What 'God' do nontheistic Buddhists pray to?

SEE VIDEO: (Buddha's Wisdom) If Buddhism has no God... who are they praying to?

If Buddhism has no God, who are Buddhists praying to?

(Buddha's Wisdom) 🔍 IF THERE'S NO BUDDHIST GOD, WHO GETS ALL THESE PRAYERS?

The Buddha with gods Sakka and Brahma

Buddhism famously teaches that there is no "creator God." Yet, Buddhist temples across Asia overflow with [what sounds like] prayers, chants, offerings, and devotion.

From bodhisattvas and buddhas to spirits, protectors, and ancestors, this video explores whom Buddhists are actually praying to—if anyone—and why [petitionary] prayer never disappeared from Buddhism.

Discover how Buddhist "prayer" works in the absence of a supreme deity and why this "godless" religion created one of the most elaborate spiritual support systems ever conceived.

• [NOTE: Theists are sure there's a God; atheists are sure there is not; agnostics say they do not know and remain on the fence. But nontheists are different. They say, "Whether there is a God or is not a God, we must still concern ourselves with our own enlightenment and liberation/salvation." No one else, not even "God," can do it for us. We must develop calm and insight, study and practice, to awaken from this illusory samsara or Wheel of Suffering and Rebirth.]

DISCOVER:

• Why Buddhism rejected [an all-powerful, all-knowing, omnipresent] creator God but preserved devotion
• Why [Mahayana] Buddhism has multiple buddhas instead of one God...and what each one specializes in
• The bodhisattvas who postponed enlightenment just to help all living beings (and millions pray to them daily)
• The terrifying wrathful protectors (guardian deities) who guard Buddhism with fangs and flames
• How Buddhism absorbed local spirits, gods, and ancestors without losing its core philosophy
• Why the three Buddhist schools (Theravāda, Mahāyāna, Vajrayāna) solve this paradox differently
• How this ancient system still explains modern meditation, ritual, and faith

📿 If this changed understanding of Buddhist devotion, subscribe to Buddha's Wisdom for more deep explorations into Buddhism's most fascinating mysteries and apparent contradictions.

TIMESTAMPS

• 00:00 If Buddhism has no God
• 01:31 The core confusion: No God yet prayer everywhere
• 06:50 Chapter 1: The Buddha specialists (Shakyamuni, Amitābha, Medicine Buddha, Guanyin)
• 14:55 Chapter 2: The Bodhisattva Help Desk—compassion incarnate
• 21:53 Chapter 3: Protectors, Gods, and spiritual security
• 27:40 Chapter 4: Where Buddhism meets local spirits and ancestors
• 34:48 Chapter 5: Human bridges—the power of dead masters
• 41:48 Chapter 6: Theravāda, Mahāyāna, Vajrayāna Buddhism — three different solutions
• 50:12 Chapter 7: How all the layers work together
• 54:45 Chapter 8: Why this still matters today
• 56:17 What 'prayer' really cultivates

📚 SOURCES AND FURTHER READING:

Primary Buddhist texts:

• The Pāli canon (Tipiṭaka) - the Buddha's final words on self-reliance
• Lotus Sutra (Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra) - foundation of bodhisattva devotion
• Pure Land Sutras (Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtras) - Amitābha Buddha and rebirth in [his western] Pure Land
• Tibetan Book of the Dead (Bardo Thödol) - death and intermediate states between lifetimes
• Platform Sutra - Zen Buddhism's approach to "sudden enlightenment"

Scholarly resources:

• Buddhism Without Beliefs by Stephen Batchelor
• The Bodhisattva Ideal in Buddhism by Sangharakshita  
• Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations by Paul Williams
• Tantric Buddhism in East Asia by Richard Payne
• The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism by Robert E. Buswell Jr. and Donald S. Lopez Jr.
• Popular Buddhism in Sri Lanka by Michael Ames (folk religion integration)
• The Cult of the Book of the Dead in Tibet by Bryan J. Cuevas

Academic articles:

• "The Concept of the Bodhisattva in Early Buddhism" - Buddhist Studies Review
• "Wrathful Deities in Vajrayana Buddhism" - Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies
• "Pure Land Buddhism in China" - Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies

Historical context:

• The Buddhist Conquest of China by Erik Zürcher (syncretism examples)
• Buddhism and Society in Thailand by Tambiah (spirit house integration)
• The Making of Buddhist Modernism by David McMahan

