The Aukana Buddha statue which stands over 42 feet high
was sculpted in the 5th century CE. Buddha's right hand
is raised in the sign of giving a blessing.
Can such worship be reconciled with the cognitive position that the Buddha is dead and powerless to help? yes certainly--it can and it is. Such offerings raise not only the question of the ontological status of the Buddha, with which we are here concerned, but also connected problems concerning 'prayer' and concerning ethics.
Ask any monk and the cognitive position is quite clear: no offering, no flowers, no recital of verses has any intrinsic merit; it is the thought that counts. The Buddhist ethic in an ethic of intention; and the doctrine is consistent on this point. We may accept this, but question whether the intention in offering flowers or food is not to receive some favour in return. The answer is no.
What then is the intention? There are two ways of answering this. The first is to say that there is no further intention: the thought itself, the emotion on the mind of the worshipper, if it is pure, makes for what we might translate as spiritual development which is furthered by the earnest aspiration to achieve nirvana which should accompany the offering. This answer is doctrinally orthodox and clear. The other answer might be to say that there is an intention to acquire merit. For my present purpose it suffices to note that all answers come down to talk of pure thoughts, and emphatically deny that the Buddha is seen or considered as a god, still alive or powerful.