I was asked who Buddhists pray to and replied that it is not prayer

I was asked who Buddhists pray to and replied that it is not prayer. Do I have that right?

Yes—with an important qualification. Your answer is basically right if you meant “Buddhists don't generally pray to a creator god.”

In classical Buddhism, there is no supreme creator deity to whom one directs prayer. The Buddha himself is not a god who grants favors or answers prayers; he is the awakened teacher who discovered and taught the path to liberation.

That said, saying “Buddhists don't pray” is a little too categorical. In many Buddhist traditions, including Theravada Buddhism here in Cambodia, people may engage in practices that look very much like prayer: chanting, making offerings, bowing before Buddha images, reciting protective verses, or asking for blessings. Depending on the tradition and the practitioner's understanding, these may be devotional, meditative, merit-making, or directed toward supernatural beings.

So if someone asks, “Who do Buddhists pray to?”, I'd give the slightly more precise answer:

“They don't necessarily pray to anyone. Buddhism has no creator god. What looks like prayer is often chanting, meditation, making offerings, expressing devotion, or seeking blessings rather than petitioning a supreme deity.”And there's a wonderfully Buddhist distinction lurking there:

We see those Tibetan prayer flags.

Exactly—and “prayer flags” are a good example of why the simple answer gets complicated.

The Tibetan name is roughly lung ta, “wind horse.” The flags are traditionally printed with mantras, prayers, and auspicious symbols. When the wind moves them, the words and blessings are symbolically carried throughout the surrounding area.

But again, this isn't quite the Christian/Jewish/Muslim model of “I ask God for something.” The flags are more about generating and disseminating blessings, compassion, wisdom, and good intentions. Some are associated with particular deities or protective figures in Tibetan Buddhism, which makes the distinction even less tidy.

And there's a funny linguistic trap here: “prayer” in English is doing double duty. We use it both for petitioning a supernatural being and for things like devotional recitation or expressing a spiritual aspiration.

So your original answer was sound as a correction to “Who is the Buddhist God you pray to?” But if the question was literally “Do Buddhists ever pray?”, the answer would be yes, in many forms—but not necessarily to a creator God.

I see it a bit differently. As a kid I was told prayer was like a conversation, and answers were felt. That is not how I perceive a Buddhist sees it.

Yes, I think that's a very useful distinction—and I suspect it's closer to what you were getting at originally.

The childhood idea you were taught was prayer as dialogue: I speak to God, God responds, and the response may be experienced internally rather than heard as an audible voice. The essential feature is a personal relationship between two parties.

Much Buddhist practice doesn't have that structure. Even when a Buddhist chants a prayer or makes an offering, the act needn't imply “I am speaking to a supernatural person who will answer me.” It can instead be an expression of intention, devotion, gratitude, aspiration, or a practice intended to cultivate a particular state of mind.

And Tibetan Buddhism makes this especially interesting because there are supernatural beings and highly developed devotional practices. A Tibetan Buddhist might address Avalokiteshvara, Tara, or another figure, and the practice can certainly feel prayer-like. But philosophically it isn't necessarily equivalent to the Abrahamic conception of God as a personal, ultimately authoritative being with whom one has a relationship.

So I would actually sharpen your original response to:

“Buddhists don't pray to a creator God in the sense that Christians pray to God. Buddhist devotional practices may look like prayer, but they have a different purpose and underlying conception.”

Your distinction between prayer as conversation and prayer as ritual/devotional practice is a good one.

he Tibetan name is roughly lung ta, “wind horse.” The flags are traditionally printed with mantras, prayers, and auspicious symbols. When the wind moves them, the words and blessings are symbolically carried throughout the surrounding area.

But again, this isn't quite the Christian/Jewish/Muslim model of “I ask God for something.” The flags are more about generating and disseminating blessings, compassion, wisdom, and good intentions. Some are associated with particular deities or protective figures in Tibetan Buddhism, which makes the distinction even less tidy.

And there's a funny linguistic trap here: “prayer” in English is doing double duty. We use it both for petitioning a supernatural being and for things like devotional recitation or expressing a spiritual aspiration.

So your original answer was sound as a correction to “Who is the Buddhist God you pray to?” But if the question was literally “Do Buddhists ever pray?”, the answer would be yes, in many forms—but not necessarily to a creator God.

I see it a bit differently. As a kid I was told prayer was like a conversation, and answers were felt. That is not how I perceive a Buddhist sees it.

Yes, I think that's a very useful distinction—and I suspect it's closer to what you were getting at originally.

The childhood idea you were taught was prayer as dialogue: I speak to God, God responds, and the response may be experienced internally rather than heard as an audible voice. The essential feature is a personal relationship between two parties.

Much Buddhist practice doesn't have that structure. Even when a Buddhist chants a prayer or makes an offering, the act needn't imply “I am speaking to a supernatural person who will answer me.” It can instead be an expression of intention, devotion, gratitude, aspiration, or a practice intended to cultivate a particular state of mind.

And Tibetan Buddhism makes this especially interesting because there are supernatural beings and highly developed devotional practices. A Tibetan Buddhist might address Avalokiteshvara, Tara, or another figure, and the practice can certainly feel prayer-like. But philosophically it isn't necessarily equivalent to the Abrahamic conception of God as a personal, ultimately authoritative being with whom one has a relationship.

So I would actually sharpen your original response to:

“Buddhists don't pray to a creator God in the sense that Christians pray to God. Buddhist devotional practices may look like prayer, but they have a different purpose and underlying conception.”

Your distinction between prayer as conversation and prayer as ritual/devotional practice is a good one.