RELIGIONS

** Chinese Religions ** By: Jon S, and Janki P. Have you ever wondered about what religions people practice in China? This is the perfect place to find some background information on two of China's main religions. **__Nirvana!__** By Jon Soll Do you know what Nirvana is? No... it's not the band! Nirvana is a part of the religion of China called Buddhism. So, what is Buddhism? I am sure you have heard of the Buddha. You probably think of the Buddha as a big fat guy with no shirt, and when you rub his belly you get good luck. Well, the Buddha was a man named Siddharta Gautama, and his teachings became the religion of Buddhism. Buddhists (people who's religion is Buddhism) believe that if you don't live a good honest life, then after you die you will be born again as a human or other animal. To them, this is a very bad thing. So, back to this "Nirvana" word. If you have reached Nirvana, that means that you have led a perfect life and you have achieved the ability to not be born again into this world. No, you can not just reach Nirvana by sharing lunch money with your friend, or sparing that poor little ant's life that you chose not to step on (great job though!). You have to do many different things such as being aware of Karma, devoting your life to Buddhism, and meditating.



Karma is probably one of those words that you kind of know what is means but not really. Maybe one of your parents has told you that you have bad Karma if you did something bad. Here is a very basic example of Karma....... One morning a boy was walking to school, when he sees a little tiny boy who he could easily bully. He walks up to the boy and punches him in the arm (remember this). Later, after school he is walking back home when he trips over a rock and falls head first into a pile of dog poop. When he punched the little boy, he got "bad" karma. As a result, he fell into poop. Everything we do either gives us good or bad Karma. Everything that happens to us, is not by chance, but it happens because of what we did earlier in life. Whether it be a few years ago, or a few lives ago! Buddhists believe that if they gain good Karma, they will lead better lives and become closer to achieveing Nirvana. So next time someone makes fun of you, think about a previous time when you made fun of someone else and recieved bad Karma.

Buddhists devote their lives to Buddhism in many different ways. One way is by bowing. Buddhists bow down to many different things. They bow to each other when they walk into the temple that they pray in. Also, Buddhists will bow down to people of a higher religious rank. This includes monks, and other religious officials. The main thing that they bow to are images of the Buddha. If they walk into a room and there is a holy painting of the Buddha, then you can be sure they are going to bow. Another way to show devotion is by making offerings. Thankfully, these offerings are not beings that have been killed. Offerings are made to religious images and objects in the form of flowers or incense. If you are part of a religion I am sure you have a way of showing devotion, especially by singing. Singing and chanting is a large part of Buddhism. One other way to devote yourself is to move to where the Buddha recommended people to move. This would be, "his birthplace... the site of his enlightenment... the site of the preaching of his first sermon... the place of his death" (Buddhist Devotion). Devoting your life to Buddhism will help you achieve Nirvana.

The last way to achieve Nirvana that I will talk about is meditation. Meditating can be done in many different ways, not just by sitting cross-legged saying "Hummm, hummmm." (Although if that works for you, then that's how you would do it). The first step to meditating is being able to concentrate on your breath. Sit in a very comfortable position where you are by yourself and there is not much noise. For Buddhists, the purpose of meditation is to find peace inside of your mind. Once you are able to do this, you are able to think and understand about the world we live in. This is key to achieving Nirvana. One day, when you are annoyed with something, or maybe just bored, give meditating a try. Maybe you will make a hobbie out of it (or maybe not). Meditation is very important in the religion of Buddhism.

Nirvana means that you have escaped the cycle of suffering and rebirth. In order to achieve Nirvana you have to observe Karma, devote yourself, and meditate. So now you know all you need to know about Nirvana.

 Confucianism By: Janki P. Do you practice a religion at home? One really cool religion is Confucianism. It was based off the teaching of Confucius, a really smart Chinese thinker. Confucianism is about 2000 years old...yeah i know older than your grandma! Confucianism is all about **morality***, which is basically doing the right thing. Confucianism is a huge part of Chinese culture. Confucianism has many different beliefs on government, education, and society.

Confucius had many thoughts on government that still influence governments today. Confucius said that a ruler must rule with morals if he wanted his throne to be good and get far. In China today rulers still rule with morality because of Confucius's thoughts. Not only did Confucius change government he changed the way people thought about education. a closer look at:
 * morality - doing the right thing. An example of someone using morality is if there was a piece of cake someone really wanted but they knew that thier sister loved cake and needed it more they would use their morals to let their sister have it. Bad morality would be if they were selfish and they just ate it.
 * Confucius**

Do you sometimes hate coming to school? Blame it on Confucius. “ The historical importance of education in Chinese culture is derived from the teachings of Confucius…” (Confucian Education). One of the main reasons why education is so important is because Confucius said so. He said that education is one of the most important things for a society to have. So don't blame your teachers next time you're really bored at school, blame him. Confucius also changed people's relationships with one another.



**A Chinese School**

Confucius said that each person's relations with everyone was very important. He said that you have to serve everyone in some way. To serve our parents we do chores. To serve our little brother/sister we babysit them. You get the point, he is basically saying that you always have to do something for someone.

Confucianism is not any ordinary religion. Like all religions it has influenced the way people pray and what they believe. But it has also changed people's way of government,education, and the relationships they have.


 * A Confucian Symbol **

__**Works Cited:**__ "Buddhist Devotion." __Wikipedia__. . "Confucian education." __Cal Poly Pomona__. 01 Mar. 2009 [] __**Pictures Cited:**__ - __Amitabha__. Digital image. . - Buddhist Temple, Hue. Digital image. __Virtual Tourist__. []. - Chinese school in Kuching. Digital Image. [|www.jasongordon.net] - Confucianism. Digital Image  - __Confucius's philosophy.__ Digital Image. [|www.historyforkids.org] - Monks praying. Digital image. __One Stop Phuket__. [].