The Buddhist Culture For My Project

Buddhism is based on the teachings of an Indian prince named Siddhartha Gautama who lived around 500 B.C. Buddhist tradition says that one day the prince looked beyond the walls of his palace and saw the suffering of his people and wanted to make a change. Siddhartha left his wife and 2 kids and began the path to become Buddha (enlightened one) and after years of practice, he spent the remains 45 years of his life teaching “dharma”(the path to liberation from suffering) and established Sangha (a community of monks).

1. As I just said, the Buddha was not a God. His teachings could be understood and adopted by any individual.

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

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

As a scholar taking the class ‘Introduction to World Religions”, I had the opportunity to take part in a culture that is not normally found in the western world. I entered the Mon Buddhist Monastery in Akron, Ohio on October 2nd, 2016 only to be amazed at their way of life. Going into the temple, I knew of the basic religious practices and traditions that the monks and Buddhists had participated in daily. When I was coming up to the monastery, it did not look like anything other than an old brick building, but once we were inside it looked like a recreational area. Somewhere where they would meditate, hold daily activities, and teach the younger Buddhist about their way of life. On the far back wall, there was a stunning shrine dedicated to the Buddha where one would pray. Many figurines were displayed as well as flowers and offerings along it.

History: In 624 BC, Gautama was born as a royal prince. At the age 29, he abandoned his luxurious life and resided to the forest to live a spiritual life. He spent six years mediation and reflecting until he reached the highest state of enlightenment, Nirvana. From there he wanted other people to reach enlightenment, so he shared his

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.

Siddharta Gautama was twenty-nine years old when he abandoned his family to search for a means to bring to an end his and other’s suffering after studying meditation for many years. At age thirty-five, Siddharta Gautama sat down under the shade of a fig tree to meditate and he determined to meditate until he reached enlightenment. After seven weeks he received the Great Enlightenment which he referred to as the Four Noble Truths and the Eight-fold Path. Henceforth he became known as the Buddha.

Many people like the fact that Buddhism has a simple way to life but one of the most appealing things about Buddhism is the lack of a divine being. Buddhism does have a founder but its doesn’t have a god or divine being. Buddhism doesn’t offer forgiveness for peoples sins, they don’t believe in sin. There is no heavenly hope. And there is no final judgment meaning there

There are many different religions with many different beliefs, traditions, practices, and rituals. These differences are a very important part of understanding and appreciating the culture and history behind the specific religion. However, the practices that certain religions have in common can aid even more in furthering the understanding of specific beliefs of other religions. Since most religions cultivate from the practices and beliefs of other religions, they use those core values and beliefs and transform them into what they believe is a better way practicing. Religions use similarities within each other and twist them into their own. There are certain beliefs within every religion that shape their practices such as their morals or their most essential or absolute value, their position on human beings’ problems and solutions, and their view on life and death within their religion. Pure Land Buddhism (a form of Mahayana Buddhism) and Vaishnavites (a group within Hinduism) are great examples of this very concept.

In 624 BC, a future Buddha and founder of Buddhism, who would eventually be named by his mother and father as Shakyamuni, was born into a royal Shakya family (About Buddhism). The King Shuddhodana and Queen Mahamaya had many predictions of their son extraordinary life; it as predicted that he son would one day become “either a Chakravartin, a universal monarch, or an “awakened one,” a Buddha” (The Kagyu Office, 2016).

I am Christian. Ironically, my mother is a converted Buddhist and although she is not a super devout one, it was helpful for this assignment. I explained my assignment to her and asked her to take me to a Buddhist temple / ceremony. I never thought this would be such a fascinating experience. We visited the “Wat Buddharangist of Miami” temple in the Redlands of Florida, which is a Thai Buddhist temple. At first I was a little uneasy because it was a new experience that I had not encountered before. Upon entrance, I was forced to remove my shoes and the atmosphere was very colorful but simultaneously peaceful. This was a place where people were easily welcome to come meditate and enjoy a moment of peace. Ironically the first thing that caught my attention was their religious art.

In the universe there 's a galaxy, and in this galaxy there 's the solar system, and in this solar system there is a planet earth, and in this planet earth lives 7 billion people. We are all the same but divided by key things; oceans and mountains, culture and society, but most important religions and beliefs. Out of the hundreds of practices and beliefs that make part of planet earth one of the most interesting form of religious practice is Buddhism.

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.

After he became mature he decided to leave and only left with little amount of supplies. Gautama thought the answers to the questions that troubled him were to be found in the various schools of philosophy. The second avenue was to try asceticism. He joined five other monks and with them began a life of asceticism. At this time Gautama became thin that when he grasped his stomach he touched his background. After sitting in weird position did not find enlightenment. Hendrickson states, “ Because he had been terribly weakened by his ordeals, he fainted and fell into the stream” (102-103). Even after this he did not find enlightenment and so he decided to meditate until he achieved enlightenment. Enlightenment in Buddhism is different from other religions. Enlightenment or Nirvana, for Buddhist involves escaping from samsara. Next I will give a little background on Theravada Buddhism in the next paragraph. But I will also talk about the enlightenment path.