Is it possible to be a Buddhist and believe in God?
Buddhism is not a religion of cognitive faith for the most partcognitive faith being the acceptance of doctrines and views as true, or the existence of particular entities or states of being, without actual experience. Buddhism is an experiential religion, one in which the practices are used to their ends, discarded if not needed or after having filled their purpose. This is not to say that Buddhism is without faith: quite the opposite. Faith in the Buddhist sense is trust in the benefits of practice: trust in the possibility of Enlightenment, trust that Enlightenment does actually represent the ideal of sentient existence, trust in the teachers who dispense the Dharma. Buddhist faith is affective faithtrust, or acceptance that a particular course of action will help achieve a specified outcome. The core teaching of the Dharmapratitya-samutpada, or dependent originationutterly negates even the possibility for an eternal, creator God. If the teaching of pratitya-samutpada is truly appli
