dear alien,
please read the 21st and the 22nd question. clearly stated.

http://www.jiexieyin.org/ShowArticle.asp?ArticleID=20960

so it's in the taoism teaching. so do you believe in them?
what all these mean to you?
do you pray to them?
do you take refuge in them?
what do they mean to you?

It seems like alien read a lot in mahayana buddhism.
From what I can see, kuan kong is a dharma protector (dharmapala). Buddhists pray to him for his protection over the dharma. The main aim is still for the dharma.
For zhao kong ming and other deities, I have no comments. Is he a bodhisattva? show me to proof.
But at the end of the day, buddhists should pay attention in their dharma practices rather than praying to deities.
It is not wrong for those taoists to pray to their deities, because this is their belief. But for buddhists, we can show our respects to them, but not seeking refuge to them.
I think all these points have been repeated for many many times over here.
But dear alien, did you really read on them?
None of us here is condemning that taoist deities are bad. NO!
Yes, we can be tolerate with other religions in the world. But not mixing them up.
I do read the Bible and Quran, I attended mass in church. I show my respect to them, but not praying to them nor seek refuge from them.
I don't put Jesus Christ nor Allah on my altar. I don't pray to them and said that they can bless me so that I can do better in my dharma practice.
NO!!! Dear Alien, what is wrong is wrong.
Let taoists be taoists and buddhists be buddhists. Don't mix them up!

To guardian of the gate:
The Shinto deities have already existed long time before the existence of Buddhism in Japan. Due to the flourish of Buddhism, Shinto loses a lot of believers and only then they come to link these deities with Buddhas, so that they can be accepted by the society and they could gain the popularity back.

"i win..........i am enlighten now........will become buddha soon....." - alien
how "great" to see you being "enlightened". pointing at joey and saying that she's a fanatic isn't true to me.
Who's the fanatic here? I bet all us can see it clearly.
Did you win or did you lose?
At the end of the day, are you a better person?

Four Face Buddhas ( A Supreme God who create the Universe and Bless Human )? In buddhism, there's no a creator god, so how is it possible that this four face buddha is the creator of the universe??

good post.
Well to a certain extent I had lost my temper earlier.
I think Buddhism is a great religion which none of us can really define it.
For the ignorance part, i totally agree.
There's no right or wrong, just difference.

Thanks alien to let me think deeper and let me thought of the 8 verses of mind transformation.
I should work harder in transforming my mind and put in more effort to practise dharma.

I confess all the faults that I've made and may us all attain enlightenment soon.

and ya, another thing, you haven't answer my question.
why should you pray to these deities? what is the purpose of doing so?
those Chinese pray to these deities because they are not learnt buddhists, but I bet you are one.

I am not asking all Chinese to stop praying to these deities. But to learnt buddhists, i think we should.
and by the way, it's all up to you and that is just my point of view. I am not forcing you to do anything.
praying to them will not guarantee you any health nor wealth too.
what's ur main aim of praying? to get sumthing in return? i bet most of those chinese out there are.
I am not teaching you any dharma, but just sharing my point of view.
I may not qualify to teach anybody.
I am still a learner and so as you are.
If I had brought you any sadness or anger, please take my apologies.
But it seems like you need to put in effort in cutting off ur anger, greed and delusion.
putting other people down is not making you any greater.
and another thing, I am here to learn, not to debate.
you can choose not to read my posts, but not to stop me from posting. for your info, it's called human right.

I recommend you to read up some of Rinpoche's articles here: www.tsemtulku.com

May us attain Buddhahood.

what i mean taoism and buddhism is closely related is some of the taoist deities like guan gong is a dharma protector for buddhism choose by buddhas in one of the books i read.....taoism and buddhism is two different philosophy.buddhism is the highest...i think.....because everybody knows it...example...tibetan buddhism has a clear guide and rules to enlightenment...tibetan buddhism worship only buddhas.......but taoist deities is also from heaven....they are subordinates of jade emperor.......they carried the duty to inspect human deeds and misdeeds on earth...would you think they are bad??i dun think so....thats why many chinese worship them even get into their culture for thousands of years......in chinese books ....the chinese emperor honours many of these deities and it was send by heaven to teach mankind to do good....thats why chinese worship them for protection...wealth and so on........if you want to become enlightenment.....they are many methods and teaching...like the city of ten thousand buddhas founded by master hsuan hua.....i dont think master hsuan hua practice tibetan buddhism to gain enlightenment......they are many ways to do it......

so what's ur point here?
being a buddhist and yet praying to taoist deities? spending ur time pleasing them to fulfill ur desires? giving you health and wealth?
if you really want to gain enlightenment, why don't you put dharma into practice now?
a question: why should you pray to these deities? what is the purpose of doing so?

firstly, no body said that these deities are bad.
it's good to give them offerings just like giving presents to people whom we respect.
but they aren't beings whom we should take refuge in.
clear?

let's practise dharma.
be a better person rather than just winning meaningless debates.
Debates are meant to create awareness and growth in spirituality.

May all sentient beings be free of suffering and the causes of suffering.
May all sentient beings get happiness and the causes of happiness.
May us all live according to the dharma.
May the Triple Gems bless, protect and guide us.
Transform.

Hi everyone there,
I am Jason Chia from Malaysia.
I've been following Rinpoche's teaching for quite sometime, which I can't really remember.
I found that his teachings are interesting as well as contemporary. They suits us modern people.
I just paid Kechara House a visit last week and I'm in their news letter!
Hope that I can get involved in Kechara House more.

I would like to say, most of the practices that you can see, praying to deities in temples as well as most of the Chinese families cannot be catogorised in neither Buddhism nor Taoism.
Taoism was philosophy at the first place. But it then being transformed into a form of religion. They have their specific 3 main deities and teachings. I don't know about it in this case.
In Buddhism, we believe in realms. Hence, these deities which they believe in may be in the god realm or ghost realm. They are also beings who have notgain enlightenment. Although they have certain abilities which we don't have, but it doesn't mean that they are worth to believe in. They don't teach dharma. They don't show you the way to enlightenment. They themselves are also suffering in samsara. One day when their merits exhausted, they still need to be reborn.
The six realms.... i think you know.

Alien: you are right, guanyin, amitabha buddha will still accept you to their purelands even you pray to the deities. But how sure are you that you are qualified to be there? Have you already become a person who does only good deeds, avoid all evils and purified your mind?
are you free from greed, delusion and anger?
If not, why wasting your time praying to these deities? They can't bring you to anywhere!
Benefit all the time that you have and life according to the dharma is of utmost importance. Hold your percepts well. Transform you mind.
Buddhism is not just about praying, it's about transformation.
furthermore, a quote for you: jack of all trades, master of none.
If you can't even perform your very best in a religion, why should you involve in others?

willing to have a discussion with you alien, my address: [email protected]

Sad
The warehouse sales is just selling statues....
at the same time, i've found out the price of the pendant which i wanted to get...
erm.... a bit expensive to me.... haizzzzzzzzzzz

sounds like my presence is a must!
hopefully I won't face much problem.
should I tell my family ?? or go there secretly?
anybody could show me the way to there from Klang?
afraid that i'll get lost....

Which should I go for?

what should I get with my limited saving??
any suggestion?
A Je Tsongkapa pendant?
A prayer wheel?

Oh my... i m very excited!