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Page name: Buddhism-class [Logged in view] [RSS]
2007-12-30 21:03:22
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Buddhism Class




Teacher: ???


Buddhism is a very complex religion. It is like no other religon you have ever been exposed to because it has no god and a complex rebirth system, unlike the Abrahamitic religions of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.


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Life After Death

Buddhists believe in reincarnation. Samsara can only be described as a ladder, and karma is the steps. If you are good in life you get another couple of karma points which gets you closer to the top of the ladder and Nirvana. Whereas if you are bad you loose karma points you will go further down the ladder.
Where you are on the ladder judges what you will be reborn as in the next life, at the top of the ladder is a monk and at the bottom of the ladder is the pig as pigs are greedy and foolish animals. Once you have been and died as a monk you go to nirvana, a heavenly place where your spirit can rest in harmony and be with buddha and look at the world go by, it is wonderful in nirvana.


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Homage

 Homage is an act that all dedicated buddhists do everyday. It resembles a prair but is complicated as buddhism has no gods. Every morning the buddhist person must meditate for around about 1 hour and then pay homage to buddha. If you live near a local buddhist temple then you may want to go in everymorning for homage but otherwise you face north and kneel, then put your hands on your forehead in a prair position and say "Buddham Pujemi — I pay homage to the Buddha.

Dhammam Pujemi — I pay homage to the Dhamma.

Samgham Pujemi — I pay homage to the Samgha.

You are then finished and ready to carry on with your day! You have just payed homage!


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Core Beliefs

The core beliefs of buddhism are as follows:

1. There is no god. There are saints and monks and buddhas but no gods.

2. Life after death called "Samsara". Buddhists believe that if you get bad Karma then you go down in Samsara but if you have good Karma then you go up towards Nirvana (sometimes called Nibbana in Arabic countries). Nirvana is a state of absulute bliss brought through going up Samsara with constant good Karma.


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Variations of Buddhism

There are many different types of Buddhism, here are a few of the most popular and some of their origins:

Vajrayana- Tibetan buddhism. Leader is the Dali Lama.

Theravada- One of the first forms of buddhism. Very difficult to live with in a modern life as they expect days of meditation and fasting.

Zen- A Japanese Buddhism, the founder is Boddhidharma.

Pure Land- A style of Buddhism which is usually practised by modern, western buddhists. Leader is Hui Yuan.

Yogacara- One of the rarest types of buddhism. Usually practised in India and other Middle Eastern countries.


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Calendars

Here is the Tibetan Buddhist Calendar:
Calendar of Buddhist Special Practice Days: 2004
FOUR COMMEMORATIVE BUDDHA DAYS
The four special days associated with the life of Shakyamuni Buddha are celebrated for example by taking Mahayana One Day Precepts before dawn, and performing a Guru Puja and Tsog Offering, but any virtue may be practised.

2004
Day of Miracles or Day of Offerings (Tib Chok-trul Düchen -15th day of 1st lunar month ): Sat 6th March
Saka Dawa (Tib Saka-Dawa - 15th day of 4th lunar month): the day commemorating the Buddha's birth, enlightenment, and parinirvana: Thurs 3rd June
Day of Turning the Wheel of Teaching (Tib Chö-kor Düchen-14th day of 6th lunar month): Wed 21st July
Day of Buddha's Return from Heaven (Tib Lha-bab Düchen - 22nd day of 9th lunar month): Thurs 4th November


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Back to Religion or the Elftown Academy


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Past teachers: [urbanfairy]

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2004-01-24 [evil little alice]: good job on you first class

2004-01-24 [urbanfairy]: if you have any questions or comments about this wiki page thentype them down here, i will get back to you as soon as possible!

2004-02-22 [Child of Wolves]: I dont really have questions :P

2004-02-27 [urbanfairy]: Hey gurl..... FINALLY, someone has bothered to write in the comments book! :D

2004-02-28 [i am heddas lost brother]: i wrote in it too!

2004-03-17 [urbanfairy]: Woo hoo! Yaaaayyy for you! Thank you! coz no one hardly has bothered!

2004-04-29 [Sharkly17]: ummmm.... nirvana isnt a place, its a state of mentalness i guess. Of course this may be a different kind of buddhism than im part of, but theres my 2 cents

2004-05-16 [urbanfairy]: Which kind of buddhism are you? And also, you want to try describing the 'state of mind' that is nirvana. I had to simplify it a little.

2004-06-01 [xTxRex]: I don't mean to knock on your method, but your class-room kinda sucks, people aren't really learning anything about buddhism here, you think you could teach some more principles of this religion?

2004-06-02 [Clarimonda]: yes, I would like to know more.

2004-06-10 [urbanfairy]: Okays.... i'll try. What kinds of things were you thinking of? core beliefs?

2004-06-10 [Mitsune]: You could tell them about the four noble truths, the eightfold path...or maybe the life of the buddha.... oh yeah you forgot to add Shin Buddhism, to your list of sects...

2004-06-10 [spyco_lover]: yea there are like 30 mill of us in the world and we get forgotten all the time

2004-06-10 [Mitsune]: hee hee hee just for advertisments sake...Where have all the Buddhists gone?

2004-08-17 [urbanfairy]: okay ya'll, I'll add some of buddhas life to the list soon... Thanks for the comments! lol. Do you all think it is a good a class?

2004-10-21 [Enyo]: I like this wiki. Not much at the moment, but we all have lives. I want to learn about the different prayers (and chants) and some of the 'intsruments' used during these. Also, can anyone point me to a history page of Tibet? I know China is making it hard on those people and want to find out more. Thank you.

2004-10-23 [Dogen]: Just a tiny little comment. Where you have written "leader" in your listing of schools of buddhism I believe the word "founder" might be more appropriate. "Leader" kind of givs the impression that - for instance - Bodhidharma would still be alive and up and running ;-)

2004-10-30 [urbanfairy]: yeah. thanks for the comments guys! I'll add some prayrs soon and change leader to founder... i agree, leader makes it sound more recent

2008-05-08 [Cyrano meets Merso]: hello to one and all
a question, well two for the beginning...
Budha is also called the teacher of the gods sometimes,but in the core part you say that there are no gods?


And the founder of Zen Boddhidharma, is it the same Boddhidharma that crossed to China, teaching Shaolin students something that will evolve to kung fu?
::)

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