What do most Buddhists say about Angels?

[Wesley1982]

What do most Buddhists say about Angels?...

[Will]

Another title of Gautama the Buddha is Teacher of Devas & Men. There are many sutras where Buddha did just that, teach angels/devas. 'Deva' is Sanskrit and means 'shining one'.

So I would hope most Buddhists would accept that angels or devas do exist.

[gregkavarnos]

They say lots about angels and definitely know how many dance on the head of a pin, though depending on the tradition/sect the number may vary!

[Wesley1982]

(I think) in the Orthodox and Catholic Churches there is something called the Angelic Heirarchy -or- Heirarchy of Angels- who serve "God".

[greentara]

Alot of Buddhism is based on magical stories, the supernatural and myth, indeed they are lovely but it's best to concentrate on the core teaching as that's where the real power and beauty resides. "Mahavira’s life parallels rather startlingly with the Buddha’s. He was born of a ksatriyan chief named Siddhattha, married a woman named Yasoda, had one child, a daughter named Anoja, renounced the world at the age of 20 and became enlightened (kevala) at 28 while sitting at the foot of a sal tree. He passed away at the age of 72. Why these and other similarities? Here is one possible explanation. Almost none of the events in the classical biography of the Buddha – the events surrounding his birth, being the son of a king, marriage, being father to a son, his life in the palace, seeing of the four sights, etc; are not from the scriptures, i.e. they are later legends. The Tipitaka records virtually nothing about the Buddha’s life until his Great Renunciation. Few people know that nowhere in the Tipitaka does it even mention that the Buddha’s personal name was Siddhattha. Even the very late and very legendary Mahapadana Sutta (D.II,1) doesn’t mentions it. When in later centuries a full biography of the Buddha was needed, much of the details may have been ‘lifted’ from the biography of Mahavira"

[Nighthawk]

(I think) in the Orthodox and Catholic Churches there is something called the Angelic Heirarchy -or- Heirarchy of Angels- who serve "God".

Are you a Christian?

[Wesley1982]

Are you a Christian?

Are you a Atheist?

[Bonsai Doug]

They say lots about angels and definitely know how many dance on the head of a pin, though depending on the tradition/sect the number may vary!

OK... that's funny!

[KeithBC]

What do most Buddhists say about Angels?...

About the same as what they say about uinicorns.

Om mani padme hum
Keith

[Wesley1982]

Can you trace the history of the unicorn's "existence" in mythology and folklore?..

[underthetree]

What do most Buddhists say about Angels?...

What to angels have to say about the Four Noble Truths and the Four Seals of Dharma? If nothing, why search for them?

[Simon E.]

Alot of Buddhism is based on magical stories, the supernatural and myth, indeed they are lovely but it's best to concentrate on the core teaching as that's where the real power and beauty resides. "Mahavira’s life parallels rather startlingly with the Buddha’s. He was born of a ksatriyan chief named Siddhattha, married a woman named Yasoda, had one child, a daughter named Anoja, renounced the world at the age of 20 and became enlightened (kevala) at 28 while sitting at the foot of a sal tree. He passed away at the age of 72. Why these and other similarities? Here is one possible explanation. Almost none of the events in the classical biography of the Buddha – the events surrounding his birth, being the son of a king, marriage, being father to a son, his life in the palace, seeing of the four sights, etc; are not from the scriptures, i.e. they are later legends. The Tipitaka records virtually nothing about the Buddha’s life until his Great Renunciation. Few people know that nowhere in the Tipitaka does it even mention that the Buddha’s personal name was Siddhattha. Even the very late and very legendary Mahapadana Sutta (D.II,1) doesn’t mentions it. When in later centuries a full biography of the Buddha was needed, much of the details may have been ‘lifted’ from the biography of Mahavira"

An important series of points imo.
The " miraculous" and " supernatural " elements of the stories that surround the Buddhas life come from a stock of poetic imagery which is common to all religions that have emerged from the Indian Subcontinent..in addition to Mahavira and the Jain Tirthankas the same birth stories and stories of distinguishing marks and so on are found in the Vaisnav and Shaivite traditions too.
In some cases these stories predate Buddhism. And they run right through to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in the 14 th C.E.
They are beautiful and poetic. They are not history.

[Nighthawk]

Are you a Christian?

Are you a Atheist?

and yes I am.

[Wesley1982]

What do most Buddhists say about Angels?...

What to angels have to say about the Four Noble Truths and the Four Seals of Dharma? If nothing, why search for them?

I would generally see "Angels in Buddhist thought" as something natural and passive.

[Wesley1982]

Are you a Christian?

Are you a Atheist?

and yes I am.

I learned from a specific book that Buddhism is "beyond" or "irrelevant" to labels and stereotypes.

[seeker242]

That angels are powerful non-human beings that are born in the "god realms" because of the good karma they have made. But there are differences between the christian idea of angels and the Buddhist idea of them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deva_%28Buddhism%29

[Nighthawk]

I learned from a specific book that Buddhism is "beyond" or "irrelevant" to labels and stereotypes.

In a deeper sense yes. The less labels the better, but all paths do not lead to rome.

[Will]

What do most Buddhists say about Angels?...

What to angels have to say about the Four Noble Truths and the Four Seals of Dharma? If nothing, why search for them?

The sixth of the ten recollections that Buddha taught as meditation subjects is one focused on Devas - from Anguttara Nikaya (Ones section):

§6. One thing — when developed & pursued — leads solely to disenchantment, to dispassion, to cessation, to stilling, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding. Which one thing? Recollection of the devas...

It was devas who encouraged Buddha to teach others, when he was reluctant to do so; it was devas who brought forth much of the Dharma we have today by asking questions of Buddha. Some devas also learned from Buddha and taught the Dharma.

[Wesley1982]

Maybe one of the earliest Buddha was in hardship for several years and was always "pressing forward" as some form of asceticism.

[AdmiralJim]

Do people really believe at the time the scriptures were written down that these Buddhists believed that the miraculous stories were poetic imagery? I don't think so..........