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The purpose of worship (prostrations, adoration to Buddha) and Christian Jealous God
shanyin
Novice YoginSault Ontario Veteran
Since the opinions on the question of is worshiping idols bad will ultimately come down to whether the belief in this 'Abrahamic Christian God' is there.. I want to ask this question.
Could a Buddhist avoid and possibly sacrifice worship from his practice and still reach enlightenment for the sake of his idea that there is a jealous creator God? My feeling is that since one of the things that happens in a stage of enlightenment is the forsaking of attachment to rituals it seems possible. I have a certain faith in the 'Abrahamic' Godhead. I will probly not read posts about my believe and the logic behind it and may even challenge you by pointing out that the Buddha performed miracles himself which seems to be no evidence and such. Anyways I will stop muddying this up and provoke the opposite.
PS/ALSO... What do you find is the purpose of the prostrations and adorations of the Buddha and such? Don't worry about giving to large an answer because the answer could get large I suppose.
Thank you in advance.
Could a Buddhist avoid and possibly sacrifice worship from his practice and still reach enlightenment for the sake of his idea that there is a jealous creator God? My feeling is that since one of the things that happens in a stage of enlightenment is the forsaking of attachment to rituals it seems possible. I have a certain faith in the 'Abrahamic' Godhead. I will probly not read posts about my believe and the logic behind it and may even challenge you by pointing out that the Buddha performed miracles himself which seems to be no evidence and such. Anyways I will stop muddying this up and provoke the opposite.
PS/ALSO... What do you find is the purpose of the prostrations and adorations of the Buddha and such? Don't worry about giving to large an answer because the answer could get large I suppose.
Thank you in advance.
0
Comments
Ultimately, the question of whether God exists or not, is immaterial. It's of no consequence whether a God exists or not.
Why should it matter?
A Buddhist has to release his desire and clinging, and this would include everything.
That's your choice.
Whatever helps your practice, keep it.
Whatever hinders your practice, lay it aside.
In time, that which you thought useless may be useful to you.
In time, that which you thought useful, will be useless to you.
Yes, best to not provoke off-topic discussion, so let's not discuss this aspect.
Good idea.
People do not hold the Buddha as a deity. Buddha is not a God. But we have reverence and respect for him and his teachings. Prostrations are also an exercise in self-discipline and focussed devotion to our Buddhist calling, and are merit-worthy. Not all traditions practise prostrations and so this would only be a pertinent question to those which do.
I remember we had a christian pupil in our martial art class who refused to bow to the teacher; "I bow only before god" :eek:
Bowing puts us out of our comfort zone because we lower our eyes, we can't see who is around us and what they are doing. It can make us feel vulnerable. This is our ego screeming out!
So, bowing makes you feel more humble, creates a more gentle character, and can help lessen our ego. I enjoy bowing, doesn't matter who it's to
In gassho (bow)
Nios.
The villagers are poor. Poor things :-(. And they really worship the head of the Ong Bak, believing it will bring rain to the village or something. (by the way I loooved the movie ehehehe).
So it got me thinking whether or not people out there worship Buddhas like they worship Gods.
I think that part of the reason the Buddha never answered questions on the existence of God or whether or not he believed in God, is because it's not going to help us attain merit, good karma or a beneficial rebirth if we do. I was raised a Catholic and saw many "armchair Catholics" going to church on a Sunday and being publically humble. Then they'd spend the next six days being not very nice to all and sundry. In Buddhist terms, their negative deeds far ouweighed their positive deeds so their belief in God didn't matter because they were sowing negative karma for their next rebirth.
Oh, and for the record, I am believer in Gods as well as Buddhism.
Respectfully,
Raven
No figure clothed in glory can draw me out,
But I am rather trapped and small
until I can see withal
A greater light that beckons me
towards truth and liberty.
Behold, from my dingy cell I see
A better part of my destiny
Is not to ask who put me here
But rather how I may see myself clear
To find the path to leave baggage behind
and set my hope on pure Buddha's mind.
In course of which I may succeed
May fail or may fail to see I've greater need.
No matter, I'll push on, God or No,
until the goal is reached. And then so,
if there be no God I shall not mourn.
If God there be, I'll him embrace and not be torn.
Sincerely,
Nirvy
I really like your question, as it brings so much western context into the practice. I find it best to look at what was being taught, rather than what was being said. Otherwise you lose the context the words had when they were said. It might simply be regarded as "don't idol worship"... but when I hear it, I hear "don't set aside compassion for the sake of ritual" and/or "don't empower objects" etc etc... another step in unifying the social structure to a stable, singular view that would let a community come together in a time of great chaos.
For your practice, you might find rituals happening as you dive more deeply into the everyday. Walking, making a cup of tea. I don't think it matter who, what or how you prostrate...to a buddha statue or a biblical vision... what matters is developing a sense of humility. Everything else is really just a name or an interpretation.
As far as prostrations go, for one it is a way to show great respect to the Buddha, bodhisattva's and for some, their teacher. One shows their great respect and reverence for these beings who through their great compassion have helped to guide sentient beings from their suffering and the ocean of Samsara. Prostrations are also a way of "surrendering" some of our pride and ego, in recognizing that we are like "sick patients", and the Buddha's teachings are the "medicine" that can cure us of our "disease", and help us to overcome our ignorance. Prostrating is often part of "taking refuge" in the three jewels, and thus we are physically bowing down, paying humble respect, and surrendering ourselves to the teachings that can lead us to our goal.
It is helpful to understand that one can just go through the motions of doing prostrations, or any other practices, but the key thing is the motivation. Without a proper motivation these kind of things are no more than just physical exercise. With the proper motivation , it can help to improve one's devotion to the three jewels, lower one's pride and arrogance and can help to accumulate positive merit.
M
:viking: Mankind is a religious animal . People rightly require philosophic underpins to their 'moral judgments'. Religion has always been about 'man' in service to the God (or gods). The evidence for this is replete within most of mankind's sacred txts. Quite the curve-ball to pay little attention to the subject of "the gods"
_______
If a man would hasten towards the good, he should keep his thought away from evil; if a man does what is good slothfully, his mind delights in evil.
It could be considered directly a part of the generosity paramita which is distinguished from ordinary generosity in the emptiness of giver and receiver.