Why Buddhists do not worship God

Satanic after-school clubs for kids

Kate Anderson, The Daily Caller, 3/5/23; Crystal Q., Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Why would kids like the Devil? Candy

Baphomet statue in conversion room at The Satanic Temple where a "Hell House" was being held in Salem, Massachusetts, Oct. 8, 2019, parodying a Christian Conversion center used to terrify atheists and others.

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‘Parents need to wake up’: Advocates sound alarm about Satanist after-school clubs sprouting across the country

The Satanic Temple (TST) recently announced multiple new after-school clubs across the country, raising concerns from religious advocates about the impact that pushing Satanism on students could have in the future.

TST describes its religion as a “scientific, rationalist and non-superstitious worldview,” and TST’s National Campaign Director June Everett told NBC affiliate WAVY that the purpose of the clubs is to go “to schools where other religious clubs are operating” to provide an alternative.

“Parents need to wake up and understand false ideologies are everywhere and they must train up their children to follow the one true God of love, not one of evil and destruction,” Penny Nance, CEO and president of Concerned Women for America, the nation’s largest women’s public policy organization, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

TST made headlines in 2022 for fighting for the right to create after-school clubs for students and has recently been launching new groups across the country, raising concerns for religious advocates about the potential impact Satanism may have on students’ perception of faith.

Hope Dad will be into my extracurricular activity.

A TST “After-School Satan Club” was approved in December 2022 at a Virginia elementary school, provoking many parents, who were disturbed by the push to indoctrinate children into Satanism, to protest the club, according to RealClearEducation.

TST has announced the formation of multiple new clubs in New York, Pennsylvania, and Colorado in just the past month, and religious advocates have taken note of the trend, telling the Daily Caller News Foundation that the normalization of Satanism could be detrimental to students later in life.

“A Satanic club is the antithesis of religion,” Penny Nance, CEO and president of Concerned Women for America, the nation’s largest women’s public policy organization, told the DCNF. “Groups like this have free speech rights but Satanism is not a religion. The fact that there are more of these clubs popping up means kids are searching for something to believe in.”

“The decision to promote the Satanic Temple in schools is a concerning development in districts across the country,” Delano Squires, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Life, Religion, and Family.

“This group has no more ‘right’ to students and schools as a Neo-Nazi club demanding representation. Schools should use wisdom and discernment with regard to decisions related to extracurricular activities.”

TST argued on its Twitter account that an upcoming vote at a Virginia school would determine whether its club should be on “equal footing” with other school groups, particularly religious clubs.

“The Chesapeake School Board will vote on two policy revisions tonight, putting non-profit organizations, including the After School Satan Club and the Good News Club, on equal footing for the use of school facilities,” TST’s Feb. 27 post said.

Christianity makes some people nicer but, sadly, not all people.

A flyer for Chesapeake, Virginia’s club, shared by TST’s National Campaign Director June Everett to Reddit in 2022, said students will be doing puzzles, games, crafts, and nature activities in addition to being taught “benevolence and empathy, critical thinking, problem-solving, creative expression, personal sovereignty, and compassion.”

While the club’s flyer claimed the program “does not attempt to convert children to any religious ideology,” students are instructed in the seven tenets of TST....

Family Research Council Assistant Director Arielle Del Turco argued that TST isn’t interested in establishing “equal footing” but in undermining religion as a whole.

“It’s always a concern when people try to use kids to gain attention or legitimize themselves,” Del Turco told the DCNF.

“Treating The Satanic Temple as a religion undermines the credibility of religion and its role in American society — but that’s their point. They are so desperate to advance a secular vision of society that they created a fake religion to challenge the role of Christianity in our public institutions.”

Del Turco said that TST’s clubs were simply a ploy to get schools to refuse them, so they could claim discrimination in order “push Christianity and other religions out of the public square.

Squires also said that TST likely sees students as “pliable and easily influenced” and would therefore make the “perfect candidates” to be taught a “self-destructive worldview.”

