Buddhism is considered a faith because they do not actually believe in a ‘God’ and does not believe in worshipping a ‘Creator God’, instead, they choose to follow a ‘path’. In this path they try to gain an insight into the true nature of reality through spiritual development and practice. Buddhist practices and spiritual developments are means of changing yourself to develop qualities of: awareness, kindness and wisdom. The goal of the Buddhist spiritual life is to represent the end of all suffering for anyone or anything that attains it. Buddhism is a faith that accepts basically anyone disregard of race, gender, sexuality or other beliefs. There are 3 branches of Buddhism; Vajrayana, Mahayana and Theravada(K.Simmons, 2014). Though a bit different, they all follow the same path and way of life and have the same important rituals.
Buddhism, like most world religions/faiths, has rituals (practices), teachings and traditions. Common Buddhist rituals include; meditation, mantras, and mudras(ReligionFacts, 2014). They also go to Buddhist temples whenever they can. Special rituals, like the ones of the Theravada branch have, include Sangha. This ritual, similar to a Bar Mitzvah to the Jewish, happens once a young Buddhist turns 12 or 13 years of age. They go to a Buddhist temple and recite Buddhist teachings(K.Simmons, 2014). They also have prayer 2-3 times per day, usually morning, noon and night times. As well as other religions, Buddhists have teachings that affect their ethical and moral understanding(The Buddhist Centre, 2014).
The basic bases of Buddhist teachings are: nothing is ever fixed/permanent, actions have consequences and change is possible. These are the bases of ‘The Five Precepts’ that Buddhist live by (like a moral code). The first of the five precepts is ‘Not killing or causing harm to other living beings’. This is the fundamental ethical principle for Buddhism and the other precepts are elaborations of this. The second is ‘Not taking the not-given’, which basically means no stealing, which is a common moral practice throughout all religions. The third is ‘Avoiding sexual misconduct’ which means not causing harm to oneself or others when considering sexual activity. The fourth is ‘Avoiding false speech’. Buddhists value truthfulness, so naturally one of their morals is no lying. The last precept is ‘Abstaining from drink and drugs that cloud the mind’. Mindfulness and awareness are qualities to be developed the Buddha’s path, and experience shows that taking intoxicating drink or drugs tends to run directly counter to this. By following these teachings and ethics, Buddhists believe that they are closer to being one with Buddha(C.Erricker, 2008).
Buddhists believe that at least once in your life, Buddha will come see you in a dream. They hope that in following the rituals and morals of the Buddhist faith, that they will become closer to Buddha and have maybe more than once experience with him(K.Simmons, 2014). Though, and this goes for all religions, experience in a religion/faith doesn’t always mean ‘encountering’ the person you believe in, in this case Buddha, whether physically or spiritually. In fact, just by doing the rituals and following the morals, you will already have a lot of experiences, both spiritually and physically.
Buddhism, like most world religions/faiths, has rituals (practices), teachings and traditions. Common Buddhist rituals include; meditation, mantras, and mudras(ReligionFacts, 2014). They also go to Buddhist temples whenever they can. Special rituals, like the ones of the Theravada branch have, include Sangha. This ritual, similar to a Bar Mitzvah to the Jewish, happens once a young Buddhist turns 12 or 13 years of age. They go to a Buddhist temple and recite Buddhist teachings(K.Simmons, 2014). They also have prayer 2-3 times per day, usually morning, noon and night times. As well as other religions, Buddhists have teachings that affect their ethical and moral understanding(The Buddhist Centre, 2014).
The basic bases of Buddhist teachings are: nothing is ever fixed/permanent, actions have consequences and change is possible. These are the bases of ‘The Five Precepts’ that Buddhist live by (like a moral code). The first of the five precepts is ‘Not killing or causing harm to other living beings’. This is the fundamental ethical principle for Buddhism and the other precepts are elaborations of this. The second is ‘Not taking the not-given’, which basically means no stealing, which is a common moral practice throughout all religions. The third is ‘Avoiding sexual misconduct’ which means not causing harm to oneself or others when considering sexual activity. The fourth is ‘Avoiding false speech’. Buddhists value truthfulness, so naturally one of their morals is no lying. The last precept is ‘Abstaining from drink and drugs that cloud the mind’. Mindfulness and awareness are qualities to be developed the Buddha’s path, and experience shows that taking intoxicating drink or drugs tends to run directly counter to this. By following these teachings and ethics, Buddhists believe that they are closer to being one with Buddha(C.Erricker, 2008).
Buddhists believe that at least once in your life, Buddha will come see you in a dream. They hope that in following the rituals and morals of the Buddhist faith, that they will become closer to Buddha and have maybe more than once experience with him(K.Simmons, 2014). Though, and this goes for all religions, experience in a religion/faith doesn’t always mean ‘encountering’ the person you believe in, in this case Buddha, whether physically or spiritually. In fact, just by doing the rituals and following the morals, you will already have a lot of experiences, both spiritually and physically.