A Reflection on the Nature of God: Exploring Similarities in Buddhism and Quakerism
Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting
Megan Alderman
July 19, 2026
Psalm 139:1–10 (NLT): 1 O LORD, you have examined my heart
and know everything about me.
2 You know when I sit down or stand up.
You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
3 You see me when I travel
and when I rest at home.
You know everything I do.
4 You know what I am going to say
even before I say it, LORD.
5 You go before me and follow me.
You place your hand of blessing on my head.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too great for me to understand!
7 I can never escape from your Spirit!
I can never get away from your presence!
8 If I go up to heaven, you are there;
if I go down to the grave, you are there.
9 If I ride the wings of the morning,
if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
and your strength will support me.
Friends, good morning. Our VBS theme this year is Exploring the Nature of God, no small task, and it got me thinking about my own evolution of the concept of God. I grew up Catholic and thought I had to believe in a certain set of rules and perform certain rites and rituals to experience the Divine. I was to pray to a Father-like being who would consider my petitions if I did my Catholic duties the “right way”. In college, I was flailing a bit spiritually since I no longer found resonance in the Catholic tradition. I remember very clearly a professor and mentor telling me that I needed to let go of the God of my childhood to find my spiritual path. I found that advice incredibly freeing. During this period of exploration, I discovered yoga and the basic tenets of Buddhism, and they really struck a chord with me. I think part of the reason I became a Convinced Quaker is that so many of our practices as Friends overlap with Buddhist philosophy. I even describe Quakerism to my friends as Buddhist Christianity.
If you're okay with it, I'd like to focus a bit on this overlap with Friends and Buddhists, especially when contemplating the question: What do we mean by God, and how do we experience the Divine? By focusing on three themes: our dependence on silence, our Inner Light or the Buddha Nature, and our embrace of uncertainty. The obvious place to begin is the value both traditions place on silence for spiritual transformation. Buddhists use meditation and deep silence on their spiritual path to enlightenment. Quakers incorporate Centering Down with silence to give room for our Inner Light to speak. But I think if we dig deeper, it's not just the silence that connects us, but how both practices see silence as a direct connection to the Divine. We don't need intermediaries or rites to tap into that. How freeing! Freeing but also a bit of a call-out because this is an active process that requires a good degree of personal responsibility–because if we can directly access the Divine, then we better be doing it with some regularity. It's not enough to come to Meeting to "feel good" during silent worship and then return to our regularly scheduled life without taking time to connect with the Divine and letting that Inward Light guide our thoughts and actions.
I think Buddhists would agree with that conclusion, as the goal of Buddhism is an active journey towards spiritual enlightenment or bodhi (awakening). To achieve this, one must give up attachments to desires and material things, hatred and anger, and the delusion that we are all separate from each other. Doesn't sound too different from some of our SPICES, does it? Simplicity, peace, community, equality, they're all in there.
One of the central ideas in Quakerism is the belief that there is "that of God in everyone." George Fox described people coming into the Light that showed them both their darkness and their possibility. Many Buddhists would probably nod along with that, not because they would call it God, but because they would recognize the experience.
In Buddhism, there is the idea of the Buddha Nature, that beneath all our fear, ego, greed, and confusion is something fundamentally awake. Not something we earn or from something outside of ourselves. Something that has been there all along and is just waiting for us to wake up and pay attention. That sounds remarkably similar to how many Friends speak about the Inner Light.
A third similarity in our faith traditions is that we have the rare quality of embracing, dare I say encouraging, uncertainty. We believe that God is continually revealed to us, not a stagnant being from the Old Testament. Questions are given the green light–this is really quite rare in religious traditions if you think about it.
For example, if you ask 100 Quakers what God is, you're likely going to get 100 different answers. And that's OKAY, better than okay. Some Friends understand God personally. Some don't even like the word "God" because of past negative connotations. Some speak of Spirit. Some prefer Light, Love, Truth, or simply "the Sacred." Some identify as Christian, some as universalist, some as non-theist, and some are still figuring it out.
Buddhism similarly encourages investigation. The Buddha is said to have told his followers not to accept teachings simply because they came from tradition or authority, but to test them within our own daily lived experience. That doesn't mean "believe whatever you want or do whatever makes you feel good." It means remain teachable. Hold your convictions with humility. Expect that truth is larger than your current understanding. We live in a world that rewards certainty. Social media rewards certainty. Politics and the news reward certainty. But spiritual maturity probably looks a lot more like active curiosity–like listening, like being willing to say, "I may be wrong” or maybe, "I only see part of the picture."
Because maybe the question isn't whether God is a personal God or an aloof supernatural being sitting somewhere beyond the universe. Perhaps the better question is: What are people searching for when they use the word "God"?
The Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh once suggested that many people reject God not because they reject ultimate reality, but because they reject an outdated image of God. They reject a narrow version of God they've been taught that does not resonate with their personal experience. I find that deeply helpful and affirming. Maybe God is not an object within the universe or outside of it. Maybe God is the background Being (with a capital B) within our interconnectedness, the energy source from which compassion, truth, beauty, and love arise. Not separate from reality, but the deepest reality stripped to its most basic form. Some Christian theologians have spoken this way for centuries.
And suddenly Buddhism and Quakerism don't seem so far apart. Both traditions invite us to loosen our grip on the Ego. Quakers speak about yielding to the Spirit. Buddhists speak about letting go of attachment. Neither path is about becoming more important or worldly successful. Both are about becoming more faithful, or perhaps it's more accurate to say about becoming more awake. When we let go of the constant need to defend ourselves, to be right, to win every argument, something opens. We become better listeners, kinder neighbors, more courageous activists, a more peace-led people.
The philosophical foundations of Quakerism and Buddhism are different. But the practical result looks remarkably similar. Feed the hungry. Care for the sick. Work for peace. Tell the truth. Reduce suffering.Treat every person with dignity. Whether we call that following Christ, or expressing Buddha Nature, or answering the Inner Light, the results look the same. Jesus said we know a tree by its fruits–that feels like a helpful measurement, doesn’t it? Not asking whose theology is perfectly correct, but asking what kind of people our beliefs help us become. Do they make us more comfortable, more judging, more stagnant, more selfish? Or do they make us more loving, more humble, more courageous, more compassionate? If the answer is the latter, then we’re more likely moving towards Truth.
I'll close with a thought from the Quaker writer Thomas Kelly. He spoke of living from "the Light Within," allowing our outward lives to flow from an inward center. Whether we describe that center as God, the Inner Light, Buddha Nature, or simply the deepest truth of our existence, perhaps the invitation is the same: to become quiet enough to hear it. To become humble enough to follow it. And to become loving enough that others encounter something of that Light through us–by whatever name they’re most comfortable. May we continue seeking Truth together, not as people who have arrived at a spiritual destination, but as fellow travelers, learning from one another, listening deeply, and trusting that the Light is still shining.
Amen.
Reflection Queries
1. When I become still enough to listen beneath the noise of my thoughts, what do I encounter? Do I experience it as God, the Inner Light, Buddha Nature, Love, Truth, or something beyond words?
2. What attachment, certainty, or fear might I be holding onto that is keeping me from being more fully present to the Divine—or to the sacredness of this moment?
3. If there is truly "that of God in everyone," or if every person possesses Buddha Nature, how might that change the way I respond to the people I find most difficult to love this week?