Viewing Buddhism Through Christian Eyes
“The true meaning of the precepts is not just that one should refrain from drinking alcohol, but also from getting drunk on nirvana.” Bassui. Just one of the inspirational quotes that were preached to me over my past experiences of the religion known as Buddhism. As a Christian (Baptist) you usually overlook other views on what their persona consist of in their religion, but I took the time to pursue this informational faith. The time spent growing up being raised as a Christian comes with its benefits and its downsides. In schools I was teased about having a faith, criticized about my beliefs. Seeing as though Christianity is the number one religion in the United States there will always be certain amount of criticism you will receive but as a person who has a faith you keep with it. Speaking on faith is not hard but comparing two totally different ones might be more of the challenge I was looking for in showing interest in the belief of Buddhism.
First on the list of things to be brought to discussion would be my experience with my Buddhist encounter. Having a friend that is a Buddhist really helped me. Without asking to many questions or offending her feelings toward her religion, immediate question I came forth with was “what is a Buddhist and what is it that you represent as a Buddhist.” Buddhist basically believes in the practice of reincarnation, the thought that when you die you are reborn into what your past life replicated. To say I was a mean angry person that did wrong I would be reincarnated as something not formidable such as an ant or something not considered that big of a specimen, but if good was done in my pass life I would possibly be blessed to become things such as a human, or lion something on top of the chain. Three practices were preached attending the Buddhist sermon. Sila which is Virtue, good conduct, morality, Samadhi that goes with meditation and Prajna that belongs to wisdom, and enlightenment. It was explained vividly what Buddhist believed in but until then my knowledge was that there were only one form of Buddhism and Buddhist, I was terribly informed. The information given let me know there were other forms and other branches of Buddhism just like my Christianity faith.
The Essay on Buddhist Fundamentals True Religion
... is also interested in the Buddhist religion Or perhaps it is because they find the idea of Buddhism exotic and therefore appealing. ... the Tibetans were no longer allowed to practice Buddhism as their faith. Another example is that the Dalai Lama has ... of that particular religion. According to Eliade someone with a Christian upbringing cannot fully understand the concepts that Buddhism presents. If we ...
The first meeting with my Nichiren Buddhism friend was held in a Jigo, as a church member this is what they called their temple. My senses were amazingly being put to work as soon as I steeped foot in this outstanding place. The things seen were almost similar to a church but had various different objects such as a huge bell, scrolls, incense it was even set up much like church assorted in rows and chairs. They even had ushers like they would in a church home. Walking in it smells as though incense have been burning in this place since it was built, the smell would ravish through your mind as quickly as possible. Eight in the morning the doors to the temple would close and the commence of the bell ringing started three times It was rung. The alter of this place could have been twice the size of a Christian alter, on this there is a scroll called the “Dai-Gohonzon.” On the Dai-Gohonzon you see black calligraphy down the middle it translates to a chant phrase, the ultimate law the truth of the universe “nam myoho renge kyo.” Which was chanted as soon as the bell stop ringing, to get the full effect of this religion I thought as though I would have to get in tune with my inner self so joining in on the chant was no fall back for me. Entering this temple the Buddhist laws were explained to me, this chant individually meant the law of casualty is the universal principle underlining all visible and invisible phenomenon and things that take place in daily living. During the meeting the Buddhist explained the meaning of each word of the nam myoho renge kyo breaks down word for word.
The Essay on Catholic church experience
Christianity today is one of the dominant religions in the world. Christianity has a variety of beliefs, exercises and forms, despite the many denominations all have one common belief, which is faith in Jesus Christ and that He is our Lord and Savior. I am a strong believer in God and Jesus Christ. I am of the Christian religion and the church I attend in The Bahamas is a non-denominational one. ...
After all the information giving to me comparing the Buddhist now and Buddhist then it is very surprising that similar things are still done this day and age the founder of this form of Buddhism was formally known as Nichiren. Nichiren believed that Buddha’s followers should learn in more simple and direct ways other than learning complex practices. The time spent learning about this religion profoundly was very interesting on several levels. It was said during the sermon I attended some of his followers considered him to be a Buddha himself feeling as though he was more prolific in his teachings than the Buddha in historical times. Reviewing this and my relationship with Christianity the views of these religions are semi different in as many ways you can imagine. Christianity in forms and sections I belong to the Baptist side.
Baptist believes in the cleansing of the soul through baptism after a person expresses their beliefs in the birth, death, and re-birth of Jesus Christ. God created the heavens and earth in six days and on the seventh day he rested. Also you can include other visual property’s such as biblical practices, being separated from state and being one with church, and having two offices of pastor and deacon. Corinthians chapter eight verse 5 through six “To us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things.. and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things.” Growing into my religion and my faith I became more informed on the things that were expected of me in my denomination. Being a Christian growing up for others probably was more on the easy side, but in my case it was incredibly an impatient religion. My religion compared to the Nichiren both faiths could be contested by others.
Unlike the Buddhist Jigo my church home walking in smelled like a regular building with the hint of flowers. Sermons would usually start at nine which included morning classes first to learn more about the topic the preacher preached about before he started, and the word which came shortly after. This is where the preacher stands in front of the congregation and enlightens us on things that we may not know or may not know much about. In my Christian religion there are countless amounts of information that you might have looked over but couldn’t grasp as tight as the preacher who is and should be trained to do as much. His assistants are the deacons of the church. The deacons are basically his followers just as Christ had, they do as he does they act as he does. Deacons train every day because one day the preacher resides from his position and he chooses and worthy deacon to make the next step in his journey and in his path to become the preacher of the present church or to branch off and to show what he has been taught by his mentor.
The Essay on Muslim Doctrines God Religions Things
Muslim Doctrines The Islamic belief is one of the the largest in the world. The other two religions are Christianity and Judaism. All three of these religions are monotheistic, which means they all believe in one God. And they all also believe in the same God. While the other two religions may call God, God, the Muslims do not. They refer to God as Allah. The word Islam means to surrender. It ...
In conclusion I feel as though the Nichiren Buddhist came from a different angle than my fellow Christian brothers and sisters. Nichiren believed that one thing constitutes all of the true teachings of the Buddha, the Lotus Sutra. In my faith I believe that Jesus Christ was born and died for my sins. Looking at these two denominations, they show some similar physical attributes with the new profound temple that Buddhist use and are own temple church homes but mentally, and spiritually you can see how they differ. My intentions learning about Buddhism were successful like I thought it would be, but I wouldn’t change religions for nothing in this world.