Jenny Kim Dr.

Hustwit 20 April 2012 Final Religion Paper Human Beings and Religion The question, Why are human beings religious has been circulating minds as long as religion has existed. Different religions have immerged throughout history, for example, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Daoism, Christianity and so on. When looking into the Eastern Religions and some of the traditions that are practiced, it is easy to comprehend why people use religion; it is because it is helpful. People use religion like Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism because it is functional to society by providing a strong social structure for communities, sense of drive for the individuals, and encouraging moral behavior. Hinduism is widely known for reincarnation of the soul because of karma. Karma is described as action and consequences of an action (Fisher, 49). The soul goes through cycles of life because of unbalanced karma. The interesting phenomena here is that an specific person does not want too much good karma or too much bad karma, but a balance of the two to reach moksha or deliberation from physical limitations. The idea of karma is engrained in the Hindu society that which many individuals willingly accept this phenomenon. The desire for moksha is universal in this society, which in turn aids with neutrality of all things. If an individual does not think or act bad nor good there is no way they can accrue karma. The idea of karma is very much a strive for neutrality which will aid in the natural balance and harmony of nature and life. Karma, of action and

causality, even Gandhi argued that sustainable peace could only emerge through genuine peacemaking (Soni, 331). This influential Hindu leader, Gandhi, among many others encourages peace as a theme of Hinduism through Karma. By encouraging peace through Karma they are making a framework of moral behavior. A society can achieve peace if everyone is getting along and behaving in a morally good way. Hinduism has different yogic practices to aid an individual in achieving detached awareness (Fisher, 59). There are three yogic practices: Jnana yoga the path of knowledge, Karma yoga the path of action and Bhakti yoga the path of devotion. Bhakti yoga, the most popular practice, emphasizes dedicated to worshiping Gods. Since scripture was written in sand script and renouncing was undesirable for some individuals, Bhakti yoga appealed to all social class and created the Pan-Hindu identity. Bhakti yoga provides a sense of belonging for an individual in the Hindu community and brings together the whole Hindu religion. There are different types of relationships to these deities; for example, the human could be the child and the deities could be the mother or father or vise versa and any family combination. The different types of relationship is a benefit because if a person never really had that type of relationship, if his or her father was not there than they could fill the void with the deity. The practice of Bhakti yoga will result in Samadhi, which is oneness with God. Since Bhakti yoga provides an out lit for every individual it helps create that peace throughout because no one felt left behind. People are more inclined to do as they are told because Bhakti yoga provides potential benefits. The Buddhist religion is focused on enlightenment rather than Gods or souls. The primary teaching of Buddha is that people are to turn away from humanly cravings or

attachments in order for them to reach enlightenment. These guidelines help and individual train their minds because a trained mind leads to happiness (Fisher, 112). I want to talk about right action in the eight-fold path that teaches individuals about the five precepts. The five precepts are no violence, no lying, no stealing, no intoxicants, and no sexual misconduct. These recommendations provide a structure for individuals. These instructions essentially remove what is considered sin in Christianity or evil and disconnects cravings or attachment from the body. The disconnection of cravings and attachments will create a unified harmonious society. Within the Buddhist religion there are variation of different beliefs. These different Buddhist communities agree on practices and beliefs that lead to a harmonious society. Largely, since there is no self according to Buddha, this leads me to consider they are building a community. If all Buddhist in a given community are to follow the five precepts it could significantly reduce the amount of conflict. If members of the society all have similar mindsets and goals, it is highly likely that the community will be unified and with little or no conflict. When I think about the communities they are building it reminds me of preprogrammed machines. They say and act how they are preprogrammed to do so, and there is little or no malfunction. Socially engaged Buddhism in a particular Buddhist communities voice their opinions about controversial social issues. In society, you usually see people using force and power to voice their opinions, but Buddhist adheres by the eight-fold path, which highly discourages violence. These peaceful protestors want to restore a willingness to live simply, generously, and humanely (Fisher, 145). There is an excellent example of a Buddhist monk who gather 5,000 villagers to build a tree nursery after devastation of a

Thai forest. This not only supports nature, but fathering of people to do a great cause helps an individual psychologically and socially. The support and love of hundreds and thousands of people working together is bound to leave an extremely positive note in a persons mind. Another religion awfully similar to Buddhism and Hinduism that I will reflect upon is Jainism. Jainism is described as a potential for uplifting human awareness and inculcating high standards of personal ethics (Fisher, 90). The Jain religion accepts that people are not perfect but through strict training and control of our senses we can achieve happiness, freedom, and perfection. I want to look into Jainisms heavy emphasis on the practice of non-violence. Gandhi explained violence as the denial of epistemological fact that people saw truth in fragments when they genuinely disagree (Ram-Prasad, 4). Jains strive for non-violence towards any living creature. They go out of their to ensure that they do not harm anything by wearing a mask because they dont want to accidently shallow a bug and they have these brooms made out of feathers that were naturally dropped by the bird to get living creatures out the way without harm. The absence of violence in Jains communities results in coherence with people and nature. This allows the mass groups of people that live together to live in peace and without much worry that comes with violence. This has an essential function to glue the community together with a system of beliefs and it is correct to credit this religion as the glue. The Jains practice another teaching, which is non-attachment to people or material things. The belief here is to have the bare minimum to survive (Fisher, 94). The Jains only possessions are a peacock broom and a gore, which is used to drink out of. The Jains have the bare essentials because they do not want to get attach to these unimportant

things that will prevent them from samsara. Aparigraha is the way of inner peace (Fisher, 94). The idea here is that if we have no attachments than we are free. This principle helps the community as well because in American society and culture we strive because we have an attachment to be the best, or have the most money, or have the most possessions, or possible the combination of all three. In the Jain society there is no strive to be better than that person or to possess more than the other and the want to be better than someone hinders true oneness of the community. All in all I cannot say if these religions are the absolute truth, but what I can say is that the principles that these religions teach are extremely beneficial to all those who follow their teachings. These religions provide a strong structural framework for society and individuals to follow. Furthermore, I believe that these religions act as the glue to society in their perspective regions. These religions give individuals sense of drive and purpose as well as providing unity for their communities. It is unarguable how valuable the teachings of these religions are.