A Conversation With a Buddhist Essay

Introduction

The religious tradition that is going to be covered within the framework of the current essay is Buddhism. My conversation partner is not yet very experienced in terms of Buddhist practices, but she was rather interested in sharing her beliefs with me and drawing parallels between her beliefs and Christianity. I believe that this discussion is essential because Buddhism is rather similar to Christianity, and there may be numerous ways to link concepts from her religious tradition to mine. The current essay is going to discover the depths of Buddhism through the lens of personal communication between representatives of two different creeds who engaged in a peaceful dialog to share worldviews and exchange information.

Conversation Partner’s Beliefs

An essential finding that cannot be overlooked when reviewing my conversation with a Buddhist is a strong individualistic component that many Buddhists seem to place at the forefront of their religious practices. Van Gordon et al. (2015) noted that there are the Four Noble Truths helping one navigate through the world around them: suffering is real, desires cause suffering, ceasing desire means ceasing suffering, and moderating one’s lifestyle is the key to ending suffering. My conversation partner mentioned Siddhartha Gautama (the future Gautama Buddha) when dwelling on the path of enlightenment and the crucial value of meditation. According to the most common stories of how Buddhism appeared, it was Gautama who meditated profoundly and reached the state of enlightenment, glowing from within (Wright, 2017). The biggest role when discussing Buddhism is often given to the ability to see the light and become one of the sources of it.

From the point of ethics, Buddhist outlooks are also rather consistent since they do not divide people into classes and suggest that enlightenment is available for everyone irrespective of their societal role, wealth, or any other factor. My conversation partner was glad to mention that Buddhism became one of the first religious traditions where women were allowed to become monks. Nevertheless, the Noble Path covered in Buddhist literature is a complex route that does not have anything to do with gender and rather tests the person’s capability of remaining positive, steadfast, and composed (Shonin et al., 2015). Due to the fact that Buddhism required people to spend most of their time meditating, Mahayana Buddhism appeared, allowing people to attain enlightenment while also performing job duties or acts of devotion. It was one of the main reasons why Buddhism was able to go mainstream and help more people gain salvation.

One of the most renowned ceremonies available to Buddhists is the Uposatha. It stands for the days when the new moon and the full moon can be witnessed, as this time frame preceded the Vedic soma sacrifices in the past. All religious duties still have to be performed during the Uposatha period. During these days, Buddhists strengthen their meditation practices, recite Pali suttas, and offer flowers to the Buddha (if possible) (Cook, 2010). There are also eight precepts to be observed during the Uposatha, which include five conventional (not to steal, lie, kill, commit sexual offenses, or take intoxicants) and three additional commandments (not to eat food in the afternoon, attend entertainment, or sleep on a lavish bed) (Cook, 2010). My conversation partner noted that she would not follow all of the precepts due to personal reasons, but she would be willing to follow the conventional ones for sure.

An interesting rite that was mentioned by my conversation partner was the Bodhisattva vows. These declarations represent an essential part of Mahayana Buddhism, where the intended person is required to follow the path of enlightenment and declare their willingness to become a bodhisattva (Watt, 2017). The ordination requires a total of five monks: the head monk, the ceremony guardian, the master of secrets, and two assisting monks. My discussion partner was also interested in Abhisheka, the rite intended to launch the initiation ceremony and help the candidate emerge as a reborn person. Even though she has never tried it before, she thinks it would be an essential experience for her in the future.

My conversation partner is also a rather diligent Buddhist scholar since she is rather serious about studying the Pali Canon and navigating the sacred book of Buddhism called Tipitaka. There are almost forty volumes of the English translation of Tipitaka, and both the Theravada and the Mahayana schools of Buddhism accept the Tipitaka (Crosby, 2013). The essential knowledge included in the sacred Buddhist book is divided into the ‘three baskets of Wisdom’: the rule book for nuns and monks (the Discipline Basket), Buddha’s actual experiences (the Teaching Basket), and Buddha’s teachings explained (the Higher Doctrine Basket). According to Bhikkhu (2012), for example, Tipitaka is one of the most expressive religious manuscripts in the world, with many of the Buddha’s parables being practically identical to the ones used by Jesus.

Discussion

After hearing my partner’s description of the origin of Buddhism, I may conclude that Christianity, as an established religious tradition, seems to be much more detailed in terms of how most of its rituals and rites are discussed. While there are specific explanations present for both Buddhism and Christianity, I believe the latter to be more realistic to a certain extent. An interesting finding may be the fact that my partner’s descriptions of Buddhism disclose the latter as unconventional for the modern world. Even though numerous individuals across the globe value the words written in the Bible or the Quran, for example, the information included in Tipitaka is mostly perceived as fiction or a mere attempt to apply wishful thinking to Buddhism (Van Gordon et al., 2015). Even though this is a negative experience for Buddhists, they do not seem to be antagonistic toward such trends since their focus on orthopraxis does not allow for a lack of enthusiasm. Overall, it may be safe to say that my conversation partner’s beliefs are similar to mine when it comes to the view of the world and the key values that have to be nurtured by humanity.

Conclusion

I have truly enjoyed the experience of communicating with a person who practices different religious traditions and maintains a generally different lifestyle than most of us. I think that I have learned from her that there is a need for more positivity in everyday human life in order to pay just enough attention to problems surrounding us without becoming too preoccupied with the negativity. We were able to discuss all of our similarities and differences in a peaceful manner, reaching a consensus at the end of the conversation and having genuine fun throughout. Knowing that there are so many similarities between Christianity and Buddhism, I think I might be interested in engaging in a conversation with a person promoting the Muslim religious tradition in order to become even more well-versed in the topic.

References

Bhikkhu, T. (2012). Samyutta Nikaya. In Epitome of the Pali Canon (pp. 120-125). Lulu.com.

Cook, J. (2010). Meditation in modern Buddhism: Renunciation and change in Thai monastic life. Cambridge University Press.

Crosby, K. (2013). Theravada Buddhism: Continuity, diversity, and identity. John Wiley & Sons.

Shonin, E., Van Gordon, W., & Singh, N. N. (2015). Buddhist foundations of mindfulness. Springer.

Van Gordon, W., Shonin, E., Griffiths, M. D., & Singh, N. N. (2015). Mindfulness and the four noble truths. In Buddhist Foundations of Mindfulness (pp. 9-27). Springer, Cham.

Watt, T. (2017). Spacious awareness in Mahāyāna Buddhism and its role in the modern mindfulness movement. Contemporary Buddhism, 18(2), 455-480.

Wright, R. (2017). Why Buddhism is true: The science and philosophy of meditation and enlightenment. Simon and Schuster.