As Buddhism spread from India to China beginning in the first century C. E., it had many different and varying responses. Many Chinese accepted Buddhism and defended its policies while others criticized Buddhism’s absence from past texts and used it as a scapegoat for political and social problems. Still others remained indifferent, wishing to meld the aspects of belief systems in China to create a unique Chinese culture. Documents 2 and 3 defend and support Buddhism in China, while documents 4 and 6 criticize it and discourage its spread. Documents 1 and 5 neither encourage nor discourage the religion’s spread, but provide a different perspective on how it should be dealt with.
Document 3 shows questions that a scholar had and many more people could have had also. The questions reveal negative views that people might have had on Buddhism and argue why it is a religion full of wisdom that rejects worldly pleasures to bring joy. Both documents 2 and 3 support and encourage the spread of Buddhism in China. In document 1, we can find the four noble truths which was Buddha’s view of life and are basic beliefs of Buddhism. Buddha explains that life is sorrow and gives reasons why life is sorrow.
Ashoka Maurya first converted to Buddhism after witnessing a war with an enormous amount of bloodshed and cruelty, he wanted to have peace of mind so he accepted Buddhism. He became “enlightened” and wanted to spread his enlightenment with others so he sent missionaries, in forms of monks that lived in monasteries and taught the Buddhist’s beliefs, to different lands such as Central Asia and Sri Lanka. He hoped that if he sent the missionaries they would spread the religion, and others would convert. Just like Buddhism, Christianity also spread after the rulers of the Roman empire accepting and converting to Christianity. Constantine the great was the first emperor to embrace Christianity, he converted to gain the political support of the growing numbers of Christians in the empire.
APOL104-D55 4/27/15 Critical Thinking When looking at Christian worldview the main question is, is there a God? Now when looking at Buddhism, this question does not apply. Buddhism became a tradition that is passed down from a teacher to a student that is a set of pragmatic instructions and techniques for cultivating sanity and brilliance in us and our world (Shambhala International, 1994-2015). Question of Origin The question of origin is a tough question to answer when looking at Buddhism. They do not worship a God.
In Christianity people worship God. In the Buddhist religion they do not really have a God that they worship. Some of the Buddhist members worship the Buddha even though that is not what the Buddha wanted them to do. He really wanted them to follow his teachings to reach a life of no suffering. This religion is also different from Christianity because in services there is a minister and deacons that lead the service.
The two rules differed in very many ways. First, the Visigoth Kingdom had strong religious beliefs that governed their way of life (Collins, 2008). They were Arian Christians who held their religious beliefs intact wherever they went. The Tang dynasty, on the other hand, tried to practice Buddhism though it was a new religion. It, however, did not dominate their ways of living.
My Instructor walked us to the patient lounge and instantly a patient loudly introduced herself and began shaking everybody's hand. In my head, I thought- Violation #1- Patient cannot touch you, nor can you touch patient. But this patient was not dangerous at all- she was very friendly and quickly accepted to be interviewed by us. She was very thorough, opened up to us and was very
Majority of the documents were written by scholars or government officials, who were apart of the intellectual elite class. An additional source that provides a point of view from the majority of the population, the peasant class, would explain more on their reason to stay with the traditional Confucianism or convert to Buddhism and reflect the views within their class at the time. As Buddhism began to diffuse into China in the first century C.E., some had a positive reaction, thus accepting the religion and its beliefs, others had a negative reaction because Buddhist influence threaten government official’s power, while other had a neutral reaction that believed all aspects of religion should be respected. Some reacted positively towards the spread of Buddhism, thus, accepted the practices and beliefs of the religion. Document 1 is the first sermon that was preached by Buddha in the fifth century B.C.E.
OUTLINE Introduction Brief description of Buddism and Judaism How I was introduced to both religions Being raised jewish Buddhist monastery Body First Paragraph Detailed history of buddhism Buddha 4 sights 8 fold-path Second Paragraph Detailed history of Judaism Third Paragraph Compare the two Similarities Kind acts Don’t sin Forgiveness Differences 1 God vs Multiple Reincarnation Buddhism- Self improvement Buddhism does not try to gain followers Fourth Paragraph My experience with both religions Describe a Buddhist lesson I was at What I learned What I liked and didn’t like What did you learn about the people who participated in these events or acts of worship? Methodism- Describe a Sunday Service
Enlightenment: It’s Not What You Look For; It Might Be What You Find What, then, is this “enlightenment” that the Buddha found? Understand that the Buddhist world has been stuck with the word”enlightenment” for two-thousand-odd years. That has been very unfortunate, because the Buddha did not go out to look for enlightenment; He was not trying to “get a spiritual experience”. He went out to find the reason for birth, old age, decay, and death. In other words, to put it in Zen terminology, he had the first koan in existence: “Why is there misery in the world?