Noble Eightfold Path

Katach (“form and design”) is the Japanese word that best translates the concept of “art”. A word which implies that “art is synonymous with living, functional purpose, and spiritual simplicity” (Walkup). Zen Art is by its nature spiritual as it was “done not by professional artists, but by Zen monks and nuns who spent extremely disciplined lives of meditation, in a search for enlightenment and awakening to the true nature of reality”(Sweet). The core foundation of the art-form is the belief…

Dagchen Sonam Rinchen, the Sakya Head, was then a boy of only 16 years old. Well, Who would have thought in his or her wildest dream that, some 300 hundred years later, a local spirit of Dol region would one day occupy the highest and undisputed Dharma protector throne of Gelukpa School? Shugden followers assert that he is a Dharma protector who appeared for the sole purpose of protecting Gelug doctrine. He has the blessing and the recommendation of Tsongkapa. If that is true, why was he not…

Compared to Pure Land Buddhism and Zen Buddhism, Nichiren Buddhism focuses solely on the teachings and doctrines of the Lotus Sutra. Nichiren, the founder of Nichiren Buddhism, believed that the Lotus Sutra is the only true and direct teaching of the Buddha (Earhart 138). Nichiren also criticized other forms of Buddhism while promoting his own. Nichiren believed that “Nenbutsu leads to…Hell, Zen is a devil, Shingon will destroy the nation, and Ritsu is a traitor” (Earhart 138). Nichiren…

Then one day he overhears a music teacher instructing his student not to pull the strings of his instrument too tight or leave them too loose. Siddhartha gives up asceticism, realizing that the path to enlightenment lies on the middle course. As he grows in his journey, he learns profound truths about the nature of life, consciousness, and reality. Lama Norbu tells the three children the final segment of the drama of Siddhartha and they magically…

mindfulness and understanding. There is no ‘god’ in Buddhism, instead, the followers learn from the teachings of the enlightened one. A core belief to Buddhists is that happiness does not correlate with money or wealth. In Buddhism there are Four Noble Truths. The first truth is: life includes suffering and pain and it cannot be denied. The second truth is: the suffering is a cause of craving and want.…

leaves behind his parents, community, and formal religion. Except for his devoted friend, Govinda. Siddhartha refrains from following the path of the Buddha. His reason for doing so is his realization that Buddha teaches freedom from suffering, and this powerful goal has to be attained, and not by following a teacher, but through seeking truth by going on his own path. What he searches for is within and Siddhartha needs to recognize it. The outside world is false and the only truth is Atman. By…

Exploration Project 3 Participant Observation By Devon Tiedemann-Pikala Minneapolis Community and Technical College GLOS World Religion I am catholic; I was baptized and raised catholic. So I do not have a lot of knowledge of many outside religions, this class has opened my eyes up to the views of many other religions and one of those that has caught my eye was Buddhism. Some of the reasons I was attracted to learning more about the Buddhist religion it seems like a very…

river. The five ascetics decided that Siddhartha had given up the ascetic life and would now follow the ways of the flesh, and they soon left him. From then on, however, Siddhartha encouraged people to follow a path of balance instead of one characterized by extremism. He called this path the Middle…

Religion was a paramount factor in forming the basis of China's cultural identity through the cohesive worship of Taoism and Buddhism deities, the devout veneration of ancestors, and the consistent performance of religious sacrifices and ceremonies. Ancient China was a multi-religion society, Taoism and Buddhism had always been its two most influential beliefs. The religious outlook of most Chinese people consisted of combination of beliefs and practices from these two traditions and so they…

Jainism originated in India, and to this day only four to five million people in India believe in this religion(Jainism video). Jainism is said to not have one single founder, however they do believe in Tirthankaras. Tirthankaras were the twenty four revealers of truth; the word means ford finder. Tirthankara will only appear on earth when there is a need for renewal of the good teachings that have been abandoned. The last known Tirthankara was known as Mahavira, he lived approximately from…