In the past few days, there have been various conversations on Facebook about a Buddha pūja (offerings to the Lord Buddha) held by someone. The people who applaud anything as a habit had seen it and applauded that and the people who laugh at anything had also laughed at it. Another group of people had built academic and spiritual conversations about this. All these are different trends in our society. Such social trends do not come because of anything else but because of Nānatta Kāyā Nānatta Saññā (diverse bodies diverse perceptions). There are some things that we should not discuss further. If a country is declining, the rulers and the people of that country must be questioned. If a religion spreads violence in society or socializes unnecessary myths or if it obstructs the development of a society, then the leaders and followers of that religion must be questioned. However, the non-violence-based practices that some people do for their happiness and well-being should not be ridiculed. That’s the way those people used to. That’s the way those people have shaped their lives. The Buddha pūja held at a house is also something like that. It is relatively a Buddhist ritual practised by different people in different societies. At the beginning of this article, it should be remembered that two types of offerings called Āmisa pūja (symbolic offerings) and Pratipatti pūja (practising dhamma) were preached in Buddhism.
When talking about offering rituals, it should be said that its history is far beyond the time of Buddha. The Vedic scriptures explain the occasions when such offerings were performed exceedingly in society when the Brahmana religion existed. It is said that at that time, people killed animals, offered them to the fire, and prayed to the gods to heal their spirits. Buddhism emerges to show that all these actions are futile. The Gautama Buddha pointed out that one’s spiritual health cannot be gained by doing offerings to an invisible god, and that there is no other way to heal oneself except by understanding oneself by own. I first got to read a critical opinion about the Buddha pūja in the book ‘Satyōdaya’ by Venerable Walpola Rāhula Thero. He was of the opinion that there is no result in making offerings to a statue. That is indeed true! A statue will not eat any of the food that people offer. His comment regarding this Buddha pūja is the most important comment that I have seen even today. The first thing is that in that review, the facts are explained in a simple way that anyone can understand, and it is a criticism that will not hurt anyone. Also, that opinion makes sense.
In my opinion, Buddha pūja is not a meaningless thing. The real Buddha pūja is to behave as the Buddha preached. A true Buddhist has to accept what the Buddha told us and put it into practice. That is the real Buddha pūja . However, it is not suitable for a discerning Buddhist to think that he is a Buddhist by merely offering a lot of food in front of a Buddha statue.
If so, is there no meaning in the Buddha pūja that we have been doing for so long? Aren’t there any results of fruits and dairy products that we piled around temples? Indeed, our actions have a consequence in return. It is not divine. Our stomachs will be full, only if we eat. If we eat too much, we have to vomit it. It makes breathing hard. Remember that if you continue it for a long time, you can get sick and even die. A unique concept in Buddhism is pūja ca pūja nīyānaṃ – offering the people who should be offered. There are special characters that we have to offer. Buddha is such a special character for a Buddhist. I don’t say it as an imagination. The Buddha is the producer of the knowledge we follow. If a person, who has deeply embraced Buddhism, doubts the person who showed Buddhism, or if he does not believe in Buddhahood, that person will not be able to follow the path of Buddhism. If we want to comprehend that knowledge, we need to have faith in the person who preached it. We should respect the person who believes that. What he said should be used practically in our lives. Buddha pūja is thus essential for the initial phase of it.
We don’t know if an ordinary religious follower offers the Buddha pūja with the purpose of understanding this reality. But the real story is that if we want to accept the knowledge system that we are going to believe, we must have an idea of what kind of person preached that knowledge. The word used in Buddhism for that is śraddhā (faith). Some become blind religious followers through this faith. That practice is called in Buddhism amūlikā śraddhā (rootless faith). Such a person thinks that it is possible to get the happiness preached in Buddhism only through offerings. He keeps offering flowers, lamps, food, gold, silver, jewelry, money, etc. to statues and gets exhausted. But a person with ākāravatī śraddhā (reasoned faith) or a person who thinks critically does not behave like that. That person critically thinks about things. That person always engages in these Āmisa pūja (symbolic offerings) to create courage based on self-confidence and to create joy. To put it more simply, that person does not try to get the ultimate result of his happiness by piling a lot of offerings in front of a statue. That person does not believe that there is a path to nirvāna or rebirth through that way. But the one who is with amūlikā śraddhā (rootless faith), is a person who thinks that way.
