Posted by Jairo Jamyang Pawo MorenoFebruary 15, 2017257
What does it mean to propitiate? What is physically and mentally happening when one is propitiation a something, such as a worldly spirit? Could...
What does it mean to propitiate? What is physically and mentally happening when one is propitiation a something, such as a worldly spirit? Could one propitiate any recently deceased person who was a friend or relative of one?
Answer from Pastors
Pastors
March 25, 2017#1Author
Dear Jairo Jamyang Pawo Moreno,
Thank you for your question. Propitiation means to do something which please the being you are asking help from. In the case of propitiating Dorje Shugden this refers to practicing the Dharma and engaging in his practice, so that he can aid you by clearing obstacles and creating conducive conditions. When this connection is established, he is able to help you even more in your practice of the Dharma and progress along the spiritual path. This is because he is an enlightened being, and operates from enlightened compassion.
Therefore to propitiate a spirit means to do something that please the spirit in order to get something in return. Certain spirits are very powerful, and can interact with and influence the physical world. For people who propitiate spirits, they are creating a connection with this being, most of the time for a worldly matter. This can be done by making physical offerings to the being, and asking them for things.
In doing so, a karmic connection is created during the process. This karmic connection can be either beneficial or detrimental, as with all karmic links. In the future when the seeds of this karmic connection manifest, both parties will once again be linked in some form or another. Since the nature of samsara is suffering, as taught by the Buddha, as this karmic connection manifests again, the way both parties react will lead to another karmic connection being created. This in turn will most probably become negative in the end.
This also explains why some people have spirit disturbances and others do not. In a previous life, the two parties would have created a karmic connection, and in this life that very same karmic connection manifests as a person being afflicted by a spirit.
Technically you could propitiate a recently deceased person, but even if you did, you do not know what would happen. For example if the person has already taken rebirth, for example in the animal realm, even if you propitiate them, nothing would happen. This is because the animal form they are in is not capable of granting you what you want. On the other hand, if the person had be reborn into the spirit realm, if you propitiate them, they could grant you what you want if they had the ability.
The propitiation of spirits however, is not something that is encouraged in Buddhism. One of the many tenets of Buddhism is not to take refuge in or engage in the propitiation of beings, apart from the enlightened beings themselves. A lot of people ask why, and the reason is quite simple, as I have stated above. When you take refuge in or propitiate a non-enlightened being, you are actually creating a karmic connection with them, which can very easily turn negative in the future, and keeps you bound to samsara, which Buddhists seek to transcend. On another level, since these beings are not enlightened, they have their likes and dislikes, are attached and have emotions. Therefore they can easily turn against you if they perceive that you have made a mistake, not given them enough offerings, or offend them somehow.
On the other hand, the enlightened beings do not have such worldly emotions, therefore they do not behave like samsaric beings. In fact they operate from the basis of enlightened compassion for all beings and enlightened wisdom, without traits such as the three poisons: ignorance, desire/attachment and hatred/jealousy. I hope this helps. Thank you.
Dear Pastors,
May I progress towards reducing my ignorance, desire/attachment and hatred/jealousy. Thank you for taking the time to respond to my question(s). I don’t quite remember what inspired me to ask “What does it mean to propitiate? . . .” back in February 15, over a month ago. Perhaps it was due to educational articles on this site on the benefits of propitiating Dorje Shugden, and there are other places where I have seen the word “propitiate” used, but it still doesn’t seem to give me any idea of what that would entail. From a recent search on the internet I gather that for Christians it means that Jesus did the propitiating on our part in order to remove the wrath of God. But, of course, that meaning of the word is not quite what we mean here in the usage of it along with Dorje Shugden, or any other Dharmapala or deity. I have also seen it used with respect to Hindu deities in articles on the internet. So yes, I can accept your general definition as the best answer there is for the verb “to propitiate” is as you stated: “”To propitiate a spirit means to do something that please the spirit in order to get something in return””
I have since been considering and imagining what propitiating some deity or spirit might entail. I suppose that depends on the deity and the culture and the ritual practices that have evolved. I just noticed online that some propitiations might involve animal sacrifices. So I am wondering and suspecting that propitiating a spirit is something that is done universally in all world religions, or at least in folk religions. Perhaps propitiating some spirit is what brings to rise a religion? Perhaps any founder of any religion is being propitiated by their followers? Perhaps, I am wondering, that even our ancestors, when they are commemorated with a funeral ceremony and prayers and a tomb, etc., are being propitiated, so therefore even burying a loved one and going to see their tomb in a cemetery is a form of propitiating their spirit. And even “praying” to a recently deceased loved one is an attempt to propitiate, or to gain favors, since one is assuming that the deceased one must have attained heaven [or perhaps a pure land, or even Bodhisattva status and power if one chooses to believe so] and have a direct line to one’s godhead(s) or Buddha(s) and Bodhisattvas who have the powers to grant one favors.
