Joanna Macy A Unique Asset

Cultural diversity in the health care setting is increasing each year. Knowing how to care for patients of different religious and spiritual faiths is essential to providing high-quality, patient-centered care. The author of this paper will research three lesser-known religions; Taoism, Sikhism and Shamanism. Through this paper, she will provide a brief background on each of the three religions and present information regarding spiritual perspectives on healing, critical components of healing and health care considerations associated with each religion.

In Larissa Macfarquhar’s book, Strangers Drowning, she provides character studies of various real-life extreme do-gooders and of some could be considered moral saints. One of them is a Buddhist monk, Nemoto, who dedicates his life to a cause of helping people who want to commit suicide. He is a moral saint in the sense that he draws no barrier for when this work ends and begins. He works tirelessly by taking on the suffering of these individuals he is trying to help, taking calls any hour of the day or night, and helping anyone who wants it. He learns a very important aspect that actually changes the empathy he feels into a separation of himself an the other. In order for him to help, and truly help, he needed to stop empathizing so much and start sympathizing with emotional distance from the other. This is a similar concept in the Bodhisattva method because while empathy breaks a barrier between ‘self’ and an ‘other’, it makes working for their benefit nearly impossible. The

Buddhism originated in the early Fifth century BCE, from the teachings of Siddhartha Buddha (Fisher, 2005). Plagued by the desire to help end human suffering, Buddha reached a state of pure enlightenment showing him the way to end earthly suffering. Through meditation, people can control the desires of their human nature. By gaining control of our desires we can end our suffering. He taught his wisdom to all that wanted to learn. After his death, three main forms of Buddhism emerged; there was the Theravada’s, the Mahayana’s, and the Zen Buddhists (Fisher, 2005). For the sake of this report, the local Buddhist

There is a time in all religious experiences that people look for spiritual growth by reflecting on the basics of life. An estimated 376 million people are considered to believe and follow Buddhist practices, the question of the four elements (sight’s), aging people, the sick, funerals processions and religion. These elements that Siddhartha Gautama saw, that led to him to seek religious enlightenment, and to give up his privileged life. These four elements come up in every religious walk at some point. Reflection on these elements can have astonishing effects in someone’s life. By looking at these elements, and by showing the effect they had on Siddhartha Gautama’s life, will show that anyone could grow in their spiritual belief by reflecting

Particularly, people believe that others partake in religion for support or because serves a fulfilling purpose in their life. However, most individuals who are fully invested in a religion or practice feel as though it is a concrete science backed by their narratives and faith in them. This is displayed in Nina’s Adventures. With the use of this religious narrative as a “scientific explanation,” Nina’s Adventures tackles the outlook that religion is an illogical subject, backed by the secular version of a myth. As Buddhist believe in rebirth fundamentally, they see their religious narratives as pieces of concrete truth, like a science.

Buddhist teachings can help remedy this by ensuring the humanitarian needs are put first, and that compassion and kindness address these situations rather than fear and violence. This is made clear by understanding how Canada and the USA have taken different approaches to the crisis, one mirroring more Buddhist ideals, and one not. It is also clear that Buddhist teachings are practical in society and they can thrive and provide new levels of analysis to multicultural societies such as

Over the years, Buddhism has become one of the most popular religions in America. In 2010, the Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) estimated that there were approximately 2 millions Buddhist in the US, which is around 0.7% of the population. As Buddhism’s popularity continues to grow, it is not surprise to see a lot of Buddhist’s tradition integrated itself into the American culture. There is already a tremendous amount of Americans who converted themselves into the religion alone. Therefore, certain issues began to arise as this integration continues, one of them being the role of women in Buddhism. Widely known as the religion of peace and kindness, not many people realized that Buddhism is also a religion of gender equality. There

Their advanced, miraculous surgical skills have assisted many individuals who have had complications, but Buddhism interfered with their

In The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching, Thich Nhat Hanh provides a citation from the Buddha, which gives insight into the cure of our distress. “I teach only suffering and the transformation of suffering” (Thich Nhat

Buddhists define enlightenment as “the state of perfect knowledge or wisdom, combined with infinite compassion” held accountable by the 4 Noble Truths of “suffering, origin, extinction and the way to its extinction” (Nyanaponika 296). Whereas the Western ideology defines it as the “acquisition of scientific knowledge, increasing social justice and maximizing human happiness” (Angel 1). These two definitions highlight the contrast between the two different philosophies and what they stand for. In the nonfiction narrative book Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Annie Dillard uses Eastern schools of thought, such as Taoism and Buddhism, as the direct antithesis to the Western schools of thought, Christianity and Judaism. Comparable to the core attributes of Taoism and Buddhism, Dillard believes the world is an ever changing activity that ceases to stand still. She writes the book in a way that allows each individual reader the opportunity to interpret what she has written in a unique and unparalleled way. Dillard provides a guide for one’s self discovery of oneself and the path to “consciousness [through] heightened awareness that opens to all at the great door” (Dillard 82). She suggests consciousness opens the doors to full awareness but “self-consciousness, however, hinder[s] the experience of the present. It is the one instrument that unplugs

“In Tantric Buddhism, we are dealing with a misogynist, destructive, masculine philosophy and religion which is hostile to life – i.e. the precise opposite of that for which it is trustingly and magnanimously welcomed in the figure of the Dalai Lama.”[1] Within Tibetan Buddhism, there is an inherent contradiction regarding the status of women. Although in many aspects women are seen and treated as inferior to men, several of the ancient and fundamental values of Tibetan Buddhism, and more specifically Tantric Buddhism, emphasize equality of the sexes, universal compassion, and most importantly the significant and essential role of the woman. Tibetan Buddhist nuns have been trying to

In order to examine the benefits of incorporating Buddhist ideas for psychotherapy patients, we must first move past the common Western idea that Buddhism is too culture-bound and religious-oriented to be incorporated into Western societies. While many Eastern cultures do consider Buddhism as their primary religion, the philosophies behind the religious practices are psychologically based (Michalon 203). The Dalai Lama, one of the Buddhists primary religious leaders, agreed to this when he sad, “It is possible for people to adopt various Buddhist meditative techniques or mental training without being a Buddhist (Gay 172).” It is of no threat to the religion of any psychotherapy patient to be able to understand and incorporate Buddhist ideas into his or her way of life. In order to progress to a happier lifestyle, we must be able to open our minds to examine other philosophies and how we may benefit from them. Tibetan Buddhism offers a very philosophical approach to a happier and more compassionate way of thinking.

In the United States there are over four million buddhists, one thousand temples, study groups, or Buddhists associations (Monroe 108). This number has come from just one man searching to find happiness and eventually enlightenment. Buddha’s story is how buddhism became a religion all over the world. It teaches a peaceful manner, reveals the key to happiness for the mind, and eliminates the desire in life. Not just the history of buddhism is important, but how it has spread through the world and what it looks like today.

The shaven head, robed, petite frame and humble mannerisms of Lai make her the very image of everything expected of a conventional Buddhist. Perhaps this stereotypical appearance and perception of Buddhism is what has driven society’s understanding so far from the core values and morals of Buddhism, yet these fundamental…, are applicable to the life of every individual.