Do you believe in religions? Do you believe in its various rituals/practices? I do, I believe in a religion and its practices and rituals. However, I prefer rituals that do not harm any living organism. What kind of rituals do you prefer? A ritual is a ceremonial act that is performed for a specific value, such as to get something good from it. Rituals are one amongst many aspects within a religion. There are numerous religions in the world. One of the religions is Buddhism, and is fourth largest religion in the world. A person had his own philosophy on life, how it should be lived, and how to procure enlightenment, started this religion. The person was none other than Lord Buddha, also known as Siddhartha Gautama. He was born in a royal family and was the prince of the Magadha- a region in northern India. Gautama’s parents loved him very much; in fact, they never let him visually perceive the down side of the life. For instance, his parents plucked all dry flowers from the garden outside their palace, so Gautama would not have sight of the authentic world, which is full of pain and sorrow. However, one day, the four sights- one- the sight of a sick man, two- sight of a dead man, three and four- the sight of a poor person who was old, immediately transformed his perspective and thought on life’s philosophy. Instantly, he decided to renounce the world. Indeed, a few months later after renouncing the world once when Gautama was meditating under the Bodhi tree for seven weeks,
Blessed Be has become a casual greeting between many, used in the same way as Merry Meet and Merry Part which Neo-pagans say in greeting each other, A form of Hello and Goodbye. This is unfortunate, Blessed Be is a sacred term, to be blessed. It’s roots go deep and well into many religions, it can even be found in the Christian Bible:, “"I will bless you, I will make your name great." : in Judaism "Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe..." this is a Jewish blessing for moments of joy.
Upon reading about the historical and religious background of Ancient India, one can clearly assume that the country was strongly influenced by three main religious teachings: Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. These three sects in religious thinking have many similarities as all recognize the life-cycle and the need of liberation, they worship one central deity that used to be a human who gained enlightenment and they all recognize the existence of the eternal soul and after-death re-incarnation. However, they also share a lot of differences that mark the underlying principles of practicing them. I will identify the scope of differences and similarities in these ancient religions in an attempt to understand why each attracted followers, why
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
Religion is a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe. In today’s society there are many religious lifestyles people stand by. Popular ones consist of Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism. When looking at Christianity and Buddhism it is easy to identify some major differences. For instance, both the religions were started and founded by different people and in dissimilar ways. A second one would be what they believe in; number of deities, and what they base their knowledge around. A final difference between the two would be how they practice their religion and worship their “God.”
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
Religion manifests itself everywhere around the world. Although all beings are different we come together as one transcendence being the host. Sacred rituals are performed, honoring beliefs in accordance to ones religion. Rituals are performed for a wide array of reasons, some being a sort of rite of passage, healing the sick and even birth or death rituals. Judaism, Santeria, and Christianity all have ceremonies and rituals, some carried out as different as night and day, and some for the same purposes. These religions in depth have more in common than the eye can see, devotion, transcendence and worship to a higher absolute power. All participating in Sacred Ritual.
Religions survival is based on children. If rites of passage would never exist, than nowadays we would believe in anything else except than in god. But the truth is different. Every impactful religion uses its own features or customs
Buddhism is the fourth largest religion on earth and is composed of three major traditions today; Theravada, Mahayana and Tibetan Buddhism (“Lecture 5”). The founder of Buddhism, known as Buddha, was a royal prince named Siddhartha Guatama from Northern India. Siddhartha’s father kept him closely confined inside of a large palace, with the intention of preventing him from taking up a religious life, so that he too would one day become a great king. However, one day while Siddhartha was outside of the palace, he observed four sights that would change his destiny forever. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the four sights experienced by Siddhartha Guatama, their significance and examine why they led him to seek religious
Throughout the world, different nations have different beliefs or religion. Some religions evolve from others, and others are combination of other religions. Religion is a way of life, a lifestyle; it should dictate how you live your life. For instance, in India, Buddhism evolved from Hinduism, a religion were people believe in 300, 000 gods. Even though, Hinduism and Buddhism have different similarities such as believes in god, soul, and rituals, which in some ways connected to each other, both religions believe of what happens after life.
