Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Mark Galang
Mark Lim
Hazel Tan
Charles Tiu
Lorraine Touzo
De La Salle University
I. Introduction
people interact with each other individually and as a society. It shaped our identities and
shaped political actions throughout history. There has been an abundance of different
religions in the world today, being in belief that there is a God or perhaps a creator to
those who deny that there is an existence of a higher power. Buddhism is part of the
major religions in the world today. It is the religion of spiritual enlightenment, it takes one
on the path of a spiritual journey and to become one with their soul. The researchers will
discuss Buddhism and its major denominations, Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism.
Mahayana Buddhism
Mahayana Buddhism is the primary sector in East Asia. It is making its appearance in
Pure Land Buddhism, considering the faith that its followers would be reborn in Western
paradise before reaching true nirvana. Mahayana Buddhism’s ideal believes that
Theravada Buddhism
Theravada Buddhism, also known as Southern Buddhism, is being practiced
much in Southeast Asia. It is the branch that holds most firmly the teachings of the
Buddha. Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Thailand are predominantly Theravada Buddhists.
Believes that human existence is full of suffering and life just being short-lived. As a
result, the Buddha advised his followers to stay away from evil and seek only what is
Mahayana Buddhism
With the rise of populist Mahayana Buddhism, sutras come to treat music in a
more positive light. Mahayana Buddhist sacred texts were originally created in Sanskrit,
yet they have since showed up in each vernacular dialect in which Buddhism is
Doctrines, not events for venerate in the Western sense. Their serenade writings
Theravada Buddhism
message. Music has minimal liturgical function, yet chanting keeps on being practiced
to the preservation of the Pali Canon. The Buddha's First Sermon, including the Four
noble truth and the Honorable Eightfold Way, is regularly chanted in the form of
historical Buddha, born in Nepal during the 5th century BCE. Siddhartha Gautama was
the founder and leader of a sect of wanderer ascetic, one of many sects that existed
during the time all over India. This sect came to be known as Sangha to separate it from
other similar communities. After Siddhartha Gautama passed away, the community he
founded slowly evolved into a religion-like movement and his teaching became the
basis of Buddhism. Historical figure suggests that Buddhism had a modest and humble
beginning. Apparently, it was a relatively minor tradition in India and some scholars
have proposed that the impact of Buddha in his own day was limited due to the scarcity
of produced written documents inscriptions, and archeological support from that time.
The Buddha’s teachings are often summarized in the Four Noble Truths, which form the
basis of the first sermon Siddhartha Gautama delivered after attaining enlightenment. In
the course of its long year history, Buddhism has experienced many schisms and
modifications; there are currently three major branches of the tradition – the Theravada
(“Doctrine of Elders”), the Mahayana (“Great Vehicle”), and the Vajrayana (“Diamond
World Religions often have different branches, which naturally have different
ideas and school of thought. The Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism are two major
subdivisions in Buddhism.
Mahayana Buddhism
which has its origins in Northern India. It made up many schools and reinterpretations of
fundamental human beliefs, values and ideals not necessarily those of the Buddhist
teachings. Recorded starting point for Mahayana, also known as the “Great Vehicle”
because it embraces so much and assumed that this great wave of shifts even before
second century CE began to grow before that date, building on existing schools and
himself, which is a great teacher, secretly taught key principles to chosen people, to his
most dedicated followers, or to the most faithful who could completely interpret these
teachings. Although Mahayana’s exact origins are still not completely understood, but in
Korea, Japan, and Tibet. With its openness to more traditional religious views, it has an
appealing factor to common people and gained tremendous grounds in forming one of
Theravada Buddhism
Theravada is the only remaining school from early Buddhist period. Theravada
sometimes called “Southern Buddhism.” The name means “Doctrine of Elders” – the
elders being the senior Buddhist monks. This school of Buddhism believes that it has
remained closest to the original teaching of Buddha. Its origin can be traced back as far
as the 3rd century BCE and it derives from a Buddhist school no longer existent named
Sthaviravada. One of the important features of this Buddhist school is the use of Pali as
a sacred language and the Pali Buddhist canon which is the highest scriptural authority.
This school claims to have preserved the original teachings of Siddhartha with pristine
purity.
