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Religion and it’s Many Dimensions
Religion. This word has many different meanings to different people around the world. Some people view religion as one’s own personal spiritual beliefs and some people believe religion to be a source of corruption and cause of war. In no matter what way each religion is seen, in today’s society, they all have their own beginnings and sacred beliefs. It is important that each world religion is viewed in an unbiased manner. A way in which this can be done is to analyse a religion through Ninian Smart’s Seven Dimensions of Religion. These dimensions consist of the Ritual and Practical, Experimental and Emotional, Mythological or Narrative, Doctrinal and Philosophical, Ethical and Legal, Social and Institutional and the Material dimension. These dimensions, says Smart, help us to characterize religions as they are in the world today.
This paper examines both the Buddhism and Christian faith through four of the dimensions. This paper is divided into four parts. Firstly, both Buddhism and Christianity are explored through the Mythological and Narrative dimension. The second outlines the two religions according to the Ritual and Practical dimension. The third part discusses both religions’ Doctrinal and Philosophical dimension. And finally, the fourth part details the Social and Intuitional dimension of both religions. To begin to understand each religion a brief description is necessary.
“Christianity is the religion of the followers of Jesus Christ. Christians believe Jesus to be the Son of God and whose coming was promised in the Old Testament of the Bible. Christians believe that, humankind has been in a state of sin ever since Adam and Eve disobeyed God. They believe that through his life death and resurrection, Jesus brought his followers salvation from this sinful state.” (Wilkinson, pg. 87) Wilkinson describes the Buddhism faith as follows; Buddhists are followers of the Buddha, who showed people how to free themselves from the cycle of death and rebirth through achieving enlightenment. In doing so, Wilkinson continues, he taught his disciples the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path, which combines moral teaching with guidelines in meditation and concentration.”
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The mythological or narrative dimension is the story element of the religion. Every single religion has handed down stories by devotees, generation to generation, that tell of the religion’s beginnings; prominent people of the faith; predictions for the future; lessens to be learnt in life, etc.
Both Buddhist and Christian faiths have their own stories, some are more significant than others and some have bigger roles in the faith’s rituals and practices.
The most significant story within Buddhism would be that of its founder, Gautama Buddha. Although the original Buddhism faith had little interest in Buddha himself, his search for enlightenment was the beginning of the Buddhism faith, and therefore his story is of most importance.
Buddha was born into a high-ranking Indian family. Later in life he married and bore a son, yet he left his family to “seek an enlightened state, Nirvana,” (Gosling, pg. 75). After he became enlightened, the Buddha taught others how to live so that they too one day could attain enlightenment. According to the legend, both thunder and an earthquake accompanied Buddha’s death and the sal trees on either side of him bloomed out of season. “Details of the events maybe gleamed mainly from the Mahâvastu, the GREAT EVENT which is in the Pâli narratives known as the Aariyapariyesana Sutta (the discourse of the Noble Quest), the Mahâsacceka Sutta (the great discourse to Sacceca) and the Mahâvagga which analyses the Buddha’s enlightenment. (Gosling, pg.76)
Unlike Buddhism, Christianity has a story of creation. It is believed that God created the world in six days. Adam and Eve, the first two humans created on the sixth day, caused “the original sin” by disobeying God in the Garden of Eden.
The most significant story within the Christian faith is the life of Jesus Christ. Jesus was born on the 5th of December to Mary and Joseph, as a result of an immaculate conception. Later in Jesus’ life he performed many miracles on those who were deemed unfortunate. These miracles were believed to be the work of God. During his life, Jesus spent a total of forty days and forty nights fasting through the desert where he faced many a temptation by the evil Devil. When he returned to his people and his closest followers, the twelve disciples, he was condemned to death by his enemies. On the night before his crucifixion he shared a supper with his twelve disciples. Today this supper plays a very important part in any Christian Mass. Jesus was crucified on a cross and died. Yet he rose from the dead three days later.
The birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ are documented in detail in the new testament of the Bible, Christianity’s holiest of texts. There are many stories from the old and New Testament that are significant to the Christian faith, such as the story of creation, the story of Moses and the Ten Commandments, Noah’s Ark and the many teaching s of Jesus. Many of the stories of the history of Christianity play a central role in Christian rituals, ceremonies, festivals, prayers and beliefs.
All traditions have practices and rituals to which they adhere too. This dimension, says Smart, is particularly important to faiths of a strongly sacramental kind, such as the Christian faith. Behaviours practiced in the faith are also important in reaching spiritual awareness or insight such yoga and meditation within the Buddhist faith. I will firstly explore t practices and rituals of Buddhism.
