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.
Is it wrong to pray to the Buddha?
Re: Is it wrong to pray to the Buddha?
"People often get too quick to say 'there's no self. There's no self...no self...no self.' There is self, there is focal point, its not yours. That's what not self is."
Ninoslav Ñāṇamoli
Senses and the Thought-1, 42:53
"Those who create constructs about the Buddha,
Who is beyond construction and without exhaustion,
Are thereby damaged by their constructs;
They fail to see the Thus-Gone.
That which is the nature of the Thus-Gone
Is also the nature of this world.
There is no nature of the Thus-Gone.
There is no nature of the world."
Nagarjuna
MMK XXII.15-16
Ninoslav Ñāṇamoli
Senses and the Thought-1, 42:53
"Those who create constructs about the Buddha,
Who is beyond construction and without exhaustion,
Are thereby damaged by their constructs;
They fail to see the Thus-Gone.
That which is the nature of the Thus-Gone
Is also the nature of this world.
There is no nature of the Thus-Gone.
There is no nature of the world."
Nagarjuna
MMK XXII.15-16
- Lucas Oliveira
- Posts: 1898
- Joined: Wed Jun 10, 2015 10:07 pm
Re: Is it wrong to pray to the Buddha?
Imee Ooi - The Chant of metta ( Lyrics: Pali & Eng)
I participate in this forum using Google Translator. http://translate.google.com.br
http://www.acessoaoinsight.net/
http://www.acessoaoinsight.net/
Re: Is it wrong to pray to the Buddha?
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
chownah
Re: Is it wrong to pray to the Buddha?
No_Mind wrote: ↑Thu Mar 01, 2018 1:44 am More often than not I end up praying to the Buddha.
Is that wrong practice?
I know the Buddha said
but does it prevent us from praying to him?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
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.
Whatever a bhikkhu frequently thinks and ponders upon, that will become the inclination of his mind. - MN 19
Re: Is it wrong to pray to the Buddha?
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
"The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.”― Albert Camus