1. It is of great benefit to set up a Buddhist altar at home to worship the Buddha.
It is of great benefit to set up a Buddhist altar at home to offer images of Buddha and Bodhisattva. You can offer images of Guanyin Bodhisattva or Medicine Buddha. , or a statue of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, or a statue of Manjushri Bodhisattva, or any statue of Buddha or Bodhisattva, or any number of statues of Buddha and Bodhisattva; if there is disaster, illness, urgent matter, or matter of merit in your home, the statue of Buddha and Bodhisattva you offer The Buddha or Bodhisattva represented will bless and protect you in the dark, making your whole family seek benefits and avoid harm, be close to good people, stay away from evil people, be close to good karma, stay away from bad karma, make you achieve merit, and stay away from disaster; if If you don’t offer an image of Buddha or Bodhisattva at home, you won’t have this kind of benefit!
For example, the Ksitigarbha Sutra says that there are ten benefits to offering an image of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva in a clean place in the south of your home, or it may be mentioned at the end of the sutra. There are twenty-eight benefits of making offerings to Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. In fact, not only making offerings to Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva has these benefits, but making offerings to any statue of Buddha and Bodhisattva has these benefits!
2. Making offerings to Buddha and Bodhisattvas can reverse the problems in your home. Feng Shui
If you set up a Buddhist altar in your home and offer one or more Buddha and Bodhisattva statues, the Feng Shui in your home will be completely reversed. No matter how bad the Feng Shui is and how many unfavorable evil spirits there are, as long as you offer Buddha and Bodhisattva statues, the Feng Shui can be reversed. Benefits, and this benefit far exceeds what Feng Shui masters can achieve with any Feng Shui technique. Therefore, those who do not know how to offer Buddha and Bodhisattva statues and want to rely on other worldly methods to reverse Feng Shui are not wise in themselves. First choice.
Some people occasionally have a statue of Buddha and Bodhisattva at home, and have kept it on a bookcase or elsewhere for many years without making much offerings to it. They have never even done the folk custom of burning incense on the first and fifteenth day of every lunar month. One day, I cleaned the room and found this Buddha and Bodhisattva statue, so I gave this Buddha and Bodhisattva statue to others, or got married. What is very interesting is that many families, after giving away the Buddha and Bodhisattva statues, Suddenly something happened at home, or there was a car accident, or there was a serious illness, or all kinds of unlucky things happened one after another. Some people asked me what happened?
Answer: If the statue of Buddha and Bodhisattva is in your home, it means it is natural. Having formed a bond with your whole family, even if you don’t sincerely make offerings, if the Bodhisattva lives in your house, he will naturally bless and protect your whole family. If you give away the statue of the Buddha and Bodhisattva, it is equivalent to cutting off this origin, and the Buddha and Bodhisattva will not be able to continue. The power to protect your whole family may be less in the future. Therefore, the disasters, illnesses, and calamities that should have happened in your family were resolved, eliminated, alleviated, and postponed by the Bodhisattva. You sent the Bodhisattva away. If this fate is broken, it will be difficult for Bodhisattva to bless you with strength. At this time, all the disasters that should have happened will happen all at once!
It’s like when there is construction on a construction site, the sky above your head will If you have a safety helmet, even if a brick falls on your head, you will basically not be injured. However, after you throw away the safety helmet, the brick will probably kill you! This is the reason!
Some people say, you are slandering the Buddha and Bodhisattva. You say that the Buddha and Bodhisattva are so selfish. If I offer his image at home, he will help my family. If I don’t offer his image at home, he will not help me. , are the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas as selfish as you said? Also, you said that after you gave away the statues of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, even if the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas gave blessings, they would not be able to do so. Only when they live at home can the blessings be powerful. This is also your slander of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Buddhas and Bodhisattvas regard everything All living beings are equal and will never favor one over the other. Buddhas and Bodhisattvas definitely have no such discrimination!
Answer: So, let me answer your seemingly smart but practical but shallow understanding: This question still involves Regarding the issue of dependent origin, there is a common saying in Buddhism: No matter how heavy the rain is, it will not moisten the rootless grass, and no matter how vast the Dharma is, it will not save those who have no predestined relationship. If a person or a family does not have a deep karma with the Buddha and Bodhisattva, Although there is no deep karma, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are equally compassionate, equally blessed, and blessed without discrimination. This is of course not wrong, but this kind of equal blessing.
Whether you can get equal access here does not depend on Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, but on you. Buddhas and Bodhisattvas equally bless all living beings, but if you look at all living beings, some are in hell, and some are in hell. In the human world, some are animals and some are in heaven. Aren't these all ordinary beings who have different karma and receive different retributions? Is it because the blessings of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are different?! "Lotus Sutra - Medicinal Herbs" It is said that God gives equal rainfall to the human world, but flowers, plants and trees absorb different amounts of water according to the size of their own roots!