📱 Join community: Instagram (buddhaswizdom), Facebook (buddhaswizdom), X (BuddhasWizdom), Spotify (open.spotify.com...), TikTok (buddhas.wisdom)

☕ Support the channel: buymeacoffee.com/buddhaswisdom

#Buddhism #BuddhistPrayer #NoGod #Buddha #Bodhisattva #PureLand #Meditation #Spirituality #ReligionExplained #BuddhasWisdom #BuddhismExplained #MahayānaBuddhism #TheravādaBuddhism #VajrayānaBuddhism #Avalokiteśvara #GreenTara #BuddhistDeities #ComparativeReligion

• Buddha's Wisdom, Jan. 8, 2026; Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Walking on water, high cost of eggs

O, Sea Spirit, we were shipwrecked! - Thank the Dragon King for saving you, Good Man.

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Silanisamsa Jataka: Noble friendship [and the high cost of eggs]

How to get rid of predators stealing your eggs

(Jat 190) The Buddha told this story at Jetavana, the Jeta's Grove Hermitage, about a virtuous lay follower. One evening, when this faithful disciple came to the bank of the Aciravati River on his way to Jetavana to hear the Buddha, there was no boat at the landing stage.

• 

  The Buddha is best noble friend

  [What is "noble" friendship (kalyāṇa-mittatā) in Buddhism? The greatest thing about a "noble" (enlightened) friend, whether a layperson as in this case or a monastic, is the opportunity to HEAR the Dhamma, the Buddha's Teachings that lead to enlightenment and nirvana. They speak of it when they speak, though often pleased just with quietude and noble silence, are just by their being fine examples of good conduct, virtuous, uplifting (although capable of misconduct and even immorality until they reach the stage of arahant even if the popular misconception is that a stream-enterer immediately becomes morally flawless and of perfect conduct, never mind what the Ratana Sutta has to say about it). The Noble Sangha (lit., "community of enlightened beings"), which includes every being attained at least to the stage of stream-entry or possibly even the two preliminary stages (saddhanusari and dhammanusari), is one of the "Three Treasures" (ti-ratana) or Jewels, the ultimate guides for beings subject to suffering (disappointment in this unending Cycle of Rebirth, which can be brought to an end (nirodha) but never ends by itself). There are by this reckoning seven such "noble ones." However, Ven. Upatissa's Path of Freedom has more details on the three types of stream-enterers (the sattakkhattu-parama facing as many as seven more rebirths, the kolaṅkola or "passing from one noble family to another" is the stream-enterer who may be reborn fewer times and travel from teacher or school until settling down with the right one and reaching nibbana, and the eka-biji or "one-seeder" or "germinating only once more" stream-enterer, each weakening the further fetters binding one to ignorance and the Wheel of Becoming or Cycle of Rebirth, see AN 9.12), which is more helpful than the standard condensed Path of Purification enumeration of just four stages of enlightenment/awakening.]
• [The Threefold Training that leads to enlightenment]
• [There are cankers, corruptions, biases to overcome]

The ferrymen had pulled their boats onto the far shore and themselves gone to hear the Buddha. However, the disciple's mind was so full of delightful thoughts of the Buddha that even though he walked into the river, his feet did not sink below the surface: He walked on water, going across as if on dry land.

But when he noticed the waves as he reached the middle of the river, his ecstasy subsided and his feet began to sink. Then as soon as he again focused his mind on the qualities of the Buddha, his feet rose and he was able to continue walking joyously over the water.

When he arrived at Jetavana, he paid his respects to the Teacher and took a seat respectfully to one side.

"Good layman," the Buddha said, addressing the disciple, "I hope you had no mishap on your way."

"Venerable sir," the disciple replied, "while coming here, I was so absorbed in thoughts of the Buddha that, when I came to the river, I was able to walk on water and cross it as though it were solid."

"Friend," the Blessed One said, "you are not the only one who has been protected in this way. In olden days, virtuous laymen were shipwrecked in mid-ocean and saved themselves by remembering the virtues of the Buddha." At the man's request, the Buddha then told this story of the past.

Story of the past: Jataka

It's not a sutra, Homer, it's a jataka. - Shut up, Flanders! *Whisper* I'll be back for those eggs.

.

This ship is going to sink, friend.