Buddhists practices and rituals differ from one school to another, yet they all include honouring the Buddha. The main rituals within the Buddhist faith include prayers, alms, offerings and prostration. Prayers maybe offered to the Buddha and/or Bodhisattvas (those who have achieved enlightenment). Unlike Christian prayers, which usually ask God for something, Buddhist prayers are said join inner thoughts with good forces to attain good merit. Prayers are often said through meditation. Meditation plays an important part in the Buddhist religion. While meditating the Buddha attained enlightenment. Buddhists consider meditation to be the main way to achieve Nirvana. Meditation includes two stages, samatha, which develops concentration, and vipassana, which leads to insight.
Alms are another way in which Buddhists attempt to gain good merit by donating “alms” to the monks and nuns that live in poverty. Alms commonly come in the form of food and clothing. Offerings such as flowers, candles, and incense are presented to the shrines and temples. All offering, offered by Buddhists have a significant meaning. Although Buddha is not seen as a God by the Buddhist people, they still honour him by bowing, kneeling and prostrating themselves before his image. Buddhists also honour Buddha in a more sacred and spectacular way during special holy days and festivals.
Buddhists celebrate many festivals, and just as Christians celebrate holy days and festivals relating to the life of Jesus, Buddhists celebrate holy days and festivals that follow the life of the Buddha. Wilkinson says that festivals, within Buddhism are usually quiet and restrained events. There are several important times of the year within the Buddhism faith. These include Wesak Day, which celebrates the birth, enlightenment and the death of Buddha, Uposatha Days, which are related to the phases of the moon, and other significant days in the lunar calendar “Uposatha” means entering to stay and
Asalha. “During the rainy season, or Asalha, Buddha is said to have accended to heaven and taught the Dharma to the gods.” (Wilkinson, pg. 6)
Unlike Buddhism, Christianity offers devotees a more strict and routine method in which to worship Jesus and God. Common to all of the Christian churches is the weekly gathering of the congregation, or mass, at a church or cathedral. The congregation, says Wilkinson, listens to the sermon, readings, stands to sing hymns, and kneel to pray. During the mass, devotees receive the Eucharist, symbolizing the Body of Christ. After the Eucharist the devotee thanks Jesus for dying to cleanse the sins of humankind and shares any personal thoughts that they have.
There are several important ceremonies called sacraments that take place the church they are baptism (celebrating the first time a devotee enters the church, usually at birth), the Eucharist (the first time a devotee receives the body of Christ), marriage (the union of husband and wife) and Unction (the last rites to those who are dying).
There are many holy days that are held sacred by Christians all over the world. Some of these days celebrate the lives of saints, special times of the year or the days before or after Christmas and Easter. Christmas falls on the 5th of December and celebrates the birth of Jesus. Good Friday commemorates the death of Jesus and Easter marks the day that Jesus rose from the dead.
During these holy days, Christians of all the different churches, commemorate the occasion in slightly different ways. They all, however, include the narratives of the Christian history in the celebrations. These narratives are the basis for the doctrines and philosophies of Christianity.
The doctrines of any religion are based on its narratives. Smart comments that, doctrines come to play a significant part in all the major religions, partly because, sooner or later a faith has to adapt to social reality and so that much of the leadership is well educated and seeks some kind of intellectual statement of the basis of the faith.
Buddhism, as similar to other Indian religions, views life as a continuous “cycle of birth, death and rebirth”(Wilkinson, pg. 60) known as samsara. All that are living are involved in the cycle and cannot be released until they attain Nirvana. When they reach Nirvana they are free from the cycle and experience freedom after death.
Every aspect of a Buddhist’s life is related to karma. Their actions in this life will ultimately decide their future existence. Bad actions gain bad karma and result in an unfavourable rebirth. Yet acting in a moral way and by building good merit makes it more possible for a favourable rebirth. Apart from following the Eightfold Path and understanding the Four Noble Truths, lay Buddhists can gain good merit by supporting their local monks, either by sponsoring them or donating food or clothing.
Wilkinson says that those who practice Buddhism aim to have a full understanding of the Four Noble Truths. She continue to explain the Four Noble Truths; “firstly, all existence involves suffering; the origin of the suffering lies in desire and ignorance; by eliminating desire and ignorance, suffering can be destroyed; and finally release from the suffering can be achieved by following the Eight Fold Path.