It can be seen that with the equal blessings of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, all living beings do not receive equal income, and this inequality, It depends on yourself, not on Buddhas and Bodhisattvas! You have made offerings to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, made statues of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, bathed in statues of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and bowed to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. The deeper your connection with them, the greater their blessings and the greater your benefits, because The predestined relationship is deep, and the benefits are also profound. You have not done any of these, and have almost no predestined relationship with the Buddha and Bodhisattva. Can the Buddha and Bodhisattva bless you? You can also bless you, but you can benefit from too little of that blessing!
So, those who have a deep connection with Buddhas and Bodhisattvas will receive deeper blessings, while those with shallower connections will receive less blessings. This is not because the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas have a different mind. This is a matter of the depth of dependent origination! This is about the thickness of your own connection with the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. The question! It can also be said to be a question of how much blessing you can cultivate by relying on Buddha and Bodhisattvas as your field of blessing.
3. The difference between having a Buddha in your heart and making offerings to the Buddha
Some people say that if you have a Buddha in your heart, it is the same if you don’t make offerings to the Buddha. As long as your heart is kind, there is no need to make offerings to the Buddha!
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Answer: A kind heart is worthy of rejoicing, but a kind heart does not mean that there is no difference between offering Buddha images and not offering Buddha images in Dependent Origination; just as your heart is kind, it does not mean that there is no difference between you planting land and not planting land. No matter how good you are, if you don’t sow seeds, you will still have no harvest after autumn! That piece of land will not grow food on its own without sowing just because you are kind-hearted. Offering a statue to the Buddha can also be regarded as sowing a field of blessing, and it can also be regarded as forming a relationship with the Buddha and Bodhisattvas. , are included.
The Buddha's heart is extremely kind, but when the Buddha saw the Venerable Anuruddha threading a needle, the Buddha even threaded the needle for the Venerable Anāruddha for the purpose of cultivating blessings. This shows that a good heart is a kind heart, and merits still need to be cultivated. The Buddha also did not say that my heart is very kind, so I don’t need to help Venerable Anuruddha thread the needle in order to have the blessing of threading the needle. In other words, my heart is very kind, so I don’t need to teach the Dharma to all living beings to get the effect of this Dharma. If the Buddha is like this, how can we ordinary people confuse existence and non-existence, and confuse cause and effect?
As for what you said about having a Buddha in your heart and not worshiping a Buddha statue, I’m afraid it’s not that simple. If it were that simple, the Ksitigarbha Sutra could be rewritten and written. As long as you have Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva in your heart, If you can get 28 kinds of benefits or 10 kinds of benefits, why do you need to make offerings to the clean land in the south? Furthermore, since you have Buddha in your heart, but you can’t see the relationship between the image of the Three Jewels and your life, you don’t know what is going on. It’s hard to say whether you have Buddha in your heart, whether you don’t have Buddha, or whether you reject Buddha.
Some people say, I have a statue of Buddha and Bodhisattva in my home, why are there all kinds of disasters?
Answer: First of all, the past karma is too heavy and has not been completely eliminated. , the current suffering has been greatly alleviated by making offerings to the Buddha and Bodhisattva images. If there is no offering, the evil consequences will be more serious! Secondly, although the Buddha images are made at home, if the bad karma of the whole family does not stop, killing, stealing and sexual misconduct will become increasingly serious. There is no rest for self-harm and harm to others, and a lot of bad karma accumulates. Even if Buddhas and Bodhisattvas resolve it, the karma is so great that they still have to suffer the consequences after all!
Secondly, many people feel that they have made offerings to the Buddha. Bodhisattva statue, it’s okay to create some bad karma yourself? That’s not true. Buddha and Bodhisattva are not the accomplices of your family’s bad karma. Generally speaking, if you keep a statue of Buddha and Bodhisattva in your home, the Buddha and Bodhisattva will secretly guide you to cut off your bad karma and do good deeds. Karma, practice Buddhism, and achieve Bodhi! However, some people have excessive past karma and are stubborn. As the bad karma gets heavier and heavier, the negative consequences will naturally be repaid. This is because of the blessings of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. I don’t know how much it has been reduced, otherwise it will be The retribution will be even heavier!
Examples of public cases
Even if you follow the following two examples, you can still receive such protection if you randomly pick up and place Buddha and Bodhisattva statues in your home, let alone set up a Buddhist altar and make offerings to the Buddha statues sincerely and respectfully. , How can those who work hard day by day not receive great support and great benefits!
