Respecting NOT Worshipping

• neutral_onliner

  4 May 06, 11:20

  Buddhists DO NOT worship idols not at all.A piece of clay or bronze or jade is not the object of our respect and worship. When we bow before Buddha images, we are recalling the qualities of the enlightened beings. It is their impartial love and compassion, generosity, morality, patience, joyous effort, concentration and wisdom that we are showing respect to. The statue or painting serves to remind us of the qualities of the Buddha, and it is the qualities, not the clay, that we are bowing to. We need not have a statue in front of us in order to bow to or respect the Buddhas and their qualities.
  
  For example, if we go to a place far away from our family, we think about them and feel much love. But we also like to have a photo of them with us to remember them better. When we look at the photo and feel love for our family, we are not loving the paper and ink of the photo! The photo merely strengthens our memory. It is similar with a statue or painting of the Buddha.
  
  By showing respect to the Buddha and their qualities, we are inspired to develop these extraordinary qualities on our own mind streams. We become like the people we respect. When we take the loving-kindness and wisdom of the Buddhas as our example, we strive to become like them.
  
  
• neutral_onliner

  4 May 06, 11:46

  We do not make offerings because the Buddha needs our offerings. When someone has purified all defilements and enjoys the bliss that comes from wisdom, he/she certainly does not need an incense stick to be happy! Neither do we make offerings to win the BuddhaÂ’s favor. The Buddha developed impartial love and compassion long ago and will not be swayed by flattery and bribery like ordinary beings! Making offerings is a way to create positive potential and to develop our mind. At the moment, we have excessive attachment and miserliness. We keep the biggest and best for ourselves and give the second best or something we do not want at all to others. With such selfish traits, we always feel poor and dissatisfied, no matter how much we have. We constantly fear losing what little we do have. Such an attitude towards material objects makes our mind restless, and induces us to do dishonest actions to get more things or to be unkind to others in order to protect what we have.
  
  It is to break these destructive habits of attachment and miserliness that we make offerings. When making an offering, we want to do so without any feeling of loss from our side. It is for this reason that in the Tibetan tradition, seven bowls of water are offered on the altar. Water is readily accessible so that we can easily offer it without attachment or miserliness. By offering in this way, we habituate ourselves with the thought and action of giving. Thus, we come to feel rich when we give and take pleasure in sharing good things with others.
  
  Since the Buddhas, bodhisattvas and arhats are the highest of all beings, it is good to make offerings to them. We usually give offerings to our friends because we like them. Here, we offer to the holy beings because we are attracted to their qualities. We should not make offerings with a motivation to bribe the Buddhas, "I offered you incense, now you are obliged to grant my prayers"! We give with a respectful and kind attitude.
  
  Symbolic Meaning
  
  Flowers
  
  represent the qualities of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas
  
  Incense
  
  represent the fragrance of pure morality
  
  Light
  
  symbolizes wisdom
  
  Perfume
  
  represents faith.
  
  Fruits
  
  nourishment of meditative concentration and music symbolizes impermanence and the empty nature of all phenomena.
  
  Water
  
  by offering these water fresh clean and cool may our minds of all beings be washed of impurities
  
  Btw...For me...I'm fine wf just light and water