Statues and Stupas
(By Tsem Rinpoche)
I found this wonderful article on Shambala’s blog about statues and stupas, and thought that it would be helpful for many of my students and friends. Do read their great write-up below to learn about the reasons and significance of placing our Dharma statues and items in the correct order.
Do share this with your friends and family, it is very informative and will serve well for their Dharma practice!
Tsem Rinpoche
Statues and Stupas
If you have statues, you should not discriminate between them on the basis of their materials, and you must arrange them in a proper order. Even if a statue of a buddha is made of clay, it has to be placed on a high level; and even if your statues of dharmapalas such as Mahakala are made of copper or brass or even solid gold they should be placed below. The proper order should be maintained. Especially, you should not have the attitude of their being your possessions. Although there are statues that were once owned by great beings and so forth, and that might have special power or sacredness, irrespective of their age or sacredness they have to be placed in the proper order. The whole purpose of regarding them as sacred is that they are to remind us of the actual deity or being that they represent. It is not the statue or the picture that we hold dear and venerate; rather it is what it represents. When we buy images of the Lord Buddha, it is to generate faith, because when we see them we recall his great kindness and qualities.
Also, as a representation of the omniscient mind of the Buddha, it is good to have a stupa.
If you are a practitioner of highest yoga tantra, it is good to have religious articles such as vajra and bell and so forth; but if you do not practice properly but ring the bell very loudly and violently it does not help much! If you keep these religious objects on the basis of a good practice it is excellent.
Generally it is said that when one undertakes a dharma meditation, one has to face toward the east, but this is not very important. It is good to have a seat with the rear slightly raised. For Westerners it may be difficult to sit in a cross-legged position. If you insist on it and exert yourself trying to do it, you might expend all your energy in sitting cross-legged, and there is a danger of all your mental energy going to your knees. Therefore, you can sit on a chair.
Since the accumulation of merit through the mandala offering is very important, it is good if you have a mandala. If you can afford it, it is better to have one made of gold or silver, but such things should not be viewed as possessions. If the material from which such articles are made were important, then such meditators as the mahasiddhas and Milarepa would not have achieved any realizations at all because they were poor, just like beggars. It is explained in Chatu-shataka Shastra (Four Hundred Verses on the Middle Way) by Aryadeva that the practice of buddhadharma has to be undertaken on the basis of the mind, and therefore the external things are not important; it is the mind which matters.
Adapted from The Union of Bliss and Emptiness: Teachings on the Practice of Guru Yoga by H.H. the Dalai Lama
[Extracted from: http://blog.shambhala.com/2009/10/04/statues-and-stupas/]
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Reading again this article to get a better understanding of the significance of placing our Dharma statues and items in the correct order. Nor matter what the statues made of we have to respect it and placing correctly. In the Buddhist tradition, statues are created to represent Buddha. Each Buddha image represents the spirit of the teachings of Buddha. Each statue features common physical attributes, poses, and postures that define its purpose and meaning.
Thank you Rinpoche for this teachings.
Thank you for the sharing. I have been learning on Buddhism religious practice recently and have encounter Buddhism practice reminds me more to Hinduism . There are a lot of common belief and same goes to the selection of deities, statues and their placing.
The article have a lot of information and have provided me good deed to worship Lord Buddha in actual manner., has I have collected a few Buddha statues which was given to me has a gift. Thank you for the guide and advice.
Thank you, Rinpoche, for sharing this article on the right attitude towards statues and stupas and other paraphernalia as objects of veneration. The whole purpose of possessing the sacred statues and stupas is that they remind us of the actual deity or being that they represent. Hence, the order of statues placement is very important. All these undertakings are meant to help us develop mindfulness and generate faith in practicing Buddha Dharma, which is to achieve realization.
Thank you Rinpoche for this teachings and reminder for us to do correctly,the proper order should be maintained and so forth.When we buy images of the Lord Buddha, it is to generate faith, because when we see them we recall his great kindness and qualities.After reading this article i understand much better of Statues and Stupas. We should not regard them as our possessions.
