When compared to other beliefs, Buddhism is a fairly logical and philosophical religion focused on eliminating desire and attaining inner peace in a world filled with anything but. “A happy feeling or condition in life is not permanent or everlasting. It changed sooner or later.” (Rahula, 20) Because the world is filled with pain, one must learn to disassociate oneself with individual desire. This is one of the many philosophies imparted by Buddha, an ancient teacher, who was inspired to eliminate the world’s suffering. Through his wisdom, one learns to abide by morals and surrenders any selfish desires or attachments to the world, ultimately leading to Nirvana, a state of enlightenment. Many ritual practices performed by temples aid in meditation, …show more content…
chants, and other rituals which also lead to wisdom and happiness. Other instruments which help one draw close to the Buddha include instruments and art through statues and architecture. When stepping foot into a Buddhist temple, one immediately notices the lavish detail devoted to Hindu statues and architecture. Throughout the sanctuary, rich, vibrant colors dance around the room, predominantly gold and red. On the front of the temple stood four, intricately carved wooden posts, each with a coiling colorful dragon around its circumference. Inside the temple two rows of six tables were against the wall, making a path to the shrine dedicated to Buddha. One the shrine table sat statues of Buddha, heaps of fruit offerings, two vases of flowers, a golden pot for incense, candles, and a statue of a what I assume to be a god with countless arms. While meandering around the temple, I spotted several strange instruments used for Buddhist rituals. One resembled a wooden percussion frog, except with a fish and lotus pattern carved around its globular form. I came to understand that this instrument is called a Moktak and is involved in recitation of sutras, mudras, or mantras. Mantras are sacred sounds that are believed to embody supernatural power, while Sutras are rules written in text. Mudras differ in that they are symbolic gestures used to clear the mind. I also noticed a huge wooden drum on a stand called a Taiko. Its name literally means “large drum”. Apparently, this drum carries much symbolic importance in Buddhism. As I was walking in the temple it didn’t take long to realize the part art plays in Buddhism.
Art holds several tasks: education, honoring, or worship. “In Buddhist painting and sculpture, the Buddha is always represented with a countenance happy, serene, content and compassionate. Never a trace of suffering or agony or pain is to be seen. Buddhist art and architecture, Buddhist temples never give the impression of gloom or sorrow, but produce an atmosphere of calm and serene joy. Although there is suffering in life, a Buddhist should not be gloomy over it, should not be angry or impatient at it.” (Rahula, 47) In this way, art teaches Buddhists to embrace life in a realistic and adaptive manner. Not only does it educate, but art also purposely glorifies Buddha. One can perceive all of Buddha’s features, each intricately carved to prompt followers of Buddha to also want to attain enlightenment, just as he has. Buddhist art also emphasizes many symbols such as the swastika, lotus, or the dragon. Unfortunately, the swastika symbol was distorted by the Nazis, but it originally represented Buddha’s heart or good fortune, prosperity, and abundance. Lotuses symbolize purity and detachment from society and other saintly virtues. In Buddhism, dragons represent enlightenment or Nirvana. This is why they remain guardians to countless temples and roofs. Colors also play a significant symbolic role, especially in the colors that are used in a temple. Red symbolizes preservation and
sacred places, however, the most important color to Buddhism is yellow, as it represents humility, stability, lack of desire, and distinction from worldly society. This is most likely why statues of Buddha are typically yellow or golden in nature. Ultimately, Buddhism’s goal is to eliminate suffering which requires deep intellectual capacity provided from meditation and chants. Buddhist art and percussion instruments evidently also help through rhythmic beat, teachings, and symbolism. Add morals and these all comprise the whole Buddhist experience which is important to attaining Nirvana.