Long, long ago, at the time of the Buddha Kassapa [3], a lay [stream-enterer] disciple who had already entered the path [reached the first stage of enlightenment] booked passage on a ship with his friend, a rich barber.

The rich barber's wife asked the disciple to look after her husband. But a week after it left port, the ship sank in the middle of the ocean.

The two friends saved themselves by holding on to a plank of wood and were eventually cast up on the shore of a deserted island rookery.

Famished, the foolish barber raided egg nests, killed birds, slaughtered and cooked them, offering a share of his bloody meal to the Buddha's disciple.

Farmer trying to steal the mother chicken's babies/eggs goes viral

The wise go for guidance to the Buddha.

"No thank you," the disciple answered, "I'm fine" [not wishing to encourage the foolish barber in his defilements or unskillful karma]. He thought to himself, "In this desolate place, there is no help [guidance] for us here except the Three Jewels [the Buddha, Dhamma, and noble Sangha]."

As he sat meditating on the Three Jewels, a naga (reptilian, dragon, CDs) king who had been reborn on that island magically transformed himself into a beautiful ship filled with the seven precious things [4]. Its three masts were made of sapphire, the planks and anchor of gold, and the ropes of silver.

The naga king transforms into a ship to save the good man

The helmsman, who was a sea spirit, stood on the deck and yelled, "Passengers for Jambudipa [earth, subcontinent, or India] now boarding for immediate passage!"

"Yes," the virtuous lay disciple called back, "that's where we're bound!"

"Then come aboard," the sea spirit invited.

The virtuous layman climbed aboard the beautiful ship and turned to call his friend the foolish barber.

Go vegan with an abundant mindset: How much are New Yorkers

willing to pay for Eggs? Josh Johnson investigates | The Daily Show

(The Simpsons) Stealing to kill and devour mother and their offspring

"You may come," the sea spirit declared "but he may not."

"Why not?" the disciple asked.

"He is no follower of the pure life," answered the sea spirit. "I brought this ship for you, but not for him."

"If that's the case," the virtuous layman announced, "then all the gifts I have given, all the virtues [restraints and exertions] I have practiced, all the powers I have developed — I give the fruit of all of them to him!"

"Thank you, Master!" cried his friend the barber.

"Very well," relented the sea spirit, "now I can take both of you aboard."

List of the Buddha's rebirth tales or Jataka Stories (Wiki)

.

The ship carried the two men across the sea and up the Ganges River that pours into it. After depositing them safely at their home in Baranasi [the holy ancient city of Varanasi/Benares], the sea spirit used his magic power to create enormous wealth for both of them. Then, poising himself mid-air, he instructed them and their friends:

"Keep company with the wise and good. If this barber had not been in the company of this virtuous layperson, he would have perished in the middle of the ocean."

• 

  McDharma's: Can the US get Beyond Meat?

  [Taking eggs from nests, killing birds to survive, the foolish barber was engaged in things that make sense to worldlings even though they are very unskillful karma capable of bringing one to ruin, storing up unwholesome deeds avoided by the wise who neither encourage nor engage in them. That is the high cost of eating eggs, bloody handed, eating babies (bird fetuses), depriving them of life. Who would eat the womb of a woman with the excuse, "No, this womb was not a baby yet because sperm hadn't impregnated it"? The same people eat eggs with blood, indicating the eggs were fertilized and ready to produce a baby chick. Similarly, people eat murdered chicken-mothers, hens who lay eggs, and their rooster partners, calling them "poultry," ignoring that they are sentient beings, conscious entities killed to keep human-ghouls fed on corpses. Going vegan/vegetarian might be a better and more compassionate, environmentally-conscious option.]

Finally, the sea spirit returned to his own abode, taking the naga king with him.

Having finished this recounting of the past, the Buddha identified the rebirth (jataka) and taught the Dhamma, after which the virtuous layperson listening to him entered the fruit of the second path [reached the second stage of enlightenment].

"On that occasion [in that past life]," the Buddha said, "that disciple attained full enlightenment (arahantship). Sariputta was the naga king, and I myself was the sea spirit." Source

• List of Jatakas (Buddhist Rebirth Stories)
• Ken and Visakha Kawasaki (trans), Jataka Tales of the Buddha: Part III retold by the Kawasakis; edited by Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly

Chanting: "Itipiso Katha" (video)

Thai Theravada monks (motionclip88); text buddhanet.net; Editors, Wisdom Quarterly

1. Buddha Vandana: Iti pi so Bhagavâ-Araham: Sammâ-sambuddho. Vijjâ-carana sampanno, Sugato Lokavidû Anuttarro, Purisa-damma-sârathi, Satthâ deva-manussânam Buddho Bhagavâti.

