👨🏽‍🎓BUDDHA: AVATAR(INCARNATION) OF VISHNU👨🏽‍🎓

[BigJohn]

I prefer Green Tara and Kwan Yin.

Buddha was invited by a god to teach the dhamma after his awakening. Many stories and sutta's write about how the Buddha was teaching the deva's and the gods. It's not that many a buddhist doesn't believe in god. Just that they learn that even the divine is subject to arising and passing away.

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by AbodhiSky

EXCERPT Hindu's pray to a lot of different deities or gods. Is it the same in these Buddhist's you are talking about?

The most interesting God some Buddhists were praying to was Trimurti: the Hindu Supreme God. They prayed to Trimurti thinking he was the God of love.

Another god that gets attention is Ganesh.

Some also pray to Maitreya and Kwan Yin.

[The Cobbler's Apprentice]

Originally Posted by AbodhiSky

"Pure Land schools arose because of the belief that humans were becoming incapable of Dharma, emphasizing that humans needed help from another power; that power being Amitābha Buddha"

That speaks of the "age of mappo" which gave rise to specific expressions of Pure Land. Associating Pure Land with Amida, as I said.......lost in the fog.

[sky]

In Buddhism the one who is praying and the one being prayed to are two realities that cannot be separated from each other.

[sky]

Originally Posted by AbodhiSky

Pure Land schools arose because of the belief that humans were becoming incapable of Dharma,

Do they mean Humans were incapable of 'understanding' Dharma ?

'There is no need to study all the expressions of Dharma or know all the rules. To cut a path through the forest, you need not cut down all the trees. Cutting just one row can take you to the other side.' Ajahn Chah.

[The Cobbler's Apprentice]

Originally Posted by sky123

In Buddhism the one who is praying and the one being prayed to are two realities that cannot be separated from each other.

How true.........as Suzuki says in "Amida-Buddha of Infinite Light", Amida Buddha is known as our Oya-sama, or Oya-san, as it is sometimes called. "It is the term used to express love and compassion. Oya means parent, but not either parent, rather both mother and father; not separate personalities, but both fatherly and motherly qualities united in one personality." Oya-sama, as Suzuki adds, is a unique word, "deeply endearing and at the same time rich with religious significance and warmth".

Suzuki says further:- In Japanese, Namu means “myself.” NAMU-AMIDA-BUTSU is an expression of oneness—in other words, Oya-sama and I. Therefore when we recite NAMU-AMIDA-BUTSU it is an expression of gratitude for this universal compassion that is always within us and surrounding us, regardless of whether we recognize or accept it.

[The Cobbler's Apprentice]

Originally Posted by BigJohn

I prefer Green Tara and Kwan Yin.

Earl Grey for me.

[sky]

Originally Posted by The Cobbler's Apprentice

Earl Grey for me.

Thought you prefered Costa Cappuccino

[The Cobbler's Apprentice]

Originally Posted by sky123

Do they mean Humans were incapable of 'understanding' Dharma ?

This relates to the so called "three ages"......In Japan, around the 13th century, the Buddhist doctrine of the Three Ages (shō-zō-matsu no sanjisetsu) was widely accepted. The Three Ages were the Age of Right Law (shōbō) in which the genuinely authentic Dharma (universal truth and righteousness) prevailed, the Age of Imitative Law (zōbō) in which mere forms of Dharma dominated, and the Age of Degenerate Law (mappō) in which Dharma was entirely decayed.

Shinran seems to have accepted such, while Dogen, again in 13th century Japan, did not. Putting it simply.....