Jataka

The figure of the Buddha is one that is relatively well recognized throughout the world today. One may wonder why and how people are able to so quickly identify this religious icon in art such as sculpture. With a religion that spread almost entirely throughout the continent of Asia, it is surprising to find that although there are many creative variants, Buddhist sculpture still preserves many key iconographic features. The most fundamental characteristics of Buddhist sculpture are listed in the

When my family first arrived in the dirty city of Bangkok, one of the first things my little sister asked me was “Why are there so many dogs everywhere?” Being the dog lover that she is, she was extremely disappointed to learn that these dogs were not only nobody’s pets, but that she also couldn’t pet them unless she wanted to get some weird fungus or sickness on the first couple days of her vacation. As I explained to them that the reason for all the dogs was because Thailand is mainly Buddhist

Currently in the world there has been a lack of ways to rationalize protecting the environment leading to the use of religion as the background for justification. Buddhism is positively seen as an economic friendly religion by most people are wound the world, although some concepts are not clear in this sense. Buddhism, especially engaged Buddhism, is congruous with environmental advocacy because of different Buddhism doctrines and a Buddhists’ compassion for all sentient beings. The origin of Buddhism

My name is Ayman, I’m a 22 year old Muslim and I don 't have any prejudice against any kind of religion nor do I have anything against non-believers. After spending a semester studying the great religions of the world, my religious view have really changed. I came to learn a lot about the other religions in the world and understand them. I learnt that all religions believe in a supreme being who is presumed to be the sole creator of everything. I have come to learn more about my religion Islam. Islam

experience the pain equal to that of the world’s poorest, belonging-less mendicants who arguably suffer worse hardships than the average person. As previously mentioned, employing skillful means has been around since before Mahayana texts – look at the Jataka tale of King Shibi, for instance. Deities Vishva-karman and Indra were determined to test the future Buddha’s spiritual integrity by staging a bird chase before his eyes, seeing if he would allow Indra (a hawk) to kill Vishva-karman (a pigeon). In

Japan has always been one of the great powers of the world. It has one of the highest economies globally and that is due to the efficiency and perseverance of the Japanese workers. However, it has one of the highest suicide rates in the world which makes it sound abnormal for such a successful country. It reached 19.5 suicides among every 100,000 Japanese. In addition, In 2003, 34,000 lives were lost to suicide and the number decreased till it reached 21,897 suicides in 2016 which is still not a

In Buddhist societies, women were seen as inferior to men. They were marginalized in early Buddhist societies and had many limitations placed on their spiritual enlightenment. They were not permitted to become bodhisattvas and forced to instead become nuns. They were also looked down upon because of their strong attachments to worldly things. Although they were marginalized, women still felt a strong spiritual bond to the religion that it was worth the discrimination to obtain the spiritual gain

Despite India’s diverse cultural landscape, both ethnically and religiously, Hinduism often serves as the predominant summation of the country’s culture—and justly, albeit incorrectly, so—as over 80% of the nation’s population practices the ancient tradition (“Religious Composition” n.p.). Hinduism’s history begins several thousands of years ago, as the nomadic Aryan peoples, sweeping in from the northern Hindu Kush Mountains, alternately clashed and mingled with the local Dravidian people with their

Although Siddhartha Gotama spread the religion of Buddhism in India, his teaching had a great impact on other countries. Buddhist first made their way to China via the silk route; this was a network of caravan tracts that linked China to the rest of central Asia to the Mediterranean region. Buddhist monks also made their way into China with Buddhist scriptures and Buddhist art in their possession. This is the first time that Buddhism made a substantial impact on the Chinese. Quickly many Chinese

The fifth and fourth centuries B.C. were times of a worldwide intellectual renaissance. It was an age of great thinkers, thinkers like Socrates and Plato, Confucius and Lao Tzu. In India, it was the age of the Buddha Shakyamuni, or simply the Buddha, after whose death a religion emerged that eventually spread far beyond the reaches of its homeland. In order to understand Buddhism and its art we must first know who the Buddha was. Siddhartha Gautama, who later became known as the Buddha, was born