In the world, there are five major world religions, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism. In the past few classes, I have been exposed to and absorbed a tremendous amount of information on the religion of Buddhism. According to the dictionary, Buddhism is a religion of which originated in India, was founded by the Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, and teaches 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. Buddhism is a way of finding peace within oneself. It is a religion that helps it’s believers to find the happiness and contentment us humans seek. One thing I found
The lotus flowers surround Buddha and he also is sitting on a giant one. They are symbols that the Buddha is awakened almost as a sign of rebirth. The lotus flowers meaning in Buddhism means rising above everything and achieve enlightenment. There are lotus flowers that are not yet open representing that not all are yet enlightened and the lotuses that are fully bloomed representing full-enlightenment and self-awareness. Buddha sits in front of the Bodhi tree which literally means awakening or enlightenment. Behind the tree is a full moon and in Buddhism has a great significance. The Buddha was born on a full moon day and his enlightenment was also during a full moon. The Buddha also has earth touching mudra. Mudra is the religious hand gestures and earth touching is “calling the earth to witness”. These concepts go back to the Four Noble Truths. They are the truth of suffering, the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of the end of suffering, and the truth of the path that leads to the end of suffering. The fist noble truth is represented by the temptresses and the flaming arrows sent from Mara. After the temptresses did not seduce Buddha Mara sent flaming arrows from all directions towards the Buddha representing that all of life’s sufferings. This artwork shows the second noble truth by Buddha avoiding the temptresses that Mara sent and in this way Buddha avoided having cravings or desires. By not submitting to those desires and cravings Buddha realized that this is the ending all suffering is to remove all desire, ill will and ignorance therefore completing the third noble truth. The fourth noble truth is represented by the weight of the Buddha in the artwork showing Buddha not overweight and not starving but in the middle showing him living The Middle Path. When artists get to work responding and expressing, whether or not also to urge a point,
Buddhism is one of the prominent and influential religions and philosophies of the world. A basic tenet of Buddhism is that worldly desires and possessions cause all suffering. To absolve one’s self of necessities beyond basic human survival is one of the many plateaus that Buddhists strive to achieve. Furthermore, Buddhists free themselves from temptation via seclusion from society and attempt to allow nature to support them. They believe that Nirvana, the ascension to heaven, can be achieved by freeing oneself of earthly desires.
During the Wei most of the art produced had a connection to Buddhism, and the emperors spent a great amount of resources to have the Buddhist art pieces produced (Clunas 92-97). According to the, biography Buddha written by Karen Armstrong, B... ... middle of paper ... ... rt Bulletin 23.9, Part 1 (1965): 301-24.
Chinese artwork is a form that contains and demonstrates many different meanings and morals that can be linked back to not only religion, but the overall meaning of life. This paper will discuss the sculpture titled Seated Buddha and how it represents peace, enlightenment, and the overall importance of how these two components influence the mindset of the people involved in the Buddhist religion. The Seated Buddha was created between the 5th and 6th century in China. The artist of this piece is unknown, but this does not hinder us at all from seeing what the artist was trying to portray through the different aspects that they included in the Seated Buddha sculpture. This piece is crafted from stone and a chisel was then used to create the
Siddhartha Gautama is famously known as Gautama Buddha and was the founder of the idea of Buddhism. The Buddha was known to possess supernatural powers and abilities. He was born in the holy land of Nepal and his journey began in India when he decided to travel and teach himself about life. In the midst of his journey, he discovered Buddhism after he experienced a profound realization of the nature of life, death and existence. Buddhism became a religion based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama and since then Buddhism has been popular throughout many civilizations. Buddhism is now one of the most ancient religions in the world, where people follow Buddha, which stand for “awakened one,” and Buddhism which has gained popularity because of the teachings of the Buddha.
Religion is defined as "the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God" . There are many recognised religions of the world, which all teach its followers to live life "the right way", whose definition varies according to the religion itself. They have some beliefs and practices that distinguish themselves from each other. Some examples are differences and similarities of Buddhism and Islam.
Buddhist art was introduced to Japan along with the Buddhist religion in 552 AD. Almost all the art produced in this Suiko period in Japan was to do with the new religion. "The introduction of the Buddhist faith had from the very start gone hand in hand with the introduction of Buddhist images." (Munsterberg 1985: 19) These Buddhist images included Chinese scrolls depicting the life of Buddha, at first copied by Chinese priests in Japan, later painted by the Japanese themselves. With the introduction of Buddhism, temples were needed for the practicing of the religion. This consisted of ...
