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What Is Prayer In Buddhism?
Dakini
Veteran
How is "prayer" defined in Buddhism? If the Buddha isn't a deity, to whom do monks and other practitioners pray? Does prayer necessarily involve praying to a deity or being? If not, how does prayer work in a non-theistic creed?
Is meditation a form of prayer? What does prayer mean to you?
(Thanks to Lady_Alison for a great idea for a thread topic.)
Is meditation a form of prayer? What does prayer mean to you?
(Thanks to Lady_Alison for a great idea for a thread topic.)
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There is a mantra from Medicine Buddha. Supposedly it can be used to cure diseases. (As a side remedy)
I had one interesting experience. One day on the bus, I had some random thoughts: "Bodhisattvas! why don't you show up physically in front of people so people can beleive in Buddhism?
When I got back home, and went to a Buddhism forum. The first post I saw provided the answer! The answer was quite long. Maybe I can do a quick translation tomorrow.
For me, prayer means a grand communication either externally or internally - it can have different purposes in different situations - sometimes to a deity, or an ancestor or to say the universe - usually it is asking for something.
I tend to lean towards thinking positively about people - if it helps bring them more positivity then great - more likely my conduct towards them will be positive as a result.
I guess I dont pray - I think and read and act... I've been in a few hairraising spots and I've found a sharper calm focus in these times rather than resorting to prayer - when I was younger I prayed - perhaps I've now converted this to writing poems and short stories...
I would be interested in hearing your story!
Namo Guan Shi Yin Pusa!
Namo Amituofo!
Namo Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva!
Where the hell do I start? Thanks dakini...inspiration hits her at midnight every few nights we bounce ideas off each other...hehehe, excellent!
Well, when I was young I though prayer was reciting a litany of memorized words in mass. Or crying and wailing on dark nights after something horrible had happened. Or simply words carried off into an empty room.
Very sad...crying into an empty room and not knowing if there is anything there that will hear you.
I use to write "dear God, are you there? It's me, Alison.."letters in form of diary entries...this at least became contemplative...it was a start.
It wasn't until many years that I began to read about Divine proportion in nature, geometry of nature, fractal geometry, the golden spiral and rectangles, Fibonacci in nature, phi ratio...on and on..I could go forever.
But I saw this beautiful pattern in nature and I was in awe about it. I knew that if there was a God, in essence, he really gave a shit about the shape of honey combs or the veins in petals...which means he gave a shit about me, our bodies also have this strange ratio...
For.example: our DNA measures 34 angstrom long by 21 angstrom wide for each full.cycle of its double helix spiral, both 34 and 21 are numbers in the Fibonacci series and their ratio is 1.6190476... closely approximates phi. Which is 1.6180339
Anyway, the point is that I no longer felt like I was talking to an empty room..what ever God is, he or she is holding this reality together so I'm not sure if you guys call that dharma...but realizing this gave me confidence...because whatever I did in life, it would be filled with the knowledge and gratitude I have for the being that created everything and left clues in nature for us to find.
The pursuit of any noble endeavour for.the betterment of mankind is action. Prayer is action. Good deeds is action. Any good that is sent out of you is prayer and action.
But even prayer can not be done without an action. In many ways, meditation is the perfection of prayer.
I find it funny that God did not give perfect prayer to his "chosen" people.
I'm glad he didn't.
Did I ramble? What was the question?
You like my avatar...Roman goddess Diana...also in may ways, s dakini
I can't translate the whole answer. Sorry.
The basis ideas:
The three bodies of the Buddha consist of Dharma-kaya (Truth body), Sambhoga-kaya (Enjoyment body), and Nirmana-kaya(Manifestation body). The person that called Siddhartha who became a Buddha is the Nirmana-kaya(Manifestation body) of Buddha. What regular human eyes can't see are the Dharma-kaya (Truth body), Sambhoga-kaya (Enjoyment body).
According AVATAMSAKA SUTRA, Buddhas have always been manifested in front of sentient beings according to the difference among the minds of sentient beings. They manifest in different forms/physical body and the wisdom is indifferent. They teach Dharma to sentient being without ever resting. Sentient being just don't know they're Buddha/Bodhisattva.
I'm learning :dunce:
Singing is prayer, dance, and yoga, too. Any healing art...medicine or massage therapy.
Idk.
I make prayers of aspiration to try to develop my motivation. I make prayers of homage to develop humility and gratitude.
If I'm honest I also make spontaneous prayers for personal benefit, like please let me win the lottery. :hrm: Intellectually I don't believe anything will come of these but for some reason I still do it from time to time.
I said.."You see, you hear, please help." .... then I left the museum and promptly pulled that rabbit out of that hat. Now, of course that was none other than this mind talking to this mind, and it is truly absurd. But hey, thanks just the same.
So in isolation 'we pray of the tradition' might only tell a part when there also is a whole.
Buddhism Connect: Email Teachings
Why do we die when we do?
Summary: The reasons why we die when we do are complex and we can't really know them. In any case it doesn't really matter, because all that is important is that we keep walking the path to awakening, and from that point of view it doesn't matter when one life ends and another begins.
A student asks:
What determines when I leave this physical body behind? Surely the real "I" would wish to stay until I have achieved enlightenment or is it a case of diminishing returns - when I have achieved as much as I can in this form something (what?) determines it is time to move on?
Lama Shenpen:
This raises complex questions. Lets keep it simple for now. Basically you are asking what causes us to die when we die. It might be because karmically the conditions that allowed us to manifest in this world at this time have exhausted themselves or it might simply be accident, something happened to cut our life short so we still have the karma to be born in this world for a while longer. In the latter case I suppose we would probably be reborn here again quite quickly.
In the other cases I don’t know… well I don’t know full stop.
From the point of view of the essence of our being all that matters is that we continue on the path to Awakening. It is not important whether it is in this life or the next. All we need is conditions conducive to Awakening. For a being who is freed from Karma and can choose where to be reborn and when to die their only consideration would be the welfare for beings and where they could be reborn to help beings the most. That is why we pray for Lamas to live long – to make our case that we need them and so please do not decide we don’t really benefit from your presence... we are really benefitting and asking you to stay... that is how we pray for teachers to live long.
Discover the Heart of Buddhism: sign up for Lama Shenpen's Distance Learning Course
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.
Also, the Buddha cannot transplant his knowledge into our being. He is like a doctor who diagnoses our illnesses and prescribes the cure that we must follow through personal responsibility. If a patient does not take the prescribed medicine or follow the advice, the doctor cannot help, no matter how strong his medicines or excellent his skill. If we take the medicine of Dharma as prescribed and follow the Buddha’s advice, we will easily cure ourselves of the diseases of ignorance, attachment and the other obstacles to liberation and omniscience. To turn to the Dharma but then not practice it is to be like a patient burdened by a huge bag of medicine while not taking any. Therefore the Buddha said, “I have provided the medicine. It is up to you to take it.”
Even if it's just daily affirmations...or saying yes, to whatever is.