Final Exam in World Religion

Final Exam in World Religion
1. If I were to be a Buddhist I would choose to be a Mahayanan Buddhist. I decided to

choose this form of Buddhism for based from what I have read and learned the teachings found
in the Lotus Sutra, which is one of the sacred texts of the Mahayanans: A Buddhist should
ultimately strive to be like Buddha in seeking enlightenment for the benefit of all beings and not
just for themselves. This convinced me to choose Mahayana Buddhism over Theravada
Buddhism which is for me the focus of it’s teachings is quite self-centered. The bodhisattva in
Mahayana Buddhism refers to those beings who have already achieved enlightenment during
their lifetime and are ready to enter nirvana, but these beings full of compassion for the
sufferings of humanity, vowed to delay their entry in order to help others attain it first. It seems
to me that this bodhisattvas serves as the light and guide of those who wants to reach the state
of nirvana. And I want to be like that, I also want to be a light, a guide to let other people also
achieve their dreams or attain their nirvana. Because if I were to be the only one to achieve
enlightenment and the people I love still suffers then maybe I would not be happy at all. I would
also want to help them achieve enlightenment so all of us would be all at peace. It is already a
basic virtue to help and reach out to those who is in need. We must not only think of the
advancement of ourselves but also of the people who surrounds us and we must do the best
we can to help them. Exhibiting selfless acts and making sacrifices for the betterment of others
is a good teaching to live by.
Mahayana means the “Great Vehicle,” that is, a large and commodious vessel for carrying
aspirants from ordinary life to enlightenment. It arose gradually in the early centuries of
Buddhism
over the issue of whether laypersons as well as monks could follow Buddhist practices fully and
become enlightened. Mahayana Buddhism is the form of BUDDHISM prevalent in China, Korea,
Japan, and Vietnam. As a liberal and innovative movement, Mahayana accepted new doctrines
and revelations
attributed to the Buddha. They include such famous Buddhist texts as the LOTUS SUTRA, the
Heart Sutra, the Diamond Sutra, and the Garland Sutra. Mahayana does not adhere strictly to
the Buddha’s words, it strives instead to recover Buddha’s experience of enlightenment.
The greatest Mahayana philosopher, Nagarjuna (c. 150–c. 250 C.E.) taught two basic
principles: that SAMSARA (the “wheel of existence”—our ordinary life) and NIRVANA (its
opposite, and the ultimate goal of Buddhist realization) are really one and the same, and that
the best metaphor to describe this kind of universe is to call it Emptiness or Void. In other
words, Nirvana is not some place to which we “go” in the AFTERLIFE. It is here and now, a state
of mind rather than a place, and the universe as perceived by that state of mind can be called
Void, not because there is nothing in it but because it offers nothing to grasp hold of by mind or
hand, any more than one could grasp a flowing river. The world is fluid, continually changing,
and continually blissful to those who know how to swim with its flow.
2. Buddhism, is a non-theistic religion for although it does not reject the notion of the
existence of a divine being, it adheres that they are not to be worshiped. Unlike MOSES, JESUS,
and MUHAMMAD, the Buddha did not advocate the worship of any particular god. In fact, in
Buddhist contexts human beings are slightly more privileged than gods because human realm
provides the best conditions for achieving enlightenment. According to the Buddhist teaching,
the human condition has the combination of pains and pleasures which is the best training
ground for virtue and achievement of liberation from suffering. Meditation is much of an
importance to them for this practice aims in achieving nirvana or enlightenment. In Buddhism it
is ultimately important to follow the path to enlightenment than to worship gods.
If there is sin, in Christianity there is suffering in Buddhism, the eightfold path is the way
on how to alleviate one’s suffering. The four noble truths and the Eightfold path are the
teachings of Buddha, in which ways one can enhance spiritual self. Although Buddhism does not
refer to any god, its teachings plays a significant role in morality just like any other religion.
3. The teachings of Confucius are merely ethical, yes but if we were to define ethical it
pertains to or deals with morals or the principle of morality, in accordance with being right and
wrong in conduct. This ethical teachings if followed then can lead to spiritual cultivation. His
teachings called for a balance between interior goodness and external grace. He thought that if
people knew their minds and manifested this knowledge through proper decorum then society
would both have the substance and the appearance of humanity.
Confucianism focuses on how human beings behave in society. It strives to identify the ideal
