The Buddha was not an atheist.

For anyone who cares, the Buddha was not an atheist.

Read the Nirvana Sutra, where the Buddha continuously uses the phrases

Pure, Eternal, Truth, Bliss, Self, to describe Nirvana.

Whenever the Buddha denies something, he always denies it to mean that it is not the Soul. So if you point to a body in question, and ask if the body has real existence, he will say that while the body exists it is not the soul. He doesn't define the true nature of the body, only says it is not the Soul.

So the study of Buddhism should make it quite clear that there is an eternal Soul and not just an empirical body.

The body is made up of primarily five categories

Form
Feelings
Perceptions
Experience
Consciousness

What this means is that consciousness is also a finite, empirical level of the body. This means that the empirical consciousness must be denied. However, this does not imply nihilism, which people thought about Buddhism when they first defined Nirvana as "Extinction" and it also does not imply Atheism which people have defined Buddhism as when they imply that the Buddha did not believe in a Soul.

Instead, the Nirvana that the Buddha obtains, after countless lifetimes, and now will finally end the cycle of births and deaths, does in fact exist, but it takes an omniscient type of mind to realize that everything in nature is finite and impermanent, and thus subject to suffering. Whereas the only thing that is free from suffering is the Bliss of Nirvana.

Yes, his beliefs were more centralized on not so much the physical heaven but the mental one, the notion that the soul could be in Nirvana while still living in various forms.

His way of life and thinking should be an inspiration to us all.

Truth be told I am a Taoist, though I do know greatness when I see it, and admire anyone who teaches that we are the key to our enlightenment.

[edit on 19-1-2010 by Occy Anonymous]

daoism is the real secret (:

Read the Diamond Sutra and you will notices him talking about "not not".

“They are also like a man who seeks emptiness. Racing east and west he says, ‘I want emptiness! I want emptiness!’ That man merely says the name of emptiness; he does not perceive emptiness. Those bhikùus are also like that. Desiring to attain nirvàõa, they practice in the midst of nirvàõa and do not attain it. For what reason? Nirvàõa is merely a name, and just like emptiness which is merely a name, it cannot be obtained.Ÿ

Diamond Sutra