Congress Participants at the Buddhist Worship Session
Buddhism and Prayer
Ven. Pandith M. Vajiragnana ( Edited from All in Good Faith)
Session
Co-ordinators: Katsunori Yamanoi & Bhiksuni Chueh Men
For
many people, prayer might be said to be a solemn and humble
request either to God or to an object of worship. It might
be said to be a respectful attempt to strike a bargain with
some deity or higher power, asking either for guidance or
intervention on one's behalf.
It is an understandable
instinct for man to turn to prayer in times of need or perplexity,
but for a Buddhist this definition of prayer is not acceptable.
Buddhists do not have a belief in the existence of a supreme,
omnipotent god who can influence the outcome of events. To
a Buddhist, the world is subject to the operation of five
natural laws, which we call Niyama, but these laws operate
by themselves and cannot be varied at the request of any beings,
either human or divine. One of these five laws is Kamma, the
law of cause and effect. Good actions produce good results,
and harmful actions produce harmful results. If we want to
experience desirable effects, we must create the right causes.
This moral law is impersonal, and cannot be swayed by any
request made by man.
If
the Buddhists do not believe in the existence of an omnipotent
deity, then there is no point in making petitionary or intercessory
prayers. The Buddha said that neither the repetition of holy
scriptures, nor self-torture, nor the repetition of prayers,
penance's, hymns, charms, mantras, incantations and invocations
can bring us real happiness. Instead, the Buddha emphasised
the importance of making individual effort in order to achieve
our spiritual growth.
I suggest that it is in this process of spiritual development
that we can find another definition of the word 'prayer'.
The spiritual path is one of purification, the cleansing of
the mind all negative qualities, such as greed, hatred and
ignorance, which cloud our vision and prevent us from seeing
the Truth. For the Buddhist, meditation is the primary tool
for training the mind to give up its selfish, egotistical
desires.
Most prayer is for gain, but in meditation
the reverse is true. It is undertaken in order to reduce our
cravings and desires, it is a process of inner transformation
and improvement.
Traditionally, offerings are made to the statue of Buddha
which is to be found in every shrine room. It is important
to realise the true significance of these offerings, since
to the non-Buddhist this may appear to be nothing better than
mere idol-worship. The offerings take the form of flowers,
lights and incense. When making these, the mental state of
the devotee is very important. The flowers are offered with
the full awareness of their impermanence and that they will
soon fade. So too the sweet smell of incense will also fade.
This symbolises the transience of all conditioned things.
The candles or lamps symbolise the dispelling of the darkness
of ignorance by the light of wisdom. Strictly speaking, these
external objects of homage are not absolutely necessary, but
they are useful and help to concentrate one's attention. They
are offered as a mark of gratitude for what the Buddha taught
us, helping to reflect on his virtues. Other devotional activities
involve the recitation of the supreme qualities of the Buddha,
of his teachings and his noble disciples. The Buddha's discourses
may also be recited. All these activities are instruments
of mental purification and they represent prayer in its purest
form.
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