To conquer suffering, Buddhists follow the Eight Fold Path. The path includes right understanding, right thought, right speech, right behaviour, right occupation, right effort, right contemplation and right concentration. By following and acknowledging the Four Noble Truths and the Eight Fold Path, Buddhists choose to accept both the law of the universe and the teachings of the Buddha, known as the Dharma. Lay Buddhists are guided by the monks, the authorities of Buddhism, to live in a way that complies with Dharma.
In a sense, Buddhism knows no authority; every human is responsible for his or her actions and suffers the consequences of these acts. The biggest division of all Buddhists is between the monks and lay Buddhists. Buddhist monks are teachers and exemplars, offering spiritual guidance to the lay Buddhists, “and in no sense intermediates between reality and the individual.” (Hattstein, pg.7) In return, for spiritual guidance, the community donates food and clothing to the monks. Christianity differs from Buddhism in this respect, as Christians donate money to their priests.
The main task for the Buddhist monks is to preserve and practice the teachings of the Buddha. Buddhists monks, just like Christian priests have a responsibility to the society. They counsel devotees through times of difficulty and advise them on the best form of conduct that adheres to their faith, as do Christian priests.
Just like there are Christian schools, there are also Buddhists schools. These schools are run by Buddhist monks to teach the youths of the community, the teachings of Buddha.
Tibetan Buddhism has the most tradition religious hierarchy. The Dalai Lama is the most powerful leader. Next in line are many other members of the Buddhist hierarchy, each with their own important rank. All members are “considered incarnations of Buddhists saints.” (Lachs � internet)
Christians believe in one Supreme God that is approached through prayer, generally only in times of emergency. Christians believe that God inhabits Heaven. Yet it is believed that Heaven is “both a state of mind and a place.” (Wilkinson, pg. ) Only those who have asked for forgiveness of their sins and lived appropriately will reach Heaven. Those who have lived a life in sin will go to Hell, a place of punishment and torment.
Sources of authority help to guide Christians away from a life of sin. The Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican Church have representatives called priests. A priest is generally a man who has devoted his life to the Church, just like a Buddhist monk. He delivers the sermon to the congregation (the group of devotees), in a church of cathedral. Above the rank of a priest is a Bishop. The Protestant Church has bishops, though not priests. All Bishops are equal in power. The Protestant Church places more importance on the words of the bible and little on church traditions. The Pope is the leader of the Roman Catholic Church and is said to be Jesus Christ’s representative or ‘vicar’ on Earth. The Orthodox Church rejects the Pope, as it sees all Bishops as equal to one another, and instead has a group of leaders known as the Patriarch.
There are many churches within Christian faith. These include the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Methodist, Baptist, Protestant, Pentecostalism, Evangelicalism, Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Coptic, several African Churches and many more others. All believe in the word
To understand a faith it is essential to know how it works among its people. Every faith is embodied in a group of people and that is very often formally organized as a Sangha in Buddhism or a Church in Christianity.
Smart says “the social dimension of a religion includes not only the mass of persons but also the outstanding individuals through whose features glimmer old and new thought of the heaven towards which they aspire.
Within the Buddhist religion, rituals and worship will vary slightly from country to country. Countries such as Sri Lanka, Burma, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand predominately practice Theravadâ Buddhism. Theravadâ Buddhists seek to become arahats, or saints and believe that one can only attain Nirvana if they are part of the monastic community. Whereas Mahâyâna Buddhism, which is practiced primarily in China, Tibet, Nepal, Vietnam, Korea and Japan, believe that enlightenment may be achieved by anyone. “They also believe that in the future another Buddha will come and revive Buddhist teachings.” (Wilkinson, pg. 5)
“The Buddhist community does not conduct regular services,” (Hattstein, pg. 7) like the Christian faith. This type of worship is seen as unimportant to the majority of Buddhist faiths. Instead, the lay people act in a way to gain merit. Gaining merit can be done by visiting any of the relic shrines or Pagodas. Whilst visiting these places, Buddhists may show their devotion by, “offering appropriate substances (incense, oil, lamps, candles, water, even food or clothing), paying respect by act or gesture, especially prostration; services by cleaning, adorning or embellishing, chanting � all these things give merit.” (Cousins, pg. 11)
There are Christians, just as there are Buddhists, all over the world who belong to the different churches. These include
Cousins, S. (184). Handbook of Living Religions. (J.R. Hinnells, Editor) London Viking
Gosling, L. (00). Religions. (J.Bowker, Editor) East Sussex Cambridge University Press
Hattstein, M. (1). World Religions. Hong Kong Könemann
Wilkinson, P. (1). Illustrated Dictionary of Religions. London Dorling Kindersley
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