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The picture is not of the Buddha. That’s a picture of Budai, who was a Buddhist monk and has a variety of religious traditions and worship associated with him. Fat Buddha =|= the Buddha.
Some varieties of Buddhism are nontheistic, but not all varieties. There’s the “little wheel” versus the “big wheel.” Some varieties of Buddhism have hundreds of gods.
Edit:
I do see someone that looks like “the Buddha” in the background - that is, Siddhartha Gautama.
But the idea that Buddhism is some rational atheist philosophy is very much a western gloss. Friend did a study abroad in Myanmar - the Buddha is so revered that having tattoos/casual iconography is sacrilegious and dangerous. A very popular form of Buddhism is “Pure Land” Buddhism, where the goal is to not necessarily reach nirvana, but to be good enough to get to chill in a nice place with the gods in your next life. Buddhist traditions tend to recognize their gods as trapped in samsara just as much as we are, but again, lay practice is going to treat various Buddhas as Demi-gods.
And icon to contemplate is very different than a god to worship.
Budai/Hotai is worshipped though. He’s not treated as an “icon to contemplate” - in some traditions he’s even considered a messianic figure (the Maitreya Buddha) himself. That’s why there are statues and shrines.
You are reading a lot of western understandings of religion into practices that are not western. The Alan Watts style of Buddhism is not the style of Buddhism that is practiced by the majority of Buddhists.
Okay buddy
Have you read a sutra? Can you distinguish Chan Buddhism from Zen Buddhism? Can you identify any of the Buddhist hells?
I’d recommend some of my books from grad school, but this video is a good short overview of the topic.
My guy, you’re only digging yourself deeper
Bro, I literally have taken a graduate religious historiography class and I’m citing sources - if you want, later tonight I can give you a ton of more academic sources. Arguing that Buddhism is nontheistic indicates a serious lack of understanding of Buddhism.