Public case 1: Jinshui County, Jianzhou, Liu Shilang, picked up a statue of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, was saved, and came back to life (extended life)
p>In the Tang Dynasty, in Jinshui County, Jianzhou, Liu Shilang went to a neighbor's house for some reason. On the way, he picked up a tin stick. He saw that there was a statue carved on the head of the stick. He didn't know what it was. He took it back and inserted it in the wall for many years. Can't remember what I put there. Later, he died of illness, but his heart was still a little warm. His family did not bury him. After a day and two nights, he actually came back from the dead. He shed tears, repented and blamed himself, and threw himself on the ground to worship.
The family asked: "Why is the master like this?" He replied: "When I just died, two underworld officials on horseback, one behind the other, drove me to the hall of King Yama, glaring and scolding me. I. At that time, a recluse with an ugly appearance came to the hall. King Yama was very respectful when he saw him. He got down from his seat, knelt down and said to the recluse, "Why did you come here?" The recluse said: " The minister you summoned has been my benefactor for many years, and today I want to save him. King Yama said, "Since karma has been decided, what should I do about this matter?" The Samana said, "I was in Trayasha before." In the sky, who is entrusted by Tathagata Sakyamuni to save sentient beings with certain karma, how can he abandon his servant? King Yama said: "The great master's will is as solid and immovable as the Vajra Mountain; I will definitely release him back to the human world!" The Samana listened to it for a long time. Joyfully, he took the servant's hand and brought him back to life.
When saying goodbye, the servant asked the monk, "I wonder who you are?" The monk replied, "I am Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. You were there before." When you were alive, you saw my image on the road and picked it up and placed it on the wall. Can you remember it and not forget it? 'After saying this, it suddenly disappeared!" Now that I have seen such a special benefit, recall the past. I blamed myself for neglecting the Bodhisattva statue. The people who heard it were amazed and marveled. When they looked at the wall, they saw that there was indeed a tin staff with a statue on the head, so they worked hard to carve colors on the statue. This statue was five inches high, emitting light, and was placed in his home. The house was converted into a monastery and named "Ksitigarbha Temple". (From the "Record of the Efficacy of the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva Statue" in the "New Collection of Sutras")
Editor's Note: Why does the Bodhisattva appear in hell with an ugly and despicable appearance? Because the image is kept in the hell all the year round. It is caused by stains on the wall. The Bodhisattva appeared due to this cause and condition. Therefore, we Buddhas should learn from this lesson in the future and place and offer Buddha statues in clean places.
When we offer Buddha statues, we should try our best to offer Buddha statues with a solemn appearance, so that people who do not practice Buddhism can see the joy in their hearts and become connected with Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. If the Buddha statue we offer is not solemn in appearance, or If it is a fake Buddha statue, etc., some people may unintentionally slander and misunderstand it, and even stay away from the Three Jewels. This is our fault.
Public Case 2
An orphan girl from Lu County retrieved a decayed wooden statue of Guanyin and offered it to her as an offering.
There was an orphan girl from Lu County who previously lived in a monastery. At that time, she saw a piece of rotten wood in a wheat field, which seemed to be an icon of Buddha and Bodhisattva. Therefore, she kept it in a thatched house. Wheat grew especially luxuriantly in the place where the rotten wooden statue was picked up. She thought it was due to the power of the icon. ; After that, every time you eat, you must use the best part to offer the holy image. Later, the orphan girl died of illness and was resurrected day and night. She donated her house and land to build the present monastery, made a statue of Guanyin Bodhisattva with her body and eyes, and made offerings while weeping.
People found it strange and asked her why. She replied: "After I died, I saw two people who took me on the train and arrested me. Suddenly there was a Samana whose body had been damaged. The driver of the train said, "I will take this person's place! She is my benefactor." The two men driving the train quickly put the person and the cart on the ground, put their hands together and said to the Samana, "The great master is asking us. I don't know if King Yama is there." Agreed, this woman should be released. Immediately, I was handed over to the Samana in the train. The Samana brought me back.
I asked the Samana at that time: "Who are you, the master who saved me?" Who?" He answered me, "I am Guanyin Bodhisattva, don't you know me? The rotten wood you picked up from the wheat field is my image." When I see these benefits, I don't care about the land and the house." From "A Brief Record of the Three Jewels Induction")
Transforming others on your own is nothing but the Buddha's way, so it is the same practice.
These four sentences are the first line of the ode. When all Buddhas in the future take up the bodhicitta and practice the Bodhisattva path, their original vows will be the same as those of the past Buddhas: "I walk the Buddha path, and I hope that all living beings will also achieve this path." In this way, I will transform others by myself, so that everyone who has the opportunity can Those who listen to the Dharma will realize this one-vehicle Buddha path together.
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