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General Buddhism => General Buddhism => Topic started by: RedLantern on March 07, 2012, 08:44:29 AM
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Buddhist revered the image of the Buddha as a gesture to the greatest,wisest,most benevolent,
compassionate and holy man who has ever lived in this world.The worship of Buddha really mean
paying homage,veneration and devotion to him and what he represents.and not to the stone or
metal figure.The serenity pf the Buddha images influences and inspires them to observe the right
path of conduct and thought.
If people can keep the photograph of kings,queens,great heroes,prime ministers there is no reason
why Buddhist cannot their beloved Guru's photo or image to remember and respect him.
What harm is there if a Buddhist too offer flowers ,incense and etc to their beloved Guru who devoted
his life to help suffering humanity?
Therefore it is not idol worship but ideal worship.
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In Buddhism, the statues serve a number of functions. Namely, given the fact that the human mind is easily distracted, the statue and other icons such as the Stupa and Mandala, serve to help us focus with the right train of thought. Seeing the Buddha statue and the hand gestures, and various accompaniments instantly remind us the qualities of the Buddha as well as jog our memory as to what we have learned.
For instance, when we see Manjushri holding a flaming sword, it does not mean that Bodhisattva Manjushru actually wields a sword but rather how the knowledge and application of dharma cuts away of ignorance, delusions and attachments.
So Buddhist do not bow to a statue as such but to the qualities that is represented in the statue i.e Compassion and Wisdom. The practice of showing respect to a Buddha statue also plants the desire for us to also develop those same qualities.
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Many may think buddhists are idol worshippers, because as buddhists, we do place a lot of importance to statues.
But there are good and logical reasons for this :
1) Buddhists make prayer and offerings to statue on their altar, we are avtually making offerings and prayers to the qualities the buddha/diety represents so that one day we will be become the perfectionist of the one we make prayers to.
2) Buddhists like to make BIG statues, I have been asked many times, why do temples have such huge statues, are we promoting others to just pray to big statue? And it must be a waste of money also. Well, lets put it this way, size does matter and protray certain status or importance. Give you an example, the house of the prime minister is big, even his car is big, what does this simbolize? It means that the prime minister is seen as an important person and his status warrant such a house or a car.
So when we make big statue of a buddha/diety, it also draws the same reason in the eyes of the normal people, that this buddha/diety must be important and require such a magnitude to represent him.
However, the real meaning of making big statues to worship is actually for the collection of merits. The bigger the buddha statue/image we can make or afford to offer, the more the merits we collect.
3) There is also a common phenomena that non buddhists may mis-understand why we are prostrating to lamas or gurus. They think we are really idolizing these lamas. As a matter of fact, when we make prostration to lamas/gurus, we are not prostrating to them as a person, but to the dharma knowledge he has and is going to disseminate to us.
I hope I have clarified some common mis-conceptions of buddhists being idol worshippers here.
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Buddhists are not idol worshippers. When we prostrate to the image of the Buddha, we are actually prostrating to the qualities of the Buddha that one day we may achieved those qualities.So we should show respect to those qualities. When we make offerings to a Buddha, it is a practice of cutting away miserliness and practicing generosity. For beginners or for people who visualization is not strong, having a Buddha image is to help them focus better.
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There are many objects/ signs/ colors in the world which represents/ symbolizes/ indicates the various form of messages. What will appeal to us is depending on one experiences or perhaps lifestyle. Look, if you were think of an apple, what else do you think of? Beside the eatable one does it reminds you about somebody and the qualities of the various products. Does it have an emotional value to you? And ultimately making an imprint for you to get one of those.
As a human being we need constant reminder be it secular or spiritual. So by using the same method, a Buddha statue act as an constant reminder of the existence of such believe and qualities but in this case the end result or rather the product is the ultimate Enlightenment.
So are Buddhist Idol worshippers? Definitely not!
