...Theravada Buddhism The Theravada Buddhists recognize the six directions and worship them. The six directions are east, west, north, south, above and below. The east represents the parents; south, teacher; north, friends; west, spouse; above, religious teacher and below represents the employee. One day, there was a young man named Sigala who was bowing to the six directions. Buddha saw him and explained to him the actual meaning of paying respect to the six directions. According to the Sigalovada Sutta of Theravada Buddhism, the three ways that the Buddha advised on how to honor the six directions is by abandoning impure actions, refraining from harmful deeds and avoiding squandering wealth. There are four impure actions that the Buddha explained to Sigala. The Buddha himself stated “Harming living beings, taking what is not given, false speech and pursuing the loved one of another. These the wise surely do not praise.” (Sigalovada Sutta, 4) Harming living beings is one of the five serious precepts of Buddhism. The Lord Buddha taught to love all beings. Harming a living being would be an extremely cruel and impure act in Buddhism. Buddhism also teaches not to be greedy. I think the text conveys that by forcefully taking what is not given to you is a very sinful and an unethical deed. In my opinion, the sacred text touches on the fact that speaking in a way which will hurt someone’s feelings is unrighteous. That could include gossiping, harsh tones, lying and rudeness...
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...no longer seen as children who cannot handle the perils of the grown up world, and although coming of age can seem straightforward, it is a highly complex matter that is handled in various ways throughout the entire world. This is a concept that I, myself, have grappled with the entire semester, as I have just recently reached the age of majority. As such, my curiosity about what truly makes someone an adult, and how adulthood has been handled in other cultures has been piqued. The world’s various religions recognize adulthood through many different means. For some, coming of age is marked by a specific age, and for others, different ceremonies or rituals must be performed for one to officially come of age. Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Theravada Buddhism, Sikhism, and Confucianism all have unique and interesting ways of identifying when a person transitions from the point of childhood into the point of adulthood, and as such, their diverse traditions are explored. In the Jewish tradition, Bar and Bat Mitzvahs are celebrated to mark the occasion of a Jewish child transitioning into adulthood. “According to Judaism, a boy is technically a man when he reaches his thirteenth birthday” (Hopfe), which is known as his Bar Mitzvah. Bat Mitzvahs are the female equivalent to Bar Mitzvahs, and they are usually held for Jewish girls around their twelfth birthday. To prepare for the occasion, Jewish children undergo several years of instruction on the Torah and in the Hebrew language. This celebration...
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...in my country. The main point of this festival is to bring unity in family and community, making merit, and sharing religious rituals which will bring fortune throughout the year. Slide 2 Image Description: A picture of making merits by offering food and giving alms to monks. Narration: First thing to do during the festival, my family decided to visit Wat, which is the sacred temple, to make merits. Making merit to visit the temple is an important part of Songkran because in Thailand, as well as my family, nearly 95% of them are Theravada Buddhists. It is believed that Buddhism is first introduced during the reign of Ashoka who is a famous Indian King when he sent missionaries far in Asia. When my family arrived in the temple, we first sat silent listening to Dhamma talk and observing the precepts. When we are done with it, in part of making merits, we offered foods and alms to the monks. Slide 3 Image Description: A picture of Buddhism religious ritual by pouring fragrant water to Buddha statue. Narration: In the afternoon, we approached to one of the Buddha image in the temple to perform the bathing ceremony. This religious ritual is essential part in Songkran. The way of participating in this ceremony is to pour the fragrant water to the Buddha statue but this religious ritual has real meaning behind. The meaning pouring water is to wash off all the bad lucks in the past year and wishing for the good luck in the New Year to have a fresh...
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...Buddhism Worksheet Write a 1- to 2-paragraph response for each of the following. 1. Explain the basic Buddhist teachings including the three marks of reality, the Four Noble Truths, and the Noble Eightfold Path. The three marks of reality are change, no permanent identity, and suffering. Buddha recommended that people look at life as it really is; life is full of impermanence, or constant change. Buddha also urged people to abandon egotism and a fixation on material objects. He denied the existence of the permanent identity of anything. The third characteristic of reality is suffering; meaning that life can never be fully satisfying because of inescapable change. It encompasses the whole range, from horrible suffering to everyday frustration. The Four Noble Truths are a linked chain of truths about life. They are as follows: 1. Suffering exists. 2. It has a cause. 3. It has an end. 4. There is a way to attain release from suffering; specifically, by following the Noble Eightfold Path, (Michael Molloy, 2010). The First Noble Truth: To Live is to Suffer The Second Noble Truth: Suffering Comes from Desire The Third Noble Truth: To End Suffering, End Desire The Fourth Noble Truth: Release from Suffering is Possible and Can Be Attained by Following the Noble Eightfold Path. The eight steps of the path form a program that the Buddha taught that will lead those who follow it toward liberation from the impermanence and suffering of reality, (Michael...
