I am Buddhist
An often forgotten essential in our short existence we call “life” is our need for at least a quintessential connection of spirituality for our own subsistence. And as this world we live in, develops into supposed “development’’ and as evolution directs our way of life into a tedious search of happiness derived from money… and a person in a modern society barely has a moment for a prayer and “time’’ being as impatient as it is, the youth have no seconds to just sit and contemplate the power of a higher being, that a GOD might be the one that governs our destiny and fate… and to have a flicker of an instant where one experiences a religious outlook on life…the air we breathe turns a little fresher and a load gets lifted off shoulders of stressed mentalities… and call it a “pre-mature revelation’’ or a pious unveiling of my character but I have encountered such an emotion when I visited a haven called Bodh Gaya. Situated in the most corrupts of states in India, Bihar…it is an oasis of belief and hope and maybe the only answer and truth to some.
It’s an uncanny placement for enlightenment, one might suggest… but as a Buddhist, imagining all the struggle and suffering that the Buddha had overcome and all the adversities he had surpassed and of course the harsh truth he reveals to us and conveys with such meaning in his simple diction is at most overwhelming.
At first sight the Mahabodhi temple standing tall among such meagre neighbours, humbled me at once… petrifying in some ways and yet it seemed to comfort me all at once. As for the papal tree where Buddha had gained salvation is surrounded with such spirituality that it seemed to bog down upon my shoulders and yet at the same time it uplifted my spirits in the most unexplainable way.
The hustling and bustling noises of Indians selling odd trinkets and beggars among the streets are drowned by the Tantric chants of monks praying in union. A pilgrimage that changed the way I thought about the youth… and I was young too, therefore it basically changed the way I thought.
As words are my limits… so is word my only limits through which I cannot describe and do justice to the communion that one has to go there and experience for oneself. ‘’Nothing is as constant as change’’ and the journey through life does not end until death.
A traveling pilgrim deeply connects and explores the cultures they visit in the same way a spiritual tourist explores life's meaning and significance. In this way, spiritual pilgrims are made unique by their desire to find life purpose. As Falson's life begins to fall apart, he finds new life purpose through the study of St. Francis's Christ-like lifestyle of poverty and generosity. A reader can especially make this connection as Falson washes the genitals of a poor man and the impact it makes on him. Pilgrims studying history search for the purposes and deeper implications of each past event. They seek not just to know the facts but also their deeper
The statue that will be the focus of this paper portrays the figure “Amida, the Buddha of Infinite Light.” Like many other statues of the Buddha, this Amida Buddha was portrayed to be deep in meditation, sitting cross-legged. A viewer could observe that the Amida Buddha is making a hand gesture while in deep meditation. These gestures, also known as “mudras,” are symbolic in the Buddhist religion, and they are used to convey certain ideas (O’Riley 70). In this case, the Amida Buddha is making the mudra of appeasement (“Amida”). More physical observations could be made by pointing out the “balanced form, divine features, and flowing drapery” (“Amida”) of the Amida Buddha. Those qualities represent the nature of the Buddha, revealing him as “transcendent, graceful, and compassionate” (“Amida”). Features common to other Buddha sculptures show up on this Amida Buddha, like the elongated earlobes, the mole on his forehead, and patterned hair. At first glance, the Am...
...eautiful scenes within the temple. It was very interesting to learn about specific interactions and lifestyles many Buddhists go through when at the temple and their perspectives on life. The location of the temple was one that really provided an atmosphere that was heavenly. The architecture and the buildings were meticulously built. The landscape was very beautiful and the atmosphere was very relaxing. I felt at peace and calm when I was at the temple. I also feel a step closer to understanding my culture.
Yu, Han. “Memorial on Buddhism”. Making of the Modern World 12: Classical & Medieval Tradition. Trans. Richard F. Burton. Ed. Janet Smarr. La Jolla: University Readers, 2012. 111-112. Print.
