What 'God' do nontheistic Buddhists pray to?

SEE VIDEO: (Buddha's Wisdom) If Buddhism has no God... who are they praying to?

If Buddhism has no God, who are Buddhists praying to?

(Buddha's Wisdom) 🔍 IF THERE'S NO BUDDHIST GOD, WHO GETS ALL THESE PRAYERS?

The Buddha with gods Sakka and Brahma

Buddhism famously teaches that there is no "creator God." Yet, Buddhist temples across Asia overflow with [what sounds like] prayers, chants, offerings, and devotion.

From bodhisattvas and buddhas to spirits, protectors, and ancestors, this video explores whom Buddhists are actually praying to—if anyone—and why [petitionary] prayer never disappeared from Buddhism.

Discover how Buddhist "prayer" works in the absence of a supreme deity and why this "godless" religion created one of the most elaborate spiritual support systems ever conceived.

• [NOTE: Theists are sure there's a God; atheists are sure there is not; agnostics say they do not know and remain on the fence. But nontheists are different. They say, "Whether there is a God or is not a God, we must still concern ourselves with our own enlightenment and liberation/salvation." No one else, not even "God," can do it for us. We must develop calm and insight, study and practice, to awaken from this illusory samsara or Wheel of Suffering and Rebirth.]

DISCOVER:

• Why Buddhism rejected [an all-powerful, all-knowing, omnipresent] creator God but preserved devotion
• Why [Mahayana] Buddhism has multiple buddhas instead of one God...and what each one specializes in
• The bodhisattvas who postponed enlightenment just to help all living beings (and millions pray to them daily)
• The terrifying wrathful protectors (guardian deities) who guard Buddhism with fangs and flames
• How Buddhism absorbed local spirits, gods, and ancestors without losing its core philosophy
• Why the three Buddhist schools (Theravāda, Mahāyāna, Vajrayāna) solve this paradox differently
• How this ancient system still explains modern meditation, ritual, and faith

📿 If this changed understanding of Buddhist devotion, subscribe to Buddha's Wisdom for more deep explorations into Buddhism's most fascinating mysteries and apparent contradictions.

TIMESTAMPS

• 00:00 If Buddhism has no God
• 01:31 The core confusion: No God yet prayer everywhere
• 06:50 Chapter 1: The Buddha specialists (Shakyamuni, Amitābha, Medicine Buddha, Guanyin)
• 14:55 Chapter 2: The Bodhisattva Help Desk—compassion incarnate
• 21:53 Chapter 3: Protectors, Gods, and spiritual security
• 27:40 Chapter 4: Where Buddhism meets local spirits and ancestors
• 34:48 Chapter 5: Human bridges—the power of dead masters
• 41:48 Chapter 6: Theravāda, Mahāyāna, Vajrayāna Buddhism — three different solutions
• 50:12 Chapter 7: How all the layers work together
• 54:45 Chapter 8: Why this still matters today
• 56:17 What 'prayer' really cultivates

📚 SOURCES AND FURTHER READING:

Primary Buddhist texts:

• The Pāli canon (Tipiṭaka) - the Buddha's final words on self-reliance
• Lotus Sutra (Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra) - foundation of bodhisattva devotion
• Pure Land Sutras (Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtras) - Amitābha Buddha and rebirth in [his western] Pure Land
• Tibetan Book of the Dead (Bardo Thödol) - death and intermediate states between lifetimes
• Platform Sutra - Zen Buddhism's approach to "sudden enlightenment"

Scholarly resources:

• Buddhism Without Beliefs by Stephen Batchelor
• The Bodhisattva Ideal in Buddhism by Sangharakshita  
• Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations by Paul Williams
• Tantric Buddhism in East Asia by Richard Payne
• The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism by Robert E. Buswell Jr. and Donald S. Lopez Jr.
• Popular Buddhism in Sri Lanka by Michael Ames (folk religion integration)
• The Cult of the Book of the Dead in Tibet by Bryan J. Cuevas

Academic articles:

• "The Concept of the Bodhisattva in Early Buddhism" - Buddhist Studies Review
• "Wrathful Deities in Vajrayana Buddhism" - Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies
• "Pure Land Buddhism in China" - Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies

Historical context:

• The Buddhist Conquest of China by Erik Zürcher (syncretism examples)
• Buddhism and Society in Thailand by Tambiah (spirit house integration)
• The Making of Buddhist Modernism by David McMahan

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• Buddha's Wisdom, Jan. 8, 2026; Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Happy B-Day, Krishna! (UFOs from Heaven)

Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells,  Seth Auberon, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; BBC

The dark lord, blue Krishna: krsna means black or dark (Reuters/BBC.com)

What will a public UFO landing display look like? There was that War Over LA. Albert Hall during the Ultimate Fighting Championship, London, 2002 (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images).

