I was in the field museum a few weeks ago and after spending an hour or two in the AMAZING exhibit on Tibet, I moved on and I found myself standing in front of a statue of Amida, eyes closed and deep in meditation, respectfully, I started softly repeating "namu amida butsu" and after a while I felt like the statues eyes were about to open and he was going to stare straight into my heart and soul. It was rather unsettling, you know? freaky huh?
Statues lack inherent existence. Hallucinations can be freaky yes. Don't be tempted by superstition...
I concur Peterness. Paranoid thoughts, likely from many years of electronic entertainment , can cause the mind to fantasize about all kinds of things that could well almost scare the life out of you!
statues have exactly the same inheirent existence as the inert rocks they were carved out of. the're still inert rocks. they've just been made to look like something. now thoughts have an existence. but thoughts can communicate with thoughts. and thoughts need not fear other thoughts because one thought is as powerful as another. now there are other things besides rocks and thoughts, but i don't think you really need very often to find them living in rocks, unless the're hallowed out inside and have a nice little bedroom and toys to play with in there. =^^= .../\...
When the Precious Master Guru Rinpoche first set eyes on this image in Samye - the first monastery of Tibet build in the 8th century - Padmasambhava said: 'It looks like me', after blessing the image, he said: `Now, it is the same as me.'
great story! i had a similar incident occur when i toured a Sumerian exhibit in a Philadelphia museum - so moving! (although i'm sure everyone else around me wondered why the freaky hippie chick had tears streaming down her face, lol!) i've had some interesting experiences with mummies and the egyptian book of the dead as well
Jebus! Maybe if you actually knew something about Buddhism you wouldn't seem like such a fool. Nobody's worshipping these images; they are merely muses for meditation.
I ask again, please be mindful of other's religions. There is not one correct religion; all are equally valid, given that they respect life and all that is "good". Peace and love
Campbell34, this is a forum on Buddhism. Please refrain from any future and further intollerance. Next post of such will be cause for moving all your posts from this thread to some other place where your intollerance will be accepted or acceptable. And if that doesn't work, then according to item number 4 in the Forum Guidelines, you can be banned for a period of time. Flaming/Trolling: Flames are posts intended to insult and provoke. Posters who speak incessantly and/or rabidly on some relatively uninteresting subject or with a patently ridiculous attitude will be banned. Repeated posts directed with hostility at a particular person or group of people or their beliefs will be cause for banning. Any individual who chronically trolls, who regularly posts arguments, flames or personal attacks for no other purpose than to annoy someone or disrupt a discussion will be banned. Please ... HTML: HTML: HTML:
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