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Before the Buddha passed into parinirvana, he advised that one could regard his statue as the actual Buddha. So Buddhists do not think that they are worshipping an idol, but the actual Buddha himself. The image of a Buddha represents all of the Buddha's qualities. In fact Buddhist art is inspired by the Buddha, who manifested enlightened knowledge through his form, speech and actions. Merely by viewing the Buddha's form, one is inspired to strive for enlightenment.
It is said that during Buddha's time, the artists could not draw by directly looking at the Buddha's face due to the radiance that overwhelmed ordinary perception. They had to draw from his reflection mirrored in a river. According to one account, the first painting of the Buddha was commissioned by King Bimbisara who wished to present it to Udayana, ruler of another kingdom. The Buddha asked that symbols of the twelve links of interdependence be added below his picture, together with a written description of the teaching. King Udayana meditated on the teaching and gained deep insight into its value and invited Buddhist monks to spread Dharma in his country.
Buddhist art is very rich in symbols. They are actually images of enlightenment. They are very useful for spreading the Dharma especially to lay people in remote places who may not have access to the sacred texts.
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We Buddhist are certainly not "idol worshipers"... Why? Well, to idol worship means to revere the statue or idol as the object of one's worship. And it is exactly that... making an object into something far more than it should be.
As Buddhist, we have the image of the Buddha and our Guru on our altar not because we "worship" them but we hold what they represent dear to us as a reminder in achieving our spiritual goals. Offerings are made not to the image or statue but to the representation of the 3 jewels they represent.
Sure one look at a Tibetan Buddhist altar and some may think otherwise because of lack of understanding and pure ignorance. But we cannot blame them too as we need to educate the people around us on the subtleties of our practice. We cannot assume people would "get it" and if they don't, they are wrong... Not very Buddhist right!
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Interestingly, Catholics use statues in their spiritual practice almost similar to Buddhists do:-
"Catholics use statues, paintings, and other artistic devices to recall the person or thing depicted. Just as it helps to remember one’s mother by looking at her photograph, so it helps to recall the example of the saints by looking at pictures of them. Catholics also use statues as teaching tools. In the early Church they were especially useful for the instruction of the illiterate. Many Protestants have pictures of Jesus and other Bible pictures in Sunday school for teaching children. Catholics also use statues to commemorate certain people and events, much as Protestant churches have three-dimensional nativity scenes at Christmas."
The above was extracted from the following website:
http://www.catholic.com/tracts/do-catholics-worship-statues (http://www.catholic.com/tracts/do-catholics-worship-statues)
Hence, my conclusion: many people make baseless accusations. They point fingers without getting their own facts right! This is dangerous! Also, I think everyone should stop questioning other people's faith, instead of wasting time finding faults with other people, they should just concentrate on their own practice!
Om Mani pemeh hum
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I get this all the time. People make passing remarks on how Buddhists worships 'statues' without having any idea or knowledge on what it is about. Classic ignorance.
It is not only non-Buddhists that have this opinion, even some unlearned Buddhists thinks they're worshipping the Buddha statue, some even call the Buddha 'God'. Just by calling oneself a Buddhist don't have much meaning to it. Worshipping the Buddha statue and paying homage to the Buddha's qualities with the thought of achieving it through knowledge/wisdom of the Dharma is 2 very very different things, so different it's not even worth comparing.
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I have had friends asking me why I have statues on my altars? Why am I praying to statues? These are questions posted by friends/visitors who do not understand. When we explain the reasons for having a statue (or more) on our altar and they see our point of view, then it all gels together. My friends from another faith agree that they are also not praying to statues.
I believe this misconception arises because not enough explanation is given for others' understanding.
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Haha I like that... ideal worship not idol worship.
I think it can seem that Buddhists are idol worshipping. For someone who is not aware, watching a Buddhist prostrate or pray to a statue seems like just that - that we pray to statues. You can't really blame them, who would know that we are venerating the qualities of the Buddha instead?
Interestingly, Taoists also pray to statues, offer incense and ask for help from the gods. Are they idol worshippers then? In fact, what really is an idol worshipper? What is idol worship?
