However, it is true that Buddhist practices sometimes have their origins in popular superstition and misunderstanding rather than the teachings of the Buddha. And such misunderstandings are not found in Buddhism alone but arise in all religions from time to time.
The Buddha taught with clarity and in detail and if some fail to understand fully, the Buddha cannot be blamed. There is a saying;. If a person suffering from a disease does not seek treatment even when there is a physician at hand, it is not the fault of that physician. In the same way, if a person is oppressed and tormented by the disease of the defilements but does not seek the help of the Buddha, that is not the Buddha's fault.
JN Nor should Buddhism or any religion be judged by those who don't practice it properly. If you wish to know the true teachings of Buddhism, read the Buddha's words or speak to those who understand them properly. If Buddhism is so good why are some Buddhist countries poor? If by poor you mean economically poor, then it is true that some Buddhist countries are poor. But if by poor you mean a poor quality of life, then perhaps some Buddhist countries are quite rich.
America for example, is an economically rich and powerful country but the crime rate is one of the highest in the world, millions of old people are neglected by their children and die of loneliness in old people's homes, domestic violence and child abuse are major problems. One in three marriages end in divorce and pornography is a major industry.
Rich in terms of money but perhaps poor in terms of the quality of life. Now take traditional Buddhist countries. Some are economically backward but parents are honored and respected by their children, their crime rates are relatively low, divorce and suicide are almost unheard of, domestic violence and child abuse, pornography and sexual license are not common. Economically backward but perhaps a higher quality of life than in a country like America. But even if we judge Buddhist countries in terms of economics alone, one of the wealthiest and most economically dynamic countries in the world today is Japan where a large percentage of the population call themselves Buddhists.
Why is it that you don't often hear of charitable work being done by Buddhists? Perhaps it is because Buddhists don't feel the need to advertise about the good they do. Several years ago the Japanese Buddhist leader Nikkho Niwano received the Templeton Prize for his work in promoting inter-religious harmony.
Likewise a Thai Buddhist monk was recently awarded the prestigious Magsaysay Prize for his excellent work among drug addicts.
In another Thai monk, Ven. Kantayapiwat was awarded the Norwegian Children's Peace Prize for his many years of work helping homeless children in rural areas. And what about the large scale social work being done among the poor in India by the Western Buddhist Order? They have built schools, child minding centres, dispensaries and small scale industries for selfsufficiency. Buddhists see help given to others as an expression of their religious practice just as other religions do but they believe that it should be done quietly and without self-promotion.
Thus you don't hear so much about their charitable work. Why are there so many different types of Buddhism? There are many different types of sugar: brown sugar, white sugar, granulated sugar, rock sugar, syrup and icing sugar but it is all sugar and it all tastes sweet. It is produced in different forms so that it can be used in different ways.
Buddhism is the same. Buddhism has evolved into different forms so that it can be relevant to the different cultures in which it exists.
It has been reinterpreted over the centuries so that it can remain relevant to each new generation. Outwardly, the types of Buddhism may seem very different but at the center of all of them is the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path.
All major religions, Buddhism included, have split into schools and sects. But the different sects of Buddhism have never gone to war with each other, they have never been towards each other and to this day, they go to each other's temples and worship together.
Such tolerance and understanding are certainly rare. Buddhism started in India but it eventually died out there. The Buddha's teachings grew to become one of India's major religions but gradually it went into decline and finally disappeared just as Christianity started in Palestine but eventually died out there. Home and temple Buddhist worship Buddhist temple, Khatmandu, Nepal Buddhists can worship both at home or at a temple. At home Buddhists will often set aside a room or a part of a room as a shrine.
Temples Buddhist temples come in many shapes. Perhaps the best known are the pagodas of China and Japan. Buddhist temples are designed to symbolise the five elements: Fire Air Earth, symbolised by the square base Water Wisdom, symbolised by the pinnacle at the top All Buddhist temples contain an image or a statue of Buddha.
Worship There are as many forms of Buddhist worship as there are schools of Buddhism - and there are many of those. Worship in Mahayana tradition takes the form of devotion to Buddha and to Bodhisattvas. Mantras and prayer Mantras Woman spinning prayer wheels A mantra is a word, a syllable, a phrase or a short prayer that is spoken once or repeated over and over again either aloud or in a person's head and that is thought to have a profound spiritual effect on the person.
Physical prayer aids Prayer wheel. The Noble Eight-fold Path focuses the mind on being fully aware of our thoughts and actions, and developing wisdom by understanding the Four Noble Truths.
It is the way Buddhists should live their lives. The Buddha said that people should avoid extremes. They should not have or do too much, but neither should they have or do too little. The 'Middle Way' is the best. The path to Enlightenment nirvana is through the practice and development of wisdom, morality and meditation. Karma is the law that every cause has an effect, i. This simple law explains a number of things: inequality in the world, why some are born handicapped and some gifted, why some live only a short life.
Buddhists believe that are past actions have an effect on who or what we are in our next life. There are many different types of Buddhism, because the emphasis changes from country to country due to customs and culture. What does not vary is the essence of the teaching — the Dhamma or truth.
Buddhist Artifacts Symbols Photographs of Buddhist artifacts with useful background notes. Story of the Buddha Interactive storybook. Buddhism For children. Life as a Buddhist Written by a Thai Teenager. Also take a look at www. Stories from Buddha's Life For children. Buddhist Stories. Follow me on Twitter mbarrow. I teach computers at The Granville School and St. John's Primary School in Sevenoaks Kent. Buddhist Festivals around the World.
The Three Signs of Being. You may not redistribute, sell or place the content of this page on any other website or blog without written permission from the author Mandy Barrow.
