How Was the Buddha Down-to-Earth? Demythologizing Prayer, Deities, and Devotion

How was the Buddha a down-to-earth, pragmatic teacher? In this second video on the subject (the first is linked below) we'll look at some of the ways the Buddha demythologized many deity practices of his day, as well as his skepticism towards prayer and devotional practices. We'll also turn to a few caveats at the end.

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✅ Videos mentioned:
How Was the Buddha Down-to-Earth? His Approach to Ritual --    • How Was the Buddha Down-to-Earth? His...  
What Did the Buddha Say About Prayer? —    • What Did the Buddha Say About Prayer?  
The Buddha on “Magic” —    • The Buddha on "Magic"  
Devotion in Early Buddhism —    • Devotion in Early Buddhism  
How We Get Caught By Practice: Clinging to Rules and Rituals in Early Buddhism —    • How We Get Caught By Practice: Clingi...  
Why Won't the Buddha Answer You? —    • Why Won't the Buddha Answer You? (The...  

✅ Book mentioned:
Donald Lopez, The Scientific Buddha: His Short and Happy Life — https://amzn.to/39clcjx

✅ Suttas mentioned:
Prayer:
https://suttacentral.net/an5.43/en/su...
https://suttacentral.net/sn42.6/en/su...

Conversion magic:
https://suttacentral.net/dn24/en/sujato
https://suttacentral.net/dn11/en/sujato
(Others in related video).

Demythologization:
https://suttacentral.net/dn31/en/sujato
https://suttacentral.net/an4.190/en/s...
https://suttacentral.net/dn13/en/sujato

Clinging to rules and rituals:
https://suttacentral.net/mn2/en/sujato
https://suttacentral.net/mn9/en/sujato
https://suttacentral.net/mn11/en/sujato
https://suttacentral.net/mn64/en/sujato

Not answering all questions:
https://suttacentral.net/mn2/en/sujato
https://suttacentral.net/mn72/en/sujato
https://suttacentral.net/an4.77/en/su...

Caveat:
https://suttacentral.net/an5.48/en/su...

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00:00 Intro
01:03 Prayer
02:44 Conversion magic
04:34 Demythologizing deity practices
09:34 Attachment to rules and rituals
11:09 Devotional practice
12:56 Unanswered questions
14:39 Some caveats
16:12 Finding benefit in ritual
17:36 The Buddha’s approach

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