Invitation to deities to come and listen Buddha’s Dhamma and sharing the merits to every being (including deities) after chanting are not considered “prayer to deities” by some.
Buddhist prayer are something like this:
(After taking 5 precepts and before chanting Parrita (for protection), there is an invitation to deities.)
ACRD_102 Paritta Chanting (with Pali Text and English translation)
And like this:
Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta Pali Chanting
There are two kind of remix chanting – one is reciting the Sutta (Metta Sutta, Mangala Sutta, Ratana Sutta, Dhammacakka Sutta etc), two is Gatha.
What is Gatha? They are not directly coming from Pali Canon or Buddha’s teaching. But, based on the Buddha teaching, devotees such as monks and scholars compose the prose/poem like stuff, mentioning glories and qualities of Buddha and pay homage to Buddha, Dhamma and Sanga. Based upon attributes of Buddha, Dhamma, and Sanga, expressing the wishes of prayers such as “free from danger, stay healthy.”
Let’s just say there are popular songs and u[...]
npopular songs. The same thing – some of the “Gatha” are popular and widespread and common to people. Some are personalized – the monk composes to pay homage to Buddha himself. Sometimes, he will chant it before starting the Dhamma talk to audience. It’s like before teaching Buddha’s Dhamma, expressing his qualities such as how Buddha sacrificed his lives starting from Dipinkara Buddha and fulfilling perfections etc.
While we are chanting/paying homage/praying, why we include deities to come and listen Dhamma?
Because, Buddha is known as teachers of gods (deities) and human. Many of the Suttam mentioned its questioners and audiences. Not only human came and asked questions to Buddha, deities included. Not only human listened to Dhamma, deities included.
Deities are not considered someone we pray to, but listening the Buddha teaching together.
Not everything Buddhists do is related to Buddhism. For example, cooking, going to movie, kicking the ball … they are not related to Buddhism. Praying to deities is the same way. A few Buddhists, who inherited the ancestors’ belief, they might pray to those to gain wealth, health and so on.
Did Buddha teach his followers to pray to deities?
No, what he taught is to develop morality, concentration and tranquility, and insights and purity.
Besides, Buddha was born over 2,600 years ago. Deities worship were popular some part of the world. One thousand or 1,500 years after Buddha’s death, Buddhism arrived to those places. Some area, the two co-exist. Buddhism as main, dominance like religion and deities worship as ancestors’s heritage.
If you are interested, read the link below:
(Some of deities were human and worshipped as deities after the king executed them. Some became deities less than a thousand years.)
P.S. The Buddhists invite the deities are not 37 spirits. 🙂 The deities invited are from six heavens and 20 Brahma realms across 10,000 or so universes/multiverse according to Buddhist cosmology. There are infinite number of universes and beings according to Buddhist cosmology.
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