I wonder...

L

letitbe2

Registered Senior Member
Hi :
I wonder how you dear Bhuddists pray. I have read a book about Shakia Bhudda and his teachings. I can say I love him. I keep a tiny statue of Him at home. But I donot know how you pray. I say, May God bless this and that or May God keep you from any danger. But what about you?
I am very interested in knowing some useful prayings. With love and thanks.
 
Buddhists don't necessarily pray at all, because Buddhists don't necessarily believe in God.

What do you mean 'useful prayings?'
 
that's right,

We don't pray exactly, unless you consider every action taken with awareness to be like a prayer. Meditation is the closest equivalent to religious prayer. The difference is, everything is already considered to be ok, the meditation is not intended to produce changes in the world, but a change in your perception of it. Who cares if you love some guru, that's easy, Buddha didn't want to be loved or worshipped. Try extending your love to the wider world. Can we really avoid danger by petitioning a deity? Danger and suffering are part of life and unavoidable, deal with these things directly as they come up.



Also it's spelled buddhist, not "bhuddist".
 
*For this post the part of SpyMoose will be played by a Christian fundamentalist*

Bwah-Ha! You fools! He has tricked you into admiting you are godless heathens doing the devils work! *Quotes obscure bible passage to the effect that if you dont prey god will turn your genitalia to worms* See! Now what do you have to say for yourselves? *raises eyebrow meaningfully and fully expects you to feel chastised because he pointed out that the bible condemns your nonprayer*
 
Originally posted by TheERK
Buddhists don't necessarily pray at all, because Buddhists don't necessarily believe in God.

What do you mean 'useful prayings?'
Click to expand...
Hi
Christian pray when they go to the church. They may pray when they go to bed or when they wake up, Muslims pray five times a day. You don`t. That I understand.
But what a about special cases? For example when a dear one is in pain and in bed. Or when you want to have something to eat and you don`t have money. Or when you are in desperate need of something. What do you do in these cases? Do you say, O Dear Buddha, or somethign like that, help us out of this misery?
I hope I have made my self clear.
By useful prayings I mean, praying for special occasions, like the ones I mentioned above or like when a couple want to marry or at the time of death. thanks :)
 
There isn't anyone for a Buddhist to pray to. Buddhist prayer is not 'to' some other entity.
 
Originally posted by letitbe2
But what a about special cases? For example when a dear one is in pain and in bed. Or when you want to have something to eat and you don`t have money. Or when you are in desperate need of something. What do you do in these cases? Do you say, O Dear Buddha, or somethign like that, help us out of this misery?
Click to expand...

No.
Nothing like that.
There is no occasion to pray to Buddha.
Buddha is not even a person or entity, it is a state.
That is the most common misconception about Buddhism.
When people talk about "THE Buddha" they are usually referring to the ORIGINAL Buddha. He was a man. His name was Siddhatta Gtama. He was not a God, but a man who lived in Northern India from 563 BCE to 483 BCE.
What he taught, referred to as The Dhamma (or Dharma), was that the meaning of life is to achieve human perfection. He said that we are all in a cycle of birth and rebirth, or reincarnation. This cycle is called samsara. The goal is to break free of this cycle and attain nirvana. Kind of like Heaven, but not really. Buddha said that the way to break free from samsara is achieve a state of enlightenment. The Dhamma outlines the path to enlightenment. Once you attain enlightenment you have released yourself from this world by basically releasing your desire to BE HERE. Craving is the proximate cause for suffering, and to be released from samsara , you must be free from craving. Free from craving for sensual pleasure, material possessions, glory, power, fame, ego, craving for re-birth, even craving for nirvana. At that point, you are a Buddha. An enlightened one. Someone who does not have desires. One of the ways to achieve that goal is through meditation (not prayer).
Siddhatta was an atheist.

There is more to it than that, of course, but you can't attain enlightenment just by reading a description of a Buddha anyway, so I will leave it at that. ;)

So, yes, you can be a Buddha too, and I am sorry if it is disappointing, but no one would pray to you either.
 
What is in a name....

The Buddha who is the founder of the Buddhist religion is called Buddha Shakyamuni. "Shakya" is the name of the royal family into which he was born, and "Muni" means "Able One." Buddha Skakyamuni was born as a royal prince in 624 BC in a place called Lumbini, which was originally in northern India but is now part of Nepal. His mother's name was Queen Mayadevi and his father's name was King Shuddhodana.

One night, Queen Mayadevi dreamed that a white elephant descended from heaven and entered her womb. The white elephant entering her womb indicated that on that very night she had conceived a child who was a pure and powerful being. The elephant's descending from heaven indicated that her child came from Tushita heaven, the Pure Land of Buddha Maitreya. Later, when she gave birth to the child, instead of experiencing pain the queen experienced a special, pure vision in which she stood holding the branch of a tree with her right hand while the gods Brahma and Indra took the child painlessly from her side. They then proceeded to honor the infant by offering him ritual ablutions.

