In America, One Out Of Three Children Does Not Have A Father

The purpose of this article is to better understand the outlooks, levels of engagement, and obstacles of fathers in the United States. The authors noted that fathers who participated in this survey range between the age of 18 and older. This telephone survey consists of fathers themselves answering questions related to their own fatherhood roles. Further, this article presents the results of the hundreds of American men promoting behaviors, such as agreeing or disagreeing about being involve, cohabitating or married to the child or children mother. This child may be an adoptive or biological child. The dilemma that is exposed in this research argues that a young father compared to an older father, is relative different with the religion

Can a person be a Christian and follow Buddhist traditions? In comparison to ancient times, today it is not unusual for a person to identify as both a Christian and a Buddhist. Though Christians and Buddhists have been interacting since ancient times, it is now that the topic of dual belonging has become more common. How can a person be both a Christian and Buddhist when both are significantly different from the other in practice and in belief? Dual belonging is becoming a common practice in the Western world. This paper will compare Christianity and Buddhism and explain the concept and practice of dual belonging.

Buddhism teaches people to live honorably and follow the Eightfold Path to reach release from the state of infinite re-incarnation and reach nirvana, which means the end of the life cycle by living a life full of dignity and refuse from all other attachments causing their desires and strifes McKay et al., 2008)

The three Jewels are an intrinsic part of Buddhism. It includes the Buddha who founded Buddhism, Dhamma which is the teachings of the Buddha and the Sangha which is the community of monks and nuns. This belief is demonstrated through bowing. Buddhists during Puja bow three times in front of the statue of the Buddha. This symbolises the three Jewels in Buddhism. An example of this is Tibetan Buddhists laying their whole body on the floor when bowing. This shows modesty, devotion and commitment to the three jewels. Without the element of bowing the three Jewels would not be acknowledged in the Puja. Since the three Jewels are the foundation of Buddhist beliefs, bowing is an integral part of Puja. Moreover, Puja can be seen as disrespectful if it is not recognising the teacher, teachings and the community that founded Buddhism. Hence, bowing is a vital part of Puja as it acknowledges the three Jewels.

While this dimension is not as important as in some other faiths of a strongly sacramental kind, it is still highly regarded. This can be attributed to the fact that it is through certain rituals that the core experience of enlightenment is obtained. (Hope, 1995) The ritual central to the Buddhist faith is the practice of meditation. The importance of meditation is paramount because it was through meditation that Buddha was able to gain enlightenment. Consequently, Buddhists attempt to emulate Buddha when meditating by endeavouring to cultivate wisdom and compassion, whilst also trying to gain control of the mind and expel suffering. (Mudge et al, 1993) If a Buddhist is successful in accomplishing this then they are said to have gained enlightenment. In terms of mass rituals, Buddhism maintains a plethora of ceremonies dealing with both the 'Sangha' (Order of monks and nuns) and laity. The primary rituals concerning the 'Sangha' includes; the initiation ritual in which the shaving of the head is a common practice and the annual Kathina Festival, in which the laity of the faith offers fabric to the monks for their new robes. For the laity, worship is more personal than congregation. A common practice is the taking of the three refuges (See appendix 3), in which adherents chant the same three sayings in repetition. This type of chanting, along with meditation, are common acts of devotion in Buddhism. Recently

The Sangha, the Buddhist monastic order, comprises Bhikku (monks), Bhikkuni (nuns), laymen, and laywomen. While the Bhikku and Bhikkuni depend upon the laywomen and men for economic support, the lay community depends on them for spiritual guidance and ritualistic practices. This well-rounded mutual relationship is clearly a division not only amongst religious status, but determined by gender as well. This is quite a contradiction with the Buddhist belief that your physical self is impermanent and ultimately attachment to your illusory self will cause you suffering. The second Noble Truth states that suffering originates from our ongoing desire, a clinging to possessions, attachments, and self. Why would a religion founded in the idea of shedding attachment focus so much on gender, which is an attachment? I feel that the Buddha’s hesitation in allowing women to be initially recognized in the Sangha originates from his early childhood convictions of women, fear of the Dharma becoming further compromised, and ultimately leading to the deterioration of Buddhism altogether. The Buddha’s hesitations regarding women becoming monastics seem to be questionable because of the way women have responded to this discrimination even during the Buddha’s lifetime. These women are evidently devoted to the ideals and teachings of Buddhism because of their ability to shed attachments and embody a fully monastic lifestyle. As they are shedding their attachments they give up their gender.