Robert Bingham (center) guides Los Angelenos to daylight UFO summonings and sightings.

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And this one's for patriarchy, Asherah!

Hindus believe that both the Buddha and Lord Krishna were earthly incarnations or avatars of the celestial god Vishnu.
 
India's great celestial goddess and god, Radha and Krishna, are the beloved ultimate couple.

Just as Yahweh (Jehovah, YHVH, one of the Old Testament gods of the Bible and, apparently, the only One that mattered) was once married to Asherah in Judeo-Christian tradition, Radha and Krishna are the immortals, space (akasha)-devas, who came to Earth to frolic.

Ancient Asherah bas-relief

Wait, wait, wait, and hold hold your horses! God had a wife? There is more than one God in the Jewish and Christian Bible? Yes, and yes. The whole sacred book tells of their, the plural gods' exploits on Earth, which scholars construe and misrepresent as a monotheistic -- "one god" -- text about only a single God speaking of Himself in the royal "We." But many kinds of celestial gods and space lords are referred to by name. Scholars who know better gloss this by saying, it's all names for one God. He likes lots of names and classes of names and to refer to himself always in the plural.

Birth then carried across the water in a basket reminiscent of Moses... In pictures: Hindus around the world celebrate Krishna's birthday, one of the most popular Hindu gods (BBC).

• The foundations of Hinduism: Brahminical Vedas

The Bible is much closer to the ancient myths (true and attested to accounts) of the Vedic Pantheon, Ancient Roman Gods, Ancient Greek Gods, and post-Vedic Buddhist cosmology. Buddhists do not worship these gods -- devas, gandharvas, apsaras, brahmas, asuras, nagas, garudas -- but they are well aware of them. And the Buddha taught that if one so wished and, moreover, undertook the appropriate courses of conduct (merit, profitable karma), one could be reborn among the devas. The devas are recollected (devatānussati) rather than worshipped for this reason.

Goddess Radha devi, the favorite consort of the lord: kids play dress up (AP/BBC.com)

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Radha the milkmaid (gopi) was already on Earth in a scene reminiscent of Western religious tradition, as the gods -- including the Cowherd avatar or Shepherd Krishna -- found the "daughters of men" attractive and came in unto them and bore with them hybrid-offspring, heroes of old, men of renown.
 

Janmashtami is Hindu Xmas in India, Lord Krishna's birthday commemoration. Krishna has risen in popular importance above all other incarnations and manifestations of the One God of the Brahmins Brahma (called "Great Brahma" or Maha Brahma in Buddhism).

• [There is something higher but it is not a personality, and it is Brahman, the Ultimate Reality behind the Illusion of Maya, Godhood, Godhead, GOD, realization and union. So we always distinguish: "gods" (devas, deities) from "Gods" (brahmas, divinities) from "GOD" in nontheistic Buddhism. Nontheism does not mean atheism, but rather denotes the fact that whether or not there are gods is not pertinent to enlightenment. Enlightenment transcends that discussion And whether or not their are creators (DNA splicers, cosmic magicians, manipulators of energy, mind/heart readers, powerful aggressors, peaceful enjoyers of the Brahma Viharas or "Divine Abidings"), there is no ultimate uncreated Creator God creator of all...unless one thinks of the impersonal GOD as that creator, but that is more a syncretic Hindu-Mahayana concept than anything the historical Buddha ever taught.]

How the Sumerians depicted the flying visitors from space on compact cylinders

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The Dogon of Mali, Africa

Whether it is Buddhism, Brahmanism (the pre-Buddhist Vedic teachings of the Brahmin-caste priests, later Hinduism, Mahayana Buddhism (a kind of Buddhism steeped in Hindu concepts), Jainism, Sumerianism (of Sumer, Mesopotamia, Iraq), Zoroastrianism, Judaism (Bedouins, Hebrews), Islam, early Christianity, or later Catholicism there are "gods" who came down from on high in space. At least that's where these beings said they were from They may have come from the hollow Earth, nearby Moon, the visible planets, or from the next solar system over, but they came. Even the Dogon know they came.

In Buddhism these "shining ones" (beings of light of varying radiance) are generally referred to as akasha-devas from the akasha-deva-loka or "space light beings world" to distinguish them from the earthling-devas (bhumattha-devas).

