preview

Buddhist Meditation: A Central Practice In Buddhist Religion

Good Essays

Buddhism Sarahvanni K. Bunma 495870 PHI 353 Professor Stamps California Baptist University Siddhartha Gautama was the man who founded Buddhism. Gautama was born in around 560 B.C. in Lumbini near the border of India in what is now Nepal. He was not divine at first and was born as a royal prince and was also born as a Hindu. According to a legend, at his birth a soothsayer predicted that he might become the greatest ruler in human history but if he ever saw four things- sickness, old age, death and a monk who had renounced the world then he would become a renouncer himself and search for salvation for all mankind. His father tried to prevent this from happening and provided him with many luxuries and pleasures and gave orders …show more content…

All Buddhists take part in meditation just as Buddha did to achieve Nirvana. Meditation is a central practice in the Buddhist religion because it is a form of mental concentration that ultimately leads to Nirvana or enlightenment. “ There are two main types of Buddhist meditation: vipassana (insight) and samatha (tranquility). The two are often combined or used one after the other (usually vipissana follows samatha)” (Religion Facts). Buddhists also practice mantras, which are sacred sounds that are believed to possess supernatural powers. Buddhists often chant mantras as a part of meditation and are used for protection from evil and misfortune. Buddhists practice mudras, which are sacred hand gestures. These hand gestures are mostly used during meditation to help stimulate particular ideas or things in the mind. Buddhists that are from Tibet or Nepal are primarily the ones that practice the use of prayer wheels. Prayer wheels are hollow metal cylinders that usually have a mantra carved in them. The Tibetan Buddhists believe that spinning a prayer wheel is just as effective as saying the sacred texts out …show more content…

3:10, 23; Eph. 2:8- 10). Through faith and the gracious working of the Holy Spirit, God transforms our desires to be more and more in conformity with God’s desires (see Rom. 12:1, 2)” (Ridenour, 2001, p. 106- 107). There is only so much strength a man can have. Sometimes you cannot do things on your own and you need help from someone else. God can help so much with those problems and he believes if you stray from the path that you can be forgiven and righted. What can the Bodhisattvas do to help in the situation? Are they all- powerful like God is? Are they all- knowing like God is? Bodhisattvas are just people that have supposedly reached enlightenment. The only way to salvation is through complete faith in what Jesus Christ has done for

Get Access