Question asked by Vivek Karmaa Subba
Actual Buddhism is simple, it's just about "Buddha', I don't understand why there are so many forms of Buddha then: Alokeswara, Green Tara, White Tara, Guru Rinpoche, et al. Like Guru Rinpoche, when he was here in Earth, he practiced the path of Buddhism, later attained nirvana; therefore why do people still worship him and other such Deities? Or are they all in the God Realm? If they have already achieved nirvana, they do not exist and are not a part of the wheel of life, therefore they cannot hear us or help us. If the Deities we pray can help us where are they? Why haven’t they got nirvana? Every year there are various pujas done at my home, mantras are chanted by the lamas, but I cannot understand the concept of Deities in Buddhism, as it seems to contradict its very principal of everyone being a Buddha. Who are the Lamas praying to? Can someone help me with an answer or help me with a link.
My Email: noblestride@yahoo.com Thanks.
Dear Viviek Karmaa Subba
To completely answer this question will be quite extensive and this section here may not be the best place to provide you with a satisfactory answer. There are much information which you can google on the differences and similarities between the different schools of Buddhism ie., Hinayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayana. Buddha taught 84 000 teachings to suit the many different minds. Some tradition emphasized on the different emanations and some don’t.
Do ask the lamas who have been coming to your home yearly about the pujas they perform and explain more about the deities as we would not know who the lamas are praying to.
If you believe the principal of everyone being Buddhas or rather have the potential to become Buddhas, then the many deities concept is not that hard to understand. Buddhas are not restricted in any way, shape or form. If beings can become Buddhas, must they look exactly like Buddha Shakyamuni? And when a person achieves Buddhahood, will he then only be able to look like the Shakyamuni we see in paintings and sculptures? Non of the depiction of Buddha Shakyamuni is the same as expressed in the various countries such as Thailand, Japan, India, etc. etc.. So how does a Buddha look like. How should a Buddha look like?
If there are spirits and ghosts who all look very different, how is it that Buddhas cannot have more than one form?
Here’s a link which may be a bit far out but something for you to listen to.
http://blog.tsemtulku.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/buddhas-dharma/transcript-how-lama-tsongkhapa-transforms-to-vajrayogini.html