On Feb 22, 2007, at 11:00 PM, hyperbolicgeometry wrote:
--Re: Vaj says that Tibetan Buddhist yidam worship is not "really" god worship and therefore (a) is dissimilar to Hindui worship - being part of "wisdom" oriented sadhana.(b) doesn't fall under the scrutiny of Sam Harris' attacks on faith-based religion. Nope, factually incorrect since the Green Tara provides a counterexample to the sole motive of the quest for wisdom. The Green Tara can/is worshipped in Tibetan Buddhism for the expressed purpose (aside from the acquisitionof wisdom); of the attainment of material wealth, better health, eradication of all types of bad karma (and those types of bad karma specifically mentioned in a long shopping list: such as snake bites, boils, zits, etc...you name it (clearly items beyond the scope of pure "wisdom".) Overall, Green Tara worship is supposed to offset bad karma on a global scale as well as on a personal level. Thus, Tibetan Buddhist teachers have the same types of motives behind such worship as many motivated Hindus in their worship, even though such Deities are not called "gods" per se in Tibetan Buddhism. OK, yidams. Also, there are many Hindus who are mostly into the "wisdom" aspect of Deity worship and would consider it beneath them to pray for material benefits. Thus, to be consistent, the Harris/Vaj criticism of god worship would have to include a good slice of Buddhism. Since Harris claims to be a Buddhist, doesn't make him (and Vaj) somewhat hypocritical?
Of course not, it just means you hold an erroneous View.
