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Religious Experience

Religious Experience. Group Religious Experience. Festivals and Rituals. Group Religious Experience. There are very few festivals that occur at the same time for all Buddhist seeing that Buddhism extends into many nations and cultures. http://www.indiasite.com/gifs/lord-buddha.jpg.

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Religious Experience

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  1. Religious Experience

  2. Group Religious Experience Festivals and Rituals

  3. Group Religious Experience • There are very few festivals that occur at the same time for all Buddhist seeing that Buddhism extends into many nations and cultures. http://www.indiasite.com/gifs/lord-buddha.jpg

  4. Theravada Buddhism • Vesak • “Buddha Day” • Magha Puja • Beginning of the Rain Retreat http://www.khenchenrinpoche.org/DSCN4222.jpg

  5. Mahayana Buddhism • Vesak • Also very important in Mahayana Buddhism • Parinirvana • Celebration of the Bodhisattva Kuan Yin • The Buddhist New Year

  6. Tibetan Buddhism • Losar • New Years Day • Monlam • The Great Prayer Festival • Saka Dawa Festival • Labab Duechen http://www.volny.cz/dhamma/4_OrdiTi201.jpg Losar festival

  7. Individual Religious Experience

  8. Individual Experience • Found in meditation • Pilgrimages will also trigger individual religious experiences

  9. Conversion / Reaffirmation

  10. Conversion To Buddhism • Unlike Hinduism, which has condemned conversion, Buddhism allows conversion • Does not generally engage in new converts • Discouraged by the Dalai Lama

  11. Conversion To Buddhism • New Buddhist take refuge with a monk • Study of Three Jewels • Buddha • Dharma • Sangha

  12. Reaffirmation and Ordination • The final step of conversion is marked by a ceremony • Affirmation ceremony • Shin Buddhism • Personal religious confirmation • To become fully a part of Buddhism, one can only do this by the direct and personal experience of the working of Great Compassion

  13. Affirmation Ceremony • Confirms the Five Precepts are the best way to compassionately live in our suffering world • Ceremony includes: • Recitations • Recipients are given Buddhist name, and an Affirmation Certificate

  14. Ordination Ceremony • Only given by a fully ordained monk • Recites the Three Jewels and Five Precepts, sometimes even the Bodhisattva Vows • Participant becomes upasaka or upasika • Receives certificate and Buddhist name • Ordaining monk is usually participants main teacher

  15. Meditation and Worship

  16. Rituals and Symbols • Central image is the Buddha • Devotees bring offerings • Reverence, not worship http://www.khenchenrinpoche.org/DSCN4222.jpg

  17. The 8 Auspicious Symbols • Parasol, Golden Fish, Treasure Vase, Lotus Flower, Conch, Endless Knot, Victory Banner, Dharma Wheel • Very literal http://www.dragon-gate.com/images/cpics/MS112_c.jpg

  18. The Four Noble Truths • Doctrine of Buddhism-perhaps most significant to religious experience • Foundation of Buddha’s teachings • 1: dukkha2: tanha3: Nirodha4: marga

  19. The Eightfold Path • Method to achieve the solution for humans • Meditation- jhana- skadhas http://www.the-tree.org.uk/Sacred%20Grove/Buddhism/jambolan_treeSM.jpg The Buddha as first absorption

  20. Meditation!! • Mantras • Mudras • Mandalas-tangka • Koan- “If a tree falls in a forest, does it make a noise if there is no one there to hear it?” http://dailyheadlines.uark.edu/images/mandala.jpg http://www.znanje.org/i/i19/99iv09/99iv0907/tangka.jpg

  21. 10 most common mudras. http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/core9/phalsall/images/mudra.gif

  22. Women in Buddhism http://www2.kenyon.edu/Depts/Religion/Fac/Adler/Reln260/NYTemple.htm

  23. Position of women at the time of Buddha •  They had limited freedom • no educational opportunities • Viewed as a burden • King Pasenadi of Kosala • women are capable of realizing truth

  24. Should women be ordained? • women as bhikkhuni (nuns) • Buddha created an order of bhikkhuni - foster mother: Prajapati Gotami • Sila and the ordination of women- requires presence of both ordained monks (bhikkhu) and nuns http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhism/images1/a061.gif ↑ Prajapati Gotami requests ordination

  25. 11th century: bhikkhuni order died out in India and Sri Lanka • Failed efforts in Thailand and Tibet • bhikkhuni orders in East Asian countries http://www.buddhanet.net/women/images/ women-in-buddhism_04.jpg

  26. ceremony to solve ordination problem in Bodh Gaya • bringing together bhikkhu and bhikkhuni http://www.geo.utep.edu/pub/nick_miller/1310/Figures/Lec11_15/BOTREE.gif ↑ Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya. …Sound familiar??

  27. re-establishment of the bhikkhuni in Southeast Asia “The hope is that the upcoming ordination will serve as a catalyst to spur not only all Buddhists, but all people, to awaken to the truth that the Buddha himself realized under the Bodhi Tree so long ago: that all beings are inherently equal and interdependent, and may attain enlightenment through cultivating a mind of compassion, equanimity, humility, and wisdom.”

  28. Well, what does Buddhist text say? • The Tripitaka is split into 2 parts: a. Lokuttara b. Lokiya http://www.7is7.com/otto/travel/photos/20050418/mandalay_kuthodaw_tripitakapage.jpg Tripitaka.

  29. equal opportunity to practice dharma. • vinaya rules - bhikkhus will not take advantage of the bhikkhunis http://www.volny.cz/dhamma/4_OrdiTi201.jpg Peaceful coexistence.

  30. Works Cited Becoming a Buddhist? 2007. October 1 2007. http://buddhistfaith.tripod.com/pureland_sangha/id23.html “Buddhist Ceremonies; Festivals and Special Days.” BuddhaNet. 2007. Buddha Dharma Education Association. 9 October 2007 <http://www.buddhanet.net/festival.htm>. Internet Encyclopedia of Religion. 2005-2007. <http://www.religion- encyclopedia.com/> Matthews, Warren. World Religions. 4th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 2004.

  31. “Tangka.” 2007. October 5 2007. Tibet Expert. < http://www.tibet-tour.com/tibet/thangka.html>. “The Meaning of the Mantra in Tibetan Buddhism.” October 7 2007. < http://www.dharma-haven.org/tibetan/meaning-of-om-mani-padme-hung.htm>. “Tibetan Festival.” Tibet and Himalayas. 5 February 2001. Kotan Publishing. 10 October 2007 <http://www.kotan.org/tibet/festivals.html#Losar>. “Zen Philosophy.” 2007. 10 October 2007. Mavi Gunes. < http://goto.bilkent.edu.tr/gunes/ZEN/zenphilosophy.htm>.

  32. Discussion Questions: • Do you think festivals play key role in the Buddhist religious experience? • And do these festivals share the same purposes of ones we have studied in past religions? • Why are the three Jewels significant to a new Buddhist? • Doctrine-wise and personally, why is meditation so key? • What do the struggles of the bhikkhunis reflect about Buddhism?

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