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...Tamika Harrison Doug Dorman Comparative Religion March 20, 2013 Buddhism Buddhism, one of the fastest growing religions in the world, is also one of the oldest and has influenced many cultures of Asia and followers in the west (Alldritt 4). Buddhism is the fourth largest religion following Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism, and has over 376 million followers (Robinson). In Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Japan, Mongolia and Taiwan, Buddhism is the majority religion. China, which is primarily atheist, has many people that adhere to the Buddhist beliefs (Wangu, O’Brien, and Palmer 8). The percentage of Buddhism’s practice is quickly increasing in the United States population. Some estimate that up to 3 million are practicing in the US. But India, around 500 B.C.E., is where it all began and flourished (Alldritt 5). During this time, India was in a state of religious ferment which led people to experiment with meditation, deep breathing and to study with gurus (Molloy 125). Buddhism emphasizes on personal enlightenment as opposed to an eternal salvation from a higher being. The Buddha is not a god, but a human being that was acknowledged and respected for providing the knowledge on happiness within one self and concern for all living things (Robinson). In this report, I will discuss how Buddhism originated, its major forms, beliefs and teachings and the question of it being a true religion or philosophy of life. Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha, or the awakened one,...
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...Running head: THERAVADA BUDDHISM SCHOOL Theravada Buddhism School Ashleigh Sizemore REL/133 Mr. Calvin Habig May 4, 2015 Theravada Buddhism School Buddhism has over hundreds of million followers. The word Budi comes from when Buddha was awakened over 2,000 years ago. This is when Prince Siddhartha also went off to seek the world at 35 years old. Prince Siddhartha was a very sheltered prince who had no idea about the dangers of this world all he knew was bliss. He witnesses a series of events that open his eyes and made him leave his safety net even though is father wanted to keep him deep in pleasure his was the king of the entire world and try everything not to lose his son. Buddhism recognises no creeds whose uncritical acceptance is expected of its followers. Instead the Buddha enunciated certain basic laws and truths whose veracity he invited his followers to test for themselves (Gunasekara, V). One of the traditional epithets of the Dhamma is"ehipassiko"(meaning literally"come and see") which is an appeal to the empirical verification of the Dhamma (Gunasekara,V). The basic teachings of Buddhism are the Four Noble Truths which are: There is Suffering, Suffering is common to all. 2. Cause of Suffering We are the cause of our suffering 3. End of Suffering Stop doing what causes suffering 4. Path to end Suffering Everyone can be enlightened The Buddhadid not deny that there is happiness in life, but he pointed out it does not last forever. Eventually everyone meets with some...
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...REL 133 WEEK 3 A+ Graded Tutorial Available At: http://hwsoloutions.com/?product=rel-133-week-3-2 Visit Our website: http://hwsoloutions.com/ Product Description PRODUCT DESCRIPTION REL 133 WEEK 3, The three marks of reality are the foundation for the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path. These key building blocks give Buddhists a way of looking at the world. The first mark of reality is change. This refers to the fact that life and the world is in a constant change. Everything is gradually changing daily but we only notice them after a while. Basically, the universe is in flux. The second mark of reality is no permanent identity. Basically, this is Buddha’s thinking that a human being really isn’t a human being. A human being is made up of all sorts of different parts in which Buddha believes are always constantly changing so a person really isn’t just a person. Buddha believes that we have constantly changing identities, bodies, and souls. The third mark of reality is known as suffering. Basically, Buddha believes that if you are living a conventional life, you will never be truly satisfied because it is ever changing. Even though Buddha clearly admits that living conventionally is worse than non-conventional, no matter what, he admits no one can escape any suffering throughout their lives. The Four Noble Truths consist of Buddhist teachings that link a chain of truths about life. The first noble truth is to live is to suffer. Living means sorrow to sum...