TRANSLATION: "Honoring the Buddha: Thus, indeed, is the Blessed One: He is the Awakened One, fully enlightened, endowed with clear vision and virtuous conduct, sublime, Knower of worlds, incomparable leader of humans to be tamed, teacher of devas and humans, enlightened and blessed."

2. Dhamma Vandana: Svâkkhato Bhagavatâ Dhammo Sanditthiko Akâliko Ehi-passiko Opanâyiko Paccattam veditabbo viññuhiti.

TRANSLATION:  "Honoring the Dharma: The Dharma [Teaching] of the Blessed One is well expounded, seen here and how, immediate in efficacy, inviting one to come and see (investigate for oneself), leading onward (to nirvana), to be realized directly by the wise, each for oneself."

3. Sangha Vandana: Supati-panno Bhagavato sâvaka sangho, Ujupati-panno Bhagavato sâvaka sangho. Ñâya-patipanno Bhagavato sâvaka sangho. Sâmici-patipanno Bhagavato sâvaka sangho Yadidam cattâri purisa yugâni attha-purisa-puggalâ Esa Bhagavato sâvaka sangho. Âhu-neyyo, pâhu-neyyo, Dakkhi-neyyo,añjalikaraniyo, anuttaram puññakkhetam lokassâti.

TRANSLATION: "Honoring the Community: The community of the Blessed One's [enlightened] disciples has entered on the good way; the community of the Blessed One's disciples has entered on the direct way; the community of the Blessed One's disciples has entered on the proper way. That is to say, the four pairs and eight types of persons, which is the community of the Blessed One's disciples, is worthy of gifts, worthy of hospitality, worthy of offerings, and worthy of reverential salutation, for they are an incomparable field of merit in the world."

*Pali language pronunciation basics

a as a in what

â as a in father
i as i in mint

î as ee in see
u as u in put

û as oo in pool
e as a in cage

o as o in no

n as ng in sing

ñ as gn in signore
 

Pausing
Prolong vowels with ^ or (-) such as â, î , û, e, and o. Pause for double letters such as dd in Buddha: Bu-ddha, mm in Dhammam: Dha-mmam, ss in Ehi-passiko: E-hi-pa-ssiko.

Mahayana: Devotion to the Buddha (Conze)

Edward Conze (trans.), Buddhist Texts Through the Ages (Oxford: Bruno Cassirer, Ltd., 1954) via Mircea Eliade, "From Primitives to Zen"; CC Liu, Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Devotees line up to place flowers on the altar before the Buddha, the Buddha's Birthday Vesak celebration, El Monte, Los Angeles, California (Gordon Milcham/flickr.com)

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("Shikshasamuccaya," 299-301 ["Avalokana Sutra"])

Post-blast vigil Hindu temple, Thailand (AP)

Verily, for countless aeons one is not reborn blind or lame if, after one has decided to win enlightenment, one venerates a stupa [reliquary, burial mound of an fully enlightened person] of the Teacher.

Firm in strength and vigor, a heroic person [spiritual warrior], firm in courage, speedily one wins fortune after one has circumambulated a stupa.

One who in this last age [kali yuga], this dreadful age, reveres a stupa, greater is the merit than if for hundreds of thousands of nayutas of kotis [see Large numbers of India] of aeons one has honored a similar number of buddhas. For the Buddha is pre-eminent, unequalled, most worthy of offerings, one who has traveled along the noblest pre-eminent way.
 

Celestial deva, Thailand (Thadsak Ylngskul/flickr)

One who [pays homage] to this Chief of Humans has the best and unequalled reward. Passing from here, among humans, one goes to the heavenly World of the Thirty-Three, and there one obtains a brilliant palace [vehicle, platform, ship, vimana] made of jewels.

If one here [on earth] gives a pointed tower [to top a rest stop for wandering ascetics], one will there [in the sensual Heaven of the Thirty-Three] be waited upon by apsaras [nymphs].

If one places a garland on a stupa, one will be reborn among the Thirty-Three. And there one gets a celestial lotus-pond, full of excellent water, with a floor of golden sand, bestrewn with vaidurya and crystal.

