Buddhists DO NOT worship idols not at all.A
piece of clay or bronze or jade is not the object of our
respect and worship. When we bow before Buddha images, we
are recalling the qualities of the enlightened
beings. It is their impartial love and compassion, generosity, morality, patience,
joyous effort, concentration and wisdom that we are showing respect to. The
statue or painting serves to remind us of the qualities of
the Buddha, and it is the
qualities, not the clay, that we are bowing to. We
need not have a statue in front of us in order to bow to or respect
the Buddhas and their qualities.
For example, if we go to a place far away from our
family, we think about them and feel much love. But we also like to
have a photo of them with us to remember them better. When we look
at the photo and feel love for our family, we are not loving the
paper and ink of the photo! The photo merely strengthens our
memory. It is similar with a statue or painting of the
Buddha.
By showing respect to the Buddha and their qualities, we are
inspired to develop these extraordinary qualities on our
own mind streams. We become like the people we respect.
When we take the loving-kindness and wisdom of the Buddhas as our example, we
strive to become like them.
