The Sacred And The Profane: The Nature Of Religion

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What is the modern religious world? As we examine the religious elements of religions in the various areas, we must ask about their importance of religion today. Can religion exist as it had in the ancient world? How do religions such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam survive in the modern world? And how does Eastern thought challenge and/or add to the future of religious thought?
In his text, The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion, the anthropologist and historian of religion Mircea Eliade puts forth the notion that the fundamental nature of religion is the construction of religious rites that define sacred from profane spaces, and sacred from profane human existence. Although Eliade provides his examples from non-Christian religions, the Buddhist monk Thich Naht Hahn would argue that this is a Christian view of the world because it separates ordinary life from religious life, rather than …show more content…

“Breathing in, I calm my body. Breathing out, I smile. Dwelling in the present moment, I know this is a wonderful moment. "Breathing in, I calm my body.” (Hahn, 1997, p.16) Drinking a glass of water in one’s kitchen can be a sacred act, if done with the correct mind, and make the space as sacred as making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem—a far more sacred act fighting over which faith owns Jerusalem. It should be noted Thich Naht Hahn would resist the idea that the fundamental worldview of Christianity and Buddhism are polarized. Viewed correctly, Thich Naht Hahn believes that both offer the same path to salvation. “Buddhists… [are] shocked to hear I had participated in the Eucharist, and many Christians seemed truly horrified.” (Hahn, 1997, p.2) Hahn believes that all religions are fundamentally the same and that taking the Eucharist with the correct mindset renders the ceremony equal to participating in a specifically demarcated Buddhist rite and sacred

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