Buddhist devotion
Encyclopedia
Buddhist devotion is an important part of the practice of most Buddhists
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...

. According to a spokesman of the Sasana Council of Burma, devotion to Buddhist spiritual practices inspires devotion to the Triple Gem. Most Buddhists use ritual in pursuit of their spiritual aspirations.

Examples of devotional practices:
  • bowing:
    • to images of the Buddha, and in Mahayana
      Mahayana
      Mahāyāna is one of the two main existing branches of Buddhism and a term for classification of Buddhist philosophies and practice...

       also of other Buddhas and bodhisattva
      Bodhisattva
      In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is either an enlightened existence or an enlightenment-being or, given the variant Sanskrit spelling satva rather than sattva, "heroic-minded one for enlightenment ." The Pali term has sometimes been translated as "wisdom-being," although in modern publications, and...

      s; such images originated some centuries after the Buddha's time
    • to religious superiors:
      • a monk to a monk ordained earlier
      • a nun to a nun ordained earlier
      • a nun to a monk, regardless of date of ordination
      • a lay person to a monk or nun
  • offering flowers, incense etc. to images
  • chanting:
    • the Three Refuges
    • protective chanting: in the Samyuktagama, the Buddha is portrayed teaching a verse and mantra that monks may chant to protect themselves from snakebite. The verse is mainly about loving-kindness
      Metta
      Mettā or maitrī is loving-kindness, friendliness, benevolence, amity, friendship, good will, kindness, love, sympathy, close mental union , and active interest in others. It is one of the ten pāramīs of the Theravāda school of Buddhism, and the first of the four sublime states...

      , compassion
      Karuna
      Karuā is generally translated as "compassion" or "pity". It is part of the spiritual path of both Buddhism and Jainism.-Buddhism:...

      , and doing no harm to all beings. The mantra is given to trae in Chinese transcription of the Sanskrit. This episode does not occur in the counterpart sutta in the Samyutta-Nikaya, and may have been added after the Sarvastivada
      Sarvastivada
      The Sarvāstivāda were an early school of Buddhism that held to 'the existence of all dharmas in the past, present and future, the 'three times'. Vasubandhu's states:-Name:...

      /Vibhajjavada
      Vibhajjavada
      Vibhajyavāda was an early Buddhist school or a group of early Buddhist schools.-Nomenclature and etymology:The word Vibhajyavāda may be parsed into vibhajya, loosely meaning "dividing", "analyzing" and vāda holding the semantic field: "doctrine", "teachings". According to Andrew Skilton, the...

       split.
    • mantras and dharanis in Mahayana: includes the Heart Sutra
      Heart Sutra
      The Heart Sūtra is a Mahāyāna Buddhist sūtra. Its Sanskrit name literally translates to "Heart of the Perfection of Transcendent Wisdom." The Heart Sūtra is often cited as the best known and most popular of all Buddhist scriptures.-Introduction:The Heart Sūtra is a member of the Perfection of...

       and om mani padme hum
    • homage to Amitabha
      Amitabha
      Amitābha is a celestial buddha described in the scriptures of the Mahāyāna school of Buddhism...

       in Pure Land
      Pure land
      A pure land, in Mahayana Buddhism, is the celestial realm or pure abode of a Buddha or Bodhisattva. The various traditions that focus on Pure Lands have been given the nomenclature Pure Land Buddhism. Pure lands are also evident in the literature and traditions of Taoism and Bön.The notion of 'pure...

       Buddhism
    • homage to the Lotus Sutra
      Lotus Sutra
      The Lotus Sūtra is one of the most popular and influential Mahāyāna sūtras, and the basis on which the Tiantai and Nichiren sects of Buddhism were established.-Title:...

       in Nichiren Buddhism
      Nichiren Buddhism
      Nichiren Buddhism is a branch of Mahāyāna Buddhism based on the teachings of the 13th century Japanese monk Nichiren...

  • pilgrimage:
    • according to sources recognized by most scholars as early, the Buddha, shortly before his death, recommended pilgrimage to four places:
      • his birthplace (Lumbini
        Lumbini
        Lumbinī is a Buddhist pilgrimage site in the Rupandehi district of Nepal. It is the place where Queen Mayadevi gave birth to Siddhartha Gautama, who as the Buddha Gautama founded the Buddhist tradition. The Buddha lived between roughly 563 and 483 BCE...

        , 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)

Other places were later added, particularly in other countries, where pilgrimage to the original sites would be daunting.

A very important form of Buddhist devotion is Pure Land
Pure land
A pure land, in Mahayana Buddhism, is the celestial realm or pure abode of a Buddha or Bodhisattva. The various traditions that focus on Pure Lands have been given the nomenclature Pure Land Buddhism. Pure lands are also evident in the literature and traditions of Taoism and Bön.The notion of 'pure...

 Buddhism, which is practised by most Chinese monks, some combining it with Chan (Zen
Zen
Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...

). It exists as a group of independent denominations in Japan, the most radical, and largest, of which, Jodo Shinshu
Jodo Shinshu
, also known as Shin Buddhism, is a school of Pure Land Buddhism. It was founded by the former Tendai Japanese monk Shinran. Today, Shin Buddhism is considered the most widely practiced branch of Buddhism in Japan.-Shinran :...

, holds to a subtle idea of effortless salvation .
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