To what extent can the Christian value influence the mission among the stricken Buddhists in China positively?
Rationale:
As the writer continues her mission involvement in East Asia, she realizes the Buddhists often believe in Karma and they consider the encountered plight reveals their transgression. Even if the Cultural Revolution during the 1960s in China and its aftermath has left the country with religious oppression and persecution, the Buddhism remains strangely influential due to the remaining temples. With the interaction and investigation of the spiritual and physical afflicted individuals among the Buddhism background, the ear witness of their experience of the Holy Spirit has revealed the spectrum of the work of God. Similar to Job’s belief, many afflicted Buddhists hold the perspective that they were not representing the extent of their sins, not knowing that they turn to the wrong God for help. Many of the people around these underrepresented sufferers treat them unfairly in a manner like how the three friends of Job represented the problematic concept of retribution theology throughout their debate concerning Job’s encountered circumstances. With the notice of this issue, the writer would like to
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Then, the outreach and the mission conducted will be addressed insofar as the conversion occurs. Finally, the writer will conclude her research with the extent and approaches the Christian theology may convert among the Buddhist milieu. The success of this paper will not only be the partial fulfillment of this assignment, but also in the preparation for the service navigation of the writer. Her goal is to connect the believers with the involvement of the Father, the Holy Spirit, and the Son to enlighten the spiritually disadvantaged Buddhists as they are the majority in East
DBQ: Buddhism in China After the fall of the Han dynasty, many Chinese people converted to Buddhism. They seeked a simpler way of life among all of the chaos and political instability going on at the time. This led to a drop in productivity in China, as many Buddhists spent their time meditating. The rise in Buddhism among the lower class led to a hate for the religion by the upper-class. While some people saw Buddhism as a new form of thinking in China’s evolving social landscape, many others saw it as a threat to the traditional Chinese way of life, as they were reluctant to change.
Buddhism was founded in India and brought over to China by the first century C.E. As Buddhism spread all over China, it had both positive and negative feelings toward it. According to some of the documents, it shows how China accepted Buddhism and tried to defend any hate that it got. While some of the other documents blamed Buddhism for problems that the country was facing. The remaining documents didn’t really show any emotions toward it. An additional document that would show Buddhism's’ appeal in China would be a the amount of people who tried Buddhism and their opinion on it.
The spread of Buddhism in China received positive and negative responses. It was greatly accepted among many Chinese people, and others believed it to be true evil. Document 2 and 3 show some of the positive responses; that Buddhism was what every person needed to follow, that Nirvana was the life goal. While documents 4 and 6 show some negative views on Buddhism, they explain the pure evil that is was. Document 1 does not show any favor for or against Buddhism, and Document 5 is not just for Buddhism, but also Confucius and Laozi.
The response to the spread of Buddhism in China differed according to one’s social position.
The responses to the spread of Buddhism in China were positive, negative, and acknowledged the differences between Buddhism and other religions. Buddhism reached China around the first century C.E., but Buddhist influence did not largely spread until the fall of the Han Dynasty. China was deeply Confucian in the first century, and resisted the presence of Buddhism due to the many differences between the basic beliefs of each religion. The Chinese population reacted differently to Buddhism depending on personal beliefs, which led to disagreement and conflict.
In this paper it will discuss the influence of the Buddha and how Buddhism came to America and the impact it had upon its arrival. How the American culture westernized Buddhism in their own way and how it looks today. It will also cover the difference of ethnic Buddhism and convert Buddhism in America. More specifically the objective of this paper is to explain descriptively and analytically and go over the historical time line of
For this experience, I decided to explore Buddhism in order to enhance my involvement with the religion and build a strong understanding. What intrigued me about Buddhism was the social aspect and diversity that it had to offer. In order to explore this religion from a critical and analytical viewpoint, I decided to attend a weekend service offered at San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin. The San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin main temple is located in the Japantown section of Central San Jose. What made this temple stand out amongst the others was its historical standing in the community. It is one of the oldest temples established in the United States. In order to learn more about the history, environment, and community as a whole, I decided to contact the temple’s staffs. After a brief phone call, I was able to schedule a tour. In preparation, I decided to do a brief research on Buddhism to familiarize myself with the religion beforehand. With all preparations and research necessary, I was ready to visit San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin.
