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Worshiping the buddha to bring peace prosperity and emancipation
anataman
Who needs a title?Where am I? Veteran
I was looking at some Thangka images online and came across a thousand buddha thangka on a site called 'exotic india' (http://www.exoticindiaart.com), and have taken this extract of the description of it. Of course I am bearing in mind that it's selling some beautiful imagery:
'This exquisitely painted thangka depicts Thousand-Buddhas with Shakyamuni Buddha, seated on six-ornament throne of enlightenment, in the center. It shows the power of Thousand Buddhas, their love for suffering beings, and their worship will bring peace, prosperity and emancipation.'
http://www.exoticindiaart.com/buddha/tu93.jpg
I suppose the thing that got me was, it seems to be selling the idea that if 'I worship the buddha' I can by devotional worship achieve the same thing as meditation?
Do you worship the buddha(s)? Or have you killed that one dead?
'This exquisitely painted thangka depicts Thousand-Buddhas with Shakyamuni Buddha, seated on six-ornament throne of enlightenment, in the center. It shows the power of Thousand Buddhas, their love for suffering beings, and their worship will bring peace, prosperity and emancipation.'
http://www.exoticindiaart.com/buddha/tu93.jpg
I suppose the thing that got me was, it seems to be selling the idea that if 'I worship the buddha' I can by devotional worship achieve the same thing as meditation?
Do you worship the buddha(s)? Or have you killed that one dead?
0
Comments
I used to go to an NKT meditation class of a lunch time and they used to sing this song to thank Buddha for his help etc. I thought it was corny and it made me cringe but maybe it worked for the other people there?
Worship is too weak a word. You need to aim for adoration and love as a minimum. It is really a question of shifting the self cherishing into a form. It is a Yidam or guru worship tactic. Identify with, lose self in. You are sane enough to be a surgeon, you should do fine . . . combine it with meditation? Yowzah! (whatever that means - could be a mantra)
It does bring "peace, prosperity, and emancipation" too. Who says "prosperity" is just about money?
Mettha
the right way to worship Gotamo Buddho,is to apply his teaching of the 8fold path.
anando
I have an altar with a few deities, buddhas and bodhisattvas, and some offering cups, but I don't really do much with it except light the candles and incense, fill the cups, and say some prayers. But of course I have deities, candles and incense all over the house anyway.
"The highest reverence you can show me is by practising what I have taught you"
My teacher, an older Tibetan monk and a geshe from the Dalai Lama's monastery (Namgyal) keeps on reminding us that we are the only ones who can bring enlightenment. We do not worship the deities so much as we call them to mind so we can consider their qualities and absorb those qualities (compassion, wisdom, etc) into ourselves.
As a Westerner, I initially had trouble with this .. until I realized that this is like the athletes who visualize their performances before they get out onto the field to compete. Visualization is a powerful tool for self-change. And Buddhism is all about changing ourselves.
I do not worship the Buddha, nor the deities. But I hold the dharma (the teachings and the techniques) most precious, and respect and value the teachers (Buddha included). I remember life before starting to practice Buddhism and would not go there again for any reason.
Obviously some people will have a lot of baggage associated with the word "worship".
Seems a bit too close to idolatry to me.
I had a Jewish dharma Buddy who would attend the evening Tara practice every day BUT would never bow to the Buddha dolls/idols/statues. Even though he was not a practicing Jew it someone felt disrespectful to the hard won Judaic tradition of non bowing to anything but Allah/Jehovah or . . . who is that JHVH? Not required, there are other practices/gates.
Fair enough, no one was concerned.
However some of us for example Catholics are quite used to religious dolls and pictorial reminders. We loan them credentials, invest them with our powers of concrete idolization. Yantra, mantra, thangka are sort of Dharmic film or pop stars.
Does building such a relationship work? Of course. You are generating a mind and emotional projection. The abstraction for example compassion, takes the powerful form of Avolokiteshvara
http://www.souledout.org/healing/healingdeities/avolokiteshvara.html
Makes it 'real'. Changes lives.
OM MANI PEME HUM