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Traditions and rituals of Buddhism
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In the scope of Buddhism, and in religion in general, rituals are very important. When defining faith, the easiest ways to do so are to look at scriptures, material objects, and rituals. In Buddhism there is a wide variety of rituals practiced by a large group of people; however, I found interest in the lesser known, less popular rituals. One such ritual which grabbed my attention was self-immolation, specifically auto-cremation. Especially with the protests in Vietnam against the government led by Ngo Dinh Diem that oppressed the Buddhists there, auto-cremation is an important Buddhist tradition that people underestimate the historical and religious importance of. The ritual of auto-cremation can tell us a great deal about the range of Buddhist rituals as well as the social and political context in which it was practiced concerning the relationships between religion and state as well as monastics and laypeople.
Rituals are a significant aspect of Buddhist life. There is no one type of ritual in Buddhism and their level of importance range with their type. Various types of rituals include: going for refuge; offering homage to the Buddha or other important Buddhist teachers, teachings or areas of life; making offerings; confessing faults, precept ceremonies; calling on spiritual forces for support; blessings; dedications of merit; rites of passage; and initiations or ordinations. (Zheng 21) The importance of any of these rituals in Buddhism is paramount. The rituals in this religion are interwoven with the daily life of the Buddhist. They express many of the dimensions of the human condition: from our relationships with others to our spiritual life.
Many rituals are meant to be transformative, turning the ordinary into some...
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The Lotus Sutra: A Contemporary Translation of a Buddhist Classic. Trans. Gene Reeves. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2008. Print.
Tsomo, Karma Lekshe. Into the Jaws of Yama, Lord of Death: Buddhism, Bioethics, and Death. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2006. Print.
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With guidance from principle beliefs and the XIVth Dalai Lama, Buddhist bioethics and the devotional practice of Temple Puja have an impact of high significance on individuals, and the Buddhist community in ultimately, guiding the life of the adherent to achieve total enlightenment. As the modern figurehead for Buddhism, the XIVth Dalai Lama has contributed to the formulation and reassessment of the Buddhist approach to ethical issues.
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This paper is a comparison between two very different religions. Specifically Christianity and Buddhism. Coming from opposite sides of the globe these two religions could not be any farther apart in any aspect. I will discuss who Christ is for Christians and who Buddha is for Buddhists. I will also get into the aspects of charity, love, and compassion in both religions and I will be looking at the individual self and how christians see resurrection where the buddhists feel about the afterlife. One thing to keep in mind is that the two religions are very different but they seem to have a very similar underlying pattern. Both believe that there was a savior of their people, Buddha and Christ, and both believe that there is something good that happens to us when our time is done here on earth. This is a very generalized summarization but in order to go in to depth I need to explain the two religions more to fully convey this theory.
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The Heart Sutra can be divided into different parts. Following the work of Lordo, I parse it into four main parts. The first section is the Introduction, consisting of two phrases that constitute a dedication, a declaration and a demonstration of dependency. The de...
Malcolm Browne’s photo The Burning Monk challenges the ethics of protest, more specifically the ideas of self-immolation and thanatopolitics. The photo draws to question the ethics of thanatopolitical self-sacrifice and breaks down into two ethical perspectives. Perspective one, the self-immolation of the monk represents a dead man in a living body being put to rest, protesting the persecution of Buddhism evoking strong emotion and bringing attention to the issue. Perspective two, the practice of self-immolation only brings to light a problem for nothing to be done, emotions provoked by the practice overcome the practical thinking of those affected, the guilt felt by those affected only serves as guilt and nothing more, self-immolation is an
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Rituals are an important part of Buddhist practice, dating back to the times of Buddha himself . Rituals can be practiced in a variety of ways from precept ceremonies to initiations and ordinations. In Shan tradition, the initial ordination ceremony of a monk is called the paui sang long and is an elaborate festivity that is important for sustaining the sangha . It is important because without the ceremony there would be no new monks joining the sangha, causing it to shrink and eventually die out. Similar to other religions, over time rituals, lessons, and text in Buddhism get reinterpreted and sometimes misrepresented. The paui sang long ceremony is no different, as it too has been used for reasons other than its initial purpose. The paui
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