Fasting In Buddhism In Buddhism, there are a variety of attitudes towards different forms of Fasting. The Buddha is known to have practiced extreme forms of fasting which led to his emaciation and to have famously abandoned it before his great awakening. Nevertheless, different forms of fasting are practiced in various Buddhist traditions....
Enlightenment In Buddhism Enlightenment in Buddhism (called bodhi in Indian Buddhism, or satori in Zen Buddhism) is when a Buddhist finds the truth about life and stops being reborn because they have reached Nirvana. Once you get to Nirvana you are not born again into samsara (which is suffering). The English term enlightenment is the western...
Nirvana In Buddhism Nirvana in Buddhism (निर्वाण, nirvāṇa, nibbana, nibbāna) is the earliest and most common term used to describe the goal of the Buddhist path. The literal meaning is “blowing out” or “quenching.” It is the ultimate spiritual goal in Buddhism and marks the soteriological release from rebirths in samsāra. Nirvana is...
What Is Nirvana? Nirvana or nirvāṇa (निर्वाण nirvāṇa; निब्बान nibbāna; णिव्वाण ṇivvāṇa, literally “blown out”, as in an oil lamp) is commonly associated with Jainism and Buddhism, and represents its ultimate state of soteriological release, the liberation from repeated rebirth in saṃsāra. In Indian religions, nirvana is synonymous with moksha and mukti. All Indian religions...
Kirtan Kirtan or Kirtana ( कीर्तन; Kīrtana) is a Sanskrit word that means “narrating, reciting, telling, describing” of an idea or story. It also refers to a genre of religious performance arts, connoting a musical form of narration or shared recitation, particularly of spiritual or religious ideas. With roots in the Vedic anukirtana tradition, a kirtan is...
Animal Worship Animal worship (or zoolatry) is rituals involving animals, such as the glorification of animal deities or animal sacrifice. When a god is respected or worshipped by means of a representative animal, an animal cult is formed (Teeter et al., 2002, p. 355). Animal cults may be classified according to their outward form or according...
Buddhist Devotion Devotion, a central practice in Buddhism, refers to a commitment to religious observances or to an object or person and may be translated with Sanskrit or Pāli terms like saddhā, gārava or pūjā. Central to Buddhist devotion is the practice of buddhānussati, the recollection of the inspiring qualities of the Buddha. Although buddhānussati had been...
Confession In Religion This article covers confession in religion in detail. Confession, in many religions, is the acknowledgment of one’s sins (sinfulness) or wrongs. A confession is a statement – made by a person or by a group of persons – acknowledging some personal fact that the person (or the group) would ostensibly prefer to keep...
Atman In Buddhism Atman, attā, or attan in Buddhism is the concept of self, and is found in Buddhist literature‘s discussion of the concept of non-self (Anatta). Most Buddhist traditions and texts reject the premise of a permanent, unchanging atman (self, soul). However, some Buddhist schools, sutras, and tantras present the notion of atman or permanent “Self“, although mostly referring...
Demonic Possession Demonic possession is believed by some to be the process by which individuals are possessed by malevolent preternatural beings, commonly referred to as demons or devils. Demonic possession involves the belief that a spirit, demon, or other entity can control a person’s actions. Those who believe themselves to be possessed commonly claim that symptoms of demonic possession...
Spirit Possession Spirit possession is an unusual or altered state of consciousness and associated behaviors purportedly caused by the control of a human body by spirits, ghosts, demons, or gods. The concept of spirit possession exists in many cultures and religions, including Buddhism, Christianity, Haitian Vodou, Hinduism, Islam, Wicca, and Southeast Asian, African, and Native...
Ghosts In Tibetan Culture There is a widespread belief in ghosts in Tibetan culture. Ghosts are explicitly recognized in the Tibetan Buddhist religion as they were in Indian Buddhism, occupying a distinct but overlapping world to the human one, and feature in many traditional legends. When a human dies, after...
Exorcism Exorcism (εξορκισμός, exorkismós “binding by oath”) is the religious or spiritual practice of evicting demons or other spiritual entities from a person, or an area, that are believed to be possessed. Depending on the spiritual beliefs of the exorcist, this may be done by causing the entity to swear an oath, performing an elaborate ritual, or simply by commanding...
Japanese Buddhist Pantheon The Japanese Buddhist Pantheon designates the multitude (the Pantheon) of various Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and lesser deities and eminent religious masters in Buddhism. A Buddhist Pantheon exists to a certain extent in Mahāyāna, but is especially characteristic of Vajrayana Esoteric Buddhism, including Tibetan Buddhism and especially Japanese Shingon Buddhism,...
List Of Japanese Deities This is a list of Japanese deities native to Japanese beliefs and religious traditions. Many of these are from Shinto, while others were imported via Buddhism or Taoism and “integrated” into Japanese mythology and folklore. Kami, shin, or, archaically, jin (神) is defined in English as “god“, “spirit“, or “spiritual essence”, all these terms...
Deva In Hinduism Deva (देव, Deva) means “heavenly, divine, anything of excellence”, and is also one of the terms for a deity in Hinduism. Deva is a masculine term; the feminine equivalent is Devi. In the earliest Vedic literature, all supernatural beings are called Devas and Asuras. The concepts and legends evolve in ancient Indian...
Anantarika-karma Ānantarika-karma or ānantarika-kamma is a heinous crime that through karmic process brings immediate disaster. They are called ‘anantarika’ because they are ‘an’ (without) ‘antara’ (interval), in other words the results immediately come to fruition in the next life, i.e. the participant goes straight to hell. These are considered so heinous that Buddhists and...
Buddhist Ethics Buddhist ethics are traditionally based on what Buddhists view as the enlightened perspective of the Buddha, or other enlightened beings such as Bodhisattvas. The Indian term for ethics or morality used in Buddhism is Śīla (शील) or sīla (Pāli). Śīla in Buddhism is one of three sections of the Noble Eightfold Path, and is a...
What Is Buddhism? Buddhism is the world’s fourth-largest religion with over 520 million followers, known as Buddhists. Buddhism encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs, and spiritual practices largely based on original teachings attributed to Gautama Buddha and resulting interpreted philosophies. Buddhism originated in ancient India as a Sramana tradition sometime between the sixth and fourth centuries B.C.E.,...
Prajñāpāramitā Prajñāpāramitā means “the Perfection of (Transcendent) Wisdom” in Mahāyāna Buddhism. Prajñāpāramitā refers to this perfected way of seeing the nature of reality, as well as to a particular body of sutras and to the personification of the concept in the Bodhisattva known as the “Great Mother” (Tibetan: Yum Chenmo). The word...