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Christianity and World Religions: Buddhism

A guide that serves as a brief introduction to several world religions. It is intended to whet your appetite for further study and to help you understand the religious beliefs of others in today's global society.

Keywords

Buddhist Worldviews.


Be prepared to describe or identify the following terms and names:

anatman
A. T. Ariyaratne
Aung San Suu Kyi
avidya
bodhi
Bodhisattva
Buddha
Dalai Lama
deva
dharma
dukkha
Engaged Buddhism
enlightenment
four noble truths
Hinayana
Jataka Tales
Mahayana
metta    
metta bhavana
Nagarjuna
nirvana
parinirvana
sangha
Theravada
Thich Nhat Hanh
Vajrayana

The central Buddhist doctrine or insight is called the four noble truths.  List and explain them. Give enough detail so that they make sense.

If there is no eternal Atman, what gets “reborn”?

Distinguish three forms of Buddhism: Theravadan, Mahayana, and Vajrayana.

How do the older Buddhist rituals differ from theistic rituals like Jewish, Christian, and Muslim rituals?

When Spiro studied Burmese Buddhism concentrating on the “little tradition” (what common people actually believed), what three attitudes did he find people held about how their present actions affected their present or future happiness? That is, what three possible goals did he find people worked to achieve, and how did they expect their actions to achieve it?

List and describe the five steps of “metta bhavana.”

Describe and explain Joanna Macy's prayer-exercises “Breathing Through the World’s Pain” and "The Great Ball of Merit."

How did Nagarjuna say we should choose between or connect individual enlightenment and social action?

What are the four foundational principles of Thich Nhat Hanh’s Tiep Hien order?