Here’s a short educational video about Buddhism in its early days. Can you imagine Buddhism without any statues of Buddha? The Buddha did not teach us to worship him as if he was a God. He taught that man has to create his own happiness through wisdom and right conduct; Not through worshipping the supernatural.

Buddhism was a social movement that was way too ahead of its time. Even today, many of us would balk at the idea of non-worship.

And when we worship an earthly material as holy, we subconsciously need to convince ourselves that the statue we worship is divine or supernatural. Rites and ceremonies were invented to consecrate these images. Special instructions were created to make these images “alive”. Dotting The Eye is one such example. Different cultures from different countries prescribed different ceremonies to “blessed” these images.

In that manner, man continues to live his life in accordance with his ironic logic. Naturally, those who proclaim themselves to possess the power to make a piece of stone holy were held in great esteem amongst the general population.

Buddhist compassion tolerated and allowed worshipping. Thus, Buddhism also became a religion. And with that, this enlightened social movement that was initiated by Buddha was taken back to where our primitive ancestors started. Worshipping.

Hope you like this video. May all be well and happy.