“Rivers, ponds, lakes, and streams—they all have different names, but they all contain water. Just as religions do—they all contain truths,” said by Muhammad Ali. Religion is the belief and reverence for a supernatural power and powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe (2003). The religions I’ve chose to compare and contrast would be non denomination/ Christianity and Buddhism. Each religion would be broken down by their religious belief, religious ritual, and religious experience. The definition of these religious things are: religious belief is a statement to which members of a particular religion adhere, religious ritual is a practice required or expected of members of a faith, and religious experience is the feeling or
Religion is defined as the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods. Buddhism doesn’t have that. Instead they have the Buddha, which is an enlightened being. The first Buddha was man named Siddhartha Gautama, the prince of the Sakya clan. Key word; man. Gautama was not some super-immortal being that ruled in the sky requiring rituals and faith. He also had no requirements to even follow his teachings, his whole philosophy was about bettering yourself, he did not want to be modeled or idealised. There is no doubt he was prophesied to become either a holy man, or a great ruler, but by no means does that indicate he was a God of
The main goal of any religion is to gain an idea of understanding and reasoning in one’s life. Religion is a vast hole with endless conceptions concerning the purpose for existence, as well as moral principles for how individuals should live their one life. Religion is sacred and vital in the Japanese society. Japan is a remarkable country with endless temples and shrines for praying, donating, and ceremonies. Yet, the modern lifestyle and urbanization in Japan continues to emerge. This realization had me contemplating the notion of how people can adjust towards contemporary ideals and newly-found social orders, but continue to keep ancient beliefs and teachings like Buddhism. Buddhism arrived in the sixth century in Japan from the Kingdom of Baekje in Korea, roughly 552 A.D. However, it began in India with Siddhartha Gautama. Siddhartha lived within a royal family and was protected from the “real world” for most of his childhood until he witnessed the trials of sickness, aging, and death from a local monk. He wanted to find a way to live his life with those trials, or somehow accept them. Siddhartha craved for a life of no pain and suffering, so he left his comfortable home and strived to live towards Hindu teachings and nothing else. He desired to reach enlightenment and after meditating for
As a man, brought up in a Christian family, surrounded by most Hindu and Buddhist faith friends, I faced various attractions of diverse religious, and cultural practices. Growing up, Nepali Christians were obliged to leave customs and traditions however it was merely social activities in nature not spiritual or religious. One of them is Christian giving up a custom of utilizing red powder when honoring someone in accomplishment. We were restrained entirely by Christian pastors and preacher to involve in such exercises. Every year, when I got honored from school in academic achievement, I entirely complied with an instruction from the church pastor. Later during my school age, I did quite to believe such values as scriptural teaching and began
According to dictionary.com, Buddhism is defined as a religion, originated in India by Buddha (Gautama) and later spreading to China, Burma, Japan, Tibet, and parts of southeast Asia, holding that life is full of suffering caused by desire and that the way to end this suffering is through enlightenment that enables one to halt the endless sequence of births and deaths to which one is otherwise subject. While do research on the religion of Buddhism i found out alot of information that i didn’t know before. We may all know the Buddha named Siddhartha Gautama, but what we may not know is that he came from a wealthy family. Siddhartha Gautama grew up in a wealthy family, he decided to follow a path of self-denial. He attempted many different rituals
I have been a follower of Swaminarayanism for all seventeen years of my life, but during my childhood, temple and religion were just a Sunday obligation. My parents would encourage me to attend the weekly sabhas (assemblies) held at the temple, but I would often refuse because I was scared and shy. I followed Swaminarayanism solely because my parents followed it, and for that reason was very uninterested in the culture and religious values.