As I mentioned in my thread on what Baha'is believe about Jesus, Baha'is also believe that the Buddha was a Manifestation of God.
"Wait a minute, the Buddha? A Manifestation of God? But I thought Buddhists were atheists!" you say.
And most modern Buddhists are. But something you need to remember is that Prince Sidhartha (the Buddha) was a Hindu before He achieved enlightenment, which means that He was a theist.
"Well, He changed His mind," you respond.
Maybe. Maybe not. You see, we have no actual record of the Buddha's words. Everything we have now is actually oral history written down a long time after the Buddha died. So where it claims He taught atheism or agnosticism, we really have no way of knowing whether that is true or not.
But more importantly, it doesn't matter. You see, the theism that existed at the time of the Buddha wasn't exactly what is commonly practiced now. The Gods (plural, because Hindus are polytheists (or maybe not. More on that later) were basically treated as just really powerful people, with their own shortcomings. If the Buddha taught against that (taught atheism) it doesn't contradict the existence of an Unknowable in Essence, Unseen, God. In fact, the way Baha'is look at God would almost be atheistic in comparison to the personalized deities the Hindus worshipped.
So, it is still possible that the Buddha taught atheism and was a Manifestation of the Unknowable God. And that's who Baha'is believe He was.
We believe that Hinduism was/is also a religion of God, and that it had fallen from the proper path. So the Buddha came to renew religion, true religion (the dharma). Hinduism had become too complex, so He taught a simpler way. A Middle Path. He taught His followers to seek enlightenment for themselves, and not to blindly take His or anyone else's word for anything (Baha'is call this independent investigation of truth, and it is a central concept in our Faith).
Over time, His movement spread across India, to China, Tibet, Japan, Korea, Judea (there were actually Hindus and Buddhists in Judea while Jesus was there. He probably knew a few!), and eventually around the world!
As with Christ prophesying His return, the Buddha made a prophecy about the coming of another Buddha, Maitreya. Baha'is believe that Baha'u'llah is Maitreya, just as He is Christ returned.
"Wait a minute, the Buddha? A Manifestation of God? But I thought Buddhists were atheists!" you say.
And most modern Buddhists are. But something you need to remember is that Prince Sidhartha (the Buddha) was a Hindu before He achieved enlightenment, which means that He was a theist.
"Well, He changed His mind," you respond.
Maybe. Maybe not. You see, we have no actual record of the Buddha's words. Everything we have now is actually oral history written down a long time after the Buddha died. So where it claims He taught atheism or agnosticism, we really have no way of knowing whether that is true or not.
But more importantly, it doesn't matter. You see, the theism that existed at the time of the Buddha wasn't exactly what is commonly practiced now. The Gods (plural, because Hindus are polytheists (or maybe not. More on that later) were basically treated as just really powerful people, with their own shortcomings. If the Buddha taught against that (taught atheism) it doesn't contradict the existence of an Unknowable in Essence, Unseen, God. In fact, the way Baha'is look at God would almost be atheistic in comparison to the personalized deities the Hindus worshipped.
So, it is still possible that the Buddha taught atheism and was a Manifestation of the Unknowable God. And that's who Baha'is believe He was.
We believe that Hinduism was/is also a religion of God, and that it had fallen from the proper path. So the Buddha came to renew religion, true religion (the dharma). Hinduism had become too complex, so He taught a simpler way. A Middle Path. He taught His followers to seek enlightenment for themselves, and not to blindly take His or anyone else's word for anything (Baha'is call this independent investigation of truth, and it is a central concept in our Faith).
Over time, His movement spread across India, to China, Tibet, Japan, Korea, Judea (there were actually Hindus and Buddhists in Judea while Jesus was there. He probably knew a few!), and eventually around the world!
As with Christ prophesying His return, the Buddha made a prophecy about the coming of another Buddha, Maitreya. Baha'is believe that Baha'u'llah is Maitreya, just as He is Christ returned.