2 questions on Buddhism?

Question

I have 2 questions to ask about Buddhism.

1) If Buddhism is about a philosophy and a way of life, then how did all the gods come about? Because over here, many Buddhists pray to different gods like for example, the Goddess of Mercy etc. I just want to know how did they come to be related to Buddhism. Everything I searched online about the history of Buddhism just gave me the same thing, and so I'm just wondering where the Gods came in.

2) And I'm quite confused about the Swastika. Is it the left or right- facing that is used in Buddhism? I did a search online, and it told me the left is the one what represents like good and light and stuff like that, but I'm not too sure. And how about the ones that are tilted 45 degrees to the left or right?

Thanks.

Answer 1

In Buddhism , Goddess of Mercy , ( Guan Yin , in chinese , avalokitesvara in sanskrit ) is not a god.

It is a bodhisattva . It is a being that was once like us but has practiced the Buddha teachings deeply throughout aeons and has attained profound spiritual attainments and powers .

It has made vows to attuned in to all living beings in the cosmos and to seek out any beings that are in suffering and deliver them from their sufferings.

( Beings like : us, dogs, cats, snakes, tigers, roaches, worms , effectively all living beings on this earth , hevenly beings, beings in the hell , etc..)

( Note that I used the word " IT " to describe Guan Yin ,
because at the spiritual level that it is in, the notions of gender doesn't apply to it anymore , it can manifest in male form or it can manifest in female form. )

So, the term Goddess of Mercy is a misnomer .

In terms of ranking , a Bodhisattva is one level lower than a Buddha . As a Bodhisattva continues to practice further , it will one day attain the attainment of a Buddha.

As for the Gods that are included in the Buddhist teachings, they are only a class of spiritual beings.They are a different concept from the " Creator god " of other religions .

They do not have the capabitlties to create the cosmos . But, their powers are still much more superior than human beings.

Some of these gods reside in heavens , while some reside in the other dimensions in the human world.

To really understand Buddhism , you would need to learn as much as you can about it and at a certain point, commit into practising it.

If you study it like a academic subject and you don't practise it , it will be like seeking the best dishes in the world by studying cooking menus only , but never tasting the dishes.

Well, you will still be hungry ! :))

Buddhism is really not a philosophy , it is in essence , the way to unlock the very fundamental mystery of who we are ( unenlightened Buddhas ) , why we are here and the mystery of the universe.

Its practice aims to free all beings ( including us human beings )
from suffering and lead us to attain Nirvana ,where all suffering ceased and where we will exist infinitely in happiness.

Answer 2

1) The core of buddhist philosophy is pretty constant among its different sects, like many other religions. But whorship of the Goddess of Mercy in Buddhism is a varient influenced by Chinese culture and is quite a distinctive form of Buddhism practised in China, it's not idolatry or paganism.

2) The adoption of the swastika has been considered to be a marketing tool for a particularly twisted political party in the 20s and 30s, take a recognised symbol and use it as your logo. It was certainly a memorable icon and people are quicker to asscociate the swastika with facism now than its older and more significant meaning.

Answer 3

1) those gods are just mystical occoults embedded in the religion. It is the same as Kaballah with Jewish. The difference is, the Jewish notice the bad impact (they believe in worshipping only the Creator of all (God) and not spirits or idols or small gods)) of this paganism. so they sortof eliminate the occult... although it is still existed now but at least the Jewish want nothing of it. Buddhism, on the other hand, failed to eliminate the occult. So it becomes part of it. They worship not only God (or Tian / sky / heaven) - the creator of all - sort of the king of all the gods. but also these other gods... they put spirits in the statutes and worship these idols like pagans. Their stories came from indian mystical tales.

2) check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika

Referring to the answer below. Buddhism has been around longer than Chrsitianity. It IS a religion. shhheehh.. Just because it was not popular in the US does not mean it is not a religion.The Chinese are mostly buddhist cuz the religion was so popular there and other oriental countries.

Answer 4

There are many paths of Buddhism, most came into existence before there was a real difference between religion and philosophy.
Both religion and philosophy are ways of trying to understand what ever is beyond the scope of logic that is accessible to the user. Buddhism is a religion, but it is not exclusive like western religions. A Buddhist dose not believe it is a sin to allow a pagan (small p meaning one not of my own religion) to live, which is taught in the Torah, Old testament, Koran and many doctrines of Christianity.

Buddhism often adopts the spiritual beliefs of the religions it encounters, Hindu in India to Shinto in Japan, and reflects these beliefs in itself. There are even lines of thought that Jesus was a reincarnation of the Buddha.

Regarding the Swastika, this symbol has been around for as long as people could carve into clay tablets. It is about the most complex yet recognizable symbols that could be made by a carving tool, with meaning in its symmetry, and repeating nature.

Answer 5

1) Buddhism is actually a reform movement in Hinduism, Lord Buddha wanted the people to stop searching salvation through Brahman priests and take their own path. Many people wonder if he was really an atheist, there are only writings on Buddha's teachings dating centuries after his life.

