Over the weekend, I went to this Thai Buddhist Temple that I frequently visit. While I was there, I took notice of these two Thai women who were intensely praying to a statue of the Buddha. Though this not at all an uncommon sight at a Buddhist temple, their actions just somehow hit a spot in me, and I question to my lady, “Do they not understand the true teachings of Buddhism?
 
Now, I get it, everyone wants to believe in some higher power. They want that grand overseer to turn to when they need help or seek supreme guidance. But, from the teachings of the Buddha himself, when asked, “Are you a god?” His answer, “No just man.”
 
I do not understand why people do not seek the truth of the source of what they believe? And, this goes across all religions. The Buddha did not write any of the Buddhist holy scriptures. They were all written long after his passing. So, how can we even know what he actually believed, taught, or said? Just like in the case of Jesus. He did not write the Bible. The Bible was created long after he left his physical body, if he ever actually existed? Moreover, I truly suggest to all Christians, if they wish to accurately understand who and what it is that they are praying to, and what they are believing, that they should study the actual history and the evolution of their Bible, as this historic analysis has been factually documented via the works of numerous historians of how it was created by men seeking their own determined reasons and how it went through many-many changes all decided up by the minds of men who were less than ideally focused on presenting any documented truth but simply the truth they wished to project. Plus, there were a number of philosophers and historians living at the time Jesus is reported to have existed. Yet, in all of their writings, no where is anything about Jesus and/or the situations that are told to have taken place in the Bible ever mentioned anywhere but in the Bible. Think about that. Why is that?
 
What I am saying here is, people wish to blindly believe in whatever it is they wish to believe in. They believe in what they were programmed to believe via their family, their society, and their culture. Most everyone wishes to turn to that Supreme Being in their times of need. I guess that’s simply part and parcel of being human. But, if we do not even know or understand or care about the historic truth of our religion, if we do not even care enough to understand the actual teachings of that Being which we are praying to, then who or what are we actually praying to and what can it equal?