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Should Buddhist wear amulets?
footiam
Veteran
Some Buddhists wear amulets. Do Buddhist believe in their powers?
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Now that's not a real-life situation, but wouldn't they have done research into cultural/traditional beliefs of some Buddhist country for that? They wouldn't have just thrown that together with nothing to back it up. I remember being amazed.
The best way of benefiting self and others is to practice the Dhamma.
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When people ask about them I do have plenty of background to explain them though, so that's something else that is nice. To have a story about the amulet you wear. It gives it more substance, and might make you come across as more interesting lol.
So yes I feel amulets are cool, but I only wear them if I think they look good.
Buddha said prescribing charms are the lowest kind of activity.
Buddha forbade his monks from these activities.
In many Asian countries, the amulet business is very lucrative.
Some sell for $50,000 bcos they have superpowers.
But the meaning is what you give it, and like everything, it can be good or bad depending on how you use it.
If we regard an amulet as an aid to practice, like a statue, then I think nobody would object much. If we claim it has miraculous powers of its own, that would be a misunderstanding of the function of providing us with a mental connection to a Buddha who can indeed help us.
serious practicing people try to keep the 8 precepts
1 Not to kill.
2 Not to steal.
3 Not to engage in sexual intercourse.
4 Not to speak lies.
5 Not to take intoxicants.
6 Not to eat food between noon and the following dawn.
7 Not to sing, dance or watch entertainments, and not to use ornaments, cosmetics or perfumes.
8 Not to sit or lie on a large or high seat or bed.
So even if you are not into it now, no need to adopt it for future challenges. Cool is good, but we need to understand that fevered is not cool. *smile*
Keeping those precepts makes no difference to whether someone wears an amulet or not. They are, in any case, monastic as they ask for celibacy. You claim that only monastics are 'serious practising people'?
I do find that sex whilst wearing a heavy amulet is certainly inadvisable. LOL
But for sure, nobody would ask us "Wohh, what is that, why to you wear that?" "Well I am a Buddhist... and ..." "Cool! Can you teach me that?"
*smile*
They may temporarily keep those you quote, but only for limited periods.
Again, I say, not relevant.
Vowing is maybe something different as to simply keep precepts.
Regarding the relevance if you read some posts could be a different as to response to your quote:
"So yes I feel amulets are cool, but I only wear them if I think they look good."
"It's a pretty blue and because lapis is the colour of Medicine Buddha, whenever I look at my necklace, it reminds me."
Maybe you understand the idea of "not to use ornaments, cosmetics or perfumes" and to decorate one self from a trainings aspect.
*smile*
Buddhas advices are very simply stuff, but not easy to keep simple because of our "I" is so dea, I-dea
I guess he died already. If he was an arahat already, he is no more present and if he was not, he could be one of them which you are talking about the amulet. That is even with a "good" reason the problem with attachments and things not realy necessary.
Worship of things not existing and death is not good to develop right view.
*smile*
So one can easily make a reminder by not wearing the amulet of somebody who told that non attachment need to be attained.
Reminder are good *smile*
11. Banner Protection (Dhajagga Paritta [1])
"....Whether in forest or at foot of tree, Or in some secluded spot, O monks, Do call to mind that Buddha Supreme; Then will there be no fear to you at all. ii. If you think not of the Buddha, O monks, That Lord of the world and Chief of men, Then do think, O monks, of that Dhamma; So well preached and leading to Nibbana. iii. If you think not of the Dhamma, O monks Well preached and leading to Nibbana; Then do think, O monks, of that Sangha, That wonderful field of merit to all. iv. To those recalling the Buddha supreme, To those recalling the Dhamma sublime, And to those recalling the Sangha, No fear, no terror will make them quiver."
One is a concept that serves as a means of protection through recalling some object or idea (Buddha, Dharma, Sangha); the other is an actual object that one relies on for protection. If you say that one requires some understanding of the precise liberative qualities, personal qualities, gnosis, teaching qualities, etc. I'd say that, in the moment when one experiences fear and goes for refuge none of that figures in the equation, at least for most people; they're just looking for protection. Om Mani Padme Hung is no different, either. It might have profound qualities if you parse each syllable and reflect on each element as being symbolic of some quality we wish to develop through practicing the dharma but---does anyone really think that Tibetans nomads (if there are any left now) traveling on narrow tracks above deep river gorges are doing that when they recite that mantra?
Going to a place for refuge means just that; you feel threatened, afraid, and you think that some object has the power to quench that fear. While going for refuge is a profound and ultimately necessary act (how can one practice the dhamma/dharma with great vigor and intensity without actually believing that it works), going to it impulsively, intstinctively, in moments of fear, indecision, trepidation, frustration, and the like is all the same, amulet, mantra, taking refuge. It's just a way of diffusing fear or imagining you'll gain some advantage thereby, samsaric or perhaps a way out of samsara. But you still have to do all the work yourself; you walk your path alone no matter how many Buddhas you can visualize or propitiate.
We have to seek refuge in the attributes. The more material this things are, the more we tend to even materialistic spirituality.
In Zen they even use the extrema "If you see a Buddha kill him" (what should be not misunderstood - it means to kill/destroy the preconception of Buddha that might arise).
We don't need to go through material helps as they easy guide us to ideas and away from reality. If we loose this material help-tools or if they are offended by others, we would suffer immediately. Why? Because we are attached to something that is not real.
Walking the way of Dhamma means to turn our attention toward inside and what ever turns it outside is our enemy. *smile*
I have an amulet I got from a temple which I wear most days, why do I wear it? I wear it because sometimes I need reminding of the buddha (I do not mean the prince who became enlightened, I am referring to buddha-nature).
Read here for more information on SUDS.
"Should" a Buddhist wear amulets?
What business is it of anybody else's what anybody does or doesn't do?
Whether a person should - or shouldn't - do something, isn't our concern. We can only evaluate our own mental, verbal and physical actions. What others choose they should or should not do, is up to them.
Some feel they should, some feel they shouldn't. Their reasoning is personal.
Besides, it depends what precisely is meant by amulet.
I practice Theravada, but wear a mala, and recite mantras.
So...?
"Should" I or "Shouldn't" I?
Up to me, really - isn't it?
In metta,
Raven