All Dogs Go To Heaven March 31, 2008

All Dogs Go To Heaven

By Guest Contributor
March 31, 2008

In Japan, Conan, a male chihuahua, has been imitating Buddhist priest Joei Yoshikuni in the prayer stance.

conandog.jpg

Since Conan started doing this, the number of visitors to the temple has increased 30%.

“He may be showing his thanks for treats and walks,” speculated one priest at the Jigenin temple on Okinawa island.

Priest Joel Yoshikuni said it took Conan just a few days to master the appearance of prayer. “I think he saw me doing it all the time and got the idea to do it, too,” he said.

Hmm… let me get this straight. The dog started praying, not because he had put any real thought into it, but because he saw someone else doing it?

Thank goodness that never happens in other churches…

(Thanks to Becky for the link!)


[tags]atheist, atheism[/tags]

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  • Mriana

    He’s a cute dog. I seriously doubt he is doing anything more than imitating though.

  • Milena

    Hmm… let me get this straight. The dog started praying, not because he had put any real thought into it, but because he saw someone else doing it?

    Thank goodness that never happens in other churches…

    Haha, snarky much. 😀

    I’ve got to agree with you on that one, Mriana. The puppy’s mad cute.

    Well, the temple’s attendance has increased. Maybe the dog’s just a publicity-whiz.

  • Terrence Jackson

    When I had a dog, I tried to train him to sit, that’s it. I said sit once and he ran to a tree and..well, we know where that is headed. This is a beautiful dog, and I have always been a fan of the long-haired chihuahua, though the ones I looked into purchasing didn’t pray, tithe, attend sunday mass, order fatwas on people, observe the sabbath, or anything else of that nature. This is rather interesting….

  • Richard Wade

    Well, after fruitlessly pursuing enlightenment for several years in a lay monastery via the “Mu” koan, I now can rest in the sure and certain knowledge that yes, a dog does have the Buddha nature.

  • Siamang

    If you meet the Buddha, bite the Buddha.

  • Richard Wade

    …or at least piddle on his foot.

  • Christophe Thill

    In the name of Dog… Amen.

  • Why is there a strap round his body? Have they strapped him to a pole that is obscured by his body?

  • grazatt

    Ok Christians, let see you do something as cute!

  • Sarah H.

    I’ll bet he doesn’t bite the hand that helps enlighten and free him from his state of slobbery, hairy suffering. 🙂

  • Well, after fruitlessly pursuing enlightenment for several years in a lay monastery via the “Mu” koan, I now can rest in the sure and certain knowledge that yes, a dog does have the Buddha nature.

    Awesome. I’m halfway through GEB myself.

  • Richard Wade

    Awesome. I’m halfway through GEB myself.

    I’ve been free of the chasing enlightenment scam for several years, so I may have missed new developments. I don’t recall the term “GEB.” Is that “Great Enlightenment Bullshit?” or “General Education Buddhism?” or “Got Enlightenment, Buddy?” or what?

  • First off, you could stand to be a tad friendlier.

    “Godel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid” by Douglas Hofstadter, first published in 1970. It’s not a Buddhist book (hard to describe really but it’s kind of a thesis on the emergence of “mind” in classes of self-referential systems he calls “strange loops”) but he borrows from Zen as allegory quite frequently, especially as relates to mathematical undecidability, including the concepts you mentioned of “Mu”, Zen koans, and the question of dogs having Buddha nature.

    As I am not too familiar with Buddhist writings, and I am in the middle of this book, I got a little excited and assumed that was your source as well, and you were being satirical.

  • For the record it is not a “prayer stance.” It is a gesture of honor, respect, aspiration, and humility.

    What is commonly misnamed as “prayer” in Buddhism is meditation. We do not hold our hands in that way when doing so. We are not supplicating a deity when doing so, as prayer is commonly understood to be.

    Please be friendlier to Buddhists. Most of us are non-theists.

  • Richard Wade

    Derek, I’m sorry for my being so smart-assed that I caused you offense. My life is very painful lately and I’m giving in to cynicism. Also to Heidi, if you are referring to me as well for my lack of friendliness, I apologize. I gained much very positive and practical insight (if not satori) from my years practicing zen, and I do respect and still aspire to a great deal of the Buddha Way.

    Dogs don’t need to meditate. No creature experiences pure joy as does a dog. We should take a lesson from them.

  • No problem Richard, I just happened to think I “got your reference” and was mistaken, and wasn’t expecting the level of sarcasm I got back. So I was a tad embarrassed myself. It’s cool.

  • Karen

    My life is very painful lately and I’m giving in to cynicism.

    So sorry to hear that, Richard. 🙁

    Hope things get better soon.

  • samatha

    that is so cuite how you had got your dog to do that i can not even get my dog to sit with out giving her a treat so that is pretty amazing to get the dog to pray how do you do it

  • “Please be friendlier to Buddhists. Most of us are non-theists.”

    Uh… what? How? Buddhism, like any religion, depends on gods and goddesses and the supernatural… I don’t get it. Reincarnation? Someone explain?

    Is there at least magic involved? I mean, if there’s no magic, why bother?

  • elastigirl

    Christopher:

    I am an atheist Buddhist as well, which is perfectly acceptable according to Buddhist teachings. Buddha himself said “Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.” And for many of us, the notion of gods and other supernatural beings just does not make sense.

    Buddhism, when you get right down to it, is kind of mislabeled as a religion, when in fact it is closer to a moral/ethical philosophy. True, some Buddhist traditions venerate one or more gods/goddesses or delve into supernatural matters, but this is usually due to influence from indigenous religions of the area (such as in the case of Tibetan Buddhism). But many do not, seeing preoccupation with the unknowable as a major hindrance to enlightenment.

    I mean no disrespect; I just wanted to set the record straight.