If we expect all religions to be theistic, then Buddhism might not quali fy as a
religion. The Buddha (that is, 'our' historic Buddha, Gautama) is not the equivalent
of the God of Western monotheism. Nor is the Buddha considered a prophet,
someone whose authority on spiritual matters derives from privileged access to God.
Gautama is seen as just an extremely intelligent and altruistic human being. Indeed
B uddhism explicitly denies that there is such a thing as the God recognized by
Western monotheism, that is, an etemal, all-powerful and all-perfect creator. To most