Question: I’m curious, how do you view The Buddha? What I mean is what do you consider him? A friend? A guide? A teacher? All of them, or none of them?
The amazing thing about Buddha is that he never claimed to be a God or some kind of deity. So yes, I, and the majority of all Buddhist, see Buddha as a guide, a Teacher. That was his life’s mission; to be a teacher, to guide us out of a life of suffering and Samsara.
Sometimes I get asked the question of why Buddhist bow when entering temples or at images or statues of Buddha. When we bow, we’re not bowing for Buddha – He isn’t here! He’s no longer in our world, or present with us, or living a life in Samsara. So we don’t bow to him. We bow to ourselves. To our own Buddha Nature. We bow to remind us that our Buddha Nature is there, it exist in all of us, in everyone, in every sentient being. We bow to be mindful of the Buddha’s Path that we live and practice in order to find liberation!
Smile and be well!