And when one has enjoyed that celestial delight and completed that lifespan there, the wise person, passing from the deva-world, becomes a human of wealth.
 
In hundreds of thousands of nayutas of kotis of births one will everywhere be honored after one has placed a garland on a [Buddhist] shrine. When one has given but a strip of cloth to the Liberator of the world, to the Protector, all one's aims will prosper, both among devas and among humans.

One keeps out of the inferior and unlucky states of existence and is not reborn in them. When one has made a bower of garlands over the relics of the Liberator of the world, one becomes a powerful ruler with a loyal retinue.

One of the Mahayana Buddhas, a god, glorious Amitabha of the western Pure Land, just like the historical Buddha Gautama said he wasn't (Mig_T_One/flickr.com)

 
One is dear and cherished, honored and praised by devas and nagas and the wise people in this world. Wherever that heroic person is reborn, glorious with merit's glory, there one's family is honored, country, and town.

Listen to me telling you of one's advantages if one takes a speck of incense finer than a mustard seed and burns it at the shrines of the Enlightened One:

Serene in heart one forsakes all obstructions and all taints; in whichever region one is, there one is full of merit, altogether full of health, firm in intelligence, and alert, one averts sorrow, and one goes one's way, dear and pleasant to many people.

If one should gain a kingdom, one honors the supreme Jina [arhat, spiritual hero], a wise universal monarch of great might, golden colored, adorned with marks [of merit], with body that emits a pleasant odor in all worlds. At birth already one receives the best of clothes, finest garments, heavenly, superb, well made.
 
One is blessed with a beautiful body when one has clothed the Liberator's shrines with robes. It is because one has honored with robes at the shrines of the unequalled Liberators that here in this world one's body becomes unequalled and armored with the 32 [major] marks. More

The Navel of the Earth: Buddhist India

Wisdom Quarterly, Ven. Shravasti Dhammika, Navel of the Earth: The History and Significance of Bodh Gaya (Buddha Dhamma Mandala, Singapore), Abbot Karunananda, Ph.D.

Siddhartha on his horse, Kanthaka, with Channa as he renounces household life (Sims)

 

Tonight under the blood moon is New Year's Eve in Long Beach as in Bangladesh (the Vanga Kingdom next to the Magadha Kingdom), formerly regions in ancient Buddhist India. 

The region (now a Muslim country) was part of modern India up until 1947 when it was created overnight by the exiting British colonial power's Partition).

The Bangladeshi Theravada Buddhist community has two temples in California, one here and one in Riverside. Long Beach is an industrial port town of Los Angeles -- where the Queen Mary and Spruce Goose are docked, an enormous glass pyramid stands as a beacon to wisdom (CSULB), and where the Dalai Lama used to make annual visits to teach -- as it abuts Orange County.

The area is full of Buddhist temples: Cambodian and Thai Wats, a Japanese pagoda, a Tibetan gompa, a Chinese nunnery dedicated to Kwan Yin (formerly Catholic), and Vietnamese Buddhist temples as well. Gathering to remember the Buddha, the community recited the precepts and the Abbot spoke of Ven. Dhammika's book on the place where Siddhartha gained liberating insight to become the Buddha, the great teacher of the Dharma.

 

Tibetan monastics around the Mahabodhi Temple, Bodh Gaya, India (Shene81/flickr)

 

Going to Sambodhi

Ven. Shravasti Dhammika (Australian, ordained in Sri Lanka, living in Singapore)

I renounce these riches and responsibilities.

Bodh Gaya is a large village in the southern part of the Indian state of Bihar (viharas). The environment around the village is rural, being made up of cultivated areas interspersed with open ground on which grow mango, tamarind, and palm trees. Beside the village flows the wide but shallow Lilajan river.

In Buddhist texts, the river is call Neranjara, a name derived form the words pleasant (nelan) or alternatively blue (nila) and water (jalam). About a mile downstream from Bodh Gaya, the Lilanjan joins the Mohana to form the Phalgu river, which flows past Gaya and is considered sacred to Hindus.

Great clan territories of ancient India

The name Bodh Gaya has been spelled variously as Buddha Gaya, Boodha Gaya, Buddh Gya, Bauddha Gyah, and Bodhi Gaya. In any of its forms, it is not an old name, first occurring in the spurious inscription of Amaradeva, a document of uncertain but recent date (Buddha Gaya: the Great Buddhist Temple, the Hermitage of Sakya Muni, Rajendralala Mitra, 1878, p.201).

