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Praying to the Buddha
betaboy
Veteran
Namaste,
Since Buddha/enlightened beings must exist on some level, is it possible that they hear our prayers, help us in some way?
BB
Since Buddha/enlightened beings must exist on some level, is it possible that they hear our prayers, help us in some way?
BB
0
Comments
The Buddha may be enlightened, but that neither makes him immortal or special, or able to answer prayers.
When you pray TO the Buddha, it's just like asking an absent neighbour to watch your house.
You have to really safeguard your house yourself, because much as he'd like to help, stuff like that is up to you........
Buddha aka Siddhartha Gautama was a man, much as Jesus was a man. They could no more answer prayers than a ladybug could, or even you for that matter.
Worship of anything does not manifest good or bad, it's just a gesture, so why not just spend that energy on meditation,looking within, and finding your own answers? @MindGate, care to jump in on this one?
Also in the refuge to the triple gem, buddha is one that we take refuge in. In the mahayana this is interpreted that the awakened ones are available to us in some mysterious way. It is outside of time and physical space since those properties are reducible to constructs and are dukkha when relied upon.
Keep in mind that the buddha and the bodhisattvas are empty of inherent nature. Thus their actions are always sensitive responses to the situation. Sometimes the appropriate action isn't what one would expect.
Finally there is no boundary to your mind which is not a mental fabrication. The boundaries between beings including buddhas is mysterious and has no dimensions since those are also reducible to constructs and dukkha when relied upon. Beings are distinct and separable yet at the same time they all share the thing in common that they are empty of any inherent nature. Thus they are not of the nature of suffering which is illusory. If suffering were existent as something permanent that has a fixed nature which was capable of pinning down then sentient beings would also be Self in the sense which would contradict anhata or non-self. Thus suffering and beings are ungraspable.
Praying to a Bodhisattva, or a Buddha, will result in the same affect as praying to Shiva, or Allah, or Yahweh, or Saturn. A prayer is simply like a positive affirmation which affects your mind-state, but has no supernatural powers which affect the outside world. Of course, some people believe that is does have supernatural powers, and then again, people also believe in unicorns, dragons, ghosts, alien visitors, Jesus being God, reincarnation, divination, astrology, magic, etc.
When the Buddha (Siddhartha Guatama) died, he died. How would he be able to hear your prayers and supernaturally intervene in our mundane lives from beyond the grave? I have no clue, and I choose not to believe so. Yet, some people do believe this. Mainly it is the Mahayana tradition, but not all Mahayana Buddhists tend to believe this. People can believe whatever they want, though. It doesn't really affect me.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studies_on_intercessory_prayer
UNPROFITABLE QUESTIONS
Should anyone say that he does not wish to lead the holy life under the Blessed One, unless the Blessed One first tells him, whether the world is eternal or temporal, finite or infinite; whether the life principle is identical to the body or something different; whether the Perfect One continues after death, and so on --such a man would die, ere the Perfect One could tell him all this.
It is as if a man were pierced by a poisoned arrow, and his friends, companions, or near relations, should send for a surgeon; but that man should say: "I will not have this arrow pulled out, until I know who the man is that has wounded me: whether he is a noble, a priest, a citizen, or a servant"; or "what his name is, and to what family he belongs"; or "whether he is tall, or short, or of medium height." Verily, such a man would die, ere he could adequately learn all this.
Therefore, the man who seeks his own welfare, should pull out this arrow -- this arrow of lamentation, pain, and sorrow.
--
I don't know what the answer "no" is based on and I don't know what the answer "yes" is based on. I recommend finding a teacher. Some people have claimed (I know of one) of seeing Buddha's and Bodhisattva's and through my own experience it's hard for me to doubt.
I was told myself about praying and being helped by Avalokiteshvara from a Chinese Mahayana tradition and Tibetans also pray to Buddha's/Bodhisattva's.
I recommend finding a teacher to inquire about it if you will still be interested.
Are they "wrong?" Why do the monks "permit" it?
"There are two types of prayer. I think prayer is, for the most
part, simply reminders in your daily practice. So, the verses look
like prayers, but are actually reminders of how to speak, how to deal
with other problems, other people, things like that in daily life.
For example, in my own daily practice, prayer, if I am leisurely,
takes about four hours. Quite long. For the most part, I think my
practice is reviewing: compassion, forgiveness, and, of course,
shunyata. Then, in my case, the tantric practices including
visualization of death and rebirth. In my daily practice, the deity
mandala, deity yoga, and the visualization of death, rebirth, and
intermediate state is done eight times. So, eight times death is
eight times rebirth. I am supposed to be preparing for my death.
When actual death comes, whether I will succeed or not, still, I
don't know.
"Then, some portion of prayer is to appeal to Buddha. Although we do
not consider Buddha as a Creator, at the same time we consider Buddha
as a higher being who purified himself. So he has special energy,
infinite energy or power. In certain ways, then, in this type of
prayer, the appeal to Buddha can be seen as similar to the appeal to
God as the Creator."-- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, from 'Healing
Anger: The Power of Patience from a Buddhist Perspective', published
by Snow Lion Publications.
Q. What is the role of prayer in Buddhism? Does Buddhism believe in prayer, and if so, since Buddhists don’t believe in a God, to whom do they pray?
Geshe Sopa: In Buddhism, prayer means some kind of wish, an aspiration to have something good occur. In this sense, a prayer is a verbal wish. The prayers of buddhas and bodhisattvas are mental and have great power. Buddhas and bodhisattvas have equal love and compassion for all sentient beings and their prayers are to benefit all sentient beings. Therefore, when we pray to them for help or guidance they have the power to influence us.
As well as these considerations, prayer produces a certain kind of buddha-result. Praying does not mean that personally you don’t have to practice yourself; that you just leave everything to Buddha. It’s not like that. The buddhas have to do something and we have to do something. The buddhas cannot wash away our stains with water, like washing clothing. The root of misery and suffering cannot be extracted like a thorn from the foot—the buddhas can only show us how to pull out the thorn; the hand that pulls it out must be our own.
(Courtesy of Lama Yeshe Wisdome Archive; transcribed from teachings at Tushita in 1980; published in various sources incl. Teachings from Tibet)
But what of the people who pray to Buddhas/Bodhisattvas in a concessionary way (like many - but not all - Judeo-Christians tend to do)? It could reinforce their faith, but wouldn't it be a form of delusion/desiring?
I could be looking at this from a totally different (i.e. agnostic) angle though.
We don't always get what we pray for and if we understand that from the beginning then praying for 'things' is less a problem.