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The directive had nothing to do with Jesus wanting the gospel spread to other people. It had everything to do with the church inventing doctrine of spreading the faith by proselytizing for the sole purpose of the churchmen keeping their faith from going extinct by forcing members to preach in order to convert greater and greater numbers to the faith and thus increasing the church leaders' wealth, influence and power. Everybody knows by now that the ending of Mark was tacked on by later churchmen for this sole purpose.
worship of buddha
Buddha being worshipped.
There are beautiful idols of Buddha some people collect and place them in their garden as an ornament. That they do that does not mean Buddhism has no worship. Buddha is venerated, viharaa are built for him and Buddhist worship the idol which [b]they[b] know and recognize as the wisdom of Buddha.
That is Buddhism. A religion.
If the link does not open simply search Buddha being worshipped for images.
The word venerate is defined as "regard with great respect; revere". The first definition I came up with for worship was: "the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity".
I have told this experience before, but it's worth repeating. I was in a temple in Bangkok talking with a monk, lamenting that in the States there are not many Theravada temples to connect with. The monk said (slightly paraphrased...it's been a long time) "See this temple? The candles? The incense? Even the large Buddha statue? All these things have nothing to do with Buddhism. This is all you need to be a Buddhist", and he placed his hand on my head.
So even the fact that some Buddhists may pray to a Buddha statue, even the fact that some may worship at a statue, doesn't mean that that's real Buddhism.
But I'll tell you about a friend of mine. Once I got to know one Thai person in Virginia, I suddenly found myself with several Thai friends. One was a fellow about 30 years old, nice enough guy. He would drop by the house maybe once every couple of months, and I used to cringe when he would come. The reason is that he was a very sick man, with a horrible heart condition. If you sat on one end of a large living room and he sat on the other end of the living room, you could CLEARLY hear his heart beating, and it was far from a good, rhythmic beat. He was always tired with little energy. Clearly destined not to live long, and I was always afraid he might drop dead when visiting. But of course, I always welcomed him. One day after I had known him for about 2 years he stopped by and said he was here to say goodbye. I asked if he was moving to some other city, But no, the night before he had been standing on a chair, dusting the high shelf on which his Buddha statue was placed, lost his balance and fell, and when he did the Buddha statue got knocked off the shelf and broke. "So now I will die" because of the disrespect. In a sense, that was a form of worship -- thinking that because of an accident with no ill intent (and important factor) he would die because of what happened. Of course, he actually did die 2 days later, but do we believe it was because of his accidental breaking of the Buddha statue? I certainly don't. But it's a good example when things go beyond veneration to worship.
there are many paths (not just Buddhism) which do not proselytize, and which recognize that the sacred, the holy, and the Divine are accessible to everyone; and that there is not only one way that is "right" and "true."
Right again, but not all paths are equal for a wide variety of reasons...
I appreciate Buddhism for the reasons I already described and more, but I'm not a Buddhist for other reasons, and I don't follow many of those paths I think you are referring to for similar reasons. I am quite sure the path to the truth of these matters is not paved by any religion in any case.
Too many "issues" with all of them far as I'm concerned...
Right - in fact, only in Christianity and Islam is there proselytizing - so not for Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism...and many less popular sects.
Proselytizing is just one aspect of some religions that can cause someone to feel positive or negative about a religion. Just one aspect of a great many when it comes to all religions that can cause someone to become a follower or not. Too many aspects about all religions that have kept me from being a follower, and this is regardless whether the religion involves a belief in a god or not.
But back to the topic of the thread if anyone cares to get back to it...
worship of buddha
Buddha being worshipped.
There are beautiful idols of Buddha some people collect and place them in their garden as an ornament. That they do that does not mean Buddhism has no worship. Buddha is venerated, viharaa are built for him and Buddhist worship the idol which [b]they[b] know and recognize as the wisdom of Buddha.
That is Buddhism. A religion.
If the link does not open simply search Buddha being worshipped for images.
I have three very small Buddha figurines in my garden. One that I brought back from the temple of Wat Mahathat in Ayutthaya, Thailand.
The word venerate is defined as "regard with great respect; revere". The first definition I came up with for worship was: "the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity".
I have told this experience before, but it's worth repeating. I was in a temple in Bangkok talking with a monk, lamenting that in the States there are not many Theravada temples to connect with. The monk said (slightly paraphrased...it's been a long time) "See this temple? The candles? The incense? Even the large Buddha statue? All these things have nothing to do with Buddhism. This is all you need to be a Buddhist", and he placed his hand on my head.
So even the fact that some Buddhists may pray to a Buddha statue, even the fact that some may worship at a statue, doesn't mean that that's real Buddhism.
