Praying to Buddha Image.‏

I met a guy at the temple last evening, he was talking about renting a statue back home. The problem is, he needs to persuade his mother/family to accept what he "believed". He wanted to get a Rahu Statue and the "Tua Pek Gong" he had at home was taken care by his mother, and hence out of respect he needs to get his mother's permission before he place the statue on the altar table.

I guess this is normal. Everyone has their beliefs, and we can’t forced others to accept what we deem is right. I know it’s not easy, so I told him, give his mother some time and don’t let this affect their relationship. Furthermore, this is the first time he pray to Rahu, I hope he can consider before rushing into getting a statue home, for the sake of getting.
I told him, he should see if he can make the effort to drop by the temple and pray, so what if he have the statue at home, when he is "busy" he is "busy" even if it’s right in front of him, he can turn a blind eye too.

I remember about 10 years ago, we don’t even have the Rahu Statue, but our group of friends went to the extent of looking for a dark and quiet spot middle of the night and set up our altar with all the black offerings and we JUST PRAY! It’s not easy and I would say it’s kinda scary too, cos I don’t know who and what am I praying to!

To me, it’s the "heart" that counts~~ A piece of clay or bronze or jade is not the object of our respect and worship. When we bow before Buddha images, we are recalling the qualities of the enlightened beings. It is their impartial love and compassion, generosity, morality, patience, joyous effort, concentration and wisdom that we are showing respect to. The statue or painting serves to remind us of the qualities of the Buddha, and it is the qualities, not the clay, that we are bowing to. We need not have a statue in front of us in order to bow to or respect the Buddhas and their qualities.