THE MEANING OF BUDDHIST PRAYERS

Nature is impartial; it cannot be flattered by prayers

It does not grant any special favours on request

Humans are not fallen creatures but rising angels

Prayers are answered by the power of their own minds

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Acc'g to Buddhism, humans r potential masters of themselves

Only bcoz of their deep ignorance, do they fail to realise their full potential

Since the Buddha has shown this hidden power, ppl must cultivate their minds n try to develop it by realising their innate ability

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A following story will illustrate this point:

An eagle once laid her egg in the nest of a hen

The hen hatched the eagle’s egg along with her own

The hatchlings then followed the mother hen about as she taught them to focus on the ground to find their food

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The eaglet, thinking it was a chicken did the same

One day however, it saw an eagle flying high up in the sky, and decided to do the same

The other chickens laughed at him, but he did not care

Everyday he perservered until one day he became strong enough and

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soared up into the air and became a lord of the skies, while the other chickens continued to eke out a living on the ground

We must think like that eagle

Buddhism gives full responsibility and dignity to human beings

It makes them their own masters

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According to Buddhism, no higher being sits in judgement over a person’s affairs and destiny

That is to say, our life, our society, our world, is what you and I want to make out of it, and not what some other unknown being wants it to be

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Remember that nature is impartial; it cannot be flattered by prayers

Nature does not grant any special favours on request

Thus in Buddhism, prayer is meditation which has self-change as its object

Prayer in Buddhism meditation acts as an aid to recondition one’s nature

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It is the transforming of one’s inner nature accomplished by the purification of the three faculties—thought, word and deed

Through meditation, we can understand that

‘we become what we think’,

in accordance with the discoveries of psychology

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When we pray, we experience some relief in our minds; that is, the psychological effect that we have created through our faith and devotion

After reciting certain verses we also experience the same result

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Religious names or symbols are important to the extent that they help to develop devotion and confidence, but must never be considered as ends in themselves

The Buddha Himself has clearly expressed that neither the recital
of holy scriptures, nor self-torture

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nor sleeping on the ground, nor the repetition of prayers, penances, hymns, charms, mantras, incantations and invocations can bring the real happiness of Nirvana,

ONLY PURIFICATION of the MIND through self effort can do this

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Regarding the use of prayers for attaining the final goal, the Buddha once used an analogy of a man who wants to cross a river

If he sits down and prays, imploring that the far bank of the river
will come to him and carry him across, then his prayer will not be answered

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If he really wants to cross the river, he must make some effort; he must find some logs and build a raft, or look for a bridge or construct a boat or perhaps swim

Somehow he must work to get across the river

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Likewise if he wants to cross the river of Samsara, prayers alone are not enough

He must work hard by living a religious life, by controlling his passions, calming his mind n by getting rid of all d impurities n defilements in his mind

Only then can he reach d final goal

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Prayer alone will never take him to the final goal

If prayer is necessary, it should be to strengthen and focus the
mind and not to beg for gains

The following prayer of a poet teaches us how to pray

Buddhists can regard this as meditation to cultivate the mind:

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‘Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers, but to be fearless
in facing them

Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain, but for the heart to conquer it

Let me not crave in anxious fear to be saved, but for the patience to win my freedom.’

Jai Bhim Namo Buddhay

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