Analysis Of Barbara O Brien's Feeding The Buddha

Buddhism expert, Barbara O’Brien’s article called “Feeding the Buddha” explains many interesting rituals that Buddhists still do today. She explains that the most common and oldest ritual in Buddhism is the offering of food to monks. The offering of food reminds the people who practice Buddhism not to be greedy or selfish. The first Buddhist monks were homeless since they did not build monasteries. They would beg for food and the only thing they owned was their robe and the bowl they would eat off of when they received their food. Food offerings to monks is what supports them.

Think about Buddhism being a tree and its branches being all the different schools that have gone in separate ways, they all look up to Buddha for his teachings but they

Nirvana is a remembrance to the day of the Buddha’s death and how he enters Nirvana and it means to extinguish or blow out (O’Brien). Schools of Buddhism explain Nirvana as a state of bliss or peace and that Nirvana can be entered in both life and death (O’Brien). O’Brien writes that the Buddha died at the age of 80. She explains that when he died, he was accompanied by monks. The Buddha told them that he did not keep any of his teaching from them and that he needed them to keep his teachings alive to help the people for the years and years to come. O’Brien writes that Nirvana day is a day to really look at the Buddhas teachings. Monasteries and temples have meditation retreats and lay people bring money or things from their home for the monks to live off of (O’Brien). What Buddhists mostly want is to reach

The earliest sacred space was the stupa. When the Buddha was cremated, his ashes were placed under a mound at a crossroads and when it was removed, it was divided among a variety of Buddhist groups. Hardy states that different sources, say different numbers. Some say 8, some say 11, and others say it was 12 Buddhist groups. Each group is said to have enshrined their part of the Buddhas cremated body in a stupa. Legend says that king Ashoka divided the Buddha’s divided cremated body and distributed it to 84,000 stupas throughout his realm. Monuments were built to mark the Buddhas important moments. Some of the examples of the important moments of the Buddha are where the Buddha was born or where he gave his first sermon. Ashoka than started the ritual of making pilgrimage to these places. As time passed, large temples were built around the stupas. After some time, stupas were also being built to house the cremated or mummified body of a famous monk who died during deep meditation. What was built around the stupas are stone railings with carvings. The carvings tell the life of the Buddha and the Jataka Tales. When people walk around the railings, they are recreating the experiences of the events and make them feel like they are actually there. The Buddha is kept alive through these carvings and sacred places. Hardy also states that another form of sacred space is the mountain. She writes that there are legendary