BUDDHISM: Rituals AND Festivals ☸
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TEXT TO SELF
TEXT TO WORLD
Sources: Page 270-271 & Page 266 World Religions a Canadian Catholic perspective https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Buddhism https://lanka.com/events/kandy-esala-perahera/
Buddhism is a religion of eastern and central Asia growing out of the teaching of Siddhārtha Gautama : that suffering is inherent in life and that one can be liberated from it by cultivating wisdom, virtue, and concentration. Buddhist's have many rituals and festivals which serve different purposes in their lives such as rituals to celebrate different milestones at a specific point in one Buddhist's life, death/birth rituals to celebrate or mourn life or death and rituals to help Buddhist's achieve enlightenment including Meditation. Buddhist's also worship and partake in festivals intended on commemorating the history of Buddhism itself.
OBJECTIVE
Identify and describe theme using credible resources
to answer the 5W’s and H and it’s significance.
TEXT TO FAITH
OBJECTIVE Compare theme to Abrahamic Faiths (i.e. practices, beliefs, historical figures/founders etc.).
In Buddhism, many of their beliefs and core values can be somewhat compared to those of the Abrahamic faiths (Judaism, Christianity & Islam). To start off, each religion has their own figure that they pray towards and/or worship. Buddhist's admire the buddha (the enlightened one) where they try their best to mirror the life of buddha through their practices such as meditation, periods silence and scripture study. This is the same for Christians and islams where they admire and try to mirror the life of Jesus Christ or Muhammad. For each religion, they value morals over all, and good deeds are 100% rewarded in the afterlife. Forms of worship also exist for each religion, just in different forms. Meditation, prayer, extensive fasting are just a few examples of dedication and worship towards their respective god's/figures.
OBJECTIVE Analyze a pop culture media source which portrays or illustrates your topic theme (I.e. contemporary popular movie, song, poem, play, etc.).
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OBJECTIVE Reflect on how we are called to dialogue with religions of Asia and provide examples of how you can or you already do dialogue with peoples of Asian religions.
We are called to dialogue with all religions as dialogue leads to a peaceful global state. We must make an effort to not focus on the differences people of Islamic, Christian, Jewish, Buddhist or no faith but instead we must learn to forgive and unite as a whole to obtain a close community amongst each other. To accomplish this, we must be sensitive to each other's thoughts, religious practices and opinions and we could make an effort to learn from each other to understand why each religion does what they do. For example, if you're christian you could become friend's with someone who believes in Buddhism and ask questions to further understand their respected religion. This can help you and the other person create a bond as you both now understand each other and do not fear your differences, but are fond of each other's similarities!
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Death rituals are important . A dying Buddhist is visited by Monks, who offer comfort by chanting verses from scriptures. Buddhist's believe in reincarnation which means that until somebody achieves enlightenment/nirvana, death is the finish line of a life and the start of another. Buddhist's believe in Merit, like a record of good impact they have made in life. This is taken with them into the next life through some funeral rituals where a cup is filled until it overflows, symbolic of the buildup in this life which will spill into the next. Birth is a time of celebration. Rituals may vary. Some new borns are taken to temples to be blessed. Melting of candle wax into a bowl symbolizes the union of earth, air, fire, water and sky. The 3 jewels are recited for the child.
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Many festivals are celebrated on a full moon, which is a sign of power for Buddhist's. Annual rituals include
- Vesak where monks gather to celebrate the birth of the father of Buddhism. 2. Asalha Puja is a Buddhist festival which celebrates the beginning of the Buddha's teaching. observed on the full moon of the eighth month in lunar calendar. 3. Esala Perahara known as The Festival of the Tooth is a grand festival celebrated with elegant costumes and is held in July and August in Kandy which commemorates after Buddha's death where his tooth was placed in a temple in Kandy.a colourful procession carries the tooth throughout the city, many people go to kandy to celebrate.
Sources: My own thoughts
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If a person holds oneself dear, let one watch oneself carefully. The wise should be watchful during at least one of the three watches. Let each person first direct oneself to what is right; then let one teach others; thus the wise will not suffer.
If a person makes oneself as one teaches others to be, then being well-controlled, that one might guide others,
since self-control is difficult. Self is the master of self;
who else could be the master? With self well-controlled
a person finds a master such as few can find. The wrong done by oneself, born of oneself,
produced by oneself, crushes the fool, just as a diamond breaks even a precious stone. The one whose vice is great brings oneself down
to that condition where one's enemy wishes one to be, just as a creeper overpowers the entangled sala tree.
Bad actions and actions harmful to ourselves are easy to do; what is beneficial and good, that is very difficult to do.
The fool who scorns the teaching of the saintly, the noble, and the virtuous, and follows wrong ideas, bears fruit to one's own destruction,
like the fruits of the katthaka reed. By oneself is wrong done; by oneself one suffers; by oneself is wrong left undone; by oneself is one purified.
Purity and impurity come from oneself; no one can purify another. Let no one neglect one's own duty for the sake of another's, however great; let a person after one has discerned one's own duty, be always attentive to this duty.
This soothing poem highlighted the many aspects of self. The main point i took out of it was to watch yourself carefully, always have good morals and to live with love. Immoral actions that we do to ourselves or others are easy to perform but what is truly righteous and moral can be hard to do at times, that is why we should take the time to deeply look into ourselves and evaluate each decision we make. If we listen to our heart, mind and soul we can control what we do in our lives for the better.
There is no obligation for Buddhists to marry and most Buddhists believe marriage is a choice. As long as they are both happy to do so, Buddhists are allowed to cohabit . As a result, Buddhists do not have any formal teachings on what the marriage ceremony should consist of.Buddhists are expected to follow the civil laws regarding marriage laid out by their respective governments. While the ceremony itself is civil, many Buddhists obtain the blessing from monks at the local temple after the marriage is completed.