Blog #2 - Buddhism

Buddhism

In my last blog, I made entries that some could take as being anti-Chinese; which is furthest from the truth.  In fact, I am going to make statements that support the history of China.  You may ask "How can this be?"  You may also ask "What does this have to do with world history?"  Well, the answers lie at the end of this blog.  But wait, don't just scroll down to the end, give me a chance first to support my opening statement.

A few semesters back, I was enrolled in a Religions of the World course instructed by Cassie Lipowitz.  As we all know, we are required to take two courses on religion to satisfy our undergraduate requirements.  It was an interesting course.  We learned about Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism (Daoism), Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.  We read the assigned texts, participated in class discussions, wrote weekly reflection papers, and submitted a paper on a religion not of our primary faith based on research and from a visit to that religion's place of worship.

Starting with the religions I did not choose ... I felt Hinduism was too broad and would be too difficult to locate a local temple.  Judaism and Christianity were too similar to the faith I practiced.  I took a "peek" at Islam, but decided against it because my friends, and their families, who were Muslim did not regularly practice their faith, so there was a possibly it could be difficult in getting an insider's honest perspective.  I also ruled out Confucianism and Daoism because I felt they were more of a philosophy rather than a religion.      

I was instantly drawn to Buddhism.  Like Judaism and Christianity, it was similar to my practice; where one central person had the ability to enlighten anyone willing to listen, and this one person suffered while seeking this level of enlightenment.  I never regretted my choice and actually enjoyed the personal research into the religion.  I even had the opportunity to interview a Zen Buddhist Priest at one place of worship, and was able to another variant of Buddhism at a different temple.

So now we can go back to the questions posed in my opening statement.  First, how could I speak about a country in such a positive manner after the comments I made in my first blog.  Second, what does this have to do with world history? (and I hope you did not cheat and scroll past the meat and potatoes of this reflection and directly to this part of the blog)  Well, the reason I speak positively about China in this instance is because the country has allowed the religion to continue even though religion is not a high priority in a communist society.  Another important point, which relates to the historical perspective, is that Buddhism did not originate in China - Buddhism traces its roots back to India and did not come to China until 150 AD.  Buddhism is arguably the highest practiced religious faith in China and is tolerated by the government, yet did not begin there.  If you ask me, I believe this is one of the most civilized acts that stemmed from the Neolithic Era.