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...Sociology Report — Religion — Date: 3rd December 2014 Contents 1. Introduction…………………………………………………………..3 2. 3 Perspectives………………………...……………………………….4 Functionalist perspective Conflict perspective Feminist perspective 3. Muslim in Cham tribe in Vietnam…...……………………………. 4. Mahayana Buddhism...……………………………………………... Buddhism Mahayana Buddhism in Korea and Vietnam Differences in Mahayana Buddhism of Korea and Vietnam Trend towards Buddhism in Western countries 5. References………….......……………………………………………. 1. Introduction A religion is an organized collection of beliefs, cultural systems, and world views that relate humanity to an order of existence. According to some estimates, there are roughly 4,200 religions in the world. The five largest religious groups by world population, estimated to account for 5 billion people, are Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism. There are some functions of religion. Firstly, it gives explanation for things that we do not understand such as seasons and supernatural things. So many religions have narratives, symbols, and sacred histories that are intended to explain the meaning of life and/or to explain the origin of life or the Universe. Secondly, it provides sense of morality and ethics. It sets the guideline for people to behave in right ways. Lastly, it supports people to have power to overcome. Religion often courage people and give strengths. That is why people seek religion when they are depressed...
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...social mixers and live performance events mixed with cultural education. Asian Art Museum in San Francisco has a collection of about 17,000 objects of art and artifacts from all major Asian countries. In this museum, there are unique collection of Asian art and the famous bronze statue of Buddha from China. Chinese Buddha statue is the world's oldest known recorded from 338 AD. In this museum there are several main galleries devoted to the art of South Asia, West Asia (including Persia), Southeast Asia, Himalaya, China, Korea and Japan. I was quite impressed with the collection of Buddhist items, with entire sections dedicated to Buddhism from different time periods and regions. Of all the historical artifacts, I would say what became most apparent and valuable as a take-away lesson was the diversity of Buddha imagery in Buddhism, again depending on time periods and regions. As I walked from one room to the next, I sometimes found myself not sure if I was even still browsing the Buddhist exhibit in seeing images I would initially associate with Hinduism or other Eastern religions. Specifically, the statue of the Buddha surprised me. My first impression is that it looks quite like a certain other religious leader popular and dominant in Western culture. The description of the statue points out...
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...Antonio Venzor 12/11/12 REl 133 Proff. Sunday Buddhism Worksheet University of Phoenix Material Buddhism Worksheet Write a 1- to 2-paragraph response for each of the following. 1. Explain the basic Buddhist teachings including the three marks of reality, the Four Noble Truths, and the Noble Eightfold Path. The three marks of reality are; 1) Change – The only thing constant in life is change. 2) No Permanent Identity- As humans we are made up of several different parts and we are constantly changing never to remain the same as we once were. 3) Suffering- To live life is to suffer and experience sorrow; we can never be satisfied because of life’s avoidable change. The Four Noble Truths are a linked chain of truths about life: 1) Suffering exists 2) It has a cause 3) It has an end 4) There is a way to attain release from suffering—namely, by following the Noble Eightfold Path The Noble Eightfold Path are 8 steps that Buddhist follow that they believe will help them to reach Nirvana. Nirvana suggests many things: the end of suffering, inner peace, and freedom from limitations of the world. When Nirvana is reached it is believed to end karma and rebirth after the present life. The Noble Eightfold Path is meant to guide Buddhist to 3 goals: 1) Face life objectively 2) To live Kindly 3) To develop inner peace The 8 steps of the Noble Eightfold Path are as followed: 1) Right understanding -I recognize the impermanence of life, the mechanic...
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...II The Creation of Ego: The Five Skandhas (Aggregates, Collections) The Sutras are regarded by Buddhists as the actual words of the Buddha preserved through oral tradition and eventually recorded in writing. In the Sutras, the Buddha described how mind works to create the illusion of a permanent self and consequently gets trapped in suffering. A. If people could understand how we create our ego, moment to moment, they will understand how we create suffering for ourselves and others. B. Q: What is the “self” that we identify with? Are we are just bodies? Are we our memories? Classically, the Buddha taught five ways that we collect information again and again to make up our ordinary experience of self, the ego: C. The Five Skandhas: 1) Form: the basic duality of self and other, “me” and “not me.” 2) Sensation: very basic positive, negative, neutral reactions to “other;” where we encounter “not me.” (Sensation is not to be confused with emotions or feelings that develop through concept formation.) 3) Perception: experiencing the sensory details and qualities; the beginning of context. 4) Concept Formation: the use of memory to label certain perceptions and relate them to previous experience. Concepts help solidify experiences into “things” that have names. 5) Consciousness: the story-line we tell ourselves about what is happening. Here concepts come together to explain what is happening. Emotions develop...
