Worship and Devotion in Buddhism - Punya, Puja and Karma

 

Devotion

·        Devotion is a key practice within Buddhism, and originated with followers showing devotion to the Buddha by renouncing their worldly lives and giving up everything to follow the dharma. Devotion means showing love and reverence for the Buddha, his teachings, and senior religious leaders in Buddhism. Later Buddhists were also encouraged to show devotion to their teachers: Newly ordained monks were expected to show trust and respect for their teacher, and if they did not, their teacher could formally dismiss them

·        Devotional worship is practised in Buddhism in a variety of different ways, but its purpose is always to help followers gain good punya (merit), punya is a special power, which helps people in their current and next life. It is like a currency, which followers can use for themselves or give to others. Mahayana Buddhists believe that Bodhisattvas have unlimited punya to share with the world which is why they will often worship them.

·        Mahayana Devotional practices include: Prostration (bowing/lying face-down) to images of Gotama Buddha, and in Mahayana Buddhism also to other Buddhas and bodhisattvas. Such images originated some centuries after the historical Buddha. Devotion towards bodhisattvas focuses on their compassion, their skill and extraordinary powers. Prostration also happens within the religious hierarchy of the sangha: by a monk to a monk ordained earlier; by a nun to a nun ordained earlier; by a nun to a monk, regardless of date of ordination; by a lay person to a monk or nun. Worship is often seen as more important within Mahayana Buddhism as there are more beings to worship – past and future Buddhas and bodhisattvas such as Avalokiteshvara (the Bodhisattva of compassion). Buddhists may worship through chanting a mantra, or through reciting the 3 refuges that they formally expressed when they became a Buddhist.

·        Theravada Buddhists also practice devotion, and may have a small shrine to the Buddha in their own home, or visit the temple to venerate an image of him by giving offerings such as flowers and incense to images of the Buddha, which gives them good punya. In the Wat Phra Dhammakaya movement, there is a regular ceremony where the Buddhas in pari-nirvana are honored with food which is sent to them through the power of meditation.

·        Pilgrimage - according to sources recognized by most scholars as early, the Buddha, shortly before his death, recommended pilgrimage to four places: his birthplace (Lumbini, now Rummindei in Nepal); the site of his enlightenment (Bodh Gaya); the site of the preaching of his first sermon (near Benares); the place of his death (Kusinara). The Wat Phra Dhammakaya movement has attempted to organise Buddhist pilgrimages to holy sites, but this has reportedly only had varied success.

·        Puja or worship helps Buddhists to gain good karma, and puja is encouraged in both Theravada and Mahayana traditions. However, it could be said that there is more of an emphasis on worship in the Mahayana tradition. This is because Mahayana Buddhists worship bodhisattvas as well as past Buddhas, the future Buddha and the current Buddha Siddhartha Gautama. Mahayana temples are therefore often larger, more ornate, and full of statues of many semi-divine beings for followers to worship. Theravada temples on the other hand will just focus on the person of Gautama as he is the only being that they worship, as he is the central role model of Theravada Buddhism.

·        Images of the Buddha can vary hugely, the Buddha is often depicted in different styles depending on what area of the world one is in – for example Chinese Buddhists depict the Buddha in art and statues in a Chinese style, whereas Nepalese Buddhists might represent the Buddha in a more south-Asian style. They can be useful as a focus for one’s worship, and to help a Buddhist overcome certain issues by giving their life over to the aims of Buddhism.

·        It can be argued that the Buddha may have rejected some acts of devotion - The Buddha repeatedly discouraged any excessive veneration paid to him personally. He knew that an excess of purely emotional devotion can obstruct or disturb the development of a balanced character, and thus may become a serious obstacle to progress on the path to enlightenment. The focus should be on the dharma and escaping Samsara, not on just worshipping the Buddha for the sake of it. The Buddha said “those who see me see the dharma”, suggesting that it is more important to focus on the teachings of Buddhism than the Buddha himself.

How should Buddhists behave? Good moral conduct in Buddhism

 

Good Moral Conduct

·        In Buddhism, karma is governed by the rule of intention, meaning that if one has a good intention for the actions that they perform, then they will receive good karma. This is true even if their action accidentally brought about negative consequences. The Buddha emphasised that people must have Kusala intentions (healthy intentions) rather than Akusala intentions (unhealthy intentions). This means that people should follow the eightfold path – having the right intention, the right effort, the right livelihood, and performing right actions are all key. It is also important that people are not acting for a selfish reason – they should be intending to help others as well as aiming to escape Samsara themselves.

