by Anura Guruge
on October 31, 2022
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The Buddha would be aghast. He would have realized that he failed, failed miserably.
They, i.e., the Sri Lankan Buddhists have failed to grasp the most basic concept in Buddhism.
The Buddha does NOT exist in any way, shape or form. Other than his legacy there is NOTHING. There is NO Buddha in heaven. There is NO spirit of Buddha. No Holy Ghost. NOTHING. NOTHING. NOTHING. But, that is what HE wanted. NOTHING. No rebirth. State of NO EXISTING. Jesus Christ! Can’t they get this into their skulls.
Don’t WASTE food offerings to something that is NOT there. Jesus wept!
Making any offering to the Buddha is beyond pointless! Unlike the Abrahamic God, the Roman/Greek gods or the Hindu gods, the Buddha does NOT exist in CURRENT TIMES. He is gone. Gone forever. No spirit, no sign, no life. NOTHING. GONE. Poof. That was his goal. The attainment of nirvana he cased to exist — utterly & completely. NOTHING. He is GONE. GONE. Poof. No Holy Spirit. No spirit in the sky. He is GONE. NOTHING. You can’t interact with the Buddha. He is gone. Yes, there are supposedly relics but the relics can’t do much IF there is NOTHING behind them (or above them).
So, making a food offering to someone (or something) that no longer exists seems ‘funny’. I could use stronger words BUT these folks are genuine in their … (SMILE). Hey, when I was a kid I subscribed to all of this.
[[Offering flowers to the Buddha is different! The flowers are NOT for the Buddha per se. The flowers are really for US. They are to show us — to remind us — of the impermanence of life. The fresh flowers offered, will in time wilt & die — just like all of us. That is what offerings of flowers is all about. Time to think about the impermanence of life.]]
So, there is that. This is also why it is so crazy to pray to the Buddha. He is NOT there. You are praying to NOTHINNESS. [[My mother, a QUEEN of Prayer, at least had this part right. She never prayed to the Buddha. She, though a Buddhist, prayed to the Christian God. She believed that he existed. But, her go to ‘guys’ were the Hindu gods. They are supposed to be around. So, she prayed to them shamelessly & incessantly. But, at least there was some logic to that. She was praying to gods who never said they were going BYE-BYE for good.]]
OK. I will leave it at that.