Mahayana Buddhism - Buddhahood For Everyone
The Mahayana, or "Great Vehicle", is a school of Buddhism that changes the style, the tone and the content of Buddhist practice in profound ways. It opens up the practice of Buddhahood to lay people as well as to monks and nuns. It also involves a far more extended vision of the cosmos than anything that came before. The Mahayana movement emerged in the Indian Buddhist community around the beginning of the Common Era. Eventually, the Mahayana spread to China, Tibet, Japan, Korea and Vietnam. The name Mahayana comes from the literature of the movement itself. Mahayana texts refer to themselves as a great vehicle, in contrast to what they call the Hinayana, or lesser vehicle, that preceded it. The...
Is Buddhism a Religion?
Buddhism is a teaching which has spread worldwide absorbing the culture of each country it arrived in, which has resulted in many expressions of Buddhism. Each strand, no matter how varied in nature and practice, holds a common emphasis on the impermanence of human life. The worldwide spread of Buddhism means that it is now practiced by over three hundred million people worldwide, and thus, is generally considered to be a world religion. However, its authenticity as a religion has often come under scrutiny by intellectuals in the Western world. To explore whether Buddhism can in fact be counted as a religion we must acknowledge that the main problems arise when looking for a definition of what a...
Brief History of Tibetan Thangka Painting
Thangka painting is an ancient Tibetan Buddhist art form, which has been practised in Tibet for much more than one thousand years. Thangka, simply is the Tibetan word for painting. In the paintings of this Tibetan Buddhist art form the many and various deities and venerable teachers such as the historical Lord Buddha Shakyamuni are shown. These images inspire through their beauty, but also, a painted deity is a visual support for those practising meditation. The origins of Thangka painting go back to Lord Buddha Shakyamuni and stretch even further beyond into the past. Lord Buddha lived about 2600 years ago in India, where He taught the Holy Dharma to a large following and also instructed...
Tiger Woods Religion is Buddhism - Who Knew?
In case you didn't see today's Tiger Woods "press conference", it was an interesting event to say the least. Tiger came out and definitely spoke from what appeared to be his heart - that is if we can believe him after his lies of the past. While I've heard that he followed Buddhism that his mom taught him, today was the first time I've heard him bring up the topic on his own. Until today, I thought Tiger's religion, or religions, were golf and making money so this new religion was interesting to hear from my perspective. Obviously Tiger isn't the first athlete to bring up his religion as a means to remove himself from a difficult situation. However, he might be the first US athlete to bring up...
Hinduism, Buddhism, Paganism and Organized Religion in the East
China and India are pagan, a word which I deprecate if it is understood to imply inferiority but which if used in a descriptive and respectful sense is very useful. Christianity and Islam are organized religions. They say (or rather their several sects say) that they each not only possess the truth but that all other creeds and rites are wrong. But paganism is not organized: it rarely presents anything like a church united under one head: still more rarely does it condemn or interfere with other religions unless attacked first. Buddhism stands between the two classes. Like Christianity and Islam it professes to teach the only true law, but unlike them it is exceedingly tolerant and many Buddhists...
World Religion Studies Online
Online schools offer courses in World Religion Studies that are designed to broaden religious and cultural perspectives. Several historic religious traditions and belief systems will be investigated in an effort to develop understanding of civilizations that existed throughout various periods of history in various parts of the world. Diverse religious philosophies of various religions will be viewed in World Religion Studies with an eye toward historic and cultural development with the understanding that fundamental human orientations at critical periods of history provided opportunities for diverse development. Students of World Religion Studies will able to consider social structures of today with...
Mankind's Search For God - World Religion Book-Review
This 384-page book features a detailed review of the major religions of the world, exploring the various ways of worship, cultural background, lands and peoples. It reviews the seemingly instinctual and universal need to worship, that seems to be present in all cultures, as well as the various forms through history in which that need has manifested itself. Primitive religions such as animism, as well as the history to modern day practice of Hinduism, including Yoga are considered, as well as Hinduism development into Buddhism. Other Oriental religions such as Taoism and Confucianism are also considered. A small section also describes the Sikh religion. The various forms of Judaism are discussed...
History of the East Asian Religions
East Asian religions have quite a lot of principles in common. For example, they emphasize unity in almost all things and the relation of every living being on the planet to the nature and its surroundings. Amongst all East Asian Religions, Confucianism and Taoism have gained the most dominance. These were in fact the most ancient religions in China and East Asia. Although, today, Buddhism is quite commonly practiced, Buddhism actually came from India and spread into East Asia in the later centuries. Taoism Taoism is mainly considered to be founded by Lao-Tse, a contemporary of Confucius. In search for peace, solutions against constant feudal wars and various conflicts in Lao-Tse's life led him to...