Is it wrong to pray to the Buddha?

[aflatun]

Thanks i have a friend who is very muslim and a strong person. So maybe i should help him make the Absorbtion Jhanas instead of going about it intellectually because he does not like to talk about his doubts.

That's how I would approach it, if I were to approach it at all, because I don't engage people on these things unless they come asking. You can both get along in developing sati-sampajanna and samadhi even if the view is different.

[Lucas Oliveira]

Imee Ooi - The Chant of metta ( Lyrics: Pali & Eng)

[chownah]

I think that if people feel the need to ask for divine help and they find that it does help then that is a good thing.....and.....they should not use this asking for help as a way to slack off from their own efforts to help themselves.
chownah

[ieee23]

More often than not I end up praying to the Buddha.

Is that wrong practice?

I know the Buddha said

Therefore, Ananda, be islands unto yourselves, refuges unto yourselves, seeking no external refuge; with the Dhamma as your island, the Dhamma as your refuge, seeking no other refuge.

Mahāparinibbāṇa Sutta

but does it prevent us from praying to him?

The prayer usually is "Wise one, Awakened one, namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa, I bow before you .. I am a small human being with no great understanding of this world and Dhamma ..

Bless me so that I may acquire wisdom, give me strength so that I may be alive long enough to acquire wisdom .." and so on

Wrong, no.

What is the point? He passed into full nibanna. There is nobody left to hear your prayers.

[No_Mind]

Wrong, no.

What is the point? He passed into full nibanna. There is nobody left to hear your prayers.

Well that is Theravada point of view. Mahayana holds different view. And I should not have asked it in a Theravada forum to begin with