At the time of the Buddha, the village was named Uruvela. According to Dharmapala, it was given this name because of a large amount of sand (vela) in the area. He tells a delightful story to explain all the sand:

Siddhartha finds a pleasant riverside grove and sturdy tropical tree for striving.

.

[The Sand, all this Sand!]

In the distant past, long before the Buddha, a company of wandering ascetics lived in the area. They could tell who among them had committed an unwholesome bodily or verbal deed but not if they had had an unwholesome thought. So they came to an agreement among themselves that whoever should think an unwholesome thought would bring sand in a leaf basket. Soon the entire area was covered with sand (Udana Atthakatha, p.26).

Other sources say the village was given the name on account of a vilva tree (Aegie marmelas) growing nearby (ASI, 1908-09, p.144). It seems that within two centuries of the Buddha's great awakening, the name Uruvela fell out of use and was replaced by four other names:

1. Sambodhi
2. Bodhimanda
3. Vajrasana
4. Mahabodhi

Great Enlightenment Temple, Bodh Gaya, India

The oldest and now least commonly used of these names was Sambodhi, meaning "complete enlightenment." In the Eighth Rock Edict issued in 256 BCE, Indian Emperor Asoka says he "went to Sambodhi" (ayaya Sambodhi) referring to his pilgrimage to Bodh Gaya four year earlier (The Edicts of King Asoka, Ven. S. Dhammika, 1993, p.12).

Another ancient name, Bodhimanda, refers to the circular area around the Bodhi tree. The Kalingabodhi Jataka describes the Bodhimanda before Siddhartha's enlightenment as being covered with silvery sand without a blade of grass growing on it and with all the surrounding trees and flowering shrubs bending, as if in homage, toward the Bodhi tree (Jataka, Vol. IV, p.233).

The exact place where the Buddha sat when he was enlightened was called Vajrasana meaning the "Diamond  or Adamantine Throne." 

It is believed that when the universe finally disintegrates, this will be the last place to disappear and that it will be the first place to form when the universe ["world-system," possibly simply a galaxy or merely a solar system, sakwala] begins to re-evolve again.

The ascetic Siddhartha (AB)

The Vajrasana was also sometimes called the "Victory Throne or Palanquin of all Buddhas" (Sabbabuddhanam Jayapallankam) or "the Navel of the Earth" (Pathavinabhi) (Jataka, loc. cit; Buddhacarita, XIII, 68).

In later centuries, the name Vajrasana came to be used for the exact location of Prince Siddhartha's enlightenment, for the temple built over it (Vajrasana Gandhakuti) [a kuti being a meditation hut, cell, resort, or small hermitage site], then for the general location.

The most widely used and also the most enduring of Bodh Gaya's names was Maha-Bodhi, meaning "Great Enlightenment." Originally a term for Siddhartha's experience, it later came to be used as the name for the place where that experience had occurred. Alexander Cunningham mentioned that this name was still in vogue in the 19th century (Mahabodhi or the Great Buddhist Temple Under the Bodhi Tree at Buddha Gaya, reprint, undated, p.2).

 

Modern India is no longer tolerant of sexism, discrimination, and rape (aljazeera.com)

 

The Buddha's experience at Uruvela not only resulted in the location changing its name to Bodh Gaya, but it has also meant that this otherwise obscure village has been the focus of attention for million of pilgrims for over two millennia.

It very early became and remains the most important place of Buddhist pilgrimage (Sanskrit yatra). Those who see Buddhism as an entirely rational religion will insist that it has no

place for practices like "pilgrimages."

However, this view is somewhat at odds with what the Buddha is reputed to have said on the subject. Just before his final nirvana, he encouraged all of his followers to visit at least once in their lives four places where pivotal events in his life occurred: birth (Lumbini), enlightenment (Bodh Gaya), teaching (Isipatana), and passing (Kusinara).

"Buddhist Circuit" now visited by train, the Mahaparinirvan Express: official pilgrimage sites in Northern India between Afghanistan (Gandhara/Kamboja) and Bangladesh (Vanga).