Due to descendants’ different understanding and interpretation of the Dharma, the teachings, doctrines has to be made to adapt the new environment. Buddhists who believe in different ideas were naturally separate into

However, setting this as an overall goal as a Buddhist does seem to help those that follow this religious ethos. It allows them to take the focus off of the pursuit of material things and seek a higher purpose within the spiritual walk. This is what this legend means; while it is not applicable – per se – to how many Buddhists navigate things today, the legend is relevant as a source of inspiration with regards to what it possible.

The writer describes “the means of acquisition” as a life contrary to the Buddhist lifestyle and therefore the followers of Buddhism should “not delight in receiving esteem”. Instead they should seek “another the way leading to Nibbana”. Nibbana, or nirvana, is the final goal of the Buddhist religious quest. This results in the psychological extinction of greed, hate, delusion, and other things. This extinction of vices and suffering leads to nirvana. The lesson goes on to say that “having recognized this” the “bhikkhu who is a disciple of the Buddha” should “cherish disengagement”. A bhikkhu literally means one who begs for alms. Buddhist monks or people of religious orders usually lived on alms provided by the normal society. It was part of the lay society's religious duty to provide for the religious class. The followers of the Buddha sought disengagement or the freedom from detachment. This was done by shunning the life of acquisition and leading a life that led to Nibbana.

The father’s family, which is of Islamic culture, has strong beliefs and expects all members of the family to accept and follow the teachings of the Qur’an. According to the father they will exile or disown a family member that does not live according to the Islamic laws. The mother’s family is Christian and believes in the morals and values set forth in the Holy Bible. They are accepting to all cultures but have reservations about their granddaughter being raised Islamic primarily because they fear she will be isolated from society. Since the couple has divorced there has been little communication between the two families.

All of the members in this family, given the fact that they are all born and raised in a third-world, Buddhist dominant country, guards religion as a major part of their daily lives. Jane, the mother and head of household, goes to the temple every single day in the morning and also is part of the volunteers and helper every weekend on Sundays. This has been their family tradition since even when they lived in Chinese and even after migrating to a first world country, they still carried on and continued their religious practices here in the United States.

Chung’s adoptive mother appeared to overcome her sense of otherness through the practicing of multiple religions. While this practice may be frowned upon in some societies, Chung’s mother was able to do so without being chastised and, through doing so, was able to keep a free-spirited and independent part of herself. By suiting the Christian, Buddhist, and Confucianist to her needs and beliefs, Chung’s adoptive mother received what Chung described as “life giving power.” Chung’s biological mother also overcame her sense of otherness through religion by finding peace and comfort through religious beliefs. Chung’s biological mother was underprivileged and mentally unwell; her religion became an opiate for her pain (WSIR, 30). Lived experiences can help someone overcome a sense of otherness by allowing them to, at least occasionally, break the binds of the oppression they’re facing, and view themselves as independent

Because of how ingrained culture is within a person, many parents are unaware of how large of an impact these cultural biases have when creating a family

Nirvana for Sale by Rachelle M. Scott is an anthropological investigation into the intersection of wealth and piety in Thailand Theravada Buddhism. Through ethnographic methods, the book seeks to describe this relationship in a historically situated context. Thus, the book is concerned with cultural praxis within the context of religious discourses about wealth and piety.

The First Noble Truth of Buddhism is also referred to as the truth about suffering or dukkha, which posits that suffering, comes in various forms such as pain, desire and or deaths. However, the three types of sufferings coincide with the ones the Buddha witnesses on his journey outside his palace: they were sickness, old age, and death (Hardy, 2005; Young, 2013). Buddha argued that human beings are exposed to cravings and desires and even if they are able to satisfy these particular desires that satisfaction is merely temporary. In that case, pleasure is ephemeral and whenever it lasts it results into monotony (Velasquez, 2011; Besser-Jones & Slote, 2015).