According to Wikipedia:
Idolatry is a pejorative term for the worship of an idol, a physical object such as a cult image, as a god, or practices believed to verge on worship, such as giving undue honour and regard to created forms other than God.
Now, this definition, and the negativity it connotates is evidently Christian in nature. I am not Christian bashing, but the disdain for idol worship started in the Bible as far as I know.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states:
"Idolatry not only refers to false pagan worship...Man commits idolatry whenever he honours and reveres a creature in place of God, whether this be gods or demons (for example satanism), power, pleasure, race, ancestors, the state, money etc."
Therefore, whether or not we have statues and altars, the fact that Buddhists pray to Buddha is already idolatry.
I for one, particularly like this definition which I find hilarious (taken from http://www.submission.info/perspectives/monotheism/idolworship.html (http://www.submission.info/perspectives/monotheism/idolworship.html)):
A simple definition of idol worship is to believe that anything beside God can help us, or to hold something as more important to us than God. Thus if we hold our property (for example) as more important than God /or give our jobs more time and attention than God - we are committing idol worship. Unfortunately, the majority of people who believe in God commit this gross offense without even realizing it.
If you read the above carefully, you would see that Buddha is teaching us not to "idol worship", through teachings on non attachment and impermanence. And as the author puts it, most Christians and in fact most people today, are idol worshippers as they put many other worldly concerns before the pursuit of spirituality.
So who is idol worshipping now??
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Actually, there's nothing wrong with idol worshipping Buddha.. why not? If it is ok to idol worship pop stars and movie stars and football stars, why not an enlightened being?
The "problem" arises when the less-informed think Buddhists are idol worshipping statues, which Jessie Fong correctly pointed out that it is because of lack of education, or lack of initiative to find out more. If you think about it, all (the major) religions have some sort of "item" that they "worship", e.g. the Muslims revere the Quran, which is a book; the Christians have picture and statues of Jesus and Virgin Mary and their saints; the Hindus have images and statues of their Gods... So why are Buddhists singled out to be idol worshippers? People would only say that if they don't believe that the being which the item represents does not exist.
In any case, it is important for us to teach newbies on the symbology and purpose of having statues. Besides symbolising the qualities of the Buddha, having statues or images of Buddhas is very helpful for amateur practitioners to visualise the deity when doing tantric meditations / basic practices. So in a way, we can say that the statue is a tool or platform for us to connect with (the qualities of) the Buddha and to do our practice.
2) Buddhists like to make BIG statues, I have been asked many times, why do temples have such huge statues, are we promoting others to just pray to big statue? And it must be a waste of money also. Well, lets put it this way, size does matter and protray certain status or importance. Give you an example, the house of the prime minister is big, even his car is big, what does this simbolize? It means that the prime minister is seen as an important person and his status warrant such a house or a car.
So when we make big statue of a buddha/diety, it also draws the same reason in the eyes of the normal people, that this buddha/diety must be important and require such a magnitude to represent him.
However, the real meaning of making big statues to worship is actually for the collection of merits. The bigger the buddha statue/image we can make or afford to offer, the more the merits we collect.
would also like to add that the bigger the statue, the more imprints it can leave on more beings, e.g. bigger statue, more people can see it even from very far away. Makes it easier for more beings to be planted with imprints (just the same as how companies would spend more to have bigger sized advertisements).
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We worship the Buddha as a personal expression of our individual practice and a reminder of the enlightened
qualities we wish to attain. We focus our prayers and meditation with the Buddha image because we might not able to visual the Buddha at the beginning stage.
Having the Buddha image and making offering to blessed representations of the enlightened beings. This is to help us to gain merits to support our spiritual practice. The Buddha doesn’t need all theses but is us that due to our negative karma that we are unable to focus and we need an aid to assist for our meditation.
