Page 5 - Popular Deities of Chinese Buddhism (Illustrated) and Symbols

reface

is elementary book on Chinese Buddhism and its more popu-

larly worshipped Deities, has been written for the benefit of

Buddhists amongst the Chinese community. I refer to them as

Buddhists in italics because they do not have a clear idea of their

faith. eir spiritual practices have been reduced to mere super-

stitious beliefs and blind faith due to lack of doctrinal knowledge

and opportunities to meet with Dharma teachers.

It is amazing to find Buddhists who do not know what their

religion stands for. Some do not even know who the Buddha is

or whether He is the same Buddha who was born in India, or

what is meant by “Refuge-taking”. Just by offering incense to the

Heavenly Gods and to the Ancestral Tablets does not qualify

them to be Buddhists as it is not a Buddhist practice at all. In or-

der for them to find comfort and meaning in their religious pur-

suits they must, first of all, have a clear idea of what Buddhism

is and what constitutes its practice. It is also important that they

are able to distinguish the differences between Buddhas, Bodhi-

sattvas and Gods, otherwise the term ‘deity’ would have to be

used to describe them. is explains why the title of this book has

been changed from “e Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of Chinese

Buddhism” to the “Popular Deities of Chinese Buddhism”.

e picture of the popular Chinese Pantheon of Deities gave me

the inspiration to write a book which offers the opportunity to

v