tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2998998547000813414.post2202934647126517702..comments2023-12-08T01:00:57.240-08:00Comments on My Buddha is pink: Do Buddhists worship idols?Richard Harroldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02943119066949899198noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2998998547000813414.post-87874750899620460202014-11-25T05:41:38.146-08:002014-11-25T05:41:38.146-08:00 “Do Buddhist worship idols?”
Yes, Buddhists do wo... “Do Buddhist worship idols?”<br />Yes, Buddhists do worship idols. They not only worship idols they worship relics, trees, mountains, ārāmas (parks); they go on pilgrimages etc. <br />However, the question is raised by some Buddhists as well as non-Buddhists discussed and debated.<br />There is nothing special about this question. It is a characteristic of all religions. Devotees of religions not only criticize each other; they fight; they kill; they go to war. This is the example of history. No amount of discussion, debate or even wars will bring about a resolution to this problem.<br /><br />So there is nothing special about Muslims and Christians criticizing Buddhists.<br /><br />D. C. wijeratna<br />DCWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09940357080016531658noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2998998547000813414.post-51680084495378034982011-10-30T09:46:56.613-07:002011-10-30T09:46:56.613-07:00Thank you Yuttadhammo :) I do like Buddha images a...Thank you Yuttadhammo :) I do like Buddha images as well. But thanks to my first teacher, I don't believe for a minute they are proxies for communicating with the divine ;)Richard Harroldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02943119066949899198noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2998998547000813414.post-62877556530090715832011-10-30T09:33:51.253-07:002011-10-30T09:33:51.253-07:00Thanks for writing about this; this answer really ...Thanks for writing about this; this answer really just sprung to mind when the question was asked... what I really was trying to say is not that Buddha images are unbeneficial, but that they are unessential. So it's the belief that they have some intrinsic importance in Buddhist practice that has really led to problems in this regard - holding the unessential to be essential, and the essential to be unessential. <br /><br />When we do that, we inevitably run into problems like this; at the very least, we become stuck in institutionalism - an obvious problem in today's Buddhism. The biggest problem is that institutionalized religion is not portable; portability is a key to keeping Buddhism meaningful, as I think I say in this video.<br /><br />But just to be clear, I do like Buddha images :)Yuttadhammohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08628569174419835103noreply@blogger.com