What is/are Gautama Buddha/ Buddhas to Buddhists?

[Pope_Noah_I]

I was reading recently that while Buddhists do not profess belief in an Almighty Creator God, they do believe in the Sangha, or Buddhas. So I was curious, what purpose do the Sangha serve for Buddhists? Can they aid you in the path towards enlightenment, or, beyond that, can they protect you or intervene in physical affairs? Also, what precedence does Siddhartha Gautama have among these other Buddhas? Is he the primary Buddha or just one among many, equal Sanghas?

 

[Champion_Havoc]

The buddhas taught us the way to free ourselves from suffering and practice the way to enlightenment.

There are many buddhas, but Gautama Buddha is one of the key buddhas that a lot of buddhists follows.

You can read more about him here.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gautama_Buddha

 

[Champion_Havoc]

As for “can they protect you or intervene in physical affairs”
It depends on situations. Most buddhists believe in karma and reincarnation. Your good and bad in past lives are brought forward to this life. So if it is a Karma,most of the time buddhas will not intervene.
It is just like,if you owe somebody $1000, you got to return it,right?

On the other hand,you can do more charity and good work and pray to buddha to lighten your karma.

The buddhas can protect us and intervene on a certain extent. But nothing is for free.
You got to “work” for it. (by doing charity and good work)

 

[mike7795]

I was reading recently that while Buddhists do not profess belief in an Almighty Creator God, they do believe in the Sangha, or Buddhas. So I was curious, what purpose do the Sangha serve for Buddhists? Can they aid you in the path towards enlightenment, or, beyond that, can they protect you or intervene in physical affairs? Also, what precedence does Siddhartha Gautama have among these other Buddhas? Is he the primary Buddha or just one among many, equal Sanghas?

Ultimately, Buddhists do not believe in God, because they don’t see a separate “self.” Enlightenment is realizing that you were/are never separate from God/Source/Universe.

As far as whether or not Buddhists believe in an enlightened being that can aid them in their own enlightenment, it is just like any other religion, including Christianity. Some are inclined to pray to Buddha/deities, while others take a less ritualistic approach.

Like Buddha said himself, “if you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.” I believe it was never his intention to be prayed to/worshipped, because that only reinforces the idea of a “someone” separate from everything else.

There is only “That”.