Buddhism Research Paper

I was always fascinated in the Buddhist religion and this class assignment was a great opportunity for me to take advantage of my curiosity. I decided I would visit a Buddhist center. With the company of my mother, I went to the Diamond Way Buddhist Center in Miami. According to my interview with the Buddhist that instructed the meditation service, every Monday and Friday they have a meditation service for the 16th Karmapa meditation from 8:00pm to 8:30pm. This center is part of the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism (Anonymous). Upon arriving, I realized that it was in someone’s home. Many Buddhist offer their homes for Buddhist centers and are unpaid for their services. However, they do accept donations. Before entering the house,

Buddhism is a major global religion with a complex history and system of beliefs. The founder of Buddhism is said to be Siddhartha Gautama, the son of an Indian warrior-king. Gautama led an extravagant life through early adulthood, reveling in the privileges of his social class. Gautama became bored with the indulgences of royal life so he wandered into the world searching for understanding. After encountering an old man, ill man, a corpse, and an ascetic, he was convinced that suffering lay at the end of all existence. He then became a monk, depriving himself of worldly possessions in the hope of comprehending the truth of the world around him. The culmination of his search came while meditating beneath a tree, where he finally understood how to be free from suffering, and ultimately, to achieve salvation. Gautama became known as the Buddha, meaning the “Enlightened One.” He spent the remainder of his life

Buddhism encouraged me to strengthen my karma: by doing good, good things will happen. Thus, I’m inspired to volunteer my service for the less fortunate. In particular, on Thanksgiving, my youth group and I volunteered at homeless shelters. We provided food, water, and haircuts to the homeless community. The ideology of karma makes me assured that suffering will pass. Through Buddhism’s positive influence in my life, I’d would love to create a Buddhist Student Organization,

While looking through the field visit site list and researching many of the different options, I was drawn to the Vajradhara Buddhist Center, also known as the Kadampa Meditation Center of North Carolina. I discovered that they offered an “Introduction to Meditation” class which seemed to be perfect for me. The Kadampa Meditation Center’s website describes the class as being ideal for beginners and newcomers to Buddhism and meditation. With having no prior experience with any Buddhist practices or meditation, I presumed this class would be a great way for me to learn the basics of meditation, its role in Buddhism, and get to actually experience meditation for myself. Through this hands-on learning experience, I was able to learn that meditation is much more than just a casual practice; it takes great dedication and commitment to master.

One purpose of religious organizations is to spread their core beliefs and to effect as many individuals as possible. They achieve this goal through social involvement and activism. Some religious organizations involve themselves in environmental interaction and activism as well. In Gainesville, there is Tibetan Buddhist meditation center called the Gainesville Karma Thegsum Choling. The Gainesville Karma Thegsum Choling studies and practices Karma Kagyu, one of the four main schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Some core beliefs and values found in Tibetan Buddhism are spiritual growth, spiritual awakeness, and daily practice. Since the Gainesville Karma Thegsum Choling does not involve itself in social and environmental activism, it utilizes different methods to spread their core beliefs and values by means of free beginners classes, online webcast teachings, and community events throughout the year.

E. Preview Main Points: Today we will take an in-depth look at the beliefs of the Four Noble Truths and Karma and the customs of meditation and the Sacred Mandela. We will also explore its history in India and of Buddha, and how the Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh have truly shaped this life changing religion.

The community at the Shambhala Meditation Center can be best described as they do on their own website “Our community is diverse, capable, and heartfelt. Our members and friends include dedicated senior teachers who have walked the Shambhala Buddhist path for many years, and enthusiastic newcomers who are just discovering our teachings on realizing basic goodness and building enlightened society” (O’Connell, Shambhala Making Enlightened Society Possible). Their kindness and commitment can be confirmed with what they do at their lounge area. They offered us hot tea, baked goods and snacks; Their best was their ginger biscuits, unique and delicious. This area had several bookshelves, with many information on Shambhala, Buddhism and meditation.