Zen; Buddhism's trek through history, politics, and America Zen, or Zenno (as it is known by the Japanese word from which it derives), is the most common form of Buddhism practiced in the world today. All types of people from intellectuals to celebrities refer to themselves as Buddhist, but despite its popularity today in America, it has had a long history throughout the world. "Here none think of wealth or fame, All talk of right and wrong is quelled. In Autumn I rake the leaf-banked stream, In spring attend the nightingale. Who dares approach the lion's Mountain cave? Cold, robust, A Zen-person through and through, I let the spring breeze enter at the gate." -Daigu (1584-1669, Rinzai) (DailyZen) Zen Buddhism's history begins where Buddhism's history began. It originated on the continent of Asia around 500 B.C.. The founder of Buddhism; Gotama Siddhattha, a former price in what is now known as India, is known as "The Buddha," which roughly translates to " one who is awake" (Merit 102). "At the age of twenty-nine, deeply troubled by the suffering he saw around him, he renounced his privileged life to seek understanding. After six years of struggling as an ascetic he finally achieved enlightenment at age thirty-five" (DailyZen). In 475 A.D. a Buddhist teacher, Bodhidharma, traveled to China and introduced the teachings of Buddha there. In China Buddhism mixed with Taoism, and the result was the Ch'an School of Buddhism, and from there Ch'an spread to Japan where it is called Zen Buddhism (DailyZen). The Buddhist Religion has always been passed down from teacher to student, and through the use of books and sacred works such as the Malind-panha, Pali Tipitaka, and the Pitaka series (Merit 102). These books and teachers taught students of the religion the philosophies of the practice. They taught of Satori, or enlightenment, which is the main goal of the Zen Buddhist, which is to achieve peace of mind despite external turmoil ( Archer ninety-six). One way to reach enlightenment is through meditation. Zaren is sitting in meditative absorption as the shortest yet most steep way to reaching enlightenment (Zen 233). The Buddhists stressed the fact that existence is painful. They believed that suffering was a result of false human attachments to things that were impertinent, "including the attachment to the false notion o...
searching for years. In the next 45 years of his life he spent it traveling
Man has always found pleasure in expressing himself by creating art. Through the centuries, man’s art has left behind clues and insight that enables the generations of today to understand their ancestors. In particular, historians and artist alike can see what certain Asian sculptures reflect of the culture and religious beliefs of Hinduism and Buddhism. Hinduism is the parent religion to Buddhism; much like Judaism is to Christianity. Despite Buddhism and Hinduism sharing similar philosophies and various idealisms, their respective sculptures also show their differences. There are two important characteristic of the sculptures of these religions. The first is motion versus rest, and second the subject matter. It is these two types of characteristics historians and artist can help use to decipher Hindu and Buddhist sculptures.
Buddhism is known for happiness. Happiness can be achieved by genuinely practicing meditation. Meditation is the central practice of Buddhism. Practicing Buddhism gives one a way of finding answers to deep questions about life and the nature of reality. “Who am I?” “Why am I here?” “What is the meaning of life?” “Why do we suffer?” and “How can I achieve lasting happiness?” As the Dalai Lama commented,
Religious art helps people that are looking for security and hope. Today society is looking for peace and an anchor to hold onto. This religious art lifts the spirit and brings peace within through a beautiful way. It helps reassure people that there is a life after this one. One needs not fear the power of God but to understand his actions and the way one should live his or her life.
Buddhism is a religion founded by Buddha. The religion emphasizes spiritual and physical discipline because with those things you gain liberation from the physical world. The goal for the Buddhist is to achieve Nirvana. Nirvana is a state of absolute peace in which
Tibetan thanka[1] paintings are a wonderful example of the interconnectedness of religion and art. These images are “not meant to be the object of simple idolatry” (Jackson 11), but rather take on a more interactive role, which can be applied to nearly every facet of traditional Tibetan life. Tibetan Buddhism pervades all aspects of the creation and use of thanka paintings—in the training and requirements of the artists who create the paintings, in the physical creative process itself, in the iconography used, and in all the painting’s multiple functions. Tibetan thanka paintings, throughout their entire lifespan—from concept to consecrated image—help devotional religious activity for Tibetan Buddhism[2].