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Many secular western Buddhists claim that God (at least in the idea of a creator God) is incompatible with Buddhism. That the millions of Buddhist worldwide who revere and pray to the various gods/Devas/Boddisattvas are superstioius and completely going against what Buddha taught.
Yet, those beings that many Buddhists pray to may be gods, but they are not God. As such, with it's general non-theism, is there anything inherently wrong with any Buddhist who prays to or reveres any Deva or Boddhisattva? Or any deity that was assimilated into Buddhism from various cultures (Hindu, Shinto, Chinese Folk, etc.)?
In fact, yes. It is misdirection of effort which should be directed towards escaping the cycle of rebirth and can at best only lead (through accumulation of good deeds) to rebirth in one of the heavens, with a palace and bevy of demi-goddesses. This is of course what nobody would want rather than Nirvana, so one can only trust that the deva or Boddhisattva prayed to will appear and gently guide the worshipper to the eightfold path again.
Many secular western Buddhists claim that God (at least in the idea of a creator God) is incompatible with Buddhism. That the millions of Buddhist worldwide who revere and pray to the various gods/Devas/Boddisattvas are superstioius and completely going against what Buddha taught.
Yet, those beings that many Buddhists pray to may be gods, but they are not God. As such, with it's general non-theism, is there anything inherently wrong with any Buddhist who prays to or reveres any Deva or Boddhisattva? Or any deity that was assimilated into Buddhism from various cultures (Hindu, Shinto, Chinese Folk, etc.)?
I am not a Tibetan, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, etc., cultures where one is most likely to find the phenomena raised in the OP's question; thus, a sense of politeness, or whatever,
disinclines me to give a strongly negative answer.
These devas, bodhisattvas, borrowed deities, etc. are thoroughly integral to the Buddhism of these cultures....so for me as an outsider, I just appreciate this aspect culturally and leave it at that.
I was born in the U.S. of a Western European ethnicity, and raised in the R.C. religion and for a period in later adult life attended a uniate Greek Ukranian Catholic church. Both of these branches of Catholicism during the era of which I am speaking were routinely deeply involved the cult of the saints, and especially that the Mary the mother of Jesus, sometimes to such a degree that in the amount of time consumed in prayer and ritual and the proliferation of art in religious buildings it would have taken a non-Christian some time to figure out what the center of this faith was supposed to be. But.....it was part and parcel of the ethnic subculture I was raised in and identified with.
In midlife, my attitude changed and this seemed not only irrelevant, but a negative distraction from what were supposedly the central aspects of the religion.
Upon encountering Buddhism it was in NYC where Theravada, various Mahayana temples and sects and Tibetan Buddhism fell into my lap almost simultaneously. And I did attend centers and meetings and read on all of them. In the end, I came to feel that the plainest teachings and settings of Theravada were what I was comfortable with. I was not of an Asian background and had no cultural attachment to the more elaborate ceremonies, and the various deities, etc. and they seemed to me to be too removed from the essential core of dharma teachings for me to become involved in.
Good comments. I have to say that the mahayana -tantric stuff struck me as a distraction from the simple central direction of Right Effort, central to Buddhist thought. While the panoply of saints, devas and boddhisattvas may play their part in engaging the interest of the worshipper, that one has to thinks through, past and around them to get to the basics, suggests to me that one might as well go to the basics right away.
That the Boddhisattvas delayed their entry into the extinction of being that is Nirvana is appreciated, but they would be enlightened enough to know to give assistance without anyone having to waste time praying to them for help and indeed, were I a Boddhisattva (somewhat less likely than the chance of my becoming US president) I would be distressed at the distraction my existence might be causing to some lay people, who would be better going to the basics, (The monks of the Sangha of course knowing better and avoiding such distractions).
Why do it matter if diffs god were prayed by other religion?
The main point is on 1st page, 1st sentence of all religion book stated clearly on how many god of creation.
Why need to judge who's god is the true one?
Cos who know god already in your world (read my homepage - you will know why god already here)
Dont worries about who is god or who is not cos i didnot stated who is god but somehow you know god already existed in your own feeling.
Cos you understand your feeling were used for energy movement.
# Who created car are the one using it, A HUMAN
HOW TO SEE HUMAN IS NOT A CREATION IF YOUR FEELING WERE USED FOR ENERGY MOVEMENT?
I DIDNOT STATED WHO IS GOD BUT I ONLY SAID I MAKE HUMAN BRAIN FOR LIVING.
Why? God could only stand firm by 3 aspect - theory, facts and practical.
Practical will happen this october 9th. Then god can stand firm in new era.
Be wise and read to understand why the storm is coming this october. The last judgement
Last edited by Devil in disguise; 09-09-2014 at 12:27 PM..
Reason: Grammar
I was under the impression that Buddhism was mostly an atheistic religion.
There is a realm of the gods within Samsara, but aspiring to be reborn in that realm is a deviation from the path to enlightenment because the Gods tend to live in a heightened state of pleasure that makes it difficult to rid one's self of desire... and when they die after living hundreds/thousands of years, they frequently descend into one of the lower realms because of how they've neglected their spiritual development.
You are correct. which is why Buddhist 'salvation' is in the hands of the individual, not in the hands of gods or demigods. Buddhism is atheistic in that gods are irrelevant, even if they exist.
I was under the impression that Buddhism was mostly an atheistic religion.
There is a realm of the gods within Samsara, but aspiring to be reborn in that realm is a deviation from the path to enlightenment because the Gods tend to live in a heightened state of pleasure that makes it difficult to rid one's self of desire... and when they die after living hundreds/thousands of years, they frequently descend into one of the lower realms because of how they've neglected their spiritual development.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AREQUIPA
You are correct. which is why Buddhist 'salvation' is in the hands of the individual, not in the hands of gods or demigods. Buddhism is atheistic in that gods are irrelevant, even if they exist.
Yes, there is really no creator God in Buddhism, but like others have mentioned, many schools have a plethora of divine beings called "gods". As far as I know, they can't "save us" (we have to save ourselves), but they can help us along our Dharma. Which is why many Buddhists will still pray to the Devas and Boddisattvas for help. Not for salvation, but for guidance.
Yes. I recall that Buddha had no opinions about where the universe came from. That was, in Buddhist thought, a subject that was of no help in escaping the wheel of rebirth.
As to the Boddhisattvas, as Theradin -partial, Ii would see the 'guidance' argument a pretext for opting for prayers that one can just babble before doing something else rather than the more prolonged and difficult meditation to enlightenment.
Guidance is not required. The Tagathata gave all the guidance that was needed - and more. What is needed is to do it. Praying to devas and saints is an avoidance of it.
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