What
Buddhists Believe
Venerable K. Sri Dhammananda Maha Thera
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Spirit
World
There are visible and invisible
beings or spirits in the same way as there are visible and invisible
lights.
Buddhism
does not deny the existence of good and evil spirits. There are visible
and invisible beings or spirits in the same way as there are visible and
invisible lights. We need special instruments to see the invisible light
and we need a special sense to see the invisible beings. One cannot deny
the existence of such spirits just because one is unable to see them with
one's naked eyes. Theses spirits are also subject to birth and death. They
are not going to stay permanently in the spirit form. They too exist in
the same world where we live.
A genuine Buddhist is one
who moulds his life according to moral causation discovered by the Buddha.
He should not be concerned with the worshipping of these gods and spirits.
However, this kind of worshipping is of some interest and fascination to
the multitude and has naturally brought some Buddhists into contact with
these activities.
Regarding protection from
evil spirits, goodness is a shield against evil. Goodness is a wall
through which evil cannot penetrate unless a person opens the door to an
evil influence. Even though a person leads a truly virtuous and holy life
and has a good shield of moral and noble living that person can still
lower his shield of protection by believing in the power of evil that
would do harm to him.
The Buddha has never
advised His followers to worship such spirits and to be frightened of
them. The Buddhist attitude towards them is to transfer merits and to
radiate loving-kindness to them. Buddhists do not harm them. On the other
hand, if man is religious, virtuous and pure in mind, and if he is also
intelligent and possesses strong will-power and understanding capacity,
then such a person could be deemed to be much stronger than spirits. The
evil spirits would keep away from him, the good spirits would protect him.
-ooOoo-
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Source: Buddhist
Study and Practice Group, http://www.sinc.sunysb.edu/Clubs/buddhism/
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Layout: Chan Duc - Nguyen Thao
Update : 01-11-2002