Buddhism began in northeastern India and is based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama. Siddhartha Gautama The Buddha. How is Buddhism different from other religions? Who is the founder of Buddhism? Why is Siddhartha Gautama so important to Buddhists?
Who was Siddhartha Gautama? The wheel of life which symbolises the cycle of life, death and rebirth. The eight spokes remind people that the Buddha taught about eight ways of life. The lotus flower symbolises purity and divine birth. The lotus flower grows in mud at the bottom of a pool, but rises above the surface to become a beautiful flower.
Buddhist say this is how people should rise above everything which is dukkha. A flower may be very beautiful and have a wonderful scent, but it soon withers and dies. This shows that nothing in life is perfect. For example the Buddha is often shown with: a bump on on the top of his head - a symbol that he had special talents.
The are a symbol that he was a very holy man. Do not clap at Buddhist temples as you would at a Shinto shrine. Praying is done by prostrating oneself or bowing with hands clasped from a standing or seated position in front of an image of Buddha.
Prayers are usually made after tossing a coin into the saisen-bako offering box. Offerings left at shrines include coins, apples, business cards,. Many Japanese visiting temples and shrines attach omiyuki folded paper fortunes to trees in the belief it will bring them good fortune. The thunderbolt dorje or vajra and bell drilbu are ritual objects used in Tantric rites that symbolize male and female aspects.
The male thunderbolt is a double-headed object held in the right hand. Associated with skill and compassion, it is regarded as indestructible and has the power to cut through ignorance.
The bell is held in the left hand. It represents wisdom, emptiness and nirvana. Tibetans use cups and bowls made of human skulls and flutes carved out of human thigh bones. Some ceremonies at Portala Palace in Lhasa incorporate hourglass-shaped drums fashioned from two skulls, and a container made from a silver-encrusted upside-down skull the jaw bone serves as the container's lid. Skull drums are usually covered by leather. Sometimes they are covered with human skin.
The bones belong to revered lamas and monks. Tibetan Buddhists also use rosaries made of beads from different skulls. Objects made with human bones are not regarded as gruesome but rather as symbols of the shortness of life and need for religion to facilitate rebirth. Prayer wheels are devices inscribed with mani prayers and containing sutra scrolls attached to their axels. Each turn of a prayer wheel represents a recitation of the prayer inside and transports it to heaven.
Varying in size from thimbles to oil drums, with some the size of buildings, prayer wheels can be made of wood, copper, bronze, silver or gold. They can be turned by wind or water or rotated by hand and are often stuffed with prayers handwritten in pieces of cloth.
Some prayer wheels have handles and look like devices that take up string on a kite. Others are large and hang from temples with thousands of prayers inside that when unraveled are more than a mile long. Pilgrimage paths koras are often lined with prayer wheel. Pilgrims spin the wheels to earn merit and help them focus on the prayers they are reciting.
Theoretically, Buddhist prayer wheels are allowed to slow down but never to stop. They are generally spun very quickly in a clockwise fashion. The merit earned from the written prayer usually om mani padme hum written in Tibetan or Sanskrit is regarded as weaker than that of a spoken prayer. The more prayers one offers, the more merit he or she earns, which improves his or her chances or receiving a higher reincarnation and eventually achieving nirvana.
Yak grease is used on the handle to make them spin more quietly. Mani stones Prayer flags are colored pieces of cloth that have Buddhist sutras printed on them.
They are strung up at mountain passes and along trails and streams and are attached to chortens, temples and other sacred structures so their prayers can be released in the wind to purify the air and appease the gods.
When the flags flutter in the wind, Tibet Buddhists believe the sutras on them are released to heaven and this bring merit to the people who tied them. The wind horse longa is the main symbol found on prayer flags. The colors on prayer flags is highly symbolic. Red represents fire; green, wood; yellow, earth; blue, water; and white, iron.
The tradition of tying prayer flags evolved out of worship for the God of Soil, and important Bon deity in Tibet before the arrival of Buddhism. Mani stones are flat-surfaced stones carved by Buddhist devotees to earn merit.
Most are inscribed with prayer "om mani padme hum" "Hail to the Jewel in the Lotus". They are often placed alongside trails near Tibetan-style monasteries and temples. In some places you can find prayer walls, hundreds of meters long. Travelers should always pass these walls on the left and consequently most prayer walls have trails on both sides. Sometimes, outside Theravada Buddhist temples, young children and other people with caged songbirds offer visitors the chance to set them free.
The birds are usually sparrows or finches. Many of the birds are caught again after they are released. In front of the shimmering gold pagoda of Wat Phnom, built on the grassy hill that lent the capital its name, Cambodians reach inside the metal and wire mesh cages, draw out sparrows, swallows, munias and weavers, often in pairs, then raise them in cupped palms to their lips.
The devotees mumble a prayer and then set them free into the warm, still air. She said that the birds had been shipped into the city overnight by boat and that she had sold nearly three dozen to worshipers by the morning. Bird flu was of no concern, she continued, patting the cage. It is only the foreign tourists who fret, often paying her to release the birds herself so they do not have to touch them.
Spotting a Cambodian man approaching the temple, she abandoned her thought and gave chase, following him up the long brick staircase, past the statues of lions and balustrades of mythical serpents, beseeching him at each step to purchase a few of her birds. He recounted the legend of how the Buddha, before attaining enlightenment, had found a swan wounded by an arrow, nursed the creature back to health then set it free. Moreover, the monk continued, the act of liberating a living creature can also earn devotees religious merit toward reincarnation into a better life.
But, setting aside the sublime, he added: "There's no point if you don't get benefits but instead catch a virus.
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