Can I only use a Zen Buddha/Bodhisattva statue?

General discussion, particularly exploring the Dharma in the modern world.
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Red Faced Buddha
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Can I only use a Zen Buddha/Bodhisattva statue?

Post by Red Faced Buddha »

I'm new to Buddhism and have to admit I know very little about the more complicated aspects of it.Anyway,I want to make a small Buddhist altar and place a Buddha or Bodhisattva statue there.However,should I only use Buddha or Bodhisattvas that are in the Zen sect?I believe that all sects of Buddhism lead to enlightenment(if they follow the core teachings of Buddhism like the Noble Eightfold Path and Not-Self.)and believe in respecting and revering all Buddhas and Bodhisattva regardless of their sect,school,etc.However,I do not wish to offend them.Should I only use a Zen statue?
A person once asked me why I would want to stop rebirth. "It sounds pretty cool. Being able to come back. Who wouldn't want to be reborn."
I replied. "Wanting to be reborn is like wanting to stay in a jail cell, when you have the chance to go free and experience the whole wide world. Does a convict, on being freed from his shabby, constricting, little cell, suddenly say "I really want to go back to jail and be put in a cell. It sounds pretty cool. Being able to come back. Who wouldn't want that?"
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Seishin
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Re: Can I only use a Zen Buddha/Bodhisattva statue?

Post by Seishin »

I can't speak for Zen but in our Tendai sangha we have Yakushi Nyorai enshrined and Amida Butsu on the wall. It is quite common. :smile:

Gassho,
seishin
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kirtu
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Re: Can I only use a Zen Buddha/Bodhisattva statue?

Post by kirtu »

Red Faced Buddha wrote:.Anyway,I want to make a small Buddhist altar and place a Buddha or Bodhisattva statue there.However,should I only use Buddha or Bodhisattvas that are in the Zen sect? ... Should I only use a Zen statue?
No. Whatever style of Buddha or Bodhisattva inspires you or attracts you.

Kirt
“Where do atomic bombs come from?”
Zen Master Seung Sahn said, “That’s simple. Atomic bombs come from the mind that likes this and doesn’t like that.”

"Even if you practice only for an hour a day with faith and inspiration, good qualities will steadily increase. Regular practice makes it easy to transform your mind. From seeing only relative truth, you will eventually reach a profound certainty in the meaning of absolute truth."
Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.

"Only you can make your mind beautiful."
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lobster
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Re: Can I only use a Zen Buddha/Bodhisattva statue?

Post by lobster »

At the moment I have no statues to venerate. I have to use Ipad images . . .
Originally as the Buddha requested, no statues of him existed.

As you practice you will find the Buddha lives in and through you.
A statue is very beneficial.

Your respect is a good sign. I wish you every success in finding the right inpiration. :namaste:

OM YA HA HUM
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Astus
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Re: Can I only use a Zen Buddha/Bodhisattva statue?

Post by Astus »

Zen as a school within Mahayana is not bound to any particular buddha. So, there is no such thing as a "Zen buddha".
1 Myriad dharmas are only mind.
Mind is unobtainable.
What is there to seek?

2 If the Buddha-Nature is seen,
there will be no seeing of a nature in any thing.

3 Neither cultivation nor seated meditation —
this is the pure Chan of Tathagata.

4 With sudden enlightenment to Tathagata Chan,
the six paramitas and myriad means
are complete within that essence.


1 Huangbo, T2012Ap381c1 2 Nirvana Sutra, T374p521b3; tr. Yamamoto 3 Mazu, X1321p3b23; tr. J. Jia 4 Yongjia, T2014p395c14; tr. from "The Sword of Wisdom"
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catmoon
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Re: Can I only use a Zen Buddha/Bodhisattva statue?

Post by catmoon »

I had a nun over for lunch one day and I was fretting over my Amitabha stone Buddha, which did not fit well with my sect. I mentioned that i was worried about having the wrong Buddha. The nun laughed and said

"Wrong buddha? WRONG BUDDHA? How can you have a wrong Buddha??"
Sergeant Schultz knew everything there was to know.
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Thomas Amundsen
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Re: Can I only use a Zen Buddha/Bodhisattva statue?

Post by Thomas Amundsen »

catmoon wrote:I had a nun over for lunch one day and I was fretting over my Amitabha stone Buddha, which did not fit well with my sect. I mentioned that i was worried about having the wrong Buddha. The nun laughed and said

"Wrong buddha? WRONG BUDDHA? How can you have a wrong Buddha??"
Hehe that's funny! You have to admit, though. The idea of a sectarian Buddha is quite silly!
Red Faced Buddha
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Re: Can I only use a Zen Buddha/Bodhisattva statue?

Post by Red Faced Buddha »

Thanks for the answers,guys.
A person once asked me why I would want to stop rebirth. "It sounds pretty cool. Being able to come back. Who wouldn't want to be reborn."
I replied. "Wanting to be reborn is like wanting to stay in a jail cell, when you have the chance to go free and experience the whole wide world. Does a convict, on being freed from his shabby, constricting, little cell, suddenly say "I really want to go back to jail and be put in a cell. It sounds pretty cool. Being able to come back. Who wouldn't want that?"
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