Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.
Abandoning negative thoughts has nothing to do with praying.
The act of praying WILL NOT abandon wrong views.
The act of praying commonly understood can prevent the arising of unskill thoughts if you are lucky. That is why I come to the conclusion that the Buddha never encourage praying maybe I'm wrong. I've got to read the Kamala Sutta.
Considering this statement as disrespectful is prevalent in an oppressed society.
While prayer may not have a direct relationship with abandoning negative thoughts and actions, it is most definitely a skillful means towards cultivating a mindset and way of life condusive to such an abandoning. Prayer is no magical formula to zap away negativity, I do agree with you there. But to say that it cannot help some people along the path to enlightment is to be disrespectful to them. There were, after all, 84,000 teachings taught by the Buddha for the benifit of beings.
In my tradition prayer involves several things. We do three prostrations signifying the three gates or three aggregates, which are the body, the speech and the mind. At an esoteric level they also signify the identification of the student with the three bodies of the Buddha: Dharmakaya, the sambhogakaya and the nirmanakaya. We invoke and take refuge in the Buddhas; the Dharma; and the Sangha which inlcudes the enlightened beings like the Buddhas, bodhisattvas, yodams or tutelary deities, cho-kyongs or dharma protectors, dakas and dakhinis or celestial beings, nagas or wisdom beings and other dharmapalas or guardians of the Dharma.
These offerings to the deities and the three Jewels can be followed by the Bodhisattva vows, mantras, mandala offerings, and the prayer of Guru Rinpoche and other prayers. After this the practicioner can practice meditation. The prayers are concluded by rejoicing in the deeds and merit of others, requesting the Buddhas to teach and not enter in parinirvana. Dedications of the merit accumulated by us as a result of these prayers are then dedicated to all sentient beings.
Comments
While prayer may not have a direct relationship with abandoning negative thoughts and actions, it is most definitely a skillful means towards cultivating a mindset and way of life condusive to such an abandoning. Prayer is no magical formula to zap away negativity, I do agree with you there. But to say that it cannot help some people along the path to enlightment is to be disrespectful to them. There were, after all, 84,000 teachings taught by the Buddha for the benifit of beings.
In my tradition prayer involves several things. We do three prostrations signifying the three gates or three aggregates, which are the body, the speech and the mind. At an esoteric level they also signify the identification of the student with the three bodies of the Buddha: Dharmakaya, the sambhogakaya and the nirmanakaya. We invoke and take refuge in the Buddhas; the Dharma; and the Sangha which inlcudes the enlightened beings like the Buddhas, bodhisattvas, yodams or tutelary deities, cho-kyongs or dharma protectors, dakas and dakhinis or celestial beings, nagas or wisdom beings and other dharmapalas or guardians of the Dharma.
These offerings to the deities and the three Jewels can be followed by the Bodhisattva vows, mantras, mandala offerings, and the prayer of Guru Rinpoche and other prayers. After this the practicioner can practice meditation. The prayers are concluded by rejoicing in the deeds and merit of others, requesting the Buddhas to teach and not enter in parinirvana. Dedications of the merit accumulated by us as a result of these prayers are then dedicated to all sentient beings.
Keith
keith