Religious Meeting Project

Connor Philpot

Overview: This project has me choosing a religion or congregation I am not

actively apart of, and attending a meeting and researching aspects about it. The
religion or culture section describing what I chose to do, the religious or cultural
function section going over my experience, the value theory section going over
value theory and how it is applied to that experience, the analysis section going
over how this theory and experience is related and can be applied, and finally a
reflection section going over my thoughts on the project overall. This project
having the goal of broadening my perspective and learning more about the
Buddhist belief system and its values.
Religion or Culture: The religion I chose to do was Buddhism. I am agnostic
myself, and many religions don’t seem to appeal to me. That being said Buddhism
is one I have an interest in. Buddhists believe in reincarnation and the aspect that
nothing is lost in the universe. They also believe in things like Sila which aims to
have a person do good conduct and morality. Treating everyone fairly and equally.
Samadhi which believes in meditation, and Prajna which values enlightenment.
These practices are often most practiced by people in eastern countries. Saisuta, V.
P. N. (n.d.). The Buddhist Core Values and Perspectives for Protection
Challenges: Faith and Protection. Mahachulalongkorn University.

Religious or Cultural Function: So, I went on and tried to set up a date to attend a
Buddhist communion. Sadly, they haven’t offered in person meetings in quite
some time due to the pandemic. So, I had to attend a meeting virtually. It was quite
the experience either way. I decided to keep true to the moment and had no
distractions and a quiet environment while I attended. It was intimate since it was
just the speaker talking directly in the camera. What he spoke about was very
interesting though. He talked about what should be valued in a pandemic world,
and how Buddhist teachings are more important then ever. Being kind to others
being a very big focus. Which is something I can agree with. Overall, the meeting
only lasted about half and hour, but there was a lot put in there. What he spoke
about was strong enough to change the atmosphere and environment as I was
listening to him.
Value Theory: The value orientation theory states that there are certain problems
that every human tries to answer in their own unique way. However, they’re
common and are often always tackled differently by each culture. Value
Orientation, Kluckholm & Strodbeck (Martin & Nakayama, 2018, pp. 94-102) This
applies to my experience in the Buddhist focus of being kind to others and finding
out what’s really important. They try to answer the question of how to orientate
your life in a way that has value and meaning, and how focusing on things like
kindness and inner peace leads to a better life with a better outlook. Outlook on life
being a common problem among many cultures.

Analysis: I think this theory applies in almost every aspect of the Buddhist belief
system, only just from a more general perspective. Buddhism is about centering
your life to have inner peace, and having a sense of good in the world. These are
broad ideas used to answer questions like how to live your life, and also what
morals you want to put yourself towards. It’s less about the rituals and more about
how the beliefs influence the way you view and interact with the world. So, with
that context, it answers a lot of human questions like in value orientation theory.

Reflection: I was kind of hesitant to do this project. I did something similar with a
Hindu communion and I don’t think I got as much out of it. I was also a bit
nervous because I didn’t know much abut Buddhist beliefs outside of
reincarnation. However, I learned a lot more about the specifics of what they
believe and the actual terminology and values that go with it. My attitude changing
a lot the more I learned. By the end of the meeting I attended, I felt very
comfortable and understanding of this religion and its beliefs. The applied theory
helping me to recontextualize and think deeply about what I’d been reading about
and participating in. I think I can apply a lot of the Buddhist perspective I’ve
learned from this project into my own life. I already had a general rule of kindness
I followed, but now I want to pair that with the idea of balance. I think I gained a
lot out of this experience.

References:

Saisuta, V. P. N. (n.d.). The Buddhist Core Values and Perspectives for Protection
Challenges: Faith and Protection. Mahachulalongkorn University.

Value Orientation, Kluckholm & Strodbeck (Martin & Nakayama, 2018, pp. 94-
102)