Thank you Rinpoche for your teaching. I was not aware of the positioning and how we view the statues and stupas that we have.
It is very important to have the correct view and right methoed in our practise. This is a very clear article to put us in the correct perspective.
Dear Rinpoche ,
I have learnt the importance of stupas, statues and ritual items in our practice.
1. Buddha statues needed to be arranged in the correct order. Doesn’t matter what It is made of or whom this statue once belongs to, they must be placed in the correct order. Example will be dharma protectors need to be placed below the Yidam.
2. When we get a Buddha image, it is very blessed. Whenever we see the image will be remember his qualities such kindness, compassion and wisdom. Then we inspire to be like them.
3. We need to learn how to use our ritual item properly. It will not be beneficial if we use it in the wrong way. .
4. Mandala is great to have to make mandale offering. We can earn alot of merits through that practice.
5. Spiritual practice is not about the outer world. It is about the inner world. Even though it is good to have ritual items and offering made of expensive materials, it all comes down to our mind eventually. Poor practitioners such as Milarepa can achieve high realisation without any possession is the perfect example.
Humbly,
Chris
Thank you Rinpoche, for the gentle reminder.
My current altar might be wrong then.
I will have it sorted right when I shift house soon. Will have all tantric Buddhas in a corner and have the Protectors lower than the Buddha images.
Thank you for the short and invaluable article.
Thank you Rinpoche for the sharing. The whole purpose of statue is to remind us of the actual deity or being that they represent. We should not regard them as our possessions. Thank you
What I got out from this informative article is that our buddha statues is not a material thing that we possess. Having a buddha statue helps us to focus our meditations and prayers and at the same time we feel inspired when we especially are sitting in front of a beautiful buddha statue. We should not get a buddha statue from means that are not very wholesome.
At the same time to put statues of protectors lower than buddha statues is not saying an enlightened protector is lower in status than a buddha. The protector’s function is to help the practitioner to overcome problems so they can have a chance to even do spiritual practice the other function is to provide conducive conditions so the practitioner can do well in his yidam practice. Yidam practice which relies on buddha and bodhisattva forms is meant to help us to transform our minds. When we become transformed then we will be less negative and create less karma for us to suffer in the future. When we are transformed we will need less of the protector’s help to stave off the effects of our negative karma and obstacles to spiritual practice. Hence we place more importance on statues that reflect the yidam like Lama Tsongkhapa, as opposed to Setrap.
Thank you Rinpoche for the sharing.It certainly clear some doubt about how we should arrange the statues and their true significance as not to get attached to the object.The representation of the holy object is more significant than the value of the object is made of.
The motivation and the sincerity of the practice is more important for spiritual development than the show we put on for others that we are practicing Dharma.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this article with us. After read about this article , it makes me to understand that we should arrange our Buddha statue properly no matter it’s made from what type of material, stupa represent Buddha omniscient mind etc . Thank you Rinpoche for the sharing again!
曾经有朋友问我，为什么佛教徒，需要膜拜佛像，供养佛像。。。
有一些人的想法是佛是无处不在，怎么能定注与一个小佛像，太委屈了吧。。。
也有些人说，我信佛，佛在心中，不需做那些供养。。。
经过了许多阅读与上过佛法班，我真正了解到供养佛像的功德。。。佛像提醒着我们，我们要像佛陀学习，直至到证悟，得到解脱。。。当然在这些之前，我们需要放下所有歧别心与执著心。。。
身，语，意。。。佛塔代表佛的证悟心识。。。。如果我们还执于形相或拥有权，那么离证悟就更远了。。
I found and bought this book but yet has the time to read its content. However, this is an interesting article as to why we should not treat statues as objects of possession but to respect the qualities about them. I also noted the need to have a vajra, a bell and a mandala for higher practices, if we are interested. We can learn how to use these ritual items available on Tsem Rinpoche’s YouTube teachings.