Reference no: EM133521504

Question 1:

In casual discussions about religion, many of us encounter someone who claims that all faiths focus upon a God. In our course, we examined two religions that explicitly reject the idea of a creator deity: Buddhism and Jainism. Choose one or both religions and outline what the followers of this religion see as the focus of their spiritual lives. You may want to include the ideas of samsara and karma in your answer (which pertain to both religions). You will want to describe the importance of liberation from rebirth if you choose Jainism, and the similar concept of nirvana if you choose to outline Buddhism. In addition, please answer the following questions: Has learning about such non-theistic religions in this course altered your understanding and appreciation of religion? Even those raised within one of these faiths may have an opinion about this.

Question 2:

A distinction between transcendent and immanent ideas of the divine. A god that is depicted as transcendent is beyond or above nature, while an ultimate reality that is depicted as immanent is within or underlying nature. It is often proposed that God, as understood within Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, is depicted as mostly transcendent (although we will see that the mystics of these religions often provide an exception to this). But the concept of Brahman from the Hindu Upanishads and the Tao from Taoism is radically immanent. Choose either the Upanishads (from Hinduism) or Taoism. First, describe, to the best of your ability, this religion's interpretation of the divine. Include in your description how this divine or ultimate reality is found within, or identified with, all of nature. In addition, answer the following questions: Have you ever thought of the divine in this kind of fashion? Do you think an immanent picture of the divine is preferable to a transcendent one? Why or why not?

Question 3:

Each of the great world religions has something to say about human nature. We have seen that Hindu scriptures claim that the true self is not our physical body, but the atman or eternal soul, and that this soul is part of Brahman-the unchanging ground and source of all existence. On the other extreme, we have seen the Buddhist concept of anatta or "no-self," which dismisses the concept of an eternal soul, or even an "I" or "me" that abides underneath the flux of our experiences. Taoism rejects the artificialities of society and prizes the natural person-what the Tao Te Ching proudly describes as an "uncarved block." Most forms of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam accept the idea of a soul, but one that is created by, and not identified, God. There are mystics within the Abrahamic religions which claim otherwise, but this is something we will see later. Out of all of the pictures of human nature, we have discussed so far, which do you agree with the most? That you happened to be born in a particular religion is not a good enough answer, I want you to think about this question! Explain your answer in as much detail as possible.

You should answer with no more than a few paragraphs for each question using your own words.