 

"Ananda, there are four places the sight of which will arouse strong emotion in those with confidence (saddha, conviction, faith). Where are these four? 'Here the Tathagata [the Wayfarer, the Welcome One, the Well-Gone One, the Buddha] was born' is the first place. 'Here the Tathagata attained enlightenment' is the second place. 'Here the Tathagata set rolling the Wheel of the Dharma' is the third place. 'Here the Tathagata passed into final-nirvana without remainder' is the fourth place. 

 

"The monastic or layperson who has confidence [in the Buddha's enlightenment, the Dharma's ability to lead those who practice in accordance with it to enlightenment, and the noble Sangha's success by having practiced] should visit these places. Anyone who dies while making the pilgrimage to these destinations with a devoted heart will, at the break up of the body, be reborn in [a] heaven" (Digha Nikaya, "Long Discourses of the Buddha," Vol. II, p.147).

(Chandrasekaran arum.../flickr.com)

While it is true that the Buddha had high regard for reason and intellect, he did not underestimate the importance of emotion in all human endeavors, including the quest for enlightenment and liberation.

For the devout person seeing the Buddha or simply recollecting him (Buddhanussati) can evoke a joy which, when channeled and purified, can be transformational.

Going to a place made sacred by the Buddha's presence, or even the process of getting there, can have a similar effect. On the open road, away from mundane preoccupations and familiar surroundings, the pilgrim has time to think about her life and practice of the Dharma.

The arduous, steady progress toward the goal may become analogous to the pilgrim's journey on the Noble Eightfold Path and stimulate the determination to walk the Path with more commitment. On finally reaching the goal, the pilgrim will see places and sights associated with the Buddha, which can arouse intense conviction and provide the opportunity for deep contemplation.

• Where were the original Buddhist pilgrimage sites? (RanajitPal.com)

Bodh Gaya is now the "most amazing Buddhist city in the world," says Wisdom Quarterly, with exemplary temples from every Buddhist country on Earth. This tree-lined walk leads to Big Japanese Buddha ( John Seung-Hwan Shene/Shene81/flickr).

Recollecting the Buddha's 9 Virtues

Francesca Painter and Xochitl, Wisdom Quarterly

The Buddha in ancient Theravada Buddhist Thailand (Hendry Niveo/flickr.com)

 

(mitjoruohoniemi/flickr.com)

The Buddhist calendar begins with the final nirvana of the historical Buddha.
  
According to that event this is "Buddhist Year" 2556. It began on the full moon day of May (May 6, 2012).

 

The greatness of the Buddha was measured in terms of his virtue, concentration, and wisdom. But he is remembered as a guide because of the effectiveness of the teachings, the Dharma, he made known.

  

Cave-temple, Sri Lanka (hellotravel.com)

The virtues of the Buddha are reckoned as incalculable, immeasurable, unfathomable. They are like waves in the ocean, redounding through time and imponderable. Nevertheless, the larger waves may be counted.
  
Therefore, the Buddha's virtues are sometimes condensed for the sake of reflection (Buddhanusati, recollection and contemplation) into nine great virtues:

1. worthy (of honor and hospitality, gifts and praise, veneration and respect)
2. self-awakened (enlightened through his own trailblazing efforts rather than benefiting from the discovery of another fully enlightened teacher)
3. endowed with knowledge and conduct (six unparalleled aspects of superknowledge and ethical personal behavior in accordance with wisdom and compassion)
4. well gone (attained to the supreme, the unexcelled, nirvana)
5. knower of the world (who fully knew both inner and outer worlds, the dimensions and paths of karma)
6. supreme trainer of persons to be tamed (a master physician for the physical pain and, moreover, the mental suffering of living beings)
7. teacher of devas and humans (guide of "shining ones," sometimes called "gods," who are subtle-unseen beings of various kinds, as well as ordinary human beings)
8. awakened (buddha, awake and able to awaken others by inspiring and pointing out the path-of-practice that brings about the realization of liberating truth)
9. blessed (holder of great virtues). 

It is on account of these that so many revered and held as sacred the advice and instructions of Siddhartha Gautama who became the "Buddha." His enlightenment is thought to have happened 2,600 years ago.

  

Other virtues include the Ten Perfections that led to buddhahood.

