Can't We All Worship Together?

Abstract

Around the corner from our house in Sri Lanka (Ceylon) stood a large Buddhist temple. On full moon days the smell of incense burning in front of idols was inescapable. Worshipers streamed past our house on their way to the temple. What did they do there? Some of them cried to the Buddha for light, help and relief from misery. Others simply meditated. In theory, Buddhists do not pray to a supreme deity. But atheism invariably leads to polytheism and the worship of various spirits. Our neighbors never left the temple without dropping a few coins in the "god boxes" in the courtyard. For me, the saddest sight was that of Buddhist mothers showing their children how to pray to the Buddha, and to show respect to various gods whose "favor" might be helpful.