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It depends, Some Buddhist are Idol worshippers because they do not know any better. They thought that by having an altar with Buddha Statues and by offering incenses and food offering and asking for worldly gains will get them worldly gains. Can't blame them, but that is how much they know about Buddhism. But at least they are asking the Buddhas for help instead of some spiritual beings. So in that pretext, it is idol worshipping. But there's nothing wrong with that because it is Buddha we are talking about. There is no harm.
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2) Buddhists like to make BIG statues, I have been asked many times, why do temples have such huge statues, are we promoting others to just pray to big statue? And it must be a waste of money also. Well, lets put it this way, size does matter and protray certain status or importance. Give you an example, the house of the prime minister is big, even his car is big, what does this simbolize? It means that the prime minister is seen as an important person and his status warrant such a house or a car.
So when we make big statue of a buddha/diety, it also draws the same reason in the eyes of the normal people, that this buddha/diety must be important and require such a magnitude to represent him.
However, the real meaning of making big statues to worship is actually for the collection of merits. The bigger the buddha statue/image we can make or afford to offer, the more the merits we collect.
Another reason why one makes big or larger statues is to ensure the blessings of the image of the Buddha is far reaching too. For example, a large 10 storey high statue of a Buddha can instill blessings at sight or at the very least plant Dharmic seeds in their mindstreams.
I believe the reason for such large statue is for the "exposure". I believe the merits of creating such a large statue are also tied in to how many people are actually blessed by the image. It brilliant to construct an image of a large Buddha statue but it is more meritorious if the statue is able to benefit people far and wide... what better way then?
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This is simple really, we are Buddhists and Buddhists do not pray to statues or stones but we pray to the qualities of the enlighthened beings. We will have to make things very clear here. Nobody are idol worshipping here really and Buddhists are never idol worshippers.
Whatever we offered on the altar is a direct offering from us to the Buddha and not the statue. So we are not even offering anything to the statue although it may seem like it.
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Nope Buddhist is never an idol worshiper. We have a statue as a reminder and also act as a focus point for us while we are praying, mediating and to help us in our insulation. The statue basically represents the quality of what the Buddha represent. Hence when we pray to the statue we are actually praying to their qualities of what they represent.
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Is it wrong to worship an idol? If a person has great qualities and has done great deeds, I feel it is not wrong to worship the person. Its only by admiring and worshipping that special person that we will be inspired to follow their foot steps. I think the motivation behind the worshipping is more important. If you worship a person because of his/her fame due to his/her good deeds, it may not be as beneficial than if you worship that same person because of the people he has helped due to his good deeds. perhaps?
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I heard a lot of people worship the American Idols... are they idol worshipers too? :D
Jokes aside, people of this era is kind of allergic to the word worship. I was once one of them. I think it has the connotation of doing things "blindly". Most non-Buddhist (and many Buddhist) actually don't understand the meaning of praying to a Buddha. Most of us pray to the Buddha mainly because our parents asked us to do so and we just do it without asking. Even sometimes we asked and since our parents don't know, they just ask us to shut up and do it.
That's why education is very important. With a sincere heart, we should ask the meaning of the actions, why we do such things, for example, why we setup an altar/shrine? why we offer water, flower, etc?
Also, if we don't understand, we should also refrain from criticizing other religions, instead we should find out more and that's how we can achieve harmonious between religions.
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My ex's mother used to ask me to follow her to church. She would always tell me that I am worshipping the devil because of the Holy images I have at home. But... but... but... I have been to church and I can't find the logic of them praying and crying in front of their statue. Why is it that they can do so and not be branded an idol worshipper whereas we are???
I remember in one teaching, Buddha said that in the future when I am not around you may place my image on your altar to make offerings as it will be the same as making offerings to me directly.
Having idols on our altar also reminds us of the qualities these Beings have achieved in becoming Enlightened. They did not pop out of thin air and proclaimed themselves as Buddha. They did something to achieve it hence it is to remind us that we can as well.