It amazes me that I was in a class [on Dao cultivation and sutra study] the day you answered my question, and I tried to ask this same question to students in that class gathering, because we have been studying Buddhist sutras, and, at that day, The Analects of Confucius (a revised translation which occasionally injects Daoist principles into the interpretations). And I recall that the conversation led to deceased persons and mediums, and that reminded me of Dorje Shugden, Dharmapala and ancestral spirit worship. So I asked folks there if they were familiar with the word “propitiate” and nobody knew. So I took out my smartphone and looked it up. I looked up propitiate but found mostly Christian and Catholic definitions and applications. But when I added to the search Dorje Shugden then I got this page where I had posted my question, which surprised me. And that was on the same day, a Saturday, that you cared to answer my question. So I thought that was amazing. I briefly skimmed over the question as I didn’t have much time to ponder your answer. I am still considering the answer.
Also I asked [in the original set of questions that started this post] if one could propitiate a recently deceased person; I asked this because I had a death in the family quite recently, and so it was on my mind [whether it was okay to propitiate that person, perhaps at least to learn about their fate]. He was my brother-in-law and friend and employer. I have been interested in after death communication and have read and listened to the audio audible version of the book Hello From Heaven, so that gave me hope that I could be alert to messages from my friend who passed away recently, February 6. That perhaps also motivated me to add the question on whether it was possible or helpful to propitiate a friend and loved one who had died. I am familiar with the practice of Phowa so perhaps I will do that for him. Hopefully tomorrow at my local Kadampa Buddhist center where they have scheduled a general powa practice at around noon.
Thank you again for responding to my question on propitiating in general. I would ask in addition to that how one should propitiate Dorje Shugden but I suspect there are answers to that all over this website.
Jairo Jamyang Pawo Moreno (Sunday April 2 at 6 AM in Orlando Florida)
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Answer from Pastors
Pastors
March 25, 2017 #1 AuthorDear Jairo Jamyang Pawo Moreno,
Thank you for your question. Propitiation means to do something which please the being you are asking help from. In the case of propitiating Dorje Shugden this refers to practicing the Dharma and engaging in his practice, so that he can aid you by clearing obstacles and creating conducive conditions. When this connection is established, he is able to help you even more in your practice of the Dharma and progress along the spiritual path. This is because he is an enlightened being, and operates from enlightened compassion.
Therefore to propitiate a spirit means to do something that please the spirit in order to get something in return. Certain spirits are very powerful, and can interact with and influence the physical world. For people who propitiate spirits, they are creating a connection with this being, most of the time for a worldly matter. This can be done by making physical offerings to the being, and asking them for things.
In doing so, a karmic connection is created during the process. This karmic connection can be either beneficial or detrimental, as with all karmic links. In the future when the seeds of this karmic connection manifest, both parties will once again be linked in some form or another. Since the nature of samsara is suffering, as taught by the Buddha, as this karmic connection manifests again, the way both parties react will lead to another karmic connection being created. This in turn will most probably become negative in the end.
This also explains why some people have spirit disturbances and others do not. In a previous life, the two parties would have created a karmic connection, and in this life that very same karmic connection manifests as a person being afflicted by a spirit.
Technically you could propitiate a recently deceased person, but even if you did, you do not know what would happen. For example if the person has already taken rebirth, for example in the animal realm, even if you propitiate them, nothing would happen. This is because the animal form they are in is not capable of granting you what you want. On the other hand, if the person had be reborn into the spirit realm, if you propitiate them, they could grant you what you want if they had the ability.
The propitiation of spirits however, is not something that is encouraged in Buddhism. One of the many tenets of Buddhism is not to take refuge in or engage in the propitiation of beings, apart from the enlightened beings themselves. A lot of people ask why, and the reason is quite simple, as I have stated above. When you take refuge in or propitiate a non-enlightened being, you are actually creating a karmic connection with them, which can very easily turn negative in the future, and keeps you bound to samsara, which Buddhists seek to transcend. On another level, since these beings are not enlightened, they have their likes and dislikes, are attached and have emotions. Therefore they can easily turn against you if they perceive that you have made a mistake, not given them enough offerings, or offend them somehow.
