Lay Buddhist Practices |
devotional |
---|
Offerings · Bows 3 Refuges · Chanting |
precepts |
5 Precepts · 8 Precepts Bodhisattva vows |
other |
Meditation · Giving Supporting Monastics Study · Pilgrimage |
Buddhist devotion is an important part of the practice of most Buddhists.[1] According to a spokesman of the Sasana Council of Burma, devotion to Buddhist spiritual practices inspires devotion to the Triple Gem.[2] Most Buddhists use ritual in pursuit of their spiritual aspirations.[3]
Examples of devotional practices:
- bowing:
- to images of the Buddha, and in Mahayana also of other Buddhas and bodhisattvas; such images originated some centuries after the Buddha's time
- to religious superiors:
- a monk to a monk ordained earlier
- a nun to a nun ordained earlier
- a nun to a monk, regardless of date of ordination
- a lay person to a monk or nun
- offering flowers, incense etc. to images
- chanting:
- the Three Refuges
- protective chanting: in the Samyuktagama, the Buddha is portrayed teaching a verse and mantra that monks may chant to protect themselves from snakebite. The verse is mainly about loving-kindness, compassion, and doing no harm to all beings. The mantra is given in Chinese transcription of the Sanskrit. This episode does not occur in the counterpart sutta in the Samyutta-Nikaya, and may have been added after the Sarvastivada/Vibhajjavada split.[4]
- mantras and dharanis in Mahayana: includes the Heart Sutra and om mani padme hum
- homage to Amitabha in Pure Land Buddhism
- homage to the Lotus Sutra in Nichiren Buddhism
- pilgrimage:
- according to sources[5] recognized by most scholars as early, the Buddha, shortly before his death, recommended pilgrimage to four places:
Other places were later added, particularly in other countries, where pilgrimage to the original sites would be daunting.
A very important form of Buddhist devotion is Pure Land Buddhism, which is practised by most Chinese monks, some combining it with Chan (Zen).[6] It exists as a group of independent denominations in Japan, the most radical, and largest, of which, Jodo Shinshu, holds to a subtle idea of effortless salvation .
See also[]
Notes[]
- ↑ Harvey, page 170
- ↑ Morgan, pages v, 73
- ↑ Macmillan (Volume One), page 139
- ↑ Choong Mun-keat, The Fundamental Teachings of Early Buddhism: A comparative study basted on the Sutranga portion of the Pali Samyutta-Nikaya and the Chinese Samyuktagama; Harrassowitz Verlag, Weisbaden, 2000, pages 105-106. See also Anguttara Nikaya, volume II, page 72 (Pali Text Society edition pagination) and the Atanatiya Sutta in the Digha Nikaya, number 32, in volume III.
- ↑ Digha Nikaya, volume II, pages 140f (PTS pagination)
- ↑ Welch, page 396
References[]
- Harvey, Peter, An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices, Cambridge University Press, 1990
- Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004
- Morgan, Kenneth W., ed, The Path of the Buddha: Buddhism Interpreted by Buddhists, Ronald Press, New York, 1956
- Welch, Holmes, The Practice of Chinese Buddhism, 1900-1950, Harvard University Press, 1967