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Many people mistook Buddhists worship idols as it is seen as though they are praying to statues. However, before Buddha passed into Nirvana, He said that Buddhists can pray to an image of the Buddha as it is a representation of the Buddha’s great qualities. So when we pray or make offerings to a Buddha image, we are making a connection by collecting merits with the aspiration that we may one day achieved the qualities of the Buddha. Buddha does not need our prayers or offerings, but we need Him to support our spiritual path.
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According Merriam-Webster dictionary, idol = a representation or symbol of an object of worship; broadly : a false god. Since Buddha has never claimed he was a god and Buddhism is not about having God to clean our sin, therefore, Buddhists are definitely not Idol worshippers! hehe.. ;)
If we practise Dharma (Buddhism) according to the pure Buddha's teachings, one of the reasons of having a statue is really for us to have an object to do the visualisation. What kind of visualisation do we do? mainly the good qualities such as compassion, wisdom, etc. Apart from that, visualising our bad qualities being taken away. If we do the visualisation the correct way, we are in fact doing positive affirmation and enforcement to our mind stream, it will slowly change our behaviour and thoughts. Different Buddhas represent different qualities, it is the qualities of the Buddhas that we want to attain when we 'worship' them.
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Buddhists are not Idol worshippers. Statutes of Buddhas have many reasons of being and the most important one is to hold the attention of devotees to concentrate on the good qualities of the Buddhas.
Knowledge of the iconography of the Buddha statute will inspire us to emanate the qualities of the Buddha we are praying to. From head to toe of a Buddha statute has significant meanings including even the mudra of the hands and all the implements held by the statute.
Buddhism is a religion of logic and study and even the statutes are objects of study for those who may not have had the opportunity to be able to read and write.
A Statute will paint a thousand words.
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Yes, Buddhists *are* idol worshippers, and this is wonderful.
An “idol” is an image. The rupakaya of a buddha, which includes both the sambhogakaya and the nirmanakaya, is necessarily an image, or a visible representation of the dharmakaya.
Also, any consecrated image or representation of a buddha, such as a statue or a painting, is not seen as different from the buddha it represents.
There are many consecration (pratishta) rituals for such images, whereby the image is transformed into the buddha it represents, thus actually becoming such buddha.
As such, the statue or painting, which became the very buddha it represents, is worshipped with prostrations and manyfold offerings.
Besides, in Tantric Buddhism one transforms oneself into an idol or image of a buddha, and makes the buddha, the wisdom being, descend into oneself, just as it is done with statues.
And since all of this is included in the very meaning of idolatry, one can confidently say that yes, we Buddhists are accomplished idolaters.
However, some naive Buddhists, heavily brainwashed by millennia of Jewish propaganda, are afraid of being labeled “idolaters”.
Indeed, idolatry is demonized and strictly forbidden by Jewish scriptures. Judaism itself can be defined as the obsessive-maniac attempt at forbidding idolatry to both Jews and non-Jews.
Of course, a monomaniac ideology such as Judaism does not want idols. Any idol would be a competition against the Jewish jealous, envious “god” Jehovah.
Christian and Muslim cultures, themselves the slavish brainchildren of Judaism, cannot but see idolatry with fear, suspicion, and abhorrence.
This explains so many posts above where shy, naive Buddhists try to deny being idolaters. Having an imperfect Buddhist refuge, they are just afraid of the ire of the Jewish “god”.
Therefore, Buddhists should clean their minds from Jewish ideological slavery, perfect their Buddhist refuge, and rejoice on their powerful idol-worshipping skillful means.
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“Idol worship” is defined as “an image or statue worshipped as a god”.
Buddhists do not believe that the Buddha is a god. So, when Buddhists prostrate to the Buddha and make offerings, they are paying respect to their master who has attained full enlightenment. The Buddha did not ask his followers to worship him by erecting statues but long after he passed away, his followers erected images but only as a mark of respect.
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“Idol worship” is defined as “an image or statue worshipped as a god”.
What a foolish statement. “Idol” merely means “image”, and has nothing to do with any “god”.