Modern Buddhism rises from the word "Budhi" meaning to ‘awaken', originating about 2500 years ago when Siddhartha Gotama, known as the Buddha, achieved the state of enlightenment. Many view Buddhism as a lifestyle and a way of living; with the goal of attaining the final liberation. Attaining liberation in Buddhism is defined as achieving the right view, intention, speech, action, effort and etc. Similarly, Muslims have certain beliefs which are believed that Allah has sent a number of prophets to teach the followers the ways. The lifestyle aspect of Islam includes the following; striving for the good, differentiating between wrong and right, consulting with others, valuing others over yourself, and believing in God. Islam was developed by

The Theravada is a branch of Buddhism, which studies the original scriptures in Pali, as well as honor the life of rejection, and monitor mindfulness meditation traditions (Fisher, 2014, p. 151). The Pali Canon Buddhists follow the Theravada teachings which are a vast collection of old scriptures preserved in the Pali language of ancient India (Fisher, 2014, p. 151). Furthermore, the Theravada is linked to Southeast Asian countries around the world. Also, many religious practitioners that are linked to the Theravada Buddhism in Southeast Asia; pursue the Buddha in devotion ceremonies (Fisher, 2014, p. 154). Furthermore, devotional to Dharma was done in reverence, worshiping, and honoring homage to Budda (Fisher, 2014, p.155). Practices of

The Buddha is staying at the Brick House in Nadika, where he also stayed in the Mahaparinibbana Sutta. You will recall that the Buddha foretold the rebirths of many people in that community. This sutta elaborates that story, as the previous sutta elaborated Ananda’s objection to the Buddha dying near Kusinara. As Walshe points out in a footnote, the Magadhans were not mentioned initially. Ananda points this out as a defect, since many Maghadans were Buddhist, including King Bimbisara, recently killed by his son, Ajatasattu, as I have mentioned in a previous talk. Ananda also notes that the Buddha became enlightened in Magadha, at Bodh Gaya. The ability to discern the karmic fate of individuals is the ninth power of

Zen Buddhism is a combination of Taoism and Indian Mahayana Buddhism. This religion or philosophy began in China and then spread to Korea and Japan. The core object of Zen is to understand the meaning of life. Many Japanese art forms were greatly influenced by the Zen philosophy including chado, ikebana, shodo and martial arts. These art forms were transformed into spiritual disciplines and they focused on self-growth. Zen Buddhism puts a lot of emphasis on simplicity and focuses on the importance of the natural world. Zen has generated a very distinctive aesthetic and is used to express loneliness, naturalness, age, rusticity and melancholy. This aesthetic concept is called Wabi-sabi. It teaches us that the most imperfect and incomplete things

Learning Buddhist mind is not an easy process. To learn true Buddhism, one needs to learn about oneself. To learn about oneself, one needs to learn how to forget oneself. And to forget oneself, one needs to perceive oneself as “all things” (Brinker, 1996). When one learns how to discard one’s mind and body, one will end up on a stage where enlightenment forms. This is the philosophy of Buddhism. The philosophy of Buddhism reflects the importance of meditation and contemplation of enlightenment (Brinker, 1996). Ch’an Buddhism started from the early Tang, became the dominant religious form in the Song Dynasty and had its golden age in the eighth and ninth centuries (SchluItter, 2008). Zen Buddhism was transplanted from China to Japan during the Kamakura

It is apparent that not too many Westerners understand how complex Buddhism truly is. Buddhism has various traditions with different perceptions of Buddha’s teachings and rituals. Buddhism is practiced by all different types of people, not just monks or people who reside in the East. The Diamond Buddhist Way Center in Chicago helps display how diverse the Buddhist community is by providing a more western and contemporary style of Buddhism. The center is located at 4722 N Malden St, Chicago, IL 60640. The center is part of an international non-profit group of over 600 lay centers. The center follows the Vajrayana traditions which can be translated from Sanskrit as the Diamond Way. The teachings come from the Karma Kagyu lineage of

October 22 (attended): Discussion was centered around Buddhism, exploring aspects of the two main schools of thought, Theravada and Mahayana. Going over the pillars of Theravada Buddhism we learned how the religion is structured in such a manner that people do not have to practice in a specific location or to a specific deity, but that the school is very introspective and is isolated path to enlightenment. Also discussing the difference between being in an elevated state of bliss and actual enlightenment. Theravada is structured in such a way that it does not follow the current template of devotion, care and practice that religion has set throughout time rather it focuses on following the tenets that the left behind, and allowing each individual to tread their own path.

One of the reason I took this class is to learn more about religions and their origins but I was specifically interested in Buddhism so I was excited that it was a religion that the class was going to cover. I had little prior knowledge of Buddhism but I didn’t know the origin, important figures and important teachings but I learned that what I thought was inaccurate. This class deepened my interest of Buddhism more because I learned what it really is about and their teaching while also correcting the ideas I had of Buddhism that were wrong.