Hello Heng Woon Teck,
Nice question. I actually didn’t thought about this question when I first entered Buddhism, but after years of practice I found that there are many reasons for one to praise the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and below I list down just a few of the reasons that I understand and find much logic in.
1) We create a connection with the Buddhas. Take for example in our daily life, if we have two neighbours, one who we talk to everyday and the other we do not talk to. Of course we create a stronger positive connection with the one we talk to everyday. Similar to this, by doing prayers, praises to a particular Buddha, we a creating a strong connection with that particular Buddha ( or Dharma Protector in the case of Dorje Shugden’s praise). We may then wonder, wouldn’t the Buddha help everyone? Why does one need to praise him to receive help? This is because when we engage in praise which is a form of meditational practice, rejoicing of the good qualities of the enlightened beings… these are all positive actions that leads to the collection of merits, which is essential in our spiritual growth. The Buddhas do not need our praises, they are enlightened and free of ego, but it is us who need the merits through engaging in these practices.
2) We create imprints in our mind. In everything we do, we leave imprints in our mind, but it is the action that determines if it’s a good one or a bad one. Take for example, lying about something, is by itself leaving an imprint in our mind, and helping others by giving food to another is a positive imprint in our mind. When we leave these imprints of which we praise the Buddhas, it will help us to reconnect with the Dharma in our future lives, which is very important. How does it manifest? It may be that in our future life, when we see an image of the Buddha, we are very attracted to it and start learning more and eventually practice the Dharma again.
3) Praises to the Buddhas is also a way to remind us of the perfect qualities of the Buddha, of which we aspire to embody within ourselves. As you may know in Buddhist practice, we do not worship the Buddha for superficial matters, but the actual training of the mind to eventually attain Enlightenment, that is the ultimate goal. So when we engage in these practices, we remind ourselves daily of our goal which is to be Enlightened, and thus it helps us eventually get there. For example, if we are determined to be a successful sports player, everyday we will think about it, practice and train, and these all serve as a reminder and strengthen us to ultimately achieve the goal of being a successful sports person; compared to one who only doesn’t think much about it or train scarcely.
Hope these reasons answers your questions.
