Mahabrahma

In many Buddhist Suttas/Sutras, Mahabrahma pays visit to the Buddha. In the 13th-century version of Journey to the West, Sun Wukong's precursor flies Tang Sanzang and his retinue to heaven to meet Mahabrahma, where the monk impresses the devas with his lecture on the Lotus Sutra.

Mahabrahma with other notable brahmas are revered by Buddhists around the world. One can find statues of Mahabrahma in many Buddhist temples. Various temples like Erawan Shrine in Thailand are dedicated to Mahabrahma.

Misconstrued as the Creator of the world

Buddhism is a religion that does not include the belief in a creator deity or any eternal divine personal being. Buddhism assumes that the universe has no ultimate beginning to it, and thus sees no need for a creator God. Buddhist texts posit that deities such as Mahabrahma are misconstrued as creators. During the Vivartakalpa, a deity from Abhassara plane was reborn in the Mahabrahma plane, as many living beings forget about their past life; this too happened with the Mahabrahma, and being unaware of the above planes of existence, he felt alone. He longed for the presence of others. After some time, many other deities from the above planes were also reborn in those Brahma planes, as his ministers and companions. Seeing this happen, he falsely believed himself to be their creator. This belief, states the Buddhist texts, was then shared by other deities. Eventually, however, one of the deities died and was reborn as a human. Through meditation, he got the power to remember his previous life. He went on to teach what he remembered from his previous life in the lower heaven, that Mahabrahma was the creator of the universe. This teaching led to the widespread human belief in a creator god, according to the Pali Canon.