Pure Land Buddhism

“doctrines and values” and it can influence “what kinds of clothing, speech, and manners are appropriate for formal occasions” (84). Buddhism is one of the biggest religions in the world with over 381 million followers. In Thailand, about 95% of the population are practitioners of the Theravada Buddhism, which is the official religion of the land (Buddhism in Thailand, 122). Buddhism has influenced every aspect of the Thai life, the structure and form of government, the system of…

Pema Karpo Meditation Center When I first signed up for religion, I knew it would be a challenge. However, I dream of becoming a Pastor, therefore, I knew I needed to learn about all the other different religions in the world. Although Christianity is all I believe in, I wanted to be educated about other religions as well as mine. This study was extremely hard for me, because I am so dedicated to what I have been taught and what I believe in. I contemplated on taking a zero for the assignment,…

My first formalized introduction to Buddhism only occurred in late-August with my enrollment in the class. As someone raised in a Christian home, I had very little, if no, exposure to Asian religions. Not for a lack of theological teachings; I was taught the histories and beliefs of the Abrahamic religions, but that was all. However, after attending a few sessions of the class, I had a discussion about religion with the more religious members of my family. The overall question: “What if our…

also seem that through the increase of scientific research through the years, there would be a solution to the question: when does life begin? However this is not the case, especially when religion is brought into the picture. In the religion of Buddhism, it is “believe[d] that abortion at any time is a killing and unwholesome action” because ‘a being waiting to be born’ transmits his or her own kammic energy to be born as a new person” (Maguire, 2003). However, if the mother’s life is at…

Dalai Lama. Dalai Lama is the 14th head of monk of Tibetan Buddhism (Compson).Traditionally it has been argued that he has had several perspectives on religion as shown by John Hick. John Hick has addressed religious pluralism, religious skepticism in addition to soteriological inclusivism as part of the religious viewpoints as supposed…

The myth that I chose, researched, and presented was The Ceram Creation Myth. This myth originated from the Molucca Islands in Eastern Indonesia. It expresses the belief of fertility, or life from death. The Ceram Creation Myth is very unique and can be seen as different from other myths. After studying it, I have noticed that this myth has a divergent storyline than most. As written by Karen Armstrong, “...mythology is an art form that points beyond history…”(“What is a Myth?”, page 7) Thus,…

periods of construction of the Borobudur temple. Miksic believed that there was already a pre-existing monument on the site of Borobudur which might be built by a group of Hindus or followers of pre-Indic beliefs before the Buddhist took over of the land and started the construction of Borobudur (46). He also added that this was the reason why Borobudur’s structure is unlike any other Buddhist temples in the world, because it is a product of assimilation between different cultures (46).…

The divine beings are viewed differently in many ways between Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. Their beliefs differ in the extent of power that the gods hold and in their religious practices. However, all three religions practice devotionalism and contact their divine beings through religious sacrifice and ritual. In Hinduism, the god Brahman is in charge of the cosmos; he is all-knowing of reality and truth. He is known as the infinite. Nothing in the universe would exist without the…

1. This short extract is part of the Isa Upanishad, a short Sanskrit scripture with only eighteen verses (Mascaró, 1974, Juthani, 2001, p. 125). Isa Upanishad is a significant part of The Upanishads - this collection of ancient texts was written in the 7th century BCE and hold a significant position in the philosophical tenets of Hinduism (Cohen, 2008, p. 4). The Upanishads arose out of Vedic literature, and have a strong connection to Vedic religion, one of the oldest religious traditions in…

The similarities and Differences of Eastern and Western Religions are how they were created and Endured within their historical and geographical context There are many similarities, like how they view their teachers and that they have prophets, and differences, like their teaching methods, types of teachers and how they view themselves, between Eastern and Western religions, and they were created and endured within their historical and geographical context in many different ways. The authors of…