A REVIEW OF THE GOD IDEA IN BUDDHISM

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Buddhism is a religion that was founded in the VI. century by Goutama Buddha. The main goal of the Goutama’s doctrine is the release of human beings from the pains and sufferings of life and the reaching of nirvana. While other religions claim that salvation is only possible by obedience to and worship of God, Buddha did not place any god in his system. Therefore Buddhism is considered by some researchers as an atheistic religion. However Buddhism doesn’t contain all the intellectual arguments typical of atheism. Although it did not have a god idea, at least in the period of its establishment, some schools of Buddhism have deified Buddha and a lot of other beings. Also Buddhism accepts a number of superhuman stages of existence as in theistic religions. Therefore while the Theravada school has atheistic features, the Mahayana sect has a polytheistic conception of God.

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Atheism , Polytheism , Nirvana , Theravada , Mahayana

Celal Bayar University Journal Of Social Sciences

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Celal Bayar University Journal Of Social Sciences