Nene Sow
Dana Trusso
HUP-105
April 19, 2017
Art
and religion.
Art and religion may not be related to some, but this isn't
entirely true. Many religions today have paintings in their temples, some have
statues of their leaders, saints, or Gods. In the case of Buddhism there are
different art pieces and one of them is their leader's, the Buddha. Through art one can understand religion,
culture, society, politics, and life itself. Religion plays a big role in
society and sometimes people use art to express their belief and values. In
Buddhism art is a major factor because it’s used to show the Buddha, rituals,
and practices. In a way art is like a practice because when the founder of the
religion and the first Buddha Siddhartha passed away he asked for his followers
to make monuments, statues, paintings, sculptures of his last practices and
ritual. So, in Buddhism sometimes it is through art they know and understand
their rituals. In this paper, the art work chosen by me was the first art piece
the Buddha Shakyamuni show casing the Buddha himself.
Siddhartha Gautama, who became the first
Buddha, was born a prince, into the country now known as Nepal. Before his
birth, it was predicted that Siddhartha would become either a great king or a
spiritual leader. His parents wanted him to become the ruler of their kingdom,
so, they tried to prevent Siddhartha from seeing the unsatisfactory nature of
the world. Siddhartha realized being a prince would not provide for him a
lasting happiness nor will it protect him from suffering. After a long
spiritual search, Siddhartha went into deep meditation wherein he reached the
state of enlightenment, of Buddhahood. When he became the Buddha, he became the
awaken one and all-knowing and was free from the suffering and lust the world
had to offer and reached true happiness, nirvana. For the rest of his life, the
Buddha taught anyone who asked how they could reach the same state. (PBS the
Buddha/YouTube video). The sculpture I choose shows Siddhartha in the moment he
became the Buddha/awaken one. “In the sculpture, it shows the Buddha with a
lotus wheel marks on his hands and feet wearing a monastic dress and performing
the gesture of touching the earth, a reference to his enlightenment” (Rubin
museum of art). Further on, Buddha was in the position of meditation. His legs
are crossed, his back is straight, his robe covered his left shoulder and arm
showing his right, his earlobes are lengthened, and his right hand is touching
the earth. In this moment captured by the sculpture is when Siddhartha reached
Buddhahood. The imagine simply captured one moment, the most important moment
in Buddhist history, Siddhartha becoming the Buddha.
Additionally, as I was observing this
work of art I was attracted by it through the calmness it
appeared to have. When I first saw the artwork, I just saw a man sitting down
in a position wearing a robe and touching the ground. However, as I kept on
looking I saw a man who was at ease. A man who had no worries in the world. A
man who seem to have left the worldly life behind and is on a spiritual level.
A man living life in the moment. I saw a man absorbing the beauty of his
surroundings and the winds blowing past him. I saw a man who seems to have
found the right way to live life and the best way. I saw a man who cared for
people and wanted to help the needy. I saw the Buddha and felt his presence. I
was attracted by it because I wanted to be in the state, the state of a Buddha.
I wanted the calmness and ease I felt through the picture. I wanted to be like
that person because they had what I did not.
Moreover, the doctrine represented by this
piece of art is the Buddha. Buddha simply means the awaken one. When one
becomes the Buddha, they become enlightened, reaching nirvana which is the
highest state one can attain. The Buddha understands life in the deepest way
possible. The Buddha is all-knowing. In Buddhism, the goal for everyone is to
become the Buddha. When someone becomes the Buddha all suffering and desires go
away and the person is in the best state they can be. The sculpture chosen
represents the Buddha himself, showing his physical characteristics. The
artwork shows the state one is when they become the Buddha. A sense of ease and
enlightenment. Another doctrine that can be associated with this artwork is
nirvana. This picture shows happiness and relief which is the state one is when
they reach nirvana. When one reaches nirvana they are free from all the things
binding them to this world filled with lust and pain. They are finally at ease
and are truly happy. The Buddha is the one who is in that state, so these two
doctrines are connected because once a person becomes the Buddha they then can
reach nirvana which is the goal within the religion. Buddhahood and nirvana go
hand in hand because one must first became the Buddha in able to reach nirvana.
However, in Hinduism Brahman is the sole
substance from which everything is created from. Brahman is the absolute
reality. “Thus, out of himself he projected the universe, and having projected
the out of himself the universe, he entered into every being. All that has its
self in him alone. Of all things, he is the stubble essence. He is the truth.
He is the self” (Hinduism chapter 3. Page 42). Unlike Brahman where it is
believed that everyone is that substance and that substance God made of
himself, with Buddhahood is a state one reaches and they do so by trying to
live a disciplined life. Buddhahood is a state reached by an individual and
they work in able to reach it, while with Brahman everyone and everything is
that one simple substance and people must come to that reality within themselves.
Some differences within the two are that most people do not know what Brahman
is, how to find it, or how to comes to its reality in able to be free from the
cycle of samsara. However, with Buddhahood people must try their best to live
and follow the teaching of Siddhartha to reach the state of enlightenment,
become awake, all knowing, and reach nirvana. Buddhahood is something one works
for while Brahman you have to acknowledge it within yourself to become part of
the one substance. However, Brahman and Buddhahood is similar because it is a
state one must work for in able to reach it and gain the freedom of the cycle
of samsara. Also, when people finally reach the state of a Buddha or Brahman
they are relieved from all suffering and desires this world offer, they reach
the ultimate goal, freedom, and happiness.
