"The traditions established the fact that in all Dispensations the law of
prayer hath constituted a fundamental element of the Revelation of all the
Prophets of God-- a law the form and the manner of which hath been adapted
to the varying requirements of every age."  (Baha'u'llah, Kitab-i-Iqan,
Writings of Baha'u'llah, p.85)

How does this square with the fact that the Buddha does not really seem to
have encouraged prayer?  (The only mention of it I have found is a kind of
discouragement of certain types of prayer in the Salayatanavagga, in "The
Connected Discourses of the Buddha", pps. 1336-1338.) Is meditation really a
form of prayer?  Did the Buddha really teach prayer and these teachings have
been lost?  What?"

Dear Matt,

In practice most Buddhists do pray whatever Buddha Himself might have said.
In fact they evented prayer wheels, prayer beads and printing so they could
do so continually. But the Iqan is really addressed to the model of the
Abrahamic religions as understood in Islam where you have a Prophet, a Book,
a set of Laws, etc. That paradigm doesn't fit the Eastern religions very
well.

warmest, Susan


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