Religious experience
Practice Flashcards
How does the guide describe religious experience in each branch?
Track your progress — Sign up free to save your progress and get smart review reminders based on spaced repetition.
All Flashcards in Topic 3.4
Below are all 8 flashcards for this topic. Sign up free to track your progress and get personalized review schedules.
3.4.18 cards
How does the guide describe religious experience in each branch?
Theravada: all boys spend some time in a monastery, and monastic life is the ideal. Mahayana: daily puja and service to monks. Vajrayana: learning from lamas.
What does the guide say about meditation among ordinary Buddhists?
That the monks meditate but most Buddhists do not — they venerate the Buddha.
What is bhavana?
Mental discipline, or meditation as formal training. One of the guide's key Buddhist concepts, and chiefly monastic.
How does the guide define conversion in Buddhism?
As realising that all is maya, practising non-attachment, and moving towards nirvana — a turn within a life rather than a change of membership.
Name the female bodhisattvas the guide mentions.
The Taras. The guide also names Avalokiteshvara, Amitabha and Manjushri among prominent bodhisattvas.
What does the guide say about the Buddha and gender?
That in Theravada tradition the Buddha is described as male in previous lives, and that women are sometimes presented negatively in scripture — with reproduction linked to samsara and sexuality to desire.
What does the guide say has changed?
That change is occurring in contemporary modern society — full bhikkhuni ordination has been restored by some Theravada communities and contested by others.
Give the sharpest internal contrast on meditation within Mahayana.
Ch'an and Zen centre meditation over textual study; Pure Land centres devotion to Amitabha. Two offshoots of one branch at opposite ends.
Topic 3.4 study notes
Full notes & explanations for Religious experience
World Religions exam skills
Paper structures, command terms & tips
Want smart review reminders?
Sign up free to track your progress. Our spaced repetition algorithm will tell you exactly which cards to review and when.
Start Free