. Some schools of Buddhism are deeply devotional. Even in the nondevotional schools, such as Theravada or Zen, there are rituals that involve bowing and offering food, flowers and incense to a Buddha figure on an altar.

Philosophy or Religion?

Some in the West dismiss these devotional and worshipful aspects of Buddhism as corruptions of the original teachings of the Buddha. For example, Sam Harris, a self-identified atheist who has expressed admiration for Buddhism, has said Buddhism should be taken away from Buddhists. Buddhism would be so much better, Harris wrote, if it could be cleansed of the "naive, petitionary, and superstitious" trappings of religion altogether.

I have addressed the question of whether Buddhism is a philosophy or a religion elsewhere. I argue that it is both philosophy and religion, and the whole "philosophy versus religion" argument amounts to shoving Buddhism into ill-fitting conceptual packaging. But what about the "naïve, petitionary, and superstitious" trappings? Are these corruptions of the Buddha's teachings? Sometimes, perhaps, they are, but sometimes they aren't. Understanding the difference requires looking deeply beneath the surface of Buddhist teaching and practice.

Not Believing in Beliefs

It's not just belief in gods that are irrelevant to Buddhism. Beliefs play a different role in Buddhism than in many other religions.

Buddhism is a path to "waking up," or being enlightened, to a reality that is not consciously perceived by most of us. In most schools of Buddhism it is understood that enlightenment and nirvana cannot be conceptualized or explained with words. They must be intimately experienced to be understood. Merely "believing in" enlightenment and nirvana is pointless.

In Buddhism, all doctrines are provisional and are judged by their skillfulness. The Sanskrit word for this is upaya, or "skillful means." Any doctrine or practice that enables realization is a upaya. Whether the doctrine is factual or not is not the point.

The Role of Devotion

No gods, no beliefs, yet Buddhism encourages devotion. How can that be?

The Buddha taught that the biggest barrier to realization is the notion that "I" am a permanent, integral, autonomous entity. It is by seeing through the delusion of ego that realization blooms. Devotion is a upaya for breaking the bonds of ego.

For this reason, the Buddha taught his disciples to cultivate devotional and reverential habits of mind. Thus, devotion is not a "corruption" of Buddhism, but an expression of it.

Of course, devotion requires an object. To what is the Buddhist devoted? This is a question that may be clarified and re-clarified and answered in different ways at different times as one's understanding of the teachings deepens.

If Buddha was not a god, why bow to Buddha-figures? One might bow just to show gratitude for the Buddha's life and practice. But the Buddha figure also represents enlightenment itself and the unconditioned nature of all things.

In the Zen monastery where I first learned about Buddhism, the monks liked to point to the Buddha on the altar and say, "That's you up there. When you bow, you are bowing to yourself." What did they mean? How do you understand it? Who are you? Where do you find the self? Working with those questions is not a corruption of Buddhism; it is Buddhism.

See also the essay "Devotionin Buddhism" by Nyanaponika Thera.