* Religious Interview: Questions and Answers
The basic teaching of Buddhism is causality, that is, the law of cause, condition and consequence. Everything has its cause(s) and is created when the conditions are right. In simpler terms, it is cause and effect. In technical terms, it is dependent genesis.
The teaching of the Buddha
Causality.
Causality has never failed me, and everything I have examined.
There are many practices that help to realize the truth of causality. Discipline, meditation, chanting and studying the Sutra are some of the favourite.
Disciplines curb our greediness, meditation calms and purifies our mind, and the Sutra awakens our inner wisdom.
The Buddha statue symbolizes the awaken mind. The Lotus flower symbolizes purity out of a muddy and polluted environment. The incense symbolizes discipline, calmness and truth. The flower symbolizes adornment and impermanent. The fruit symbolizes causality and fruitful practice. The water symbolizes purity.
Certainly, it is the only and the right guide for anyone’s future.
Yes. In an emergency situation, such as the Tsunami, when we were all fund-raising to raise money, trying to help out as much as we can.
10. How does your faith handle societal issues such as premarital sex, intermarriage, teen pregnancy and divorce?
One of the five basic disciplines (precepts) for lay Buddhism is to avoid extramarital sex. Buddhism stresses the importance of respect of the marriage vow. The cause of so many broken families today is simple the disrespect of the family.
11. What do you believe about diey/ies?
We believe that there are six rams of mortals, which we believe in.
12. Do you have any type of scripture or literature that you read and follow? When were they written?
The Buddhist scripture is called the Tripitaka. It was written about 2500 years ago. It consists of 168 volumes, each 2 inches thick.
13. Do
you pray? If so, how do you pray?
Yes. We pray as a group as well as an individual. There is a morning and an evening serve everyday in the temple.
14. How
does your religion react or provide understand for violence in society (past
and present)?
Buddhism considers hatred, anger and violence as one of the three main causes of our suffering. We do not believe violence can solve anything. Buddha teaches through mediation and other practice to calm our mind. That is the proper way to end violence.
15. Is
there a specific diet you go by?
As a member of the Monastery, we are strict vegetarians. The main reason is to be compassionate to all beings, which is the first discipline of the five precepts.
16. What
are the 5 precepts (discipline)?
· To be compassionate to all beings
· Avoid extramarital sex
· No stealing; be generous; use kind and gentle words
· No lying; be honest
· Be wise, no intoxication. (Alcohol and drugs)
17. Do
you believe in Euthanasia?
No, I do not support it. We believe that afterlife is precious. No matter what kind of pain you’re in, you have to go through it no matter what because that’s just an obstacle you have to overcome.
Religious Interview Analysis *
For my religious interview
assignment, I chose to do my mom’s religion,
Buddhism. I did arrange an interview with a monk, and he
was more than happy to help
me out with this project. I was able to find out
many interesting facts about Buddhism.
According to the religion, the main dilemma would be the suffering that
each
individual has to go through. Everyone, no matter what
age or race has to overcome some
kind of obstacle, and each obstacle has its own
pain to handle. Due to this dilemma,
it interferes with our life, and our way of
thinking clearly. It fogs up our consciousness,
and all we can focus on is the suffering. The
causes of this dilemma would be simply
greediness, hatred and anger, and ignorance. These three
feelings are mainly what cause
people to act unwisely. If people could try and avoid
this dilemma, by meditation,
praying, or learning to make calmer and wiser choices,
then they have overcome the main
problem within society. This will help them in the
future, and enlighten the minds of
others.
There is, like every other religion,
an ideal state, or “ultimacy” for individuals.
According to Buddhism,
the ideal goal for a Buddhist would be to become a Buddha. It is
someone who has learned everything that the Buddha had
taught us for the past centuries.
Someone who has an
enlightened and an awaken mind. There are many stages of training
in order to become a monk, and move up the ranks
of the monks. Once you have reached
the highest level, your goal is then to teach
others what you have learned, as well as to
gain the wisdom the Buddha had. Throughout your
life journey, you are building up your
meditation skills, to achieve more than you can, to aim
for a higher level of meditation in
which you are able to be in touch with immortals
from a different world. Even though
that is all individuals’ ultimate state, many are
not able to reach that type of ultimacy, but
to become a high ranked monk is just as good.
This is because you are highly respected
for your wisdom, and many turn to you for advice.
Receiving that type of courtesy is
already considered an ideal state.
I really enjoyed this experience
because I was able to learn more about my
mother’s religion. I was never apart of it because my
father was atheist. Therefore, being
in touch with my mother’s beliefs really taught
me something about my mother. I was
pleased with the results, and answers that I got from
my interviewee. His knowledge
about his religion was deep; he understood
everything there was to know and explained it
to me in a manner in which I was able to
understand. Yes, everything he said was
believable, because they are all true facts and events,
which he had proof for inside the
temple. He had gone through many life events, and
throughout them, his religion had
remained by his side in his time of need. Therefore,
his experience was successful due to
his religious beliefs.
Since I am atheist, I do not have a
religion, but the beliefs of Buddhism viewed
life the way that I did. Such as the views Buddhism
has on euthanasia, I also believe that
euthanasia is not to be supported, and is unnecessary.
One thing that I do not believe in,
in this religion, however, is to be a strict
vegetarian. One of the precepts of Buddhism is
to be compassionate to all beings, and that is
why they are strict vegetarians. I, however,
do not believe that because I personally think
that if everybody thought that way, the
population of the animals would overpopulate the humans.
Other than that, I thought the
interview was successful, and it was definitely an
educational experience for me.