Question asked by Jana
Hello pastor, I am a gay man and I want to ask something. I heard we can pray to deities like Green Tara or Red Tara for worldly benefits too and I have heard experiences like people asking Guan Yin for children or love and getting their wishes fulfilled. So I do want to ask as I am a layman who is searching for love, would praying to these deities bring me a male partner and would they accept homosexuality? please help, thanks
Dear Jana,
Thanks for your questions. All deity practices do indeed bestow worldly benefits as well as spiritual progress. But perhaps not in the manner that you are expecting. The deities can definitely help to fulfil our worldly wants, however our worldly wants are filled with selfish desire and attachments. Hence, the Buddhas do not always grant our wishes because they know that our wishes are extremely selfish and will lead to suffering for ourselves and others.
A simple example, a lot of people pray for wealth. The Buddhas can help us get wealth, as there are many types of wealth practice. However, they will only do what is best for us as they operate from compassion. So if they see, we will use our wealth for the benefit of not only ourselves and others then they will help us acquire that wealth. But this is not just magically given, we still need to do things to accumulate wealth, they will make things easier and more successful.
However, if they see will be greedy, extremely selfish, etc when we get that wealth due to our attachment, and it will negatively impact ourselves and others, then they will not help us get the level of wealth that we want because they are compassionate, they know it will only lead to us suffering more. The same includes any worldly benefit, including finding a partner.
The Buddhas see us all equally, with love and compassion. They accept anyone, regardless of your race, gender, sexuality, etc. As such, no matter who you are, they will help.
In regards to finding a partner, both Green Tara and Red Tara are beneficial. But as I mentioned previously, they will not help us in the ways that we might want them to, because it may not be good for us. Both are great for creating and harmony and attracting things into our life, but they won’t do so magically. We have to transform ourselves to become better people, and then they will definitely help us if our motivation is good and they know that a particular relationship won’t lead to suffering for ourselves or the other person. The main thing I would like to stress here, is that we should pray to the Buddhas for more than worldly gains. Our motivation should be self-transformation, then from a karmic level we are able to achieve what we want and the deities will help us achieve what is good for us.
I hope this helps.