Most recently, TST conflated concerned parents, who protested the Chesapeake club’s acceptance, with criminal activity, in a March 2 post on Twitter.

“Unfortunately, some individuals made violent threats in response to our request to use school facilities and to be treated the same as other groups,” the post said.

“Anyone who has sought to block the After School Satan Club from meeting at B.M. Williams — even after the club and school were threatened — should ask themselves why they are siding with criminal actors over children and families gathering in fellowship.”

TST did not respond to multiple requests from the DCNF for comment. Nance warned religious parents that the only ones who can truly protect their children from “false ideologies” is them.

“Parents need to wake up and understand false ideologies are everywhere and they must train up their children to follow the one true God of love, not one of evil and destruction,” Nance concluded.

Squires had a more hopeful outlook and told the DCNF that he believed the increased presence of Satanism might turn the next generation to God instead of away.

“It could easily exacerbate the current trend of Americans moving away from organized religion, often replacing that void with partisan political activity,” Squires said.

“But, as a Christian, there is also a possibility that exposure to the beliefs of TST can push the next generation closer to God. Nothing makes light shine brighter than being surrounded by darkness.” Source

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Black metal: "Lords of Chaos" (video)

Ahrya Fine Arts, Beverly Hills; FilmWeek; Seth Auberon, Wisdom Quarterly

The story of true Norwegian black metal and its most notorious practitioners -- a group of young men with a flair for publicity, church-burning, and murder: MAYHEM.

Oslo, 1987, 17-year-old Euronymous is determined to escape his idyllic Scandinavian hometown and create “true Norwegian black metal” with his band, MAYHEM. He’s joined by equally fanatical youths, Dead and Varg. Believing that they’re on the cusp of a musical revolution, the group gets even darker driven by the black metal dogma to spread evil.

They begin burning down churches throughout the countryside and stealing tombstones for their record store. But when the press catches up with them and Euronymous takes more credit than he’s earned for the group’s violent acts, Varg, fresh out of jail, arranges a dark encounter to settle the score and ultimately determine who the darkest black metal musician is. Tickets

FilmWeek on AirTalk (scpr.org, Feb. 15, 2019) is a one-hour weekly segment looking at films, offering movie reviews, filmmaker interviews, and discussions on various aspects of the film industry. Today's film is all about extremely heavy Scandinavian metal and the kids who took (take) it very seriously: lordsofchaosfilm.com

(VICE) It's true: true Norwegian black metal and chaos

"Lords of Chaos" (Noisey) is a teenager's quest to launch Norwegian black metal in Oslo in the early 1990s. It results in very violent outcomes. In theaters Feb. 8, 2019 (On Demand Feb. 22, 2019). Directed by Jonas Åkerlund. CAST: Rory Culkin, Emory Cohen, Jack Kilmer, Sky Ferreira, and Valter Skarsgård. WEBSITE: lordsofchaosfilm.com. Like "Lords of Chaos" on facebook.com, twitter.com, instagram.com.

OTHER FILMS
Birds of Passage


The Image Book
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A Tuba to Cuba

Mirai

When I worshipped Satan (video)

Ex-Satan worshipper John Ramirez (via Thunder and Light Studios); VICE (vice.com); Seth Auberon, Pfc. Sandoval, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

The Truth Behind Modern Day Satanism

Despite the spooky overtones, modern Satanism actually has a lot in common with self-help, the Green Movement, and spunky all-American "individualism." Vice travels to Cleveland with Thomas Morton to meet occult expert Eric Freeman, an authority on the duality of evil, to learn about altering reality through the power of the mind [with the help of bad ("unclean") spirits who will exact a high price for any "help" they offer]. Full video catalog. Watch more of it on VICE: vice.com/DevilsDueMovie

(EndChurchianity.com) John Ramirez was ranked the third highest devil worshiper in New York. He testifies that he eventually received his orders directly from Satan himself. Do these things really happen? Do pre-Christians really have such personal experiences? Ramirez now attempts to shine light into the dark.