Walking into the Hall of the Buddhas, there was a sense of peace and guidance lingering inside me. The seated Bodhisattva, of the Northern Wei dynasty (386-534), CA.480, from the Yungang, Cave xv, Shani Province, made of sandstone, guarded the entrance. At first, I thought it was a time to be disciplined, but the transcending smile from the statue was a delicate fixed gesture that offered a feeling of welcome. It was not a place to confess your wrongdoings; neither was it a place for me to say, “Buddha I have sinned.” It was a room to purify the mind, the mind that we take for granted without giving it harmony. There was a large mural decorating the main wall called “The Paradise of Bhaishajyaguru”(916-1125). I sat down wandering if the artist of the portrait knew that his work would one day be shared on this side of the world, in my time. Much like Jesus Christ and his followers, the mural is a painting of healers and saviors. It was a large figure of the Buddha of medicine, (Bhaishajyaquru) surrounded by followers of Bodhisattvas, Avalokiteshvara, and Mahosthamaprapta with twelve guardian generals who have pledged to disseminate the Buddha’s teaching (Tradition of Liao 916-1125, Metropolitan Museum wall plaque).
Drummond, Richard Henry. A Broader Vision: Perspectives on the Buddha and the Christ. Virginia: A.R.E. Press, 1995.
1.) Intro: I decided to focus my Religious Ethnography on a friend whom I recently have become close with. Adhita Sahai is my friend’s name, which she later told me her first name meant “scholar.” I choose to observe and interview Adhita, after she invited me to her home after hearing about my assignment. I was very humbled that she was open to this, because not only was it a great opportunity for this paper, but it also helped me get to know Adhita better. I took a rather general approach to the religious questions that I proposed to the Sahai family because I didn’t want to push to deep, I could tell Hinduism is extremely important to this family. Because this family does not attend a religious site where they worship, I instead listened to how they do this at home as a family instead.
Fisher, Mary Pat. "Chapter 5: Buddhsim." Living Religions. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice-Hall, 2005. 150-62. Print.
I was very nervous to visit the Hindu Mandir. However, once I got there, I saw how beautiful and amazing it really was. It was so beautiful that I thought that I was in a museum instead of a place of worship. It was absolutely nothing as I expected it to be at all. While I was in the Mandir, I felt a sense of honor and serenity and at peace while looking around at all the beautiful art. In addition, I learned many different things because of this visit about Hinduism. The visit made me learn things that I would have never learned if I did not go on the trip. I learned about what a Mandir is, a Mandir functions, the history of Hinduism, their beliefs, and their festival celebrations.
Patel introduces the concept of a “faith line” and its importance by describing two cases of young people’s education relating to religion. In the first, a young man was taught religious totalitarianism, a destructive and hateful
Each month our educational center section provides the Hinduism Today staff with a 'kind of group meditation. Individually we ponder our subject, and together we discuss it in detail. These past 30 days our meditation was on death. You might think we had a morbid March. Not so, since, as U.S. General George Patton rightly noted, "For Hindus death is the most exalted experience of life."
Religion is an organized collection of beliefs and cultural systems that entail the worship of a supernatural and metaphysical being. “Religion just like other belief systems, when held onto so much, can stop one from making significant progress in life”. Together with religion come traditions that provide the people with ways to tackle life’s complexities. A subscription to the school of thought of great scholars
For my site visit reflection paper, I decided to visit the Thai Buddhist Temple in Homestead. The reason this particular site was my choice was because information acquired from the videos in lecture about tradition and Confucianism in Asia made me curious to learn more about the Buddhist way of life. Because so many South Eastern countries instantaneously adopted Buddhism from India and then China with open arms, I decided to make the visit in the morning to learn the reasons for the international success of this way of life. This would give me a more interactive comprehension of Buddhism.
I will now examine what it means to be religious with a critical enquiry into Buddhism, Hinduism and
My favorite part about Buddhism is that it is real life stuff, even if it isn’t necessarily my specific faith, is that it never hurts to meditate on things when you can. The B...