Interview Context
Next door to my house lives a family of Buddhists who periodically organize joint meditation and install Buddhist sculptures in the backyard. We quickly established rapport with these people as friendly, helpful neighbors. After learning about the assignment in this course, I decided to take advantage of this familiarity and ask my neighbor’s eldest son about his religion.
My interview was based on four main criteria that needed to be covered. The main one was to investigate how religious values were integrated into the young man’s daily life. Second, I needed to determine whether the interviewee was familiar with Buddhism’s history and fundamental principles.
In the next step, I sought to learn from some of the people I was interested in about the characteristics of this faith, including its various subspecies and branches. Ultimately, I sought to comprehend how the interlocutor perceived his responsibilities within Buddhism and what responsibilities this belief imposed on him as a human being. The conversation took place in the neighbor’s backyard, where he felt safe and comfortable answering the questions.
At the beginning of the conversation, I asked how the belief in this religion affects my neighbor’s daily life. The answer was that there are many rituals in this religion that each person must participate in. The most important rituals include offerings, meditation, worship, recitation of mantras, and temple visits. Special attention is also given to accompanying a person throughout all life cycles, including birth, marriage, and death. Noted that the most striking and significant is the rite of initiation with which the community of Buddhists is fond.
This process accompanies the transition to becoming a normal person, a monk who must recite an oath in the presence of the community. Then I asked my neighbor what holidays he celebrates with his family and friends. My interlocutor answered that Buddhism has a large number of holidays, but they all share a common feature: they do not involve bright parties or large feasts. According to Buddhism, a holy day is designed to deepen one’s faith, which involves spending the day in prayer and meditation.
Beliefs, Practices, and Religious Branches
Regarding the history of this doctrine, my neighbor’s answer was quite comprehensive, as he provided a detailed account of the religion’s basic stages of development. The founder of Buddhism, Siddhartha Gautama, hails from India and is a mystical figure about whom many miracles and incredible stories of reincarnation are associated. This man, in his youth, was shaken by the imperfection of the world and became an ascetic.
As a result, he achieved enlightenment and began to teach his own Dharma, based on four basic rules that everyone must live by. First, it is necessary to acknowledge that the world is not perfect and is filled with evil, disease, and suffering. The source of this suffering is the desire and greed of man, which form the cycle of life. The third rule is that only enlightenment and Nirvana can escape this cycle. Ultimately, the path to this liberation entails specific steps, including the observance of certain norms and rituals.
Among the particular beliefs I sought to learn about were the various currents and variations, as well as whether my neighbor belonged to any branch of Buddhism. The young man replied that there are three main branches of Buddhism, including the teachings of the elders of the great chariot and the diamond chariot. This classification exists based on the question of how enlightenment can be attained.
The doctrine of the elders suggests the most challenging path, namely, Nirvana, which can only be achieved by monasticism. The adherents of the great chariot claim that anyone can leave the circle of samsara. The Diamond Chariot is particularly popular in Tibet, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, and Southern Siberia. Within this trend, Buddhists believe that enlightenment is attainable by anyone, but within a limited time frame and with the help of monks.
A neighbor assured me that most Buddhists living in Western countries belong to the teachings of the great chariot because they are more universal and understandable. Then I wanted to ask about the presence or absence of Temples in this religion. The question was prompted by the fact that in our region, I have not seen any places that resemble a Buddhist community. The interviewee replied that temples have a special place in the life of every Buddhist and that visiting them is an important obligation for everyone. In our city, there are no prominent Buddhist temples, but in this case, the gathering place serves as a venue for joint meditation.
For large festivals and initiation rites, community members gather at the nearest large temple, which may be located in a neighboring region, state, or even another country. There are many sub-styles in Buddhist architecture, influenced by various religious traditions. However, the obligatory and universal element for all Temples is the presence of the statues of Buddha and Dharma, as well as written teachings.
The final part of our interview was my neighbor’s story about the duties he performs in his role as a representative of a particular religion. One’s existence has to be subject to five rules according to which no one has to harm the world, steal, lie, commit adultery, or use mind-altering substances. Our textbook indicates that the cardinal rules of most of the world’s religions overlap in many respects.
With this in mind, I asked a clarifying question about the specific Buddhist rules that affect my interlocutor’s life. The answer was that the focus is primarily on protecting the animal world and on mutual respect for all living creatures on the planet. This is reflected in the fact that parents instill in their children a reverent attitude to nature and the concept of conscious, healthy consumption from an early age.
Duties, Ethics, and Age of Entry into Buddhism
At the end of our interview, I asked a question concerning recommendations or rules on the age at which a person can become a Buddhist. It is known that representatives of many religions believe that parents should accustom their child to the rituals of a particular faith from birth (Brox and Williams-Oerberg).
However, some families believe that the choice in favor of one religion or another should be as conscious as possible and, therefore, should take place when the child comes of age. A neighbor noted that Buddhism has no established position on this issue, but he knows many people who have become Buddhists at a mature age. He also suggested that Buddhism might have the highest age of entry into religion. However, he could not explain why he thought so, except by referring to his experiences with other people.
Work Cited
Brox, Trine, and Elizabeth Williams-Oerberg. Buddhism and Waste. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2022.