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Do you pray?
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As for Buddhism, there's no external being to pray to there either. I can understand those that pray in a non-traditional way that's more to the inner-Buddha and not supplication to an external being or force, though this too may be construed as creating a separation that isn't there... as if the Buddha mind is something locked away inside the suffering mind. Nothing wrong with it, and if it works for those who employ it that's all that matters.
Namaste
I suppose we can pray to ourselves especially when you think that most of the time, prayers are not answered.
For those of us who believe the nature of the mind can effect as well as be effected by puja, it is not strange. We pray for blessing - giving and receiving. We pray for inspiration and alignment with archetypal representations of purified mind streams, Bodhisattvas if you will.
Mantra is a ritual purification and enactment of right speech.
Deity practice in vajrayana enables the symbolic creation and visualisation of ourself as an enlightened being, which we allow to enter or possess our consciousness.
Weird. I just noticed how old this thread is. Why did it pop up at the top of the forum today?????
Many years ago Dan Rather was interviewing Mother Teresa. “When you pray”, asked Rather, “what do you say to God?” “I don’t say anything,” she replied. “I listen.” Rather tried another tack. “Well, okay… when God speaks to you, then, what does He say?” “He doesn’t say anything. He listens.”
May all beings be free of suffering.
A prayer or a wish, take your pick. Right intention non the less.
Before I 'became' a Buddhist, I used to pray all of the time and was very spiritual. I was heavily into energy healing and all things new age.
One day back around 2001, I was sitting in my ex's father's store. They were talking about whether or not to sell the business or keep investing money into it. They owned both the business AND the building in which the business resided (this is important to note for later on.) They were thinking of doing a lot of construction and totally transforming the place so it would become more inviting and bring in more customers.
So, after talking for a while, they turned to me and asked me for my opinion. Back then I had huge faith in 'God." I wasn't religious, but rather I was very "spiritual." I always prayed.
So, without batting an eyelash, I looked at them and said, "Well, whenever I am in doubt, I pray about it. So let me ask God."
I looked towards the sky as I folded my hands and said something like, "Dear God, [my ex and his father's names] are conflicted on what to do with this store. Should they sell it, or continue to put money into fixing it and keep it? Please give us a sign." (I would rarely ask for signs unless it was an important matter... and when I'd ask, I'd always get a response.)
I kid you not, within 2 minutes of saying this prayer out loud, the electricity in the entire place went out. It was a sunny summer day around the afternoon hour. There was no construction work going on, no storms in the area, no one else on the block had their electricity go out-- the electricity going out was only happening at their store and that's it, and there were no visible external factors as to why this would be happening.
Since this business relied heavily on electricity (items needed to be refrigerated), my ex's father had to call the electrician right away since he couldn't get the power back on.
When the electricians came (and they came out that very day, obviously, since it was an emergency for a business), they did an inspection of the building. When they were done, they informed my ex and his father that, "Whomever did the wiring for this building and had it before you did a lousy job. As a matter of fact, this place is a fire hazard and dangerous to be in. I don't know what your plans are for this place, but if I were you, I'd seriously consider either investing a lot of money into fixing the wiring for safety reasons, or sell it to someone who can fix it."
And with that, the business and building were sold a few months later. They did not have that kind of money to invest in fixing the wiring, so they got their answer. If they had stayed? Who knows what could have happened.
So, do I pray? I used to. I've been told that I have powerful prayers.
So, yes. I personally believe prayer is important, whether you're praying to 'a god,' to your ancestors, to the boogie man-- whatever. Prayer is real. We should all do it if so inclined.
Author unknown (at least to me):
Let me not pray to be sheltered from danger,
but to be fearless in facing them.
Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain,
but for the heart to conquer it.
Let me not crave in anxious fear to be saved,
but for the patience to win my freedom.
I don't pray "to someone" for a favorable result. I don't pray for things that I think i don't have, and for someone out there to bless me with it, for example I don't pray for strength in dealing with difficult issues. We do say opening and closing prayers at our sangha, which I am fine with and it doesn't at all seem like prayer in the Christian sense to me. For a while I was averse simply to the word because of my Christian background, but they don't own the word, nor do they define it solely. So yes, sometimes I say prayers. But not looking for answers outside of myself, simply sending good wishes and love and compassion to others that I cannot be physically near.
And I think it is nice to send good wishes, love and compassion through prayers. That's good thoughts and it is free.
Is that not a kind of prayer?
I'd suggest "The Energy of Prayer" by Thich Nhat Hanh.
It may not be praying to a deity and it may not be praying to anything...
I do pray, yes. Not out of habit but when the mood strikes me. I don't think I pray to anything exactly but more like a well wishing meditation. Breathing in, I take on the suffering of the universe, transform it and breathe out joy.
It may be useless but it strengthens my sense of compassion.
Just my .02
I pray to you through all of us.
Or at least that is the intention.
For example, sometimes I pray before I eat. I pray that the food will grant me nourishment and the ability to continue to attempt to alter the world in ways that will grant happiness to at least some sentient beings.
Sometimes I pray before I must accomplish a major task.
I don't practice any sort of religion. I don't see direct evidence of any ultimate consciousness that will grant my wishes if I recite them in my head.
Rather, I use prayer as a method to guide the thoughts in my head towards thoughts that provoke action.
The suspension of the adversarial mind set that depends on self verses other.
The very manifestation of stretching out beyond our ego boundaries.
If it supports compassion, love and wisdom then it's a worthy practice.
If it creates greed, hate or delusion, then that praying is really preying.
Even the Jesuit and Shingon priest finally decided that Vairocana and God aren't the same, despite an uncanny family resemblance and a similar taste for fast cars and women.
Oh God, please leave me alone . . . oh you did . . . thanks . . . I can pray now.
What praying without rewards? Gosh we will be doing meditation with Nothing to show for it soon . . . :thumbsup:
Prayer involves approaching a Higher Power to ask for something.
As my teacher (a geshe and older monk from the Dalai Lama's monastery, Namgyal) tells us ...
Buddhism is about what you do for yourself. There is no higher power that can bring enlightenment to you. You create it for yourself.
Any requests we have are the opposite of what Buddhists try to do, so why would we pray?
The pujas we do are visualizations to instill the qualities of the deities (compassion, wisdom, dedication to the Practice, etc) inside of us. They are not prayering.
I agree with White Rabbit. It is not appropriate to pray ... those who pray usually have not been trained in Buddhism.
But, having been raised in a Christian society, I too found that one of the hardest things to let go of .. the hope that a Higher Power would do my work for me, give me solutions, etc.
When in fact, the message of Buddhism is that the problem is our need for solutions. And not the situation itself.
However I don't as I find it something needless to me. It wouldn't help my practice and I keep the ideals in mind as I go about my life rather than praying about them or to anything about them.
We're not circus animals.
news.yahoo.com/dalai-lama-lead-us-senate-prayers-185507622.html
But it is the reverse of prayer because you are giving away rather than taking.
Also there are other mind training techniques similar to prayer. Trungpa said to let go of fear over death (what I recall at least). He said you say "whatever needs be done let it be done"... "if I am meant to die let me die"... "if I am meant to live let me live".
My teacher says that pray in Tibetan has no object. So it is just 'open' in a sense. Open to the universe. Because there is a seed of bodhicitta in all of us we thereby know that the universe is good.. We have food we can eat and ground to stand on. We can meditate and we have arms to hug each other.
The universe is good and praying could be opening to the awakened heart or bodhicitta.
I suppose some people would pray if it bears fruits.
@footiam: The thread is 3 years old.
Majority of members no longer active. CSe was banned.