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.
The worship of the Buddha statue is quite a different aspect. Even this word ‘worship’ is also not quite appropriate from the Buddhist point of view. Paying homage should be the correct term. 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.
More…….
[pdf]http://www.dhammikaweb.com/pdfs/Dhammananda_Are_Buddhists_Idol_Worshippers.pdf[/pdf]
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