Further on, answering the question
whether Buddhism is a religion or not, I concluded that Buddhism is indeed a
religion because its concept is filled with rituals and spiritual guidance.
Though Buddhist do not believe in one God or Gods to simply follow and obey
they do however, believed people should try to live the best life possible in able
to reach the state of becoming a Buddha. One must not really need to believe in
a God or Gods to call their practices a religion or not. Though Buddha was not
a God he was a leader and he introduced a new way of life to people and try to
show people to live right the right way in able to reach the highest state one
can possibly reach. What many consider to be a Religion is believing in some
type of divine or a goal one reaches, a spiritual goal. Buddhism have these
aspects because their goal is to become a Buddha and reach nirvana. Once people
are rituals and practices and is trying to reach something beyond this world
and achieve ultimate happiness it makes a religion. Also, who are we to decide
whether people’s belief and practices is a religion or not. I personally
believed ones a person is following or trying to reach something higher and
perform rituals to gain that, it is a religion whether it is acknowledged by
the many or not.
This experience thought me that religion
is a concept that people like to judge others by while it is just a simple way
of living life. People choose religion to guide them and give them a sense of
hope that the world and people cannot give them. Most people choose religion to
free themselves. Religion frees them from the world and what it has to offers.
It frees them from social, cultural, and political hierarchy. Religion can also
give someone a unique status by not following or living life the way most
people do. To others religion put them in a spiritual and higher state in life.
Religion can also just be life itself for people, it’s their food and oxygen,
their life. People might also choose Religion for ethical reasons. It guides
them, tell them what is right and wrong. Gives them their morals, character and
wisdom. I learned that people choose religion for many different reasons and
all those reasons are dope. I also
learned that art can play a big role when it comes to religion because it can
be used to explain the religion with just a simple painting, sculpture, Mandela,
or drawing. With art, you can look at a piece of work and it can tell you all
the things you need to know about a religion and its value to the people who
follow it. Art also allows different mind to interpret things differently. It
gives people changes to understand religion in a whole different way.
All in all, art plays a big role in
Buddhism and can be used to analyze the religion by outsiders. Themes within
Buddhist art show their rituals and practices. It shows states one is when
becomes the Buddha and reaches nirvana. By doing this project I learned what
Buddhism is, before I was ignorant of the religion and all I knew was someone
became the Buddha. But as I got to explore within the religion and learn about
it, I learned that Buddhism is about finding a middle way to live life and
learning that life is filled with love, suffering, and lust but, one must find
a way to stay away from these things by following the Buddha’s way of life.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary describes a religion as "The service or worship of a God or the supernatural". Based on this definition alone I would be inclined to disagree with your assessment of Buddhism as a religion. However, the second definition seems to fall in line with your reasoning: "commitment or devotion to a religious faith or observance". Although when you say "one must not really need to believe in a God or Gods to call their practices a religion or not." it leads me to wonder at what point to we stop calling practices "religions"? If someone is devoted to an exercise plan, religiously devoted, is this a religion? They wake up thinking about it and practicing it throughout the day and living their life according to the program, does that qualify it to be a set of religious practices? I personally do not consider Scientology to be a religion, mostly because of its origin and the fact that they simply extort secrets from it's members in order to blackmail them for money, but what makes the philosophy of the it not a religion? They have religious practices and devotions as well. You state that the purpose of a religion is to achieve something greater, beyond this world. But the ultimate goal in Buddhism is NOT to discover what is beyond this world. It is to relieve oneself of dissatisfaction on THIS earth. Becoming a Buddha means a person has reached nirvana. They have, in essence, reached a place of pure bliss. But its main focus is not that of an afterlife. It does not concern them. In this case how does that fall in with your definition of a religion?
ReplyDeleteThought you have a very strong point, I will have to disagree with you simply because though religion states one must have a God Buddhism does not necessarily neglect any God or Gods. They simply just do not follow a specific God. As we saw in the video when Buddha became awaken the God of lust tried to seduce him and he did everything he could to not fall into the trick, showing they do not negated God or Gods they simply just do not pick a specific one. So I would say Buddhism is a religion because they follow a specific way of life and you do not have to follow a God to call what you follow a religion. Again why should a dictionary limit what one follow to be a religion or not. The dictionary should not limit peoples belief by defining what belief is or should be. Buddhism is a religion because thats what its followers say it is. Everyone else do not have the right to sit and debate whether Buddhism is a religion or not.
DeleteHow has learning about the complexities of doctrines and philosophical debates from global religions helped you gain a sense of self-awareness within both local and global contexts?
Deletelearning about religious doctrines and philosophical debates have thought me that though people might have different religious belief at the end of the day people are more similar than it seems. For example with the three Abraham religions most of the context, followings, rituals, belief, etc are similar. they are religions who technically are doing the same things and are believing in the same things except with just a few differences. People moral behaviors and way of living life are very similar specially when it comes to religion. The drives and compassion people have with religion can be a universal thing because most people choose to believe for the same reasons if not the same than very similar. i also learned the importance of being open minded. Being open minded is the way one learns about different things around the world. While learning about these different doctrines and philosophical arguments that i was faced with and in some ways disagreed with, i had to learn how to be open minded so i wont judged the other side and through that try to understand other peoples belief.