Buddhism - Practices
There are great variations in what is considered to be essential to individual or group practice in the different Buddhist schools, even greater perhaps than among the various Christian traditions. This stems in part from the fact that the historical Buddha intentionally did not name a successor, but encouraged his monks to think for themselves, using the teachings and practices he had already given them. With the lack of a centralized Buddhist authority and the huge cultural differences that have been added in over the years, Buddhism can look like it is many faiths, not just one.
The individual Buddhist will often have a shrine or altar in the home, which may be surrounded by decorations, utensils, flowers, candles or oil lamps. There is most often a Buddha or Bodhisattva image or painting on the altar with a receptacle for an offering of incense. Meditation or sutra (Buddhist scripture) chanting is one in front of the altar on a regular basis. Buddhist meditation beads are also widely used. These rosaries, sometimes referred to as malas, are usually of 108, 54 or 27 beads. The mala may be worn on the wrist in daily life and can encircle the hands in some meditation rites. The beads can be used to count the breath or to repeat invocations or mantras. Vajrayana practitioners in particularuse a mala, and their shrines would have a picture or statue of the Buddha, seven water bowls, some form of lights like candles or butter lamps, and the incense offering.
Buddhists gather on a regular basis. Vajrayana practitioners have at least two tsog, or offering days a month. Tsog are determined on a lunar calendar, but in the West may be set using the solar calendar commonly used. Some western Buddhist groups or Asian groups practicing in the West may follow a weekly Sunday service pattern in order to fit in with Western cultural norms. These services may include time for chanting sutras, meditation, a Dharma talk, and study. As the Sangha or community is one of the Three Jewels, these times to meet and reaffirm Sangha are essential to Buddhists.
Different Buddhist communities follow dietary practices based on cultural origin. Monks in the monastery are expected to be vegetarian, although Theravadin monasteries accept offerings from the community regardless of ingredients, as these offerings are the primary lay practice. In the Tibetan-Mongolian tradition, both lay people and monks routinely eat meat, since fruits and vegetables were difficult to grow in these high barren regions. In the West, lay Buddhist practitioners often choose to follow a vegetarian diet.
In most of the Chinese-descended sects (China, Korea, Vietnam, Japan) monks reside in a monastery for training, then some become priests and serve lay communities in village temples. In Japan priest are allowed to marry. In the West priests from these Mahayana traditions may be referred to as Reverend or Venerable, and may be married. In the Theravadin tradition monks never marry and, in the West, are referred to as Venerable. Tibetan sanghas are also usually led by monks. In the West there are many lay leaders in all the traditions.
There are many different traditions of Buddhism and these sorts of life transition rituals may be as much culturally as religiously based. It would be important to determine which tradition the inmate is affiliated with. That said, there are some general points to make. All efforts of the practitioner leading up to the time of death are geared toward directing whatever essence continues after death to a better situation upon rebirth. For some traditions this effort is very individual and for others, most notably in the Southeast Asian traditions, laypeople rely on monks to chant for them in the time leading up to death and shortly after.
The transition from living to dead is a gradual one, and so most traditions assume that an individual consciousness remains somewhat attached to the body for a period of time after official time of death, usually around 3 days. Chanting, burning of incense, and prayerful support during this time are considered most helpful in directing the disoriented newly dead person on their way. At a minimum, a quiet and peaceful atmosphere surrounding the remains is most helpful. For this reason, many Buddhists refuse to do organ donation. In most Buddhist traditions cremation is the preferred method of disposal of the remains, as a new vessel will be used for the next incarnation.
Buddhism and Christianity have both developed in the course of fifteen hundred years into sacerdotal and sacramental systems, each with its bells and rosaries, and images and holy water; each with its services in dead languages, with choirs and processions, and creeds and incense, in which the laity are spectators only; each with its mystic rites and ceremonies performed by shaven priests in gorgeous robes; each with its abbots and monks and nuns of many grades; each with its worship of virgins, saints, and angels; its reverence to the Virgin and the Child; its confessions, fasts, and purgatory; its idols, relics, symbols, and sacred pictures; its shrines and pilgrimages; each with its huge monasteries and gorgeous cathedrals; its powerful hierarchy and its wealthy cardinals; each, even, ruled over by a pope, with a triple tiara on his head and the sceptre of temporal power in his hand.
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