Are Buddhists really idol worshippers? – Ven. Dr. K. Sri Dhammananda Thero

 

Many people are under a misapprehension that Buddhists pray to idols. This is due to a lack of knowledge of the teaching of the Buddha and Buddhist customs and traditions.

Buddhists do not normally pray to images and idols; what they do is to pay homage to a great religious teacher who is worthy of honour. The images are erected as a mark of respect and appreciation for the highest achievement of enlightenment and perfection by an extraordinary religious teacher. To a Buddhist the image is merely a token, a symbol, a representation which helps him to recall or to remember the Buddha.

Buddhists kneel before the image and pay their respects to what that image represents.

 

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2 comments

    • Emmet Bondurant on August 23, 2011 at 10:07 pm
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    I remember a local story of a visitor to a Zen meditation group inquiring “Where is the statue of the Buddha?”. The teacher picked up a rock, set it on the table, and said “There. There is the Buddha.”

    • Thivanka on September 7, 2011 at 6:32 pm
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    If there is no image nobody can recall the vivid picture of anyone..I am thousands miles away from my daughter, I was never  able to make a vivid picture of my daughter’s real face in my mind unless if there’s a photograph of her..uneducated people will homage the Buddha’s image as it is, but many people homage the Buddha’s statue as it represents the vivid picture of Real Buddha and to make the sense of his presence

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