Six Film Super-Package (from escapefromhell.ca):

1. The End of Churchianity: documentary (90 min)
2. The End of Churchianity: bonus film (2:17 hr)
3. Escape From Hell: Ex-Satanist (35 min)
4. Escape From Hell: Ex-Gay Porn Star (60 min)
5. Escape From Hell: Ex-Radical Muslim (27 min) 
6. Escape From Hell: Ex-Muslim Suicide Bomber (20 min)

Upagupta: "Worship" the Buddha?

Tenzin Youdon (OneIndia via Buddhist Channel, Sept. 3, 2008) corrected, expanded, and interpreted by Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells, Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit

Mara is more Lucifer than Satan

NEW DELHI, India - This story will help us understand why the Buddha image is important to inspire and to recollect the Buddha, but not as a form of "worship."

This story is found in the Buddhist literature but not in the Pali language texts.

 

A few hundred years after the final passing into nirvana of the Buddha, there was a devout monk in India named Ven. Upagupta. He was the most popular preacher of the time. Whenever he gave a sermon on the Buddha's Dharma, the Teachings of the Buddha, thousands of people would flock to listen to his preaching.

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  Who is Upagupta? Ven. Upagupta (circa 3rd century BCE) was an Indian Buddhist monk. According to stories in the Sanskrit text Ashokavadana, he was the spiritual teacher of the Mauryan Buddhist, the Emperor of India Ashoka. Ven. Upagupta's teacher was Ven. Sanavasi, who was a disciple of Ven. Ānanda, the Buddha's cousin and personal attendant. Due to the absence of his name from Theravada Pali literature, it is assumed that Ven. Upagupta was a Sarvāstivāda (an extinct Buddhist school) monk. In Southeast Asian countries and Bangladesh, Ven. Upagupta is a great cult figure (Relics of the Buddha, John S. Strong, 2007, p. 145). In Burma he is known as Shin Upagutta. In the Lokapannatti Ven. Upagupta is sent by King Ashoka to tame Mara during an enshrinement ceremony festival. Afterwards, he asks Mara to take the material form (rupakaya, physical shape) of the historical Buddha so that everyone at the festival can see what the Buddha looked like (John S. Strong, The Legend of King Aśoka: A Study and Translation of the Aśokāvadāna, 1989). In literature: Rabindranath Tagore in his poem "Abhisar" collected in Katha relates a story of Ven. Upagupta. In the story, in the month of Sraban, the monk was sleeping in Mathura when Vasavdatta, the city's diva or courtesan, trips over and notices the monk. Enchanted by his handsome appearance, Vasavdatta invites him to go with her to her house. But Ven. Upagupta tells her that he cannot go with her at this point. But when the time comes, he will go. After seven months, in the month of Chaitra, the city folks go to a festival in the forest. Alone in the city, Ven. Upagupta goes beyond the precincts and finds Vasavdatta severely deformed by a disease with pustules covering her body. The city people had cast her out of the city's wall in disgust. The monk nurses her with care -- telling her that the time for their togetherness has come (Rabindranath Tagore, অভিসার). Tagore adopted the story with some changes from the Vodhisattwavadanakalpalata by Kshemendra (translated by Nobin Chandra Das, 1895, Calcutta), the 10th-11th century Kashmiri poet.

Mara as Kamadeva (Eros, Cupid)

One day Mara, the tempter, became jealous of Ven. Upagupta's popularity. Mara knew that Upagupta's popularity was helping spread the Teachings of the Buddha. He was unhappy to see the words of Buddha filling the minds and hearts of the people.

So he used a cunning method to influence the people. He made a plan to stop the people from listening to Ven. Upagupta's sermons.

 

One day, as Ven. Upagupta began his sermon, Mara organized an alluring drama next to the place where Ven. Upagupta was teaching.

 
A beautiful stage show suddenly appeared. It had pretty dancing girls and lively musicians. The people soon forgot about the sermon and crossed over to see Mara's show and enjoy the performances.

Ven. Upagupta watched the people slowly drift away then he decided to join them. After sitting with the crowd, he decided to teach Mara a lesson.

