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Old 07-25-2011, 03:46 AM   #7
Domovoy

Join Date
Oct 2005
Posts
355
Senior Member
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Absolutely agree with Ajahn Buddhadasa. Into what many people really get hooked is to rites and rituals. Those give the sense of "something" happening by real which is at the root of superstitious thought and thus the path to religion and believes. Rites and Rituals are not needed, nor asked to be performed by the historical Buddha but in a world needed of a "given" meaning (by a guru, school, tradition), not being able to look at it by our own means, rites and rituals seem to endure, still, for some more time between us.

But it is not just about religious believe. Rites and Rituals are everywhere. The modern advanced technological culture of the westernized mind has, too, a sort of rites and rituals all the time. It is a tribal heritage. We have rites and rituals also when someone has won a prize or has reached a further academic level. It is the endlessly wandering of mind craving for becoming.

Interesting thread.

This describes what encountering these rituals would be like for a newcomer. For folks who have done it for awhile, it becomes old hat, imho. Someone hits the five minute moktak, time to practice. Not special.

There is a kong an from the Wu-men Kuan (case 16) that addresses our rituals quite well:

Yun-men said, "See how vast and wide the world is! Why do you put on your seven -piece robe at the sound of the bell?" The answer is quite elegant!

Like everything, the ritual and rites aren't what is important, it is our relationship to them that is.
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