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If the Buddha was not a God, Then why Do people pay Respect to him?
What is not Buddha? There was a time where I removed the small Buddha statue I had in my meditation space and instead had a small bowl. Once every few days I would go outside with this bowl and collect something outside (a pebble, rainwater, dirt, a small pine cone, snow, a leaf, etc.) and place that in my meditation space and would bow to that. (currently I have a statue of Kannon)
Taiyaki says it best I think. For myself, bowing takes place in the context of emptiness: What I bow to is not something or someone outside of oneself-- such boundaries are nominal only, seen from a conventional perspective. Ultimately however, there is no "inside" or "outside." The bow in a way, is an act that acknowledges this insight (even when one hasn't fully realised it).
If the words spoken by the Buddha do provide instructions which, when practiced correctly they lead to the elimination of all suffering and all the roots of suffering, why would one not pay respect to the symbol (the Buddha) associated with those words?
In my country they build giant monuments to leaders who have done something allegedly noble within the sphere of governance (Mt. Rushmore contains the faces of 4 American leaders chiseled into a large rock face, for example, and there are other huge monuments, such as the Washington and Lincoln monument/memorial, respectively); is why any of them accomplished even a fraction as great as what the Buddha accomplished? Solving some political and military problems vs. solving the problem of existence. So...yes, I venerate the Buddha; the Buddha is no god to me. I'm simply very grateful to have his words available for me to implement in my spiritual practice.
It is from a sutta, a king when to see Buddha and he could not tell which one amongst the monks was Buddha. Sorry, cant remember which sutta.
I remember reading the sutta I believe you are referring to, but I remember it differently. As I recall, The Buddha was visiting a king and together they were watching a parade, which included a procession of monks. The King asked the Buddha if he could tell just by looking at the monks which ones were enlightened and which were not. The Buddha responded that it is difficult to gauge such things without spending a great deal of time getting to know the monks. The King, who had obviously hoped to fool the Buddha, admitted that the monks were not real monks but royal spies. The Buddha admonished him for his deception, but the lesson I took from this is that we shouldn't rush to judgment and that things are not always as they may first appear.
Imagine a line of sheep wandering round and round a thicket of bushes in the middle of a field.
Why? Because the sheep could not see to the other side of the bushes, they keep walking around in a circle attempting to break out. The sheep were walking in an unbroken circle just one following after another. A farmer saw what happened, took hold of a sheep and pulled it out, breaking the line. Without the farmer the sheep would still be wandering without end.
We are like the sheep. The thicket of bushes represent samsara and the farmer is the Buddha.
We are all conditioned creatures doing what we were programmed to do. Without the Buddha there is no way we can break free from samsara.
Nice metaphor @pegembara. Although to slightly modify, it's improbable that we'd break free without the Buddha (rather than "no way"). There are the rare cases of individuals who awaken without first being Buddhists (or knowing the Buddha's teachings), and this of course includes the Buddha himself as well as "Private Buddhas". That doesn't mean the awakened mind reaches full liberation necessarily, but some stage along the way at least.
The sheep only reacting to what is in their path, what they experience, is aptly put. We are all caught in causal streams of conditioning, from which the only escape is an experiential awakening to the reality of mind and all phenomena. Hearing/reading the teachings of the Buddha is a great experience that can help direct the mind toward an awakened state. That mind, then directing itself toward that state consciously, can reach unbinding through its own efforts.
Because he was DA' BOMB :om: :bowdown: :rockon: Seriously though, if coming from countries that were traditionally Buddhist, you see anything from paying respect to downright worship. You have a Buddhism that has mixed with cultures and their own religious traditions, you can have many different outcomes. People turn their sages into God, look what happened with Jesus. But as far as my belief goes, he was a man that I have great respect for. All the best, Todd
Comments
A deep bow to you, and to the Buddha in all of us.
Taiyaki says it best I think. For myself, bowing takes place in the context of emptiness: What I bow to is not something or someone outside of oneself-- such boundaries are nominal only, seen from a conventional perspective. Ultimately however, there is no "inside" or "outside." The bow in a way, is an act that acknowledges this insight (even when one hasn't fully realised it).
In my country they build giant monuments to leaders who have done something allegedly noble within the sphere of governance (Mt. Rushmore contains the faces of 4 American leaders chiseled into a large rock face, for example, and there are other huge monuments, such as the Washington and Lincoln monument/memorial, respectively); is why any of them accomplished even a fraction as great as what the Buddha accomplished? Solving some political and military problems vs. solving the problem of existence. So...yes, I venerate the Buddha; the Buddha is no god to me. I'm simply very grateful to have his words available for me to implement in my spiritual practice.
(I don't mean I worship statues of the Buddha or anything like that)
Alan
Why?
Because the sheep could not see to the other side of the bushes, they keep walking around in a circle attempting to break out. The sheep were walking in an unbroken circle just one following after another. A farmer saw what happened, took hold of a sheep and pulled it out, breaking the line. Without the farmer the sheep would still be wandering without end.
We are like the sheep. The thicket of bushes represent samsara and the farmer is the Buddha.
We are all conditioned creatures doing what we were programmed to do. Without the Buddha there is no way we can break free from samsara.
The sheep only reacting to what is in their path, what they experience, is aptly put. We are all caught in causal streams of conditioning, from which the only escape is an experiential awakening to the reality of mind and all phenomena. Hearing/reading the teachings of the Buddha is a great experience that can help direct the mind toward an awakened state. That mind, then directing itself toward that state consciously, can reach unbinding through its own efforts.
:buck: