Buddhist Hierarchy

Christians often might say, "How can Buddhism be a religion if it doesn't believe in God?"

And one might answer, "It is a philosophic system of enlightenment based upon Compassion and the permanent cessation of suffering of all beings in the universe."

And a Christian might say, "What?" rightly so.

And this is why Christians to this day often say, "Buddhism is not a religion but only a philosophy."

However, I don't think this is actually very useful to say this.

First of all, there are many more differences between Buddhist sects than there are between Christian sects.

And Second, most people who are Christian are not considering Buddhist Hierarchy. I can't speak for all Buddhist sects for example, but I have studied with many Tibetan Lamas and learned about Tibetan Buddhism. So, first they taught me about Vajrasattva and Nyema which I consider the God and Goddess of the physical Universe. So, Vajrasattva and Nyema are Mother Father God to my conception of the physical universe because Vajrasattva literally means "Diamond or Lightning Vow"
and this vow is to remain in physical existence and evolve no further until all sentience in the Physical universe is permanently beyond all suffering and has gone to bliss. From my point of view the very existence of Vajrasattva and Nyema in some ways proves a Physical God in Buddhism. But, it is true that to Tibetan Buddhists, Vajrasattva and Nyema are Buddhas and not Gods. So, from this perspective it all sort of becomes semantical and enters into a cultural discontinuity which then takes us back to why Christians don't consider Buddhism to be a religion.

Then we come back to a more basic level and we have beings like Tara whose equivalent in Christianity would likely be Mary, the Mother of Jesus because Tara is the mother of all the Buddhas of all Time and Space past, present and future. And there are 21 Taras. When they are all seen as one Tara together she is Green Tara. But they all have their own names when the 21 Taras are spoken of or prayed to individually. For example, I was also given White Tara which is a long life extension of life practice so one can be in a "Leisure to Practice" state where one can pray a lot of the time and manifest Siddhis to help all sentient life to Bliss and the end of Suffering by various means including becoming a Buddha like a King to help all beings in the past, present and future of the universe.

There are also other Buddhas that one can pray to for help like Maha Kala who is a Protector Bear Tibetan Buddhist Diety who helps protect one's traveling tents and homes wherever they are. Also, there is Manjushri who is the Buddha of Wisdom.  And of course there is Avaloketesvara who manifests on Earth as the Dalai Lama whose mantra is "OM Mani Padma Hung". Avaloketesvara is the Buddha of Compassion.