Buddhism and the seven dimensions

According to Ninian Smart, the seven dimensions of religion include practical and ritual, emotional and experiential, narrative and mythical, ethical and legal, doctrinal and philosophical, social and institutional, and material. The practical and ritual dimension involves rituals and practices that provide spiritual awareness of adherents. The emotional and experiential dimension includes the life changing experiences that either the leaders or followers of a religion go through. Narrative and mythical dimension are the stories and past records that preserve tradition and culture in the religion. Ethical and legal dimension of the religion are basically the codes of behavior that are followed

The first dimension used to understand a religion is based off its rituals. Buddhist perform rituals as a way to offer respect to the Buddha and find peace from within. The common ritual practiced by Buddhists is meditation. Meditation is all about focusing and purifying the mind. In meditation, Buddhists go through the steps called Samadhi (calming of the mind) and Vipassana (self-contemplation). During these steps they must adjust their body, breath, and mind, in order to achieve the goal of meditation. The rituals are an important part of Buddhism.

Religion is a topic that people worldwide have had controversial thoughts about for ages. It has been a great way for people of a community to unite as one, yet some people claim that religion to be responsible for violence, wars, or even terrorism. After a thorough analysis of John Hick’s book, “The Fifth Dimension: An Exploration of the Spiritual Realm” one is able to evaluate and critique Hick as an author as he discusses his own claims on religion. Hick is able to easily state and cover several topics such as religious experiences, the naturalistic assumption, cosmic optimism, and religious pluralism, yet he is unclear on topics such as cosmic optimism and criterion of authentic religious experiences. Consequently, I am able to add my own critiques and analyses of Hick’s ideas within his text.

Buddhism is known as the stress free, no strings attached religion with few to no rules. Although the journey to become enlightened and reach Nirvana can deem to be a difficult path, Buddhism provides sacred texts and stories to help provide examples in assisting those wanting reach this goal. However to help guide those who choose to become buddhist will be assisted with this journey through sacred texts and storied. Rules and example paths that they can follow the story of Siddhartha Gautama assist with reaching the enlightened state.

In this essay I will be looking at the theories of Edward Burnett Tylor and Émile Durkheim, and comparing them to see which theory I think gives a better explanation about what religion is, or whether religion is actually definable. On the one hand we have Tylor’s theory that tells us that religion is belief in spiritual beings and that religion is just a step on the way to reaching full evolutionary potential. Durkheim’s theory, however, says that religion is very much a social aspect of life, and something can only be religious or “sacred” if it is something public (Durkheim 1965:52). Ultimately these theories do not give us an outright explanation about what ‘religion’ is, but there are aspects of the theory that can be used to gain an understanding or idea.

Religion, special to each person, is very difficult to give one “satisfactory" definition to; in fact, in our introduction material, we kept hearing the phrase “pluralities of religion.” Despite academics using an objective perspective in the task to define religion, there are such emotional and personal viewpoints that will - arguably - swing the definition in one way or another. The main obstacle is accompanying the vast belief systems in the correct way. With this, I present the first challenge: too narrow definitions. Each religion has cultivated its own cultures and traditions. While some religions like Zoroastrianism may contain aspects that aren't followed by the majority of other faiths, they cannot be eliminated to fit a smaller

While religion has for centuries been confined to a theological interpretation and understanding, research indicates that the theological application of the term is not in itself entirely accurate in defining and describing religion. This paper seeks to illustrate the various interpretations of religion through the ages, in the views of various scholars and experts. In addition, it seeks to shed light on the various types of religion, and religious application of various definitions, in an objective and unbiased manner.

This chapter is discussing the topic of religion. Identifying key elements of religion and what is is, defining the world’s religions and outlining the different types of religious organizations. Religion is a social construct that is made up of accepted beliefs, rituals and symbols. Religion provides knowledge of how to act and provides a purpose to life while bringing a community together. For example, Christianity is a group of people united together in Christ. When Pentecostalism began, it broke racial norms, people were united in Christ despite what race they were classified as.

Chanting is the traditional way of preparing one’s mind for mediation. Some Buddhists use chanting for purposes of rituals. Buddhism does not consider

For thousands of years the Buddhism religion has “lived” in Asia, this religious way of life has transformed countless amounts of peoples through their schools, customs, rituals and art. Throughout centuries the Buddhism religion has captivated the life of many from the Iranian plateau to Japan and from Tibet to Indonesia. Through time it has taken on fascinatingly different shapes as it has adapted to several different regions and cultures, a process with repeats itself as it travels west into the United States.

While studying the World religion textbook one of our chapter assigned was about Buddhism. I found the chapter very intriguing, since I am Christian that has not had much religion experiences outside of Christianity. The Buddhism chapter was very refreshing to read. I was captivated by the culture that I had to know more about it. That is why I decided to write about early Buddhism origins and practices in India.

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

What would a human life be like if we were actually “here for it”? Buddhist meditation ceremonies focus around this central idea. Living in the present and forgetting the concept of future and past is a key element in Buddhist ritualism that is practiced worldwide. For the past two weeks I have attended such a ceremony to gain insight on religious rituals and their importance as a cultural phenomenon. Through the use of “thick description”, symbolization, and several religious theories I have seemingly dissected Buddhist meditation as to realize the rituals true purpose.

Throughout the world today, countless religions and belief systems are still in existence. With that being said, a major question is formed, such as: how does one go about viewing and understanding this untold number of religions and systems? In hopes of better understanding and answering this question many philosophers have spent their lives studying the overall subject of religion. John Hick, for example, studied the implications of religion as a whole. Throughout Hick’s studies, he found his main focus to be pluralism and how these religious experiences impact those involved. John Hick used his knowledge to write a novel called, “The Fifth Dimension,” which is based solely off of his research and personal thoughts which appear to focus mainly on the subject at hand.

The purpose of this assessment is to investigate the following statement; “Meditation in Christianity and Buddhism are different pathways leading to the same destination.” Meditation is an act or a practice of calming the brain to spend more time in thoughts for relaxation and to reflect. Christianity is the world’s largest religion, with about 2.4 billion followers worldwide. Christianity is based on his teachings and convictions of Jesus Christ, who lived in the Holy Land 2000 years prior and his disciples continued this religion. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are the significant part of Christianity. 2016 census data reveals that 52% of the population in Australia are Christians.