Lama Doboom Tulku (director of Tibet House New Delhi)� has an article in the Times of India called "Devotion Versus Intellect."� He writes, "Sometimes there is a tendency in Buddhism to look down on the devotional path in contrast to the philosophical one." There's an attitude that the devotional path is for those who aren't sharp enough to "get" the philosophy, and the Lama says this is a mistaken view.
Westerners who take an interest in Buddhism often kick devotion to the curb, preferring an intellectual approach. Academics like to divide schools of Buddhism into "devotional" and "not-devotional." In some views, for example, Pure Land is devotional but Zen is not.
But the deeper I go into Soto Zen, the more devotional it seems. Intellect and reason can be useful, sometimes, but devotion is what keeps the dharma candle lit.
The word devotion comes from a Latin word that means "to vow," "to dedicate," or even "to sacrifice oneself." Sounds like Zen practice to me. I suspect what throws people off about "devotion" is that the English word came to be synonymous with piety, respect, or reverence. In usage, the word tends to have some object attached to it -- devotion to something -- and the object tends to be some sort of "other."
So the word connotes a relationship -- the devotee and the object of devotion. In Zen, that's a problem. But we come into practice perceiving ourselves as a singular entity maneuvering through a world of other singular entities. In some schools the student begins with that, with devotion to something (a tantric deity; Amitabha Buddha; the Lotus Sutra). With practice, the student comes to perceive that the object of devotion is not separate from oneself.
Let's go back to the earlier definition of devotion, which takes us to vows. Zen teacher Zenkei Blanche Hartman says that to practice the Buddha Way is to live a life of vow.� It is also a life of faith, though many of us may gag on that word. But remember, when we talk about "faith" (shraddha) in Buddhism, we're not talking about belief, but about trust or confidence. She writes,
... the faith I am speaking of is not faith in something external. It is faith that "all beings have the wisdom and compassion of the awakened ones, but because of their attachments and delusions they don't realize it." According to the Avatamsaka Sutra, this is what Shakyamuni Buddha said on the morning of his enlightenment. It is a radical faith in the basic goodness, the wholeness of all beings. As Suzuki Roshi said the first time I heard him lecture, "You're perfect just as you are." He also said, "There's always room for improvement," and, "Zen is about making your best effort on each moment forever." So even though we are already complete, because of our attachments and delusions we need a lot of effort to actualize wisdom and compassion that is our basic nature.
Lama Doboom Tulku says there are three kinds of devotion -- devotion with serenity, devotion with confidence (that's shraddha again), and devotion with inspiration. He links these three kinds of devotion to the Three Treasures.
Blanch Hartman discusses the Bodhisattva Vows, which stress that we practice not for ourselves, but for everyone. That "everyone" is not an "other." It is us, also, although we walk around with many different heads and feet.
Nyanaponika Thera writes that there is a strong devotional element to Theravada Buddhism also. Again, he stresses that devotion and respect are aspects of shraddha (or saddha in Pali).
People new to Buddhism may have heard it is non-theistic, and they may have been told it isn't even a religion (another mistaken view), and are jarred to see Buddhists bow to altars, offer incense, chant, and engage in other obviously devotional practices. There's an attitude in the West that "real Buddhism" is meditation and mindfulness, and all the altars and chanting and incense and whatnot are unnecessary clutter, added by Asians who were trying to turn Buddhism into a religion.
It really doesn't matter whether you use the "r" word or not; Buddhism is what it is. And the dictionary says that the antonyms of devotion include apathy, carelessness, indifference, neglect, and negligence. So give devotion a try; it won't bite.
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