Therefore, “idol worship” merely means the worship of any image. And since Buddhists do worship images, not as mundane gods, but as supramundane buddhas, they are definitely idol worshipers.
Incidentally, buddhas are also described as gods or deities (Sanskrit “deva”, Tibetan “hla”), of the supramundane category, as opposed to mundane gods such as Indra, Brahma, Vishnu, or Rudra.
Buddhists do not believe that the Buddha is a god.
So what. They still worship images as buddhas, and therefore are idol worshipers.
So, when Buddhists prostrate to the Buddha and make offerings, they are paying respect to their master who has attained full enlightenment.
So what. They are worshiping images as their master, and therefore are idol worshipers.
The Buddha did not ask his followers to worship him by erecting statues
Wrong. The Buddha himself gave precise instructions on how to create images of himself for the purpose of worship, extensively describing correct iconographic measurements and characteristics, such as the 32 marks of a buddha, as seen in authentic texts such as the Vinaya, the Samadhirajasutra, the Manjushrimulakalpatantra, the Samvarodayatantra, King Udrayana and The Wheel of Life, and so forth.
but long after he passed away, his followers erected images
Your spurious, invented story has no Buddhist lineage, as opposed to the above mentioned, authentic sources.
but only as a mark of respect.
Respect, or homage, is the very essence of worship. Besides, full worship, with physical prostrations, offerings, praises, supplications, and so forth, is to be addressed both to physical and mental images of the buddhas, as described both in sutras and tantras.
Bottom line, obsessed with the maniac Jewish ideology forbidding idol worship, and lacking any Buddhist refuge or lineage, you just want to advance an inauthentic, Judaized version of Buddhism which does does not contradict Jewish scriptures and commandments.
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When we say "idol worshippers" the first meaning that comes to mind is that of a foolish practice of idolizing meaningless inanimate objects. And then to assign the word "Buddhist" with "Idol Worshippers" is to say that Buddhists are foolish. This is the worst that one can say about Buddhism and its practitioners.
Statues in Buddhism has deep meanings on a few levels. Firstly the Buddha statues represent the Enlightened qualities of the Buddhas; each Buddha emphasizing different qualities via different posture, clothes, adornments, implements, thrones, mudras, demeanor etc. Every single aspect on a statue or thangka has its qualities and associated meaning. So on the outer level, even an unlearned person will benefit by worshipping the Buddha statue via karmic imprints. So as long a person can see the statue, this imprint will be there.
On a inner level, practitioners who understand the qualities of the Buddha statues, aspire to achieve these qualities via the practice of the Buddha Dharma and "yidam practices". Each practitioners practices to attain these qualities thus attaining all the qualities of the Buddha eventually. That is the goal of Buddhism.
On a "deeper" level, one assume oneself as the Buddha we are "idolizing"; thus becoming the Buddha with the same qualities. This is on a tantric level an is for the practitioners with the highest aptitude.
So, in conclusion, yes Buddhist are Idol Worshippers but of the highest Enlightened qualities.
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Great research and great thoughtful post, Yontenjamyang!
Buddhists should not naively and thoughtlessly give in to widespread misconceptions promoted by physically and culturally genocidal ideologies such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, whose very essence, and main activity for thousands of years, is to deride and destroy human culture and religions, including the powerful tradition of idol worshiping, both Buddhist and non-Buddhist.
While of course Buddhist, supramundane idol worshiping is doubtlessly superior to the non-Buddhist, mundane variety, both are deep religious traditions worth respect, and dwelling at the very root of every single civilization and culture, Roman, Greek, Egyptian, Assyrian, Celtic, Germanic, Slavic, Sumerian, Chaldean, Hindu, Harappan, Chinese, Inca, Maya, Aztec, Toltec, and so forth.
