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3.13.2 The Historical Buddha
A Human Endeavor
Among the founders of the great religions of the world, Buddha was the principal instructor who did not claim to be another typical person. The distinctive teachers were God or simply inspired by God. However, the Buddha was an immaculate human being who came to be seen in a religion definitely meant to be superhuman. Man's position, as Buddhism shows, is supreme. Man is his particular teacher, and there is no being or superior control that judges his destiny. If the Buddha should be known as a "savior" by any creative effort, it is simply in the sense that the Lord Budhha has discovered and shown the way to an opportunity, for Nirvana. It is with this level of individual responsibility that the Buddha offers an opportunity for his disciples. This change of thought is exceptional in the history of religion and is necessary because, as the Buddha demonstrated, man's freedom depends only on the affirmation of truth, and not on the merciful magnificence of a God or an external power as a reward for his submission to behavior (Cunningham, 1963).