When the king saw the child he felt as if all his wishes had been fulfilled and he named the young prince "Siddhartha". He invited a Brahmin seer to make predictions about the prince's future. The seer examined the child with his clairvoyance and told the king, "There are signs that the boy could become either a chakravatin king, a ruler of the entire world, or a fully enlightened Buddha. However, since the time for chakravatin kings is now past it is certain that he will become a Buddha, and that his beneficial influence will pervade the thousand million worlds like the rays of the sun."

Link: http://www.aboutbuddha.org/life-of-buddha.htm
 
hmmmm...

I see your point, Letitbe2, that in extreme circumstances, deists feel the need to appeal to a higher power to help them out. For all I know there might be Buddhist prayers intended for laypeople in trouble. But since most trouble is self-induced, that is the main focus of Buddhism. If problems are beyond our control, we might as well get used to it. Prayer, I feel, seems to be a way to avoid coming to terms with difficult circumstances; an attempt to feel in control when we are in fact helpless. In this way, prayer is more of a psychological crutch for the pray-er than a means to overcome the reality of problems.
 
That seems a bit of a misunderstanding of prayer. It has more purposes than just asking God for stuff in a crisis.

I believe that recent research has shown that prayers said for hospital patients recovering from operations has an impact on recovery rates even where neither those prayed nor the control groups knew they were being prayed for or by whom. Neither did the people praying know the patients. (One study was in Canada (Toronto?) but I can't remember the details).

The results have been published but I have no idea how they've been received.
 
Originally posted by Canute
That seems a bit of a misunderstanding of prayer. It has more purposes than just asking God for stuff in a crisis.

I believe that recent research has shown that prayers said for hospital patients recovering from operations has an impact on recovery rates even where neither those prayed nor the control groups knew they were being prayed for or by whom. Neither did the people praying know the patients. (One study was in Canada (Toronto?) but I can't remember the details).

The results have been published but I have no idea how they've been received.
Click to expand...

Didn't Elizabeth Targ do a study on that?

Fraudulent results.

There are other such studies, but none of them have any significant effect. If you have a link to something that says otherwise, I'd be happy to read it.
 
It does seem that Targ's experiments are dodgy. I've lent my source to a friend so I'll have to get back to you about whether the claims I read about were based on Targ or not. I read them thinking they were interesting. However I suspect that if they had been judged to be good science then the research would be getting a lot more press.
 
Buddhists do pray!

Actualy, there are two missconceptions here.

Buddhists DO actualy pray in a sense. That is lay-followers do, in other words those who are not monks and devotees to the teaching of buddha often find spiritual refuge in some kind of converse with buddha and/or other key figures in buddhist lore, a form of prayer if you will. However this form of buddhism is considered as lower or slightly ineffective by the holders of the teaching as it does not offer a path to salvation or any real self-realization, however I think they do support it as it spawns faith in the buddhist teaching amongst the people and they also claim that by chanting certain 'prayers' you may be able to get through times of hardship and withstand the forces of evil.
As I said before, it isn't considered 'proper' buddhism to practice it solely through prayer. However in Tibet it is very common for monks to 'pray' at times, even to the extent of being a dayly thing, but in their case it is mostly to build faith and concentration.

Please also consider that the word prayer here and in what I am refering to within buddhist practice has a very different meaning to what we might consider prayer in the west, it usualy doesn't mean 'asking for help from higher forces' but rather the recitation of phrases that will help you personaly to make it through rough times no divine intervention involved.

Here is a practice involving recitation and contemplation of the Essence of Wisdom Sutra. It can be used to over come internal and external obstacles.


Going for refuge

I and all sentient beings, until we acheive enlightenment,
Go for refuge to Buddha, Dharma, and Samgha.
(3x)

Generating bodhichitta

Through the virtues I collect by giving and other perfections,
May I become a Buddha for the benefit of all
(3x)

Preliminaries

NAMO Guru, Teacher, Blessed One, and the Great Mother Prajnaparamita,
Surrounded by your Sons, the Buddhas of the ten directions and all Bodhisattavas;
I prostrate to this assembly, make offerings, and fo for refuge,
Please empower me with your blessings
(3x)

Reciting the Essence of Wisdom Sutra

(Sutra is as follows)

Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, when practicing deeply the Prajna Paramita, perceives that all five skandhas are empty and is saved from all suffering and distress.

"Sariputra, form does not differ from emptiness, emptiness does not differ from form. That which is form is emptiness; that which is emptiness, form. The same is true of feelings, perceptions, impulses, consciousness."

"Sariputra, all dharmas are marked with emptiness. They do not appear or disappear, are not tainted or pure, do not increase or decrease. Therefore, in emptiness, no forms, no feelings, perceptions, impulses, consciousness."

No eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind; no color, no sound, no taste, no touch, no object of mind, no realm of eyes, and so forth until no realm of mind consciousness. No ignorance and also no extinction of it, and so forth until no old age and death, and also no extinction of them. No suffering, no originations, no stopping, no path, no cognition. Also, no attainment, with nothing to attain.

The Bodhisattva depends of the Prajna Paramita, and his mind has no hindrance. Without any hindrance, no fears exist. Far apart from every perverted view, he dwells in Nirvana.