Nowadays we often see only these offerings made with amūlikā śraddhā (rootless faith). The waste of food, wasting time, and exhausting the mind by gathering thousands of people has increased more and more now. Maybe they conduct these, saying that because the Buddha said to do so. With the thought that this is the only path to happiness. Most of the time, the monks and followers work hard for this kind of offering. Buddhist people should be encouraged to think about whether this is suitable for their spiritual and worldly development.
If you don’t think about it culturally while talking about offerings, it is also a big injustice. Here is the most important factor. People, who live in a country where several religions are followed, cannot separate themselves from the religiously infused culture. Buddha pūja is a symbol of Sinhala Buddhist culture and Buddhism. There, people make offerings as a symbol of showing that they are Buddhists. Sometimes this culture itself becomes religion. Therefore, it is often difficult to distinguish between religion and culture. Religion is very different from dhamma. Timely political and social conditions are constant within a religion. In dhamma, there is a state of timeless purity, but in religion this is different. However, in religious culture, it is common to place a Buddha statue in a house and conduct offerings, conduct offerings in the village temple, etc. What we need to understand here is that every religion has these offering rituals. These religious practices can affect the human mind both in positive and negative ways. That is confirmed by various academic research. This Buddha pūja or other offering rituals in Buddhism, is also the same. People do it as a ritual and with the intention of getting temporary happiness in everyday life. Especially, this is done in the common Buddhist society, and as urban Buddhists and rural Buddhists in the same society in different ways. One stage of this is doing offerings to the Buddha statue inside the house. In later stages, it has gradually come outside the house.
Even the Buddha statues at the crossroads are offered with afternoon Buddha pūja . At present, many of our young people perform the Buddha pūja with great dedication, beauty and elegance, not with mere ritualism. Something that is done with dedication, not just out of habit. I am sure that young people become mentally joyful through that. Even if people’s enthusiasm is lost through something they do habitually, they can get their daily happiness through offerings made with dedication and understanding. Sometimes it is like the everyday pleasure one gets from reading a novel. In the hearts of those who hold such offerings with dedication, there is sympathy, kindness, and compassion. I guess they may donate to beggars, respect others, and also they are aware of the value of food, the value of things, and the prevailing socio-political environment. So, in the offerings of these different styles, there are always things that are done habitually and things that are done with understanding. People get discouraged by the things they do habitually. People who do things with understanding are happy. They are delighted. It becomes easier for them to follow the path shown in Buddhism. Therefore, any Buddhist or non-Buddhist should halt doing things habitually and should prioritise understanding what we do.
People, who have been criticizing and mocking offerings continuously, forget the diversity of people and their state of mentality. Also, someone who laughs like that cannot see a society with inter-religious harmony. If a Buddhist denigrates the religious offerings of Islam or Hinduism, think about the situation caused by making fun of their belief. That wounds each other’s hearts. On the other hand, if a Hindu or an Islamic religious person ridicules the offering rituals of a Buddhist? Or if a person who does not believe in any religion ridicules the offering rituals of all these religious people? That society becomes a society that lives with wounds. But if these people question each other’s criticism very kindly and have conversations, then no offence will occur between people.
The most important thing is respecting each other. Accepting each other’s diversity. Realizing that one person’s desires are different from another person’s. Just think about this thing, when you are travelling, the clothes you wear for your happiness and in a way that does not bother you and others will be criticized by someone else. What you eat and drink will be criticized. What you hear, watch, say, and read will be criticized. Do you like it? Do you want someone else to decide what you want to wear, what you want to hear, what you want to see, what you want to do, what you want to say, or what you want to read?
© Satipatthana Magazine
Ven. Gurugoda Siriwimala Thero