Therefore, it is easy to see that the obsessive maniac effort to deride and destroy idol worshiping, from the Jewish Old Testament to the current Islamic State, is the very essence and characteristic of Abrahamic ideologies, such as Judaism and its brainchildren, Christianity and Islam, those very same ideologies described as “barbaric” by the Kalachakra Tantra, the three of them engaged in relentless warfare against humanity, and human culture and religion.
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Buddhist does not worship the Buddha in person, but in fact prostrate before his image as a sign of respect to all his teachings, the dharma, if contemplate long enough, we will eventually accept and understand the logical reasoning. The creation of an altar and possession of Buddha statues are not idol worship, but a point of focus in endeavor to develop mindfulness. The goal of Buddhism is to get spiritual enlightenment.
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Buddhist does not worship the Buddha in person,
Buddhists understand that buddhas are all pervading, or omnipresent, and specially that buddhas are fully present in their idols, or rupas. Therefore, Buddhists do worship the buddhas in person.
but in fact prostrate before his image as a sign of respect to all his teachings, the dharma,
Wrong. Buddhists prostrate not only to the Dharma, but to *all* of the Three Jewels, out of which the Buddha, or the many buddhas, plus the Sangha, are persons.
Even the Dharma, which is ultimately the Buddha's Dharmakaya, is therefore a person.
if contemplate long enough, we will eventually accept and understand the logical reasoning.
Which you miserably failed to do, with your stubborn attachment to anti-Buddhist, Jewish views on idol worshiping.
The creation of an altar and possession of Buddha statues are not idol worship, but a point of focus in endeavor to develop mindfulness.
Idol worship brings many benefits, helping the development of mindfulness being just one of them. And idol worship is no less idol worship just because it helps developing mindfulness.
Here again you show your defensive, Jewish-induced panic at being labeled “idol worshiper”, a clear evidence that your Buddhist refuge is still superficial, weak, and immature.
The goal of Buddhism is to get spiritual enlightenment.
As already extensively explained in previous posts, idol worshiping is a quintessential method to achieve the awakened state.
However, having become a zombie of Judaic preconceptions, you see the powerful skillful means of idol worshiping as anathema, and try to disown it, not realizing that this thoughtless attitude precludes your very Buddhist refuge in the Three Jewels.
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Interesting debate on topic “Are Buddhist Idol worshiper?”. It makes me search for online the English meaning of the word “Idol”, a quick search on Dictionary.com resulted the following:
1. an image or other material object representing a deity to which religious worship is addressed.
2. Bible.
a. an image of a deity other than God.
b. the deity itself.
3. any person or thing regarded with blind admiration, adoration or devotion:
Madame Curie had been her childhood idol.
4. a mere image or semblance of something, visible but without substance, as a phantom.
5. a figment of the mind; fantasy.
6. a false conception or notion; fallacy.
Since in many prayers we do daily on invocation we requested the Dharmakaya being to enter into the statue or image on thangka and become inseparable. We must view the statue or image as the rupakaya of and enlighten being which we must emulate to become one our-self. The image serve as a road map with various way points indicating the activities or needs he performed to result in all these marks and signs which all beings could achieve by following the instruction laid down by all Buddha of the past. It fit the first criteria and meaning #1, hence we Buddhist will fall into the category of being an idol worshippers !
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It is interesting and thank you MoMo for looking for the definition of an "idol" and from your illustrious findings, it sounds like all religious worship is a form of ''idol'' worshipping.
So we need to conclude that all forms of religious worship is ''idolistic'' as even the bible is considered one and the imagination of the object of worship is also in the category of ''idol''.
What do you think?
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So we need to conclude that all forms of religious worship is ''idolistic'' as even the bible is considered one and the imagination of the object of worship is also in the category of ''idol''.
What do you think?
Definitely. And also the mental image of the barbaric, cruel, revengeful, envious, bloodthirsty “god” of Jews, Christians and Muslims is an idol, just because it is a mental image.
Therefore, such Abrahamic followers are also idol worshippers and, according to their own genocidal scriptures, as opposed to Buddhist teachings, should be thoroughly exterminated.