After I came across David Knitter, a former ordained Christian priest and the author of “Without Buddha I could not be a Christian”, I began to realize that I had taken a western approach to Buddhism and had misconstrued some of Buddhism’s core teachings in my mind according to what I thought it should be. Knitter argued that the meaning behind religious teachings can become distorted upon translation and interpretation (92). This is why he had personal issues with his own religion before he turned to Buddhism to look for answers. He stated that, “the bond between language and the truth is so tight, when we change the language, the truth can and feel very, very different” (94). He also argued that how we use language to interpret the teachings of religious texts changes over time because we become culturally conditioned (93).
It is said that history is shaped by the lives of great men. Great men are leaders. They bring about change; they improve the lives of others; they introduce new ideas, models, and theories to society. Most of the world's religions were founded, developed, or discovered by great men. Two particular religions - Christianity and Buddhism - developed in different parts of the world, under different circumstances, and in different social atmospheres. But each religion is based upon the teachings of a great man. When one compares the life of Buddha with the life of Jesus, one finds that the two share many things in common. This essay aims to compare and contrast the lives of Buddha1 and Jesus in two key areas: conception and birth.
European and Japanese Monks were both so faithful to their religion and God that they devoted their entire lives to it. These Monks shared a similar level in the social hierarchy however, their daily responsibilities and rights were very different. This essay will discuss some of these differences and similarities between the two. A European catholic monk did not have a higher quality of life as compared to a Japanese Shinto monk because they had stricter rights and responsibilities which hindered their ability to have freedom in their day to day activities. Some of the responsibilities these monks had to follow included supporting the community, providing religious services. Their rights revolved around marriage, family, freedom and praying.
Christianity and Buddhism are two different religions that developed and spread contemporaneously in during the Classical Period different territories. Both of them share some similarities as well as differences. Both of these religions were founded based upon different principles taught by different people; in Buddhism’s case Gautama Buddha a thinker and in Christianity’s it is Jesus Christ who is a prophet. These two universal doctrines spread in times of chaos, in which citizens of their own territories were looking forward to achieve salvation of any kind. Although alike these two doctrines didn’t have a
One of the most cited conversion model is Loafland/Stark conversion model (1965), that broadly used to study the process of one converting to a new religion. This case study is conducted on an individual called Willow on her religious conversion experiences. This paper intends to investigate whether this model suits to Willow’s experience, a Christian convert from Buddhism. This study also wants to explore the factors of Willow’s religious
Wu Zhao, the first female emperor of China, rose to power during the Tang Dynasty and her active role with Buddhism fabricated a perpetual impact in the Chinese society as a whole. There is no doubt that Buddhism and the Tang administration, under Wu’s reign, formed a symbiotic relationship with one another. She is considered to be one of the most prominent advocators of the religion during the era. Her efforts to spread of Buddhism and the monetary support help Buddhism to expand throughout the people significantly, which provide the religion another source of financial income to spread even further. Regardless of Empress Wu’s intention, she has furnished the religion in numerous ways, but what did she receive in return? This proposes
Buddhism is considered as one of the leading religions throughout the world today. In order for a Buddhist to follow the religion, there are certain set of guidelines that one has to follow to gain a better life, but most people have other factors that they have to face along this path. The story, “The Journey of One Buddhist Nun” by Sid Brown, is an account of a Thai woman, Maechi Wabi, who entered a spiritual life along with life struggles and outside influences. According to Brown, Wabi faced many challenges along the way to liberation and two challenges she faced most are the gender and socioeconomic issues which she overcame during her spiritual journey.
Regardless of who we are or where we come from, we are unfortunate enough to be subject to a world consisting of change, pre-established social elements, opinions and beliefs, which, though we may be unaware of them while they work their magic on us, ultimately serve to wrap us in a prison of thought. At the same time, there exist modifiers which may serve to free us. Depending on the right conditions, the time, we can be fortunate enough to see through the covering pulled over our head at birth, to the true explanation of why we’re here, the truth of our existence. Because of this, I have chosen to do my research paper on Buddha, Buddhism and the Buddhist philosophy.