The Buddhist canon consists of the Sutras: the oral teachings of Buddha. The
Sutras, Sutras Pitaka (Discourse), Vinaya Pitaka (Discipline), and Abhidharma Pitaka
(Ultimate Doctrine). One of the most known texts in Mahayana Buddhism is the Lotus
Sutra. The Lotus Sutra is presented as a discourse send forth by Siddhartha Gautama
before his death. It holds the most definitive teachings of the Buddha. Buddhism
highlights in the sutras that everyone possess “Buddha nature” or Buddha-hood” and
that enlightenment is open to each one of us. In Theravada Buddhism, the only
collection of scriptures that still survives is the Pali Canon or the Tipitaka. These
teachings were passed down orally until the monks commits on writing the teachings of
Siddhartha. These books were incorporated by the Buddha’s teachings. The language
that he used is presented to be Magadhi. The teaching of the Buddha was passed on
in Philippines. There is one in Masangkay St Tondo, Manila and at the Heiwa Kannon
to the 2010 Census. Also, the Philippines ranked 20th in Buddhist population on Earth
at 2 percent. Most of the Buddhist artifacts found in the Philippines was dated to the
9th century. The artifacts reflect the iconography of the Srivijaya empire’s Vajrayana
Trikaya pertains to the teaching of Mahayana Buddhism about the nature of the
Buddha and reality. Trikaya states that each Buddha has three bodies that consists
of:
in this world. They promise not to enter Nirvana until the point when all creatures enter
are extensions of the “Eightfold Path”. Bhumis are commonly partnered with paramitas
(“perfections”) crossing from the “sea of suffering” to the “shore of happiness”. There
are six paramita and five of it are concerned with the accumulation of merits while the
because people do not ask for any support of any supreme being. In this religion, it
Buddhists believe that they have no soul or atman as they live in a state of
anatman or having no soul. The mark of impermanence or anitya states that all
2) feelings or sensations
3) understanding or perception
5) consciousness
Suffering comes in many forms. Three evident sorts of agony relate to the initial three
sights the Buddha saw on his first trip outside his royal residence: maturity, infection,
and demise. Notwithstanding when we are not experiencing outward causes like
sickness or loss, we are unfulfilled, unsatisfied. This is reality of misery. A few people
who experience this educating may think that it's cynical. Buddhists think that it's
neither hopeful nor critical, however reasonable. Luckily, the Buddha's lessons don't
end with anguish; rather, they go ahead to reveal to us what we can do about it and
The Buddha taught that the root of all suffering is craving or desire, tanhā. This
explains the endless dissatisfaction of humans. This comes in three forms, which he
described as the Three Roots of Evil, or the Three Fires, or the Three Poisons.
The Buddha showed that the best approach to desire or craving, which causes
suffering, is to liberate oneself from attachment. The Buddha was a living illustration
The fourth noble truth directs to the path or magga leading to the solution for the
suffering.
Noble Eightfold Path is divided into three aspects, namely, wisdom, morality, and
meditation.
For path of wisdom, that includes Right Understanding (Sammā ditthi)- accepting
Buddhist teachings. Right Intention(Sammā san̄kappa) - Free one's self from hostility,
For path of morality, that includes Right Speech (Sammā vācā)- Abstain from
untruthfulness, tale-bearing, harsh language, and vain talk. Right Action (Sammā
For path to meditation, it consists of Right Effort (Sammā vāyāma)- Avoid evil
thoughts and overcome them, arouse good thoughts and maintain them. Right
and states of mind. Right Concentration (Sammā samādhi)- Developing the mental
of Buddha. It means that every cause has a definite effect. In other words, nothing
comes into being by mere accident and actions do not happen in a random way.
Mahayana Buddhism
Mahayana Buddhist engaged in a lot of different rituals including mediation,
pilgrimage, and mantra recitation. When a Buddhist enters a room with a statue of a
Buddha, they bow in respect. They also give offerings of vegetarian food and light
Theravada Buddhism
Attainment of salvation for any Buddhist is by way of one’s own action with the absence
of assistance of any supernatural being. Monks and laypeople are engaged in different
rituals. Laypeople give offerings and support for the monks. Providing them with meals.
Mahayana Symbolism
There are eight auspicious symbols in Mahayana Buddhism that was originated
in Indian iconography. These symbolize the gifts of the gods to Buddha after his
enlightenment (O’Brien, 2017). The Eight Auspicious Symbols consist of the following:
the heat of defilement and from suffering, illness, destructive emotions, harmful forces,
and obstacles. Wisdom is what the dome signifies, and compassion represents the
the beliefs of Buddhists, they believe that the center of the universe is the one, whether
signifies fearlessness, freedom, and happiness because they can freely swim without
drowning and fear in the bodies of water. They also symbolize fertility and abundance
because of the rapid multiplication. The two golden fishes also represents Ganges and
longevity, prosperity, and wisdom. It also known as the vase of inexhaustible treasures
because the vase remains full no matter how many is removed. It symbolizes the
Buddhism.