When the performance ended, Ven. Upagupta presented Mara with a garland of flowers.

 

"You have organized a wonderful performance," Ven. Upagupta said.

 

Mara was, of course, happy and proud of his achievement. He gladly accepted the flower garland from Ven. Upagupta and held his head up high. Suddenly it happened that the garland changed into a snake-like coil. Slowly the coil tightened until it choked Mara's neck.
 

So painful was the coil gripping his neck that Mara tried to pull it off. But no matter how hard he pulled, he could not take the coil off his neck. He decided to ask help from Sakka, King of the Devas (minor gods) to remove the coil. But Sakka could not remove it.

"I cannot remove this coil," admitted Sakka. "Go see Maha Brahma [Great God/Great Supreme]," he advised, "who is the powerful one."  So Mara went to see Maha Brahma and asked his help, but he also could not do anything. "I cannot remove this coil," admitted Maha Brahma. "The only one who can remove this coil is the person who put it on you." So Mara had to go back to Ven. Upagupta.
 

"Please remove this coil; it is so painful!" he begged.
 

"Yes, I can do that but only under two conditions," said Ven. Upagupta. "The first is that you must promise to no more disturb Buddhist devotees in the future.

"The second is that you show me the real image of the Buddha. For I know that you have seen him on many occasions, but I have never seen him. I would like to see the real Buddha image exactly like him, with the special 32 characteristics of his physical body."
 

Mara was overjoyed. He agreed to Ven. Upagupta's conditions. "But one stipulation," pleaded Mara. "If I change myself into the image of the Buddha, you must promise that you will not worship me, for I am not a holy person like you."
 

"I will not worship you," promised Ven. Upagupta.

One of the earliest depictions (Gandhara)

Suddenly Mara transformed [shape shifted] himself into an image that looked exactly like the Buddha. When Ven. Upagupta saw the image, his mind was filled with great inspiration. Profound devotion arose in his heart. With folded hands, he at once paid homage to the Buddha figure.
 

"You're breaking your promise!" shouted Mara. "You promised you would not worship me! Now why do you pay homage to me?"
 

"I am not worshiping you. You have to understand. I am paying homage to the Buddha," explained Ven. Upagupta.

Explanation

The next Buddha's physical form

From this story we can understand why the Buddha image is important. It inspires us and helps us  recall (buddha-anussati) the many sublime qualities of the Buddha, bringing them and him to mind so that we can venerate that ideal, which is our own potential and possibility for enlightenment and complete liberation, bodhi and nirvana. Buddhists do not "worship" the material symbol or forms that only represent the Buddha. We express confidence (saddha) and joyfully pay our respects to the Buddha, who alone in the world made known the Middle Way, the path to complete freedom, to going beyond all suffering. More

The "God of Poverty"

In terms of questionable religious practices, nominally Buddhist Japan may now lead the pack. There is a new God of Poverty, which can be struck, kicked, and blamed for financial misfortune -- for a price. The God is willing to shoulder the blame for the current global crisis as well as individual hardships.

• VIDEO: Japan's God of Poverty & Anti-worship Works

This practice echoes the Islamic practice of hurtling stones at the devil (tossing pebbles at a wall called Jamarat during the Hajj, or annual pilgrimage to Mecca).

• VIDEO: Stoning of the Devil (Reuters)

The custom of self-mortification is not limited to the sages and seers of the East. It is still rampant in some parts of Christendom. Most notable is the annual custom of self-flagellation and voluntary crucifixion in the Philippines.

• VIDEO: Nailed to a Cross for Christ

Finally, no culture can rival India for majestic splendor and strange customs. The country hosts the largest human gathering for a single purpose (with hundred of millions attending Kumbh Mela held every dozen years). Its practices are colorful, with periodic lesser Melas every three years, and national holidays like Holi.

• VIDEO: Holi Preparations in India & Holi (BBC)

Related

• Kumbh Mela: 2010
• TIMEAsia: Photo Essay of Kumbh Mela
• The New Gomorrah (India)