But I'll tell you about a friend of mine. Once I got to know one Thai person in Virginia, I suddenly found myself with several Thai friends. One was a fellow about 30 years old, nice enough guy. He would drop by the house maybe once every couple of months, and I used to cringe when he would come. The reason is that he was a very sick man, with a horrible heart condition. If you sat on one end of a large living room and he sat on the other end of the living room, you could CLEARLY hear his heart beating, and it was far from a good, rhythmic beat. He was always tired with little energy. Clearly destined not to live long, and I was always afraid he might drop dead when visiting. But of course, I always welcomed him. One day after I had known him for about 2 years he stopped by and said he was here to say goodbye. I asked if he was moving to some other city, But no, the night before he had been standing on a chair, dusting the high shelf on which his Buddha statue was placed, lost his balance and fell, and when he did the Buddha statue got knocked off the shelf and broke. "So now I will die" because of the disrespect. In a sense, that was a form of worship -- thinking that because of an accident with no ill intent (and important factor) he would die because of what happened. Of course, he actually did die 2 days later, but do we believe it was because of his accidental breaking of the Buddha statue? I certainly don't. But it's a good example when things go beyond veneration to worship.
the bolded. So this one kindly monk reassuring cancels all those other Buddhists who do pray in front of a carving of Buddha? Unfortunately you seem to have taken the wrong message, which was you can worship Buddha anywhere. Worship is the key word. Whatever you understand is yours. I do not wish to continue this conversation. Buddhism deserves a lot more respect and reverence than you show, but hey that is your karma.
the bolded. So this one kindly monk reassuring cancels all those other Buddhists who do pray in front of a carving of Buddha? Unfortunately you seem to have taken the wrong message, which was you can worship Buddha anywhere. Worship is the key word. Whatever you understand is yours. I do not wish to continue this conversation. Buddhism deserves a lot more respect and reverence than you show, but hey that is your karma.
No one is asking you to respond.
But there is a difference between a monk's knowledge of what Buddhism should be and a lay person's understanding of what Buddhism should be. And I'll give you another example of that. At the Thai Theravada temple where I last lived I went to the temple OFTEN, meditated with the monks OCCAISIONALLY, and tutored a couple of the monks in English language skills. That's just a little background. But we developed a close relationship and it encouraged me to ask some penetrating questions. One day I mentioned that I was confused about the spirit houses that all virtually all Thai houses and businesses have, and even the spirit house that the temple had. For those who are not aware, the idea is that when you build a house or a business you take away the natural home of animistic spirits, so you build a house for them and often place food items or flowers there. And my question for the monk was, "Is that Buddhist?" He said no, it was animism, but that common Thai people have long confused and mixed animism with Buddhism.
the bolded. So this one kindly monk reassuring cancels all those other Buddhists who do pray in front of a carving of Buddha? Unfortunately you seem to have taken the wrong message, which was you can worship Buddha anywhere. Worship is the key word. Whatever you understand is yours. I do not wish to continue this conversation. Buddhism deserves a lot more respect and reverence than you show, but hey that is your karma.
The monks at the temple I used to meditate at, were very keen to express that the meditation did not require belief in God or the supernatural, and can be just as helpful to an atheist. And it was.
Their respectfulness and dexterity in not trying to pull me down into their beliefs won my respect for them and their religion.
There was something wonderfully human about the way they acted, without a hint of the arrogant divine that unfortunately too many proselytisers manifest, which was great.
the bolded. So this one kindly monk reassuring cancels all those other Buddhists who do pray in front of a carving of Buddha? Unfortunately you seem to have taken the wrong message, which was you can worship Buddha anywhere. Worship is the key word. Whatever you understand is yours. I do not wish to continue this conversation. Buddhism deserves a lot more respect and reverence than you show, but hey that is your karma.
But there is a difference between a monk's knowledge of what Buddhism should be and a lay person's understanding of what Buddhism should be. And I'll give you another example of that. At the Thai Theravada temple where I last lived I went to the temple OFTEN, meditated with the monks OCCAISIONALLY, and tutored a couple of the monks in English language skills. That's just a little background. But we developed a close relationship and it encouraged me to ask some penetrating questions. One day I mentioned that I was confused about the spirit houses that all virtually all Thai houses and businesses have, and even the spirit house that the temple had. For those who are not aware, the idea is that when you build a house or a business you take away the natural home of animistic spirits, so you build a house for them and often place food items or flowers there. And my question for the monk was, "Is that Buddhist?" He said no, it was animism, but that common Thai people have long confused and mixed animism with Buddhism.
I can relate to the responses you received from the Thai monks. When people ask me about my religion I tailor my response to how I asses their level of understanding, comprehension, experience, and sensibilities. If it is someone who finds Hinduism an exotic curiosity, all about kamsutra and what not, and come with wrong preconceived ideas, I tell the absolute minimum: Yes, all Indians do kamasutra, they are all experts. Yes, we have a million zillion gods, but that is for the common people, nothing to do with MY Hinduism. Basically I just want to get rid of them without being rude.
But when someone asks a genuine question with a sound knowledge of Hinduism and the philosophy, and respect and need to know, my responses will be completely different.
I think you got the first kind. The common people are the ones who give alms to the Bhikshus and there is mutual regard for each other. There is no bad religion, only evolution. A monk would know that.
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