Buddha's image

[unspoken]

Currently I went to a talk by my school principle about buddhism (every year she does that, it was part of the co-curiculum we have in Malaysia where we can join society formed by buddhist and gather along and share interest among buddhist in the same age) After the talk was finish they gave out a small piece of buddha image picture. So i took it back and place it in my room's table. So there was a chinese believes that we shouldn't place those images of gods of buddha in the room because you changes in the room and being disrespectful to "them". So I was asking is there such thing that buddhist should be refraining? Or this is just a dogma?

[pilgrim]

Currently I went to a talk by my school principle about buddhism (every year she does that, it was part of the co-curiculum we have in Malaysia where we can join society formed by buddhist and gather along and share interest among buddhist in the same age) After the talk was finish they gave out a small piece of buddha image picture. So i took it back and place it in my room's table. So there was a chinese believes that we shouldn't place those images of gods of buddha in the room because you changes in the room and being disrespectful to "them". So I was asking is there such thing that buddhist should be refraining? Or this is just a dogma?

Hello unspoken,
It is good to be respectful to Buddha images and I think having one in your room is excellent. Putting it on a respectful place is the correct practice. Some people may feel it is disrespectful to change clothes in the same room, but that's them. If you don't feel that way, then it is fine. If people try to impose their fears and beliefs on you then it changes from a good practice of respect to a wrong practice of superstition.

[theravada_guy]

If you only have so much room for an image or shrine, and possibly the only place to put it is where you sleep, then this is okay. My shrine is in my bedroom as there is no other place to put it. Here is an article that explains this more in depth. It is an excerpt from a book by Bhante Gunaratana (Forgive me if I have misspelled that) of Sri Lanka. So, if this is your only option, then it is fine. Just do your best to be respectful of the rupa. Don't get bogged down in cultural and/or superstitious ways.

http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/history/devotion/devotion01.htm

And, if you wish to read more about shrines and such, here is the rest of the excerpt:

http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/history/devotion/index.htm

Overall, it's a good book. There's a PDF on there, and I have a hard copy.

[irvinelmo]

Hi,
Sometimes we talk about cultural beliefs and practices found attached to Asian Buddhism that are not likely to make the transition to the West. And at first I thought nat worship fit that category nicely. But then I read about the nat festivals.