4. Lotus Flower or padma: The lotus flower symbolizes purity and
enlightenment because it purifies the body, speech, and mind from the defilements,
5. Conch Shell or sankha: The conch shell represents the deep and
ignorance and encourages fulfillment of the wellbeing of others and their own. The white
conch shell that turns to the right are scarce and considered sacred. Its movement
because it has neither beginning or end. Compassion and wisdom being united also
symbolizes it.
7. Victory Banner or dhvaja: The victory banner signifies the victory of
Buddha over the demon Mara. In Buddhism, Mara symbolizes passion, lust, and pride.
It also represents how the teachings of Buddha won over all the negativities in the
world, such as ignorance, disharmony, and death. It serves as a reminder that in order
to reach enlightenment, one must defeat their own passion, lust, and pride.
of Buddha and it symbolizes Buddhism universally. Its eight spokes epitomizes The
Eightfold Path.
Theravada Symbolism
meaning. Relic, spatial, and representational memorials are the divisions of cetiya,
Secondary Characteristics symbolizes the traits that appeared from the representations
of Siddhartha Gautama.
Mahayana Buddhism
Mahayana Buddhism is mainly found throughout China, Japan, Korea, Mongolia,
Theravada Buddhism
Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos), and Sri Lanka with 150 adherents.
associated with Siddhartha himself. These burial mounts predate Buddhism as ancient
Indian kings and heroes were housed. The cremation of body of Siddhartha and
distribution of his ashes among eight followers. The design of the Stupa shows the path
religious practices and devotional rituals with the objective of helping worshipers in their
journey towards enlightenment. In Buddhist temples, they pray and chant to pay their
respect to the Buddhas. Buddhist can worship both at home or at a temple. At home,
Buddhists will set aside a room as a shrine. There will be a statue of Buddha, candles,
Generally, women are looked upon as inferior to men. The peculiar stigma
embedded to women can be linked to religious biases. Almost all over the world, the
prejudices that woman encounter seem to be similar. One of them prohibits women to
read religious scriptures. But a satisfying element about Buddhism is that the Buddha
considered women equal to men. Freedom is given to women, and responsibility holds
both genders credible to contribute to the society. The Buddha was the first religious
teacher who gave women unfettered opportunities in the religious field. He had given
women due credit to their potentials and capabilities. The Buddha highlights the
important role women can play as a wife and making her family a success.
● Buddhist Monasteries
● Buddhist Monks
● Buddhist Nuns
● Buddhist Pilgrims
Buddhist Monasteries
- This is the living place for people that devoted themselves fully to the religion.
Many buddhist children often go to the monasteries to read and write. The Monks
are usually the teachers in the monasteries, giving them knowledge and
consist of the main prayer hall, dorms, a crematorium, libraries and rooms for the
statue of Buddha. Local monasteries support from the local lay community.
Buddhist Monks
- They are highest in positions in the buddhist religious hierarchy. Monks are
respected by everyone in the buddhist societies. They live with other Monks in
Buddhist Nuns
- They are second in rank in the Buddhist hierarchy. They act as assistants to the
Monks. They handle little responsibility as compared to the Monks. They spend
- A relationship exist between the monks and the Buddhist Lay People. They
provide food, lodging and medicines to the Monks. They cater to every needs
and requirements of the Monks, in return the Monks teach them the religion in
return.
Buddhist Pilgrims
- They travel to different important religious sites such as the buddha's birthplace
ect. They visit different monasteries in order to get knowledge about teachings of
Buddha.
References
Buddhism in the Philippines. (2018, January 23). Retrieved January 23, 2018, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism_in_the_Philippines
Buddhist Information. (n.d.). About The Eight Auspicious Symbols. Retrieved from
http://buddhistinformation.com/about_the_eight_auspicious_symbo.htm
O'Brien, B. (2017, July 24). The Eight Auspicious Symbols of Buddhism. Retrieved from
https://www.thoughtco.com/the-eight-auspicious-symbols-of-buddhism-449989
Religions - Buddhism: The Four Noble Truths. (2009, November 17). Retrieved January
23, 2018, from
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/buddhism/beliefs/fournobletruths_1.shtml