Giving rupa to non-believers

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Toenail
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Giving rupa to non-believers

Post by Toenail »

Is there any benefit for them if you gift them a filled statue? If they care for it, put it in a special spot etc... But they don't believe in it, do not have faith and see it as stylish decoration? I dont think so, no?
Soma999
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Re: Giving rupa to non-believers

Post by Soma999 »

If they don’t have faith in it, and just see it as decorative, i don’t see the benefit in giving them a rupa. It could also be unrespectful as those rupa needs to be honoured and treated with respect.
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Lobsang Chojor
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Re: Giving rupa to non-believers

Post by Lobsang Chojor »

I think it comes from Asanga (but I need to check my notes later) that seeing an image of the Buddha even with a mind of anger will create the causes and conditions to meet the dharma in the future, so there is some benefit in them seeing the Rupa.

Whether it's better to have the Rupa at your place in a position where they can see when they visit rather than at their place I don't know.
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PadmaVonSamba
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Re: Giving rupa to non-believers

Post by PadmaVonSamba »

If it is consecrated, filled inside with blessed substances and mantras and so on, no, because A non-Buddhist may throw it away some day, or when they die their relatives might or whatever.

If it’s just a hollow Buddha statue you found at a store, yeah, that’s fine.

But also check your true motivation.
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Tills ljuset tar oss
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Re: Giving rupa to non-believers

Post by Tills ljuset tar oss »

It is like a reverse trojan horse. You know. It brings blessings. And if they die near it they will go to a pure land instead of being born in samsara again.

So it might be good to give them such a thing.

I knew this guy once. A real slob. He had a small Buddha statue and some incense he had stolen from his workplace. I taught him how to offer incense to Buddha and I know he will be better off than before. So it can work with those who have no faith. Hopefully.
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Ayu
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Re: Giving rupa to non-believers

Post by Ayu »

Once upon a time, when I knew nothing about Buddhism at all and I didn't care about it either, a friend pulled me to a Buddhist center and the only interesting thing for me was the bazar within the house.
They sold many strange things for very high prices, I couldn't and wouldn't afford. But I found a very small picture of a white Buddha sitting beside a waterfall and above him some cranes flew up. The card was as small as the palm of my hand, but I was willing to pay 3 DM for it, I liked it somehow. Somebody told me the name of this white Buddha, when I was paying, but I forgot it immediately.

At home I pinned the card on the wooden cupboard in our kitchen. There the Buddha resided above the sugar pot and teacups. Randomly, this place happened to be the middle of the room. For me, it was just a beautiful picture and I didn't know nor understood what it means. The card stayed on that cupboard and moved with us to different flats and cities.

Nearly twenty years later, I started to become interested in Buddhism. I decided to visit a Tibetan Buddhist group. They were offering leaded Vajrasattva recitation and meditation for beginners. It was a good thing there and after some weekly sessions I realized that the white Buddha on the little card on my cupboard was Vajrasattva.
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Ayu
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Re: Giving rupa to non-believers

Post by Ayu »

There can be so much blessing for endless beings who do not know anything about it.

I just read this on Lama Zopa's facebook page:
If you do nyung näs or recite OM MANI PADME HUM one thousand times every day, when you then go to swim in a river or an ocean, since your body is already blessed by visualizing yourself as Chenrezig and by reciting the mantra, the whole river or ocean is blessed. All the people who then come to play in or on the water, swimming or surfing, are purified; the negative karma of anybody who is touched by the water is purified, and the same thing happens to all the numberless other beings in the river or ocean, from the large sharks and fish down to the tiny microscopic beings. All their negative karma to be born in the lower realms is purified.
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lelopa
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Re: Giving rupa to non-believers

Post by lelopa »

Ayu wrote: Fri Jan 21, 2022 8:38 pm Once upon a time, when I knew nothing about Buddhism at all and I didn't care about it either, a friend pulled me to a Buddhist center and the only interesting thing for me was the bazar within the house.
They sold many strange things for very high prices, I couldn't and wouldn't afford. But I found a very small picture of a white Buddha sitting beside a waterfall and above him some cranes flew up. The card was as small as the palm of my hand, but I was willing to pay 3 DM for it, I liked it somehow. Somebody told me the name of this white Buddha, when I was paying, but I forgot it immediately.

At home I pinned the card on the wooden cupboard in our kitchen. There the Buddha resided above the sugar pot and teacups. Randomly, this place happened to be the middle of the room. For me, it was just a beautiful picture and I didn't know nor understood what it means. The card stayed on that cupboard and moved with us to different flats and cities.

Nearly twenty years later, I started to become interested in Buddhism. I decided to visit a Tibetan Buddhist group. They were offering leaded Vajrasattva recitation and meditation for beginners. It was a good thing there and after some weekly sessions I realized that the white Buddha on the little card on my cupboard was Vajrasattva.
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Ayu
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Re: Giving rupa to non-believers

Post by Ayu »

lelopa wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 12:51 am
Image

:smile:

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lelopa
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Re: Giving rupa to non-believers

Post by lelopa »

Ayu wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 5:25 pm
lelopa wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 12:51 am
Image

:smile:

Image
It is my favorite Vajrasatva pic too!

I always write Vajrasatva with one t as in the mantra and old texts
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muni
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Re: Giving rupa to non-believers

Post by muni »

Ayu wrote: Fri Jan 21, 2022 8:38 pm Once upon a time, when I knew nothing about Buddhism at all and I didn't care about it either, a friend pulled me to a Buddhist center and the only interesting thing for me was the bazar within the house.
They sold many strange things for very high prices, I couldn't and wouldn't afford. But I found a very small picture of a white Buddha sitting beside a waterfall and above him some cranes flew up. The card was as small as the palm of my hand, but I was willing to pay 3 DM for it, I liked it somehow. Somebody told me the name of this white Buddha, when I was paying, but I forgot it immediately.

At home I pinned the card on the wooden cupboard in our kitchen. There the Buddha resided above the sugar pot and teacups. Randomly, this place happened to be the middle of the room. For me, it was just a beautiful picture and I didn't know nor understood what it means. The card stayed on that cupboard and moved with us to different flats and cities.

Nearly twenty years later, I started to become interested in Buddhism. I decided to visit a Tibetan Buddhist group. They were offering leaded Vajrasattva recitation and meditation for beginners. It was a good thing there and after some weekly sessions I realized that the white Buddha on the little card on my cupboard was Vajrasattva.
Thank you for laughter. :smile: Could be that in some way it may be somehow a sign of connection, even there is no interest at the moment.

When I was young, I got for few coins a beautiful Tara Statue ( no Rupa). It could give light by electricity. Bit later, I found that not right, Tara light was not a statue by electricity I was thinking and so I gave it away.

Later on I thought it is perhaps due to that deed of no respect, I had so much obstacles. However it was a statue, and accepted with devotion.
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