Playground of the devas

Recollect the Devas' Merit: Mediterranean Greece as the playground of the "gods" (D&G)

What UFO abductees can teach us

David M. Jacobs with George Boory (coasttocoast.com, Aug. 19, 2014)

Documented research

Prof. David M. Jacobs (ICAR, "International Center for Abduction Research," ufoabduction.com) has conducted decades-long research into the alien abduction phenomenon. He was on last night trying to explain his conclusions to a kind, half-witted host. Jacobs outlined his early interest in UFO sightings, how he focused on alien abductions after he met Budd Hopkins, and expressed his disappointment at how academic and scientific communities generally dismiss the subject of UFOs. There is, he feels, a preponderance of evidence to demonstrate their existence.
 

ET Semjase devi (theyfly.com)

From the beginning of human civilization ,aliens have shown an interest in human reproduction, he notes. UFO abduction incidents reveal this interest. The reason for this are their programs to create hybrids, he explains, describing an early case that Hopkins shared with him in which a woman was shown a baby that looked half-human, half-alien, and was asked by the aliens to hold and nurse the baby.

"They are making hybrids so that they can come down and be here," possibly to takeover this planet, he conjectured. Jacobs also mentioned the telepathic abilities of aliens: They can transfer and access data into and out of someone's mind.
 
He theorizes that hybrids are being created with a tremendous amount of information dumped into them by some insect-like ETs (praying mantis type), who seem to direct the hybrid program, not so much the reptilians (nagas) or Nordics (devas) or titans (asuras).


The show was rounded out by aerospace and defense systems developer Sir Charles Shults talking about his work on the technology of education, as well as various advancements and innovations in the fields of space exploration and AI (artificial intelligence). More

Buddhist Recollections (anussati)

Devanussati: recollection that devas ("shining ones," angels) were reborn in their superior state due to virtue and wholesome actions (karma).

Anussati (recollection, contemplation, reflection, or prolonged attention) literally means "constant mindfulness." There are eight anussatis. A ninth is kayagatasati and a tenth is mindfulness of respiration (anapasansati).

1. Buddhanussati — reflection on the Buddha as follows: “such indeed is that Exalted One --fully enlightened, endowed with wisdom and conduct, well-farer, knower of the worlds, an incomparable charioteer for the training of individuals, teacher of devas and human beings, omniscient and holy.”

2. Dhammanussati — reflection on the Dharma (doctrine) as follows: “well expounded is the doctrine by the Blessed One to realize by oneself, of immediate fruit, inviting investigation (ehi-passiko: inviting one to come and see) leading to nirvana, to be understood by the wise, each one for oneself.

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3. Sanghanussati — reflection on the virtues of the members of the Sangha. It runs as follows: “of good conduct is the Order of the [enlightened] disciples of the Blessed One; of upright conduct is the Order of the disciples of the Blessed One; of wise conduct is the Order of disciples of the Blessed One; of dutiful conduct is the Order of disciples of the Blessed One. Four pairs of persons constitute the eight individuals, the Order of the disciples of the Blessed One. They are worthy of offerings, worthy of hospitality, worthy of gifts, worthy of reverential salutation; the Order is an incomparable field merit for the world.”

4. Silanussati — reflection on the purification of one’s own conduct.

5. Caganussati — reflection on one’s own generous nature.

6. Devanussati — reflection on the fact that deities are born in their exalted states (earthly or celestial) on account of their virtues and skillful karma. I too possess such virtues and undertake such karma this endorsing of one’s faith in ones virtues is devanussati.

7. Upasamanussati — reflection on the attributes of nirvana.

8. Maranussati — reflection on the termination of psycho-physical life. Contemplation on death enables one to comprehend the fleeting nature of life. When one understands that death is certain and life uncertain, one tries to make the best use of it: One works for self-development and for the development of others instead of simply living to indulge in sensual pleasures.

9. Kayagatasati — reflection on impurity, namely, the 32 parts of the body: head hair, body hair, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, sinews, bones, marrow, kidneys, heart, liver, diaphragm, spleen, lungs, bowels, mesentery. stomach, feces, brain, bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, lymph, tears, grease, saliva, nasal, mucus, articular fluid, and urine.” This meditation on loathsomeness, done correctly without aversion, leads to dispassion.

10. Anapanasati — mindfulness of in-and-out breathing (respiration). Ana means inhalation, apana exhalation. This basic form of meditation may be practiced by anyone. It is what the Buddha was practicing, having already mastered the absorptions (jhanas), when he attained enlightenment.

• The Satipatthana Sutra ("Discourse on the fourfold Setting up of Mindfulness") and the Visuddhimagga ("Path of Purification") offer more details on each of these practices.