Taking A Class On Religion

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

It goes without saying that I learned so much in Religious Studies 101. I was introduced to multiple world religions that were foreign to me prior to taking the class. I never felt the need to explore any other religion besides Christianity because I was content with my faith. However, after learning about different religions and interacting with people that are not Christian, and grew up with different beliefs and values, I now find myself questioning reconsidering my beliefs. By being exposed to the rituals and ideas of cultures and religions across the globe, I find myself wondering what it would be like to follow some of these principles or to try some of these practices for myself. I find myself trying to follow the moral guidelines and principles of the traditions I learn about all the time. It has helped me ask even more questions and broadened my horizons. It 's helping me shape my beliefs and find out who I want to become. I was especially fascinated with Buddhism and have grown a huge admiration for it. In my learning portfolio I will examine what I learned about Buddhism and what about it is so appealing to me. I will also briefly summarize that I learned that Buddhism – just like any other religions, is not flawless and cannot provide a perfect view of life that would be influential enough for me to devote my faith to it. However, there are certain

As a college student that has lived and grown up in western New York, I do not have too much experience with the other religions of the world. I have grown up a Christian Protestant my whole life, and I am a firm believer in my religion. Soon after reading the chapter on Buddhism in Huston Smith’s book The World’s Religions, I came to understand and respect the Buddhist religion. I came to learn who the Buddha as a man really was, and the steps he took in becoming a religious icon. I know understand that Buddhism is not all meditation and relaxing. There is a strict code of the four noble truths and the prescription of getting through them called the eightfold path. Much like Christianity Buddhism also has many different views

Pakistan, May 2007 around 8:00 pm, I existed the local madrasa (religious school), completing the 5th daily prayer and recitation of the Quran, and proceeded to head home wearing my light blue Kameez, White Salwar, and a Kufi on my head to offer a sign of humility before God. The reason I remember that warm windy night is because that day the mullah taught me that we humans are sent to earth by almighty god so he can test our loyalty to him. Those who follow his true path will ascend to the heavens upon death, and those who disobey him and his prophets will suffer in hell for eternity. I was 8 back then and life was good. Despite the Taliban decapitating captured soldiers and letting them rot in the intersections to

This class has really opened up my eyes to many new views and opinions toward certain information and assumptions. Before taking this class I did not believe I was racist or had any downward views towards any people or cultural. This soon came to my attention that everyone has a little bit of racist in them no matter how hard you try not to be. I also thought that Columbus discovered America, I found it very interesting and almost common sense when we discussed this issue and how the school curriculum has been lying to students in a sense about the discovery of America. The finial bias I soon came to see was that no matter how much you think you will not face other cultures or other religions in schools that you are not familiar with your chances are very slim. No matter where you plan to teach at their will always be situations that you are unfamiliar with.

Upon reading the chapters written by both Kessler and Martin this week I believe that this will be an interesting course for the seven remaining weeks. Even though I identify myself as a follower of the Christian faith, I think it will be nice to have a fresh outlook on religion from the outsider's point of view. From my time as a first grader through my time as an eighth grader, I spent at least an hour or two each week learning about the Catholic faith in a religion class. Also, I would like to see how this course will possibly change my outlook or open my eyes to different aspects of religion. In addition, I expect to have discussions about several religions from the various regions of the world. I hope that these discussions will help me broaden my understanding and appreciation of other religion and cultural backgrounds

After conducting my research on the daily practices of Buddhism, my mind kept going back to one of the first articles discussed in the class. In the article it briefly discusses how Buddhism, even though commonly viewed as a lifestyle, can be viewed as a religion by his criteria. Jane considers the core principles of Buddhism such as being kind to your neighbor, loving one another, genuineness, and inner peace that she deems more important than all other actions that could be done in her life; This idea gives her reason to act the way she does each and every single day.

I signed up for World Religions class for a few reasons to fulfil graduation requirements, it was something new, and learn new perspective. Originally I signed up for this class due to it counting for two Minnesota transfer circular goals credit for human diversity goal seven and global perspective goal eight. I also sign up for World Religions class because it was something completely new to me. I went to a private Lutheran school preschool through eighth grade. Than to a high school that was heavily influenced by the neighboring churches. The biggest religious differences I had encounter before college was how Catholic and Lutherans different in teachings about Mary the mother of Jesus, sacraments of alter/communion, and our annul softball tournament. Consequently, I knew taking this class would be a challenge due to so many new concepts. My expectations for the end of the class were by the end to have a new perspective, better understanding, and be able to identify key concepts of world religion

Buddhism is a religion that focuses more on the individual and the actions of that individual, which was prevalent to me when I made my way into Portland and set foot in a Buddhist temple. The man I met within the walls of this temple was far from my stereotypical thoughts of Buddhist monks. The man I met looked like your plain old, average Joe, American man. Before I delve into the depths of my visit to this inspiring place, I need to sum up the Buddhist religion and why I chose to study this particular group of people.

Buddhism is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama. It is the oldest and fourth largest religion in the world with around 500 million followers. Buddhism focuses on teaching people how to come to terms with and end the suffering of themselves and others by cutting out greed, hatred, and ignorance from their lives. Unlike most major world religions, Buddhism does not revolve around worshiping a god or divine creator, instead the focus of Buddhism is living one 's best life and transforming the lives of others. The ultimate goal of Buddhism is to reach Enlightenment and upon death achieve Nirvana, the liberation of pain and suffering. For Buddhists, it is the individual’s responsibility to find his or her own path to enlightenment; the principles of Buddhism are seen more as guidelines than rules.

On June 26th, I started my first online college class. I thought World History would be a great place to start and relatively easy course to pass. I had no idea how the class would make significant changes in my life. This class was far from a few easy credits I thought I would acquire in the short 8 weeks. The few weeks with Professor Jared Harrington increased my literacy towards topics I would have given up in the past. This class affected my world view, improved me as a student, a learner, enlightened my view on world religions, forced me to analyze information from readings, and helped me formulate my own thoughts. The amount of material covered in this course was immense and I now believe I have a better view of religion, its role in history, and where the world is heading due to all the historical events of the past.

Though Buddhism is commonly labeled as a religion, it fits the definition of a philosophy rather than a religion.

What I like about Buddhism was Siddhatta Gotama. He was a man of knowledge and wisdom. Siddhatta Gotama was given the title Buddha because he had become enlightened by the society outside of his lifestyle.

Learning courses specializing in religion can foster open-mindedness, cultural appreciation and improve behavior among students. Students may be more apt to accept differences in people around them, and portray a positive attitude when they have access to learning about diverse religions.

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.