Is there any real benefit in offering food and drinks (Dana) to the Buddha statue?. Or is it done only out of sheer faith on the part of the person who offer?

:anjal:

Dear @nimal,

To me, the best way to give offerings to the Buddha is by doing one’s best ability in living in accordance with the Dhamma, practicing kindness, generosity, forgiveness, and contentment.
Just my thoughts.

Happy vassa!

in mettā,
russ

:anjal:

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Well said. Thanks

My point of view may be abit extreme but this is how i think…

Offering of food to Buddha statues doesn’t really mean a thing. It’s akin to offering of incense in many asian buddhist temples. Which IMO, is not what real Buddhism is about.

Buddhism, historically taught by the Buddha Gautama is about living a right and wholesome life, understanding how this whole life thing works and seeing the suffering, transcending it through the steps and guides given by the Buddha.

If i were to compare, a temple with an empty hall and practicing good people trying to eradicate their unwholesome actions and thoughts are more buddhistic than a temple with food and incense.

However, it’s often communal and tradition according to the place these rituals are held. Without such “rituals” and incense offerings, many might not even step into the temple in the first place. Usual lay people who hasn’t at least understood part of what buddhism is about are social people. Temple trips are nothing more than trips to fulfill wishes and social gathering places. Hence the act of food or incense offering isn’t that bad after all. Afterall, we’d rather have people spending time in temples than say, in a pub or bar drinking away in vices.

Offerings to gods, on the other hand, is acceptable to me. Not as if the devas need the food, but many times the food are symbols of devotion to certain devas as many there are many associations with certain food and items being favourites of certain devas.

I think we have a case of the tail wagging the dog. The actions of setting out dana for the Buddha is symbolic, and the people doing it know it. However sometimes faith saddha can cloud wisdom and people start treating statues as if they were real people, with fear, ritual and superstitious belief. Each action of setting aside the best portion of the food, purity, respect the whole series of actions is designed to give rise to saddha in the Buddha. However this can easily get twisted into almost an act of appeasement (like appeasing wrathful Hindu deities) or a chore that must be begrudgingly carried out everyday (in the case of shrines at home), at the behest of parents or elders. I think if it were to be carried out as a meditation, it could be light and beautiful. There’s no need to rebel against tradition if our loved ones still believe in these rituals. We can act together with them as a family or community group, but take a more wholesome and helpful approach to it.

With metta

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