Me at a Monastery
Here's me like 3 or 4 years ago volunteering at a Buddhist Monastery--I figure that gives me some amount of credit to answer the whole Buddhism thing.
I asked a monk what Buddha was considered--God or not--and he answered that he believed there were many types of 'gods.' He said that a god was pretty much anyone who could cause a very large number of people to change their actions and way of life. He noted that Bill Clinton was a god in that some emulated him, looked up to him, and that his life had a great effect on others (as you can see, the Eastern interpretation of a god is very different than in the West).
When you see a monk apparently praying before a statue of Buddha, he's not praying--he's meditating. The statue is kind of a tribute and maybe a helpful device along one's way to achieve meditation.
Next week, there will be a quiz.
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