On the other hand, the enlightened beings do not have such worldly emotions, therefore they do not behave like samsaric beings. In fact they operate from the basis of enlightened compassion for all beings and enlightened wisdom, without traits such as the three poisons: ignorance, desire/attachment and hatred/jealousy. I hope this helps. Thank you.
Jairo Jamyang Pawo Moreno
April 2, 2017 #2 AuthorDear Pastors,
May I progress towards reducing my ignorance, desire/attachment and hatred/jealousy. Thank you for taking the time to respond to my question(s). I don’t quite remember what inspired me to ask “What does it mean to propitiate? . . .” back in February 15, over a month ago. Perhaps it was due to educational articles on this site on the benefits of propitiating Dorje Shugden, and there are other places where I have seen the word “propitiate” used, but it still doesn’t seem to give me any idea of what that would entail. From a recent search on the internet I gather that for Christians it means that Jesus did the propitiating on our part in order to remove the wrath of God. But, of course, that meaning of the word is not quite what we mean here in the usage of it along with Dorje Shugden, or any other Dharmapala or deity. I have also seen it used with respect to Hindu deities in articles on the internet. So yes, I can accept your general definition as the best answer there is for the verb “to propitiate” is as you stated: “”To propitiate a spirit means to do something that please the spirit in order to get something in return””
I have since been considering and imagining what propitiating some deity or spirit might entail. I suppose that depends on the deity and the culture and the ritual practices that have evolved. I just noticed online that some propitiations might involve animal sacrifices. So I am wondering and suspecting that propitiating a spirit is something that is done universally in all world religions, or at least in folk religions. Perhaps propitiating some spirit is what brings to rise a religion? Perhaps any founder of any religion is being propitiated by their followers? Perhaps, I am wondering, that even our ancestors, when they are commemorated with a funeral ceremony and prayers and a tomb, etc., are being propitiated, so therefore even burying a loved one and going to see their tomb in a cemetery is a form of propitiating their spirit. And even “praying” to a recently deceased loved one is an attempt to propitiate, or to gain favors, since one is assuming that the deceased one must have attained heaven [or perhaps a pure land, or even Bodhisattva status and power if one chooses to believe so] and have a direct line to one’s godhead(s) or Buddha(s) and Bodhisattvas who have the powers to grant one favors.
It amazes me that I was in a class [on Dao cultivation and sutra study] the day you answered my question, and I tried to ask this same question to students in that class gathering, because we have been studying Buddhist sutras, and, at that day, The Analects of Confucius (a revised translation which occasionally injects Daoist principles into the interpretations). And I recall that the conversation led to deceased persons and mediums, and that reminded me of Dorje Shugden, Dharmapala and ancestral spirit worship. So I asked folks there if they were familiar with the word “propitiate” and nobody knew. So I took out my smartphone and looked it up. I looked up propitiate but found mostly Christian and Catholic definitions and applications. But when I added to the search Dorje Shugden then I got this page where I had posted my question, which surprised me. And that was on the same day, a Saturday, that you cared to answer my question. So I thought that was amazing. I briefly skimmed over the question as I didn’t have much time to ponder your answer. I am still considering the answer.
Also I asked [in the original set of questions that started this post] if one could propitiate a recently deceased person; I asked this because I had a death in the family quite recently, and so it was on my mind [whether it was okay to propitiate that person, perhaps at least to learn about their fate]. He was my brother-in-law and friend and employer. I have been interested in after death communication and have read and listened to the audio audible version of the book Hello From Heaven, so that gave me hope that I could be alert to messages from my friend who passed away recently, February 6. That perhaps also motivated me to add the question on whether it was possible or helpful to propitiate a friend and loved one who had died. I am familiar with the practice of Phowa so perhaps I will do that for him. Hopefully tomorrow at my local Kadampa Buddhist center where they have scheduled a general powa practice at around noon.
Thank you again for responding to my question on propitiating in general. I would ask in addition to that how one should propitiate Dorje Shugden but I suspect there are answers to that all over this website.
Jairo Jamyang Pawo Moreno (Sunday April 2 at 6 AM in Orlando Florida)