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Devotion

 Forms include chanting, pilgrimage, honoring one's teachers and the teachings, and deity worship
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    Prayer: Gareth Sparham Paid Member

    By Gareth Sparham
    The most basic Buddhist prayer is “may all beings find peace,” which expresses the positive mental state of lovingkindness. It is not a prayer directed to some higher power outside the meditator, but the articulation of an attitude; at a deeper level, an aspiration; and at a still deeper level, a commitment. Lovingkindness is cultivated by the inner expression of this “prayer,” so that the meditator not only feels the peace of an open heart, but also in order that the meditation itself is not just another act dominated by narrow, selfish aims. In the earliest Buddhist literature, such basic prayers are called brahma-viharas (“the grounds of a spiritual person”), because they are the basic underpinning of a spiritual life, turning the activity that follows into a spiritual one. Such prayer is not particularly Buddhist at all, but expresses the basic attitude of spiritual life. More »
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    Prayer: Glenn Mullin Paid Member

    By Glenn Mullin
    Most Western Buddhists were raised in one of the three Semitic religions: Judaism, Christianity, or Islam. All three of these hold prayer as their principal spiritual method. This left many of us with a bad case of prayerphobia. We turned to Buddhism for its meditation, its lofty philosophy, its colorful tantric yogas, and its zany Zen poetry. Traditional Buddhists, however, do pray. Any visitor to the monasteries and meditation centers of Asia can testify to this. For example, in Dharamsala one may witness the Dalai Lama and his monks performing some ritual involving chanting, much of which could be classified as “prayer.” The same scene with different monk faces can be seen in Japan, Korea, or Sri Lanka. More »
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    Prayer: Interview with Dr. Larry Dossey Paid Member

    In Reinventing Medicine, (HarperSanFrancisco, 1999), Dr. Larry Dossey cites several scientific studies about the effectiveness of prayer. Medical evidence now supports the view that prayer helps in the healing process, and some studies have documented positive results of Tibetan prayer as an intercessory tool. Dr. Dossey has written eight books including Healing Words: The Power of Prayer & The Practice of Medicine (HarperSanFrancisco, 1993) and is executive editor of the journal Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine. Today Dr. Dossey lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is former chief of staff at Humana Medical City Dallas and former co-chair of the Panel on Mind/Body interventions, Office of Complementary and Alternative Medicine, National Institutes of Health. What is your definition of prayer? More »
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    Practical Advice Regarding Spiritual Teachers Paid Member

    By Alexander Berzin
    The Initial Interaction The phenomenon of Western Dharma centers—and the arrival of many Tibetan teachers—began in the mid-1970s. The Chinese Cultural Revolution was raging in Tibet, and destruction of the monasteries that had begun in 1959 was nearly complete. Many Tibetan refugees had witnessed India's border war with China in 1962 and its wars with Pakistan in 1965 and 1971. Indian authorities, unable to support the millions of Bangladeshi refugees they had initially accepted, had sent them back and might easily do the same with Tibetans. Due to tensions in Nepal, Sikkim, and Bhutan, Tibetan refugees felt insecure there and looked for safer havens in case of emergency. More »