[Edwardthe_third]

Could adoration, worship and devotion to Buddha be a way of learning with the heart? I believe I can gain a bodhisattva's compassion with this reverance for my teachers, heroes and ultimate sage, Buddha. I see how 'worshipping a god or idol' can be manipulated, abused or excessive as is the case in many religions, probably even including our own. But I think this could be like saying "Love stinks" because one has been heartbroken and disappointed with intimate relationships of the past. (Just an idea)

If I believe, practice, trust, and follow all of the wise advice a Buddha teaches, and I am all the happier and stronger for it, then it seems only appropriate to be grateful, respectful and acknowledgable to the bestower of such useful wisdom. Also, in worshipping the Buddha, one is transferring the ego's narcissitic self-worship into a form outside one's limited and impermanent body which is very skillful in advancing enlightenment. This is because, in reality, there is no-self, only emptiness.

Well, in my mind the problem with terms like worship is that worship implies that you are totally reliant on the being you are worshiping, but the Buddha taught that he could only show the way, we have to walk the path. He can't carry us down it.