2) There is a mountain in the Himalaya's that has the shape of the Swastika. It was believed that one could find enlightenment by walking three times around it's foothills, that would take a person months and is certainly a good way to forget about household chores, the view is breath-taking and the trip is really hard to complete.

Answer 6

With no offence to any one....
1 - You must be talking about mahayana Buddhism.. & some slight deviations from Theravada Buddhism .. but in pure Theravada Buddhism .. there are no gods... There are some beings called heavenly beings.. but we dont worship them... Any way it is said that if one needs help from these heavenly beings.. one should consider it as transaction between a layer & a client … a doctor & a patient .. That is Promise to give smthing in return for services…

Pl Y-IM me if u need more..

2 - Sorry no swastika in Theravada Buddhism..

May all beings be well & happy

Rami

Answer 7

Initially, Buddhism was not a religion. It was just a set or system of beliefs. However due to its increasing popularity, more and more people adopting Buddhism as alternative religion based on spiritual rather than the concept of one God i.e Christianity or Islam. Consequently, it has becoming religion. They pray/adopt the concept of God in different areas and each area has God which suppose to protect/govern them.

Answer 8

Ahimsa is a Sanskrit term meaning non-violence. Mahayana Buddhism generally regards as its most important teaching the path of the bodhisattva. The bodhisattva means (depending on who you ask) either the elightened being or one on the path to becoming enlightened. Vajrayana is considered an extension of Mahayana Buddhism mostly consisting of differences in the adoption of additional techniques rather than in philosophy.

Answer 9

1) To many, Buddhism goes beyond religion and is more of a philosophy or 'way of life'. It is a philosophy because philosophy 'means love of wisdom' and the Buddhist path can be summed up as:
(1) to lead a moral life,
(2) to be mindful and aware of thoughts and actions, and
(3) to develop wisdom and understanding.
Buddhism depends more on understanding than faith.

Bodhisattva (a great being who aspires to help all sentient beings be free of suffering before entering the bliss of Buddhahood).
The term Bodhisattva refers to someone on the path to Awakening. The Mahayana has conceived them as having renounced the ultimate state out of pure compassion towards all beings, and can therefore refers to anyone en route.
in mahayana tradition, Bodhisattva & deity means the same (but not in western terms).
It is important to not end up with considering a deity as an external god, just to send prayers to with the request to fix things for us - that's not really Buddhism. The point in Buddhism is always to evolve and transform ourselves, and in that way to help others in a much more effective way.
Buddhists don’t pray to a Creator God/ deities/ bodhisattva, but they do have devotional meditation practices which could be compared to praying. Radiating loving-kindness to all living beings is a practice which is believed to benefit those beings. The sharing of merit is a practice where one dedicates the goodness of one’s life to the benefit of all living beings as well as praying for a particular person.

***When someone worships a god, they praise him or her, making offerings and ask for favours, believing that the god will hear their praise, receive their offerings and answer their prayers. Real Buddhists do not indulge in this kind of worship.

2)The swastika (Sanskrit svastika) is a cross with four arms of equal length, with the ends of each arm bent at a right angle. Sometimes dots are added between each arm.

The swastika is an ancient symbol found worldwide and especially common in India. The swastika's Indian name comes the Sanskrit word svasti, meaning good fortune, luck and well being. In Hinduism, the right-hand (clockwise) swastika is a solar symbol and the left-hand (counterclockwise) swastika represents Kali and magic. The Buddhist swastika is almost always clockwise.

In Buddhism, the swastika was commonly used in sacred art before the days of the Buddha image. As in Hinduism, it signified auspiciousness and good fortune, but also symbolized the Buddha's footprints.

The swastika has often been used to mark the beginning of Buddhist texts. In China and Japan, the Buddhist swastika was seen as a symbol of plurality, eternity, abundance, prosperity and long life.

Today, the swastika is still used as an auspicious mark on Buddhist images and temples. It is also often inscribed on the chest, palms or feet of images of the Buddha. In Tibetan Buddhism, it is used as a clothing decoration.

The swastika itself has its origions in India over 3000 years ago. It was used to represent the balancing of spritual power/movement. It was later adopted by Buddhism because of its close relationship with the dharma. This symbol was taken and misused during the Second World War for the glorification of Nazism which interestingly enough got its symbol from Tibet/Nepal region.
Dr. Himmler (aka nutball of the SS) believed that Nepal held a secret of the "Aryan Kingdom". Sounds like Sci-Fi or some bizzaro movie plot but it is historically accurate-- Himmler believed that the Aryans were a superior human race among many things and that the Nepalese people were empowered beings.
they took the symbol to get power and used it to "protect" their radical political organisation believeing that they could get some sort of power from it.
The truth is that the swastika really was never meant to represent hate or nazism --- and only when placed on its axis does it refer to nazism--- at 90 degrees it represents the dharma.
http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=249&t=4

Answer 10

My position is 90 degrees right related to Buddhism.As I did reply that God is within our mind.Do good things and not harm anyone else that is the best way of living.