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...by Hoang Van Minh Topic: Discuss the Theravada Concept of Paramita (Perfection) as Revealed in the Pali Commentaries 1. Introduction Pali Atthakatha is the huge part of the study of Pali literature in Buddhism. The atthakatha means the “explanation of the meaning” or “commentary” and can be mentioned as exegetical treatises on the texts of the Pali canon. Their main object is, therefore, to explain difficult words and abstruse points of doctrine that occur in the Texts and also to give additional explanatory information wherever it was deemed necessary.[1] For that reason Atthakatha is usually considered as the huge encyclopedia of Buddhist study. One can find in this precious treasure any interpretations of the Buddhist terminology, idea and philosophical explanation on Tipitakas; for almost the Pali Tipitaka has its own commentary. The concept of Paramitas is well-known not only in Mahayana tradition with the aim of complete enlightenment but also it is interpreted in almost by the same way in Theravada especially it is revealed in commentaries literature. Historically along the process of development, there are many arguments and misunderstandings between these two traditions especially while Mahayana developed many new concepts like the concept and practice of bodhisattva with numerous skillful means (upāyaksalya) which seem to go too far away from the orthodox teaching of the Buddha according to the Theravada tradition. However it is said that within the...
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...of Phoenix Material Buddhism Worksheet Write a 1- to 2-paragraph response for each of the following. 1. Summarize the life of Buddha and the history of Buddhism. Siddhartha being born to luxury and wealth was able to gather vast knowledge of this type of lifestyle and certain meanings to this way of life and what they consider to be important in life. Once Siddhartha crossed the plain to what we would consider the opposite side of the spectrum, living among the common people and enduring their everyday stresses and suffering he was able to obtain a level of knowledge on what these people considered to be important in life. By immersing himself into different ways of life Siddhartha was able to obtain an overall perspective of what was missing not only in the life of the suffering but also what was missing in the lives of people with wealth. Through his quest for self-spiritual enlightenment and understanding he found something greater, an wakening in which he became The Buddha. From this point The Buddha utilized the remainder of his life teaching as many followers as he could the fundamentals of what he considered to be the path of enlightenment. The Buddha later began to obtain monks and nuns to help teach what would eventually come the Buddhist scripture. 2. Explain the basic Buddhist teachings including the three marks of reality, the Four Noble Truths, and the Noble Eightfold Path. Within Buddhism there are three marks...
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...social mixers and live performance events mixed with cultural education. Asian Art Museum in San Francisco has a collection of about 17,000 objects of art and artifacts from all major Asian countries. In this museum, there are unique collection of Asian art and the famous bronze statue of Buddha from China. Chinese Buddha statue is the world's oldest known recorded from 338 AD. In this museum there are several main galleries devoted to the art of South Asia, West Asia (including Persia), Southeast Asia, Himalaya, China, Korea and Japan. I was quite impressed with the collection of Buddhist items, with entire sections dedicated to Buddhism from different time periods and regions. Of all the historical artifacts, I would say what became most apparent and valuable as a take-away lesson was the diversity of Buddha imagery in Buddhism, again depending on time periods and regions. As I walked from one room to the next, I sometimes found myself not sure if I was even still browsing the Buddhist exhibit in seeing images I would initially associate with Hinduism or other Eastern religions. Specifically, the statue of the Buddha surprised me. My first impression is that it looks quite like a certain other religious leader popular and dominant in Western culture. The description of the statue points out certain...
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...Buddhism Worksheet REL/133 University of Phoenix Material Buddhism Worksheet Write a 1- to 2-paragraph response for each of the following. 1. Explain the basic Buddhist teachings including the three marks of reality, the Four Noble Truths, and the Noble Eightfold Path. The three marks of reality as it pertains to Buddhism are Change, a lack of permanent identity, and the existence of suffering. The ultimate goal in the three marks of reality is to understand that change is inevitable thus, one must learn to accept change embrace it and learn to live with it. No Permanent identity or permanent soul, coincides with change as one keeps changing one’s personal soul keeps changing as well therefor cannot embrace who you were but who you are now. Suffering as well as change goes hand in hand. One must understand suffering is a part of life and there is no control over it. The only thing one can control is your reactions. The Four Noble Truths are To live is to suffer, Suffering comes from desire, To end suffering, End desire, Release from suffering is Possible and can be attained by Following the Noble Eightfold Path; Right understanding, Right intention, Right speech, Right action, Right work, Right effort. To live is to suffer refers to understanding that there is suffering when one lives. Suffering is a part of life and needs to be understood so one may learn it is inevitable but one can prepare to lessen the suffering. The second...
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