Recollecting the Buddha

Ven. Chandananda (free weekly meditation and Dharma classes, Tuesdays 7:00-8:30 pm, Los Angeles Buddhist Vihara, Pasadena, CA)

The Buddha (GermanGypsy/Flickr.com)

Four Protective Meditations
There are four practices that protect and advance an the individual who undertakes them. These four are: (1) Recollection of the Buddha, (2) loving-kindness, (3) the unattractiveness of the body, and (4) mindfulness of death. The virtuous meditator is wise to cultivate these four protections. An intelligent approach is to first develop the recollection of the Buddha (buddhanussati) by contemplating the great sage's excellent unbounded qualities:

Recollecting the Buddha
1. Destroyed he alone all the
defilements without a trace
Fully purified was his mental-continuum,
And he was ever worthy of offerings.

2. Having perfectly understood
all temporal phenomena in every way
The sage alone
attained to omniscience.

3. With knowledge born of insight,
with conduct born of virtue,
endowed with accomplishments was he,
as the sun in the sky.

4. He attained th best state.
Never in vain were his words.
Knower in full of the threefold [sensual,
fine material, immaterial] world was he.

5. By his ocean-like virtue
highest of all beings became he
and with methods diverse
the tameable he tamed.

6. For the entire world he alone,
teacher of all beings became.
The blessed Noble One of qualities supreme
a treasury of all [ten] perfections was he.

7. He was wise in all ways
towards all beings compassionate
For his own and the good of others as well
Further high virtue had he.

The Buddha (AncientIndia.co.uk)
In about the 6th century B.C.E., Siddhartha Gautama was born into a royal family. When he was a young adult his experiences with the outside world drove him to seek out a greater understanding of life and spiritual fulfilment.

Buddhist Recollections (anussati)

Devanussati: recollection that devas ("shining ones," angels) were reborn in their superior state due to virtue and wholesome actions (karma).

Anussati (recollection, contemplation, reflection, or prolonged attention) literally means "constant mindfulness." There are eight anussatis. A ninth is kayagatasati and a tenth is mindfulness of respiration (anapasansati).

1. Buddhanussati — reflection on the Buddha as follows: “such indeed is that Exalted One --fully enlightened, endowed with wisdom and conduct, well-farer, knower of the worlds, an incomparable charioteer for the training of individuals, teacher of devas and human beings, omniscient and holy.”

2. Dhammanussati — reflection on the Dharma (doctrine) as follows: “well expounded is the doctrine by the Blessed One to realize by oneself, of immediate fruit, inviting investigation (ehi-passiko: inviting one to come and see) leading to nirvana, to be understood by the wise, each one for oneself.

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3. Sanghanussati — reflection on the virtues of the members of the Sangha. It runs as follows: “of good conduct is the Order of the [enlightened] disciples of the Blessed One; of upright conduct is the Order of the disciples of the Blessed One; of wise conduct is the Order of disciples of the Blessed One; of dutiful conduct is the Order of disciples of the Blessed One. Four pairs of persons constitute the eight individuals, the Order of the disciples of the Blessed One. They are worthy of offerings, worthy of hospitality, worthy of gifts, worthy of reverential salutation; the Order is an incomparable field merit for the world.”

4. Silanussati — reflection on the purification of one’s own conduct.

5. Caganussati — reflection on one’s own generous nature.

6. Devanussati — reflection on the fact that deities are born in their exalted states (earthly or celestial) on account of their virtues and skillful karma. I too possess such virtues and undertake such karma this endorsing of one’s faith in ones virtues is devanussati.

7. Upasamanussati — reflection on the attributes of nirvana.

8. Maranussati — reflection on the termination of psycho-physical life. Contemplation on death enables one to comprehend the fleeting nature of life. When one understands that death is certain and life uncertain, one tries to make the best use of it: One works for self-development and for the development of others instead of simply living to indulge in sensual pleasures.

9. Kayagatasati — reflection on impurity, namely, the 32 parts of the body: head hair, body hair, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, sinews, bones, marrow, kidneys, heart, liver, diaphragm, spleen, lungs, bowels, mesentery. stomach, feces, brain, bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, lymph, tears, grease, saliva, nasal, mucus, articular fluid, and urine.” This meditation on loathsomeness, done correctly without aversion, leads to dispassion.

10. Anapanasati — mindfulness of in-and-out breathing (respiration). Ana means inhalation, apana exhalation. This basic form of meditation may be practiced by anyone. It is what the Buddha was practicing, having already mastered the absorptions (jhanas), when he attained enlightenment.

• The Satipatthana Sutra ("Discourse on the fourfold Setting up of Mindfulness") and the Visuddhimagga ("Path of Purification") offer more details on each of these practices.