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We as Buddhists know that Gautama Buddha didn't believe in a Supreme Being or an universal soul. We also know that the Buddha criticised the Vedic/Astik shastras, rejected the Vedic religion and the Astik school of thought, and challenged the hegemony of the Brahmans. But what about the people who claim that the Buddha was actually preaching the "Sanatan Dharma" as he was an "avatar" of Vishnu?

The late S. Radhakrishnan, former President of India who was also a Brahman, claimed that the Buddha was actually preaching Hinduism: "Famous Indian Hindu scholars like the ex-President of India the late S. Radhakrishnan stated: 'The Buddha did not feel that he was announcing a new religion. He was born, grew up, and died a Hindu. He was restating with a new emphasis the ancient ideals of the Indo-Aryan civilization'" (2500 Years of Buddhism, 1971, Government of India)

While Babasaheb Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar, the Father of the Indian Constitution and one of the greatest Buddhist personalities of India, called this belief "sheer madness and false propaganda".

Hence how do I refute this claim that Gautama Buddha was an incarnation of the hindoo deity Vishnu?

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  • Check this question buddhism.stackexchange.com/questions/28302/…
    – user13135
    Commented Jul 23, 2018 at 8:38
  • I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it's not a Buddhist claim; and if it is a Hindu claim, then it's off-topic on this site.
    – ChrisW ♦
    Commented Jul 23, 2018 at 9:53

2 Answers 2

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Like @Friedrick say, just stay away from those useless arguments.

And remember one thing: the Dharma is not for arguing.

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  • Arguments are inevitable, running away from arguments and reasoning is not the Way of Buddha... we as Buddhists need to remove ignorance and bring facts for people to see
    – Supravat
    Commented Jul 23, 2018 at 8:25
  • @Supravat, " Buddhists need to remove ignorance and bring facts for people to see " it's also useless. If they keep arguing about dharma.
    – PL_Pathum
    Commented Jul 23, 2018 at 9:57
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The easy way:

Ask for scriptural evidence for the claim. There is no reference in any Hindoo scripture as an evidence to this.

The difficult way:

Show that it is not possible using Buddhist ideas of Annata.

Easiest way:

Stay away from these arguments. I know where this is coming from. This is not disprovable or provable no matter how much you argue.

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