Buddhism is the tradition that worships the jolly-looking fellow with the big belly, right?
For one thing, the fellow with the big belly isn’t the historical Buddha who taught in India over 2500 years ago. That figure was originally a depiction of a happy, enlightened monk whose image eventually became associated with the next Buddha who will appear in this world (Maitreya Buddha). For another, since Buddhism is a non-deistic tradition there is no concept of “worship” as it is generally understood by those whose cultures are grounded in the Abrahamic faith traditions such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam. We deeply venerate the Buddha for sharing his Wisdom and Compassion with us, but we do not worship him as a god because he wasn’t one, and he refused to be regarded as one – he was simply a human being who woke up to Ultimate Truth.