In the three worlds all Buddhas depend on Prajna Paramita, and attain Anuttara Samyak Sambodhi.

Therefore, know that Prajna Paramita is the great transcendent mantra, is the great bright mantra, is the utmost mantra, is the supreme mantra which is able to relieve all suffering an is true, not false. So proclaim the Prajna Paramita mantra, proclaim the mantra which says:

TAYATHA OM GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SÖHA

Reciting the mantra

TAYATHA OM GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SÖHA (3x, 7x, etc.)




Phew, here's a shorter one:

Requests to overcome hindrances

Great Mother Prajnaparamita, and all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the ten directions, through the power of your blessings may these true words of mine be acheived. Just as before, when by contemplating the profound meaning of the perfection of wisdom and recting it's words, Indra overcame all the harm of maras, non-humans, and so forth, in the same way, by my contemplating the profound meaning of the perfection of wisdom and reciting its words,

May all the harm of maras, non-humans, and so forth be overcome (clap)
May they become non-existent (clap)
May they be pacified. (clap)
May they be thoroughly pacified. (clap)



These are taken from the book Heart of Wisdom by Geshe Kelsang Gyasto, the essence of wisdom sutra was cut and pasted from a website and differs slightly from the books version. There is no copyright on religious texts and practice.
 
My pleasure, however the true meaning of the sutra is only grasped through an extensive commentary by a learned monk. So I highly recomend that you read the book if you are interested in learning more about Mahayana Buddhism and what they call the essentail teachings of buddha.

For example, the meaning of TAYATHA OM GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SÖHA can be translated as 'it is like this, go, go, perfectly go, perfectly and completely go, enlightenment, build the foundation.'

If you can decifer that without living for 50 years at a tibetan monastery my hat's off to you.
 
A classic Beachboys lyric. I can almost hear the harmonies. :D

Is it suggesting that one must learn to 'go' in the sense of go away, cease to exist as a 'self', learn how to depart the stage completely in order, through experience, to build an understanding of the foundation of oneself?
 
exsto_human you are absolutely correct.
I don't pray to the Buddha, I pray to the world. I am directing my prayers towards the people who need it, to uplift them and try to help them out. But you know when I am really in tight spot I ask the Buddha for help, my Christian ways are still existant, it helps because it calms you down but other than that the prayer was futile. Hopefully what i have said is correct, if not enlighten me. ;)
 
Originally posted by Voltaire
... I pray to the world.
I am directing my prayers towards the people who need it, to uplift them and try to help them out
... but other than that the prayer was futile.
Click to expand...
HI:
I read your post I could not understand if fully. Could you be more specific on the above excerpts?
As for the opening thread, praying in in Islam - I am born in and brought up in a muslim family and live in a country most of its inhabitants are muslims but I am not one of them - is to converse with God and to ask him something general or personal.
Throug praying you feel you become close to that entity which is almost completely unknown to you. This you can do it anywhere, while sitting in a bus, walking or even watching a program on tv which you don`t like it.
Once I was reading a book, unfortunately I can`t remember its name, it was one of those general books giving people advice on how to promote their daily lives.
There, a priest - may God bless him- said to decrease stress while you are caught up in a traffic jam, or wating in queue pick some one and pray for him/her. Like, O God protect that man from falling or give that woman a good husband or any thing like that.
Is this kind of well- wishing possible in Buddhism? Can I ask the Buddha, these kind of things? I mean I can, I need not the permission. What I want to say is that is it normal in Buddhism?
I have some of the sayings of Shakiamoni Buddha, I read them every day. They are absolutely helpful. They are in Farsi.
"Finding good friends is hard" is one of them. Thanks
And one thing else, What is... Ten directions?
 
Originally posted by Voltaire
... I pray to the world.
I am directing my prayers towards the people who need it, to uplift them and try to help them out
... but other than that the prayer was futile.
Click to expand...
HI:
I read your post I could not understand if fully. Could you be more specific on the above excerpts?
As for the opening thread, praying in in Islam - I am born in and brought up in a muslim family and live in a country most of its inhabitants are muslims but I am not one of them - is to converse with God and to ask him something general or personal.
Throug praying you feel you become close to that entity which is almost completely unknown to you. This you can do it anywhere, while sitting in a bus, walking or even watching a program on tv which you don`t like it.
Once I was reading a book, unfortunately I can`t remember its name, it was one of those general books giving people advice on how to promote their daily lives.
There, a priest - may God bless him- said to decrease stress while you are caught up in a traffic jam, or wating in queue pick some one and pray for him/her. Like, O God protect that man from falling or give that woman a good husband or any thing like that.
Is this kind of well- wishing possible in Buddhism? Can I ask the Buddha, these kind of things? I mean I can, I need not the permission. What I want to say is that is it normal in Buddhism?
I have some of the sayings of Shakiamoni Buddha, I read them every day. They are absolutely helpful. They are in Farsi.
"Finding good friends is hard" is one of them. Thanks
And one thing else, What is... Ten directions?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top