Buddhism as lived practice is full of supernatural agents despite nontheistic theology

Evidence

Some have singled out Buddhism as a world religion without supernatural beings. Granted, these “nontheistic” belief-systems reject personifying the divine. However, these assertions confuse theological dogma with “natural religion” as lived by adherents every day. Angels and devils are legion in Buddhist worship. Buddhist monks ritually ward off malevolent deities by invoking benevolent ones, and common folk deify Buddha contrary to theological teachings (Pyysiäinen, 2003). In India, Nepal, China, Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam, there are magic mountains and forests that are infused with Buddha’s powers, and the folklore of every Buddhist tradition recounts supernatural events surrounding the Buddha and the Buddhas (Atran and Norenzayan, 2004). — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 649

Categorization

• DEFINE: Distinguishes ‘theological dogma’ from ‘natural religion as lived’ — a definitional anchor for why watchers/agents (not just gods) pervade real religious practice.