One of the biggest fallacies lies in Mahayana Buddhism where, after the Buddha passes away—and seemingly into Nirvana—he somehow continues to exist! Elaborate rituals, prayers to Buddha, and strains of localized indigenous beliefs in Southeast Asia for example, created a syncretic version of Buddhism where he is God in a “Hinduized” heaven (svarga) with a retinue of boddhisattvas.

The cosmologizing and deification of the Buddha is contrary to his original message, but often exists where Buddhism became the dominant religion following Hinduism. In Cambodia, for example, the Buddha is considered the 10th emanation of Vishnu and taught even the gods how to escape Samsara during his lifetime; in this cosmology, the Buddha was a god, is the god of gods, and continues to be a god post mortem as a natural extension and validation of existing Hindu religious traditions.