way to live. In Confucianism the ideal person is the noble person. For Confucius, nobility did
not derive from birth. It derived from cultivating true humaneness (jen). This was done,
Confucius believed, through the practice of RITUALS (li). The rituals Confucius had in mind,
however, were not religious rites. They were rituals of respect that one showed one’s fellow
human beings. One can begin to see how truly radical Confucius’s teachings were. He
redirected the focus of religious observance. Confucius is one of the profoundly influential
teacher who emphasized that, because human beings are social creatures, a good society is
important to a good human life. But he also realized that a good society in turn depends on
good, highly motivated people. The first goal, then, must be to cultivate humaneness within
oneself. He believed this was something all people can do.2
Confucius believes that people live their lives within parameters firmly established but
heaven which often for him means both a purposeful Supreme being and as well as nature and
its fixed cycles and patterns. He argues that men are responsible for their actions and
especially for their treatment of others. We can do little or nothing to alter our fated span of
existence but we determine what we accomplish and what we are remembered for.
Confucianism has defined the traditional values
and ideas of proper behavior in China.2Confucius believed that people had to work hard to
realize virtue to the fullest. Virtue had to be cultivated through a process that lasted a lifetime.
The process began at home, with obedience and respect—the “filial piety”—that children
showed their parents. If one did not love one’s parents, Confucius asked, how could one love
other members of society? The process of cultivating virtue continued in society as a whole. It
did so as people observed the rules of proper behavior. Confucius believed that one nurtured
virtue, which is ultimately an internal quality, through one’s external behavior. 3In the
Analects, Confucius instructs his students, who were male, on how to become gentlemen. To
Confucius a gentleman was more than someone who is courteous and polite. He was someone
with moral depth. Confucius considered the gentleman to be the ideal of what it means for
most people to be human.
4. Daoist texts do not speak of "philosophy or " religion. They speak instead of what they
call the ‘’house,’’ ‘’family’’ or ‘’lineage of the Dao’’ and what they call the ‘’teachings of the
Dao’’. Even if the term religious Daoism is accepted it is not clear which entity it should define.
Different scholars might explain its meaning in different ways. Should religion include all of
daoism except for its philosophy? This would probably exclude the views of the Daode jing
(book of the way and it's virtue) which daoists have seen as an integral part in fact as the
source of their tradition. Omitting this views would be something like writing a survey of
Christianity that intentionally neglects to consider the thought of the theologians. Should
“religion” only include communal ritual with the related pantheons of gods, on the one hand,
and the priestly and monastic institutions, on the other? If so, an article on “religious Daoism”
would exclude meditation, alchemy, and other individual practices that Daoists—including
those who did not practice them—have seen as major components of their tradition.
Daoism is a tradition as complex and heterogeneous as Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, or
Christianity. The modern categories of philosophy and religion can help to comprehend its
“otherness” (Seidel 1997: 39) by interpreting its different manifestations according to a
supposedly understood framework. Yet, the use of these categories can also lead an observer
to look only at the aspects of the tradition that fit the chosen framework, and only within the
terms of that framework. This may result in creating distinctions and boundaries that do not
exist within the tradition itself.
For me, Daoism is a religion and a philosophy since it’s teachings are highly diverse that
it cannot be specifically categorized.” It has become a sinological dogma to distinguish between
the so-called Taoist school (Daojia), said to have produced the classical mystical texts …, and the
so-called Taoist religion (Daojiao), often said to have begun in the Later Han period [i.e., the 1st–
2nd centuries CE]. The successive Daozang [Daoist Canons] never made this distinction. When we
look at the way the terms Daojia and Daojiao occur in the texts preserved in the Ming Canon
[published in 1445], we see that they are practically synonymous and interchangeable”.
(Schipper and Verellen 2004: 6)
Thea Mari M. Magdasoc

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Final Exam in World Religion

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Final Exam in World Religion

1. If I were to be a Buddhist I would choose to be a Mahayanan Buddhist. I decided to

Thea Mari M. Magdasoc

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