·        Some might argue that Buddhist followers cannot have free will as so much of their personality is determined by karma and rebirth. However, the Buddha would view Buddhists as being morally responsible for their own actions, and free will does exist in Buddhism despite karma, samsara and paticassamuppada appearing to determine certain aspects of one’s life and character. People are still free to make moral choices and to determine if their own intention and actions are moral and fit with the Eightfold Path.

·        All Theravada Buddhists must agree to abide by the five moral precepts which govern their behaviour and help people to live a moral life. These are focused on sila (morality) and are: to abstain from killing; false speech; taking what is not given; misuse of sensual pleasures and substances that cloud the mind. All lay Buddhists and monks and nuns must follow these rules, and if a monk or nun were to be found to be breaking the precepts they may be expelled from the Sangha.

·        All Mahayana Buddhists must follow 6 perfections which help them on the way to becoming a bodhisattva, the ultimate goal for Mahayana Buddhists. These are 6 morally preferable characteristics which are distinct from the 5 precepts of Theravada Buddhism – they are: wisdom; generosity; morality; zeal (enthusiasm and passion); meditation and patience. These are obviously different to the 5 precepts of Theravada Buddhism because they are much broader and could be more open to interpretation, but it is still possible to see how the 6 perfections should guide a Mahayana Buddhist in how to behave morally.

Ahimsa

·        Ahimsa is a key part of Buddhist moral behaviour – it refers to non-violence and suggests that Buddhists should always be peaceful. Like karma, it is governed by the rule of intention – accidentally harming an animal such as an insect is not seen as a morally bad action, but purposefully hurting another being is morally wrong according to the doctrine of ahimsa.

·        Ahimsa can be shown in may ways – for example Buddhists are called in the Eightfold Path to have a right livelihood or career. Due to the teaching of ahimsa, it would be seen as morally reprehensible for a Buddhist to choose a career as a hunter or butcher, as these jobs are based on harming animals – this would create bad karma.

·        When it comes to the treatment of animals, many Buddhists believe that they will be repaid in future lives if they mistreat animals. Most would therefore reject any action which harms animals, such as animal testing, hunting and wearing animal skins/fur. This is because an animal is not going to be in that form forever, and in the future could be a God or human, so they should be treated as such. Some Buddhists may choose to be vegetarian, although it is not possible in all places (for example the climate in Mongolia and Nepal means that many Buddhist followers must eat meat in order to survive as there are not enough crops). Monks may accept meat if it is donated to them by the laity, and the Buddha himself is thought to possibly eat meat, although it is hard to prove this through historical evidence. In some cultures such as China followers of Buddhism choose to be vegetarian.

·        Many Buddhists are completely against war because of the doctrine of ahimsa. Harvey suggests that a soldier who dies in battle is said to be immediately reborn as an animal or in hell, suggesting that fighting in a war is immoral for Buddhists. However, although monks and nuns are peaceful, lay Buddhists may choose to fight for their country in self-defence, for example in Thailand the army is well respected as they protect the community. Nevertheless, all Buddhists are against the use of weapons of mass destruction because of the way that they indiscriminately destroy life – particularly precious human rebirth where people are able to escape samsara through nirvana. The extent of the suffering is also huge and should be avoided in the eyes of Buddhists. Although not all Buddhists adopt it, Pacifism is seen to be the ideal – for example, the Emperor Ashoka in the 3^rd Century was said to give up military conquest when he converted to Buddhism, suggesting that this is the aim of the doctrine of ahimsa.

·        When it comes to the embryo and the unborn child, Buddhists are often against abortion as they believe that life begins at conception, and one of the 5 moral precepts is to abstain from killing. Peter Harvey argues that abortion “cuts of precious human rebirth” so it is seen as being morally wrong according to ahimsa. Abortions are also said to cause bad karma, so they should be avoided. However abortion may be accepted in some extreme cases, such as when the mother’s life is in danger, and abortion also became common in post-war Japan where there was a great deal of nuclear fallout, suggesting that sometimes abortion is permitted, even though the action would still cause bad karma for the mother and the doctors.