Why do Buddha statues exist?

[Corrigan37]

What is the point of having a Buddha statue if he's not deified?
If Buddhists don't believe in a God who are they praying to?

 

Carrie

[metis]

What is the point of having a Buddha statue if he's not deified?
If Buddhists don't believe in a God who are they praying to?

Even though some people get quite close to deifying the Buddha, the scriptures make it quite clear that he did not consider himself to be a deity.  Therefore, one need not pray to the Buddha.
Like what may be found in Catholicism with its statues, crucifixes, etc., the statues may help with contemplation (meditation) on the attributes of the Buddha.  If one is doing sitting meditation, the object may help a bit with one's focus. 

In this manner we may even draw a parallel with why do churches have a cross in them?  Again, it's a symbol for Christians that is widely accepted, and its venerated rather than looked upon as an object of worship.

Just one final point.  Some people in the Mahayana schools feel that it's OK to pray to one who has reached nirvana or to a deity to ask them for help.  However, these schools do not believe in a creator-god, nor do they teach that this form of prayer is likely to result in anything significant.  But some find comfort in praying, so what would be wrong with that (rhetorical question)? 

[Corrigan37]

Well Metis I am confused ..

Let me ask you this.. What do you get out of buddhism?
sorry if i seem to personal I am just curious because your profile says reformed judiasm..

[chitown_ninja]

I don't know about Metis, but what I get from Buddhism, mainly is compassion for others, something I didn't have much of before. Also, through Buddhism, I have realized that I and I alone am responsible for my actions, there is no outside force that makes me behave stupid or intelligently (sp?). I am human and I make mistakes, but making mistakes is part of being human, but we must not dwell on the mistakes of the past. By dwelling on the mistakes of the past, one is too busy to look to the future and even more importantly, we will miss living in the present moment. I think the statues and paintings of Buddha are to remind us that we can all become enlightened, technically according to Buddhist scripture we are already enlightened, we just have to realize it. I hope that answers your question Corrigan.

[metis]

Well Metis I am confused ..

Let me ask you this.. What do you get out of buddhism?
sorry if i seem to personal I am just curious because your profile says reformed judiasm..

"Confused" is my middle name.  Long story, but I'll give you the Reader's Digest condensed version of it.

Religious faith for me has always been quite a bit of a challenge, largely because I've pretty much continuously looked for evidence.  For most of my life I was a theist, but always a bit of a shaky one, largely because I felt I should believe.  It was in the summer of 1999 that I began to ask myself a different question, namely is it really necessary to believe without some at least fairly solid evidence that there is some sort of deity.  I had no good answer for that question.

Then I plugged it into my science background (I'm a retired anthropologist), and I began to rather intensely study cosmology, particularly focusing in on the research dealing with the Big Bang.  However, nothing there encouraged me to retain my theistic stance.  The more and more I thought about it, I could only pretty much conclude that my theism was pretty much conditioned into me by my upbringing. 

This could have been very depressing for me, but had I read the book "The Lotus and the Jew", which dealt with some Jews having dialogue with the Dalai Lama.  To shorten the story, I now have a personal library of around three dozen books on Buddhism. 

Buddhism is not built on "faith" or "belief".  But like the Abrahamic and many other religions, its main purpose is to create a more compassionate and just society and, hopefully, world; but it does so without necessitating a belief in a deity or deities.  Matter of fact, the Pali Canon states that one is not to take the teachings (dharma) at face value, but to instead rub them against our own experiences, observations, and other things we've learned from more objective sources.  The Dalai Lama has said and written, for example, that if science contradicts the Buddhist scriptures, go with science. 

What about a creator-god?  Supposedly when asked the question, the Buddha essentially said that the question is irrelevant.  Therefore, it is conceivable that one could believe in a creator-god, but then the question would be why would they believe in a creator-god?  Because of this approach, we tend to use the term "non-theistic", which is not a denial that there could hypothetically be a creator-god, but that one shouldn't accept it without some sort of convincing evidence one way or another.  Because of this approach, Buddhists do not look down upon theists because, after all, they could well be right in the final analysis.

The above approach I'm comfortable with.  I no longer try to force myself to believe in a deity or deities, miracles, supernatural feats, etc.  Pardon my brevity with the answer, and don't be afraid to ask more questions.  This approach is not for everyone, nor do I somehow believe that this is "the final answer" that everyone should somehow believe in.  After all, Buddhism is more of a "process" than a "religion".       

[metis]

I don't know about Metis, but what I get from Buddhism, mainly is compassion for others, something I didn't have much of before. Also, through Buddhism, I have realized that I and I alone am responsible for my actions, there is no outside force that makes me behave stupid or intelligently (sp?). I am human and I make mistakes, but making mistakes is part of being human, but we must not dwell on the mistakes of the past. By dwelling on the mistakes of the past, one is too busy to look to the future and even more importantly, we will miss living in the present moment. I think the statues and paintings of Buddha are to remind us that we can all become enlightened, technically according to Buddhist scripture we are already enlightened, we just have to realize it. I hope that answers your question Corrigan.

Very nice response, and it's nice to meet you, chitown_ninja.

Shalom,
Vern

[metis]

sorry if i seem to personal I am just curious because your profile says reformed judiasm..

Sorry, but I forgot about this part of your question.  Again, I'll be brief.

When I began to get really comfortable with Buddhist dharma (although not all of it), the next question was what do I do now?  I talked to my rabbi about what had happened to me, and he rest assured me there was simply no problem with both remaining at my synagogue and not really hiding the "procedure" that I was now using.  On two of his sabbaticals, he had studied dharma and meditation at a couple of Buddhist temples in Thailand and Nepal, and was quite impressed, although he was and is a theist.

Our synagogue is involved with the Jewish Renewal movement, which put's less emphasis on dogma and more on an emotional attachment to God.  However, it also is very accepting of those who may question whether there's a God or not because, after all, haven't each of us tended to question this from time to time? 

Again, sorry to be so brief, and don't be afraid of asking more questions.   

[chitown_ninja]

Metis,
thank you for that kind response. I look forward to talk to you some more.

[Corrigan37]

Yes Thank you metis 

[metis]

Yes Thank you metis 

Anytime, and it's really nice to see you here, btw.

[Corrigan37]

Hi metis . 
I have a question..

I was having this discussion today about the laughing buddha ..

Can you tell me what you know about hotei I believe it's called?

I understand he was a chinese monk who was so incredibly handsome that everyone wanted to marry him including men so he made himself fat..

Do you see hotei as the future buddha?

[chitown_ninja]

Corrigan,

What I know of Hotei, is that he is the Buddhist version of Santa Claus. I know that many mistake him for Sakaymuni Buddha. I have a little statue of Hotei, and when my daughter was younger (she's four now) she would carry him around the house and giggle everytime she looked at him. And as for you question of him being a future Buddha, I can say yes on that, because according to Buddhist teachings, we all have the potential to a Buddha ( Buddha just means awakened).