Buddhist Rituals

[Radius]

In my exploration into Buddhism, I strangely enough have not found much yet about rituals.

Please, pick a ritual you know of, and tell me:

It's name.

What happens within this ritual.

What it means in Buddhism.

Why you like or dislike it.

If questions arise, I will ask them.

[Radius]

Nobody?

Why not?

There are no rituals?

[camerata]

The Buddha taught his followers not to be attached to rites and rituals. So I'd be surprised if any of the Western Buddhists in this forum are practising any rituals.

[Radius]

The Buddha taught his followers not to be attached to rites and rituals. So I'd be surprised if any of the Western Buddhists in this forum are practising any rituals.

I am aware of that but someone must know at least one ritual. You don't have to practise it.

Edited September 10, 2008 by Radius

[ff978472]

Not sure if chanting is what you call ritual practice or not.

I believe chanting is the way used (by Theravada) to carry down the Pali Canon from generation to generation.

The way we have several monks chanting Pali Canon at the same time has some benifits:

- younger monks can memorize it from the older monks while chanting, so Pali Canon can be relayed from generation to generation without relying only on the books (which can contain errors).

- chanting contains error correction mechanism (through group chanting) and thus preseve the original content through hundreds or thousands of year.

How could I dislike that smart method?

[Brucenkhamen]

Thai Buddhists love their rituals, they have one for every occasion, but most westerners find them pretty tacky I think.

Other than the Ajahn Chah lineage most westerners practicing Theravada techniques have dispensed with most rituals. The Ajahn Chah lineage encourages chanting and bowing as a practice, at first I didn't like it but now I quite enjoy it.

Other than chanting and bowing I can't think of any Thai Buddhist ritual I enjoy or do other than under sufferance.

I think Zen rituals are more elegant and so westernerrs practicing Zen tend to keep them, and I think westerners practicing Tibetan Buddhism tend to enjoy the religious side of it so also have kept the rituals.