Religious and Ethnic Groups Paper
Religious and Ethnic Groups | June 5
2013
| Religious Group: Buddhism Racial/Ethnic Group: Black (African Descent). | |
America has many religions, races, ethnicities, and languages from all over the world. Prejudice and discrimination has been around for years, and it still is to this day. This is something that will probably never go away as everyone has their own ideals, and beliefs. Buddhism and Blacks have endured prejudice and discrimination of their own for many years. Buddhism is a path of practice and spiritual development leading to insight into the true nature of reality (“The Buddhist Center”). Buddhism doesn’t discriminate against race, nationality, sexuality, or gender. Buddhism is more of finding a path for one’s life and shows people to be practical and to the point. It teaches people that there are consequences for your actions and that it is possible to change as long as the path is followed. Christians and Muslims believe that if they live a worthy life here on earth they will live forever with God after death. Jews just focus on living a good life, doing good things, etc but don’t truly focus on the life after death. Buddhists do not believe in a God after death. Rather, they believe that life is an everlasting cycle of birth and rebirth, that what is done during a lifetime determines the kind of life one will have in a future incarnation unless a person is liberates him or herself from the cycle (American Institute Buddhist Thought, 2013). Most other religions have one creator with a book that gives guidance, such as the Bible. Buddhism does not have a single divine creator or book. It has the lessons from Siddhartha Gautama who was not a God of prophet. He was a human being who became Enlightened, understanding life in the deepest way possible (“The Buddhist Center”). Other religions want to prove to their God by the deeds they do, Buddhists just want to attain true happiness by following the teachings of Buddha. The Christians in
2013
| Religious Group: Buddhism Racial/Ethnic Group: Black (African Descent). | |
America has many religions, races, ethnicities, and languages from all over the world. Prejudice and discrimination has been around for years, and it still is to this day. This is something that will probably never go away as everyone has their own ideals, and beliefs. Buddhism and Blacks have endured prejudice and discrimination of their own for many years. Buddhism is a path of practice and spiritual development leading to insight into the true nature of reality (“The Buddhist Center”). Buddhism doesn’t discriminate against race, nationality, sexuality, or gender. Buddhism is more of finding a path for one’s life and shows people to be practical and to the point. It teaches people that there are consequences for your actions and that it is possible to change as long as the path is followed. Christians and Muslims believe that if they live a worthy life here on earth they will live forever with God after death. Jews just focus on living a good life, doing good things, etc but don’t truly focus on the life after death. Buddhists do not believe in a God after death. Rather, they believe that life is an everlasting cycle of birth and rebirth, that what is done during a lifetime determines the kind of life one will have in a future incarnation unless a person is liberates him or herself from the cycle (American Institute Buddhist Thought, 2013). Most other religions have one creator with a book that gives guidance, such as the Bible. Buddhism does not have a single divine creator or book. It has the lessons from Siddhartha Gautama who was not a God of prophet. He was a human being who became Enlightened, understanding life in the deepest way possible (“The Buddhist Center”). Other religions want to prove to their God by the deeds they do, Buddhists just want to attain true happiness by following the teachings of Buddha. The Christians in
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