Religious Traditions

Eastern religious traditions play a role in everyday medicine. The question is what role does it play? Modern medicine is a lot different than what it was back in the day. It is clear that the facts of modern medicine agree marvelously with the Bible. For example, the Mosaic regulations pertaining to childbirth, sexual relationships, hand-washing, wound and discharge care, quarantining, burial precautions, and waste disposal are examples which indicate that diseases are communicable, and that the best protection against them is to prevent their spread. Today there is hundreds of therapies labeled "alternative medicine," but what exactly does that mean? A broad definition would be any therapy that is not accepted by the dominant medical establishment of our culture or any other culture. There are several characteristics of alternative medicine.These therapies are not practiced in hospitals or physicians ' offices. They focus on natural methods of healing with an emphasis on preventing disease. They are also more likely to treat chronic ailments after conventional medicine has failed. Alternative medicine originates from the traditions of ancient cultures, particularly China and India. For instance, 370 different healing drugs were used in Mesopotamia while 600 were common in India. The Chinese had 2000 herbs, metals, and minerals as ingredients in 16,000 different preparations. Despite the variety, many historians agree that these ancient medical practices had little success in actually curing disease. The real effects are still under scrutiny today including comparisons with the strides made by modern medicine. Despite the shortfalls of conventional medicine, we live longer and are healthier than people of long ago. Ancient alternative medicine was greatly influenced by Eastern religions. That is why today 's users of so-called "rediscovered" alternative medicines can still see those religious concepts interwoven with the treatments. Many alternative medicine proponents approach holistic health from a pantheistic world view. Central to pantheism is the idea of monism--the idea that everything in the universe is one ultimate reality. If all is one, then man is divine. Since we are divine, we are without sin. Sin is merely an illusion that creates false guilt. This guilt is what leads to illness. Some advocates of alternative medicine would point out that the biblical view of health is also considered holistic. Indeed, God made man a complex being with physical, mental, social and spiritual dimensions, and He cares about every aspect of our person hood. Contrary to pantheism, the Bible teaches God is a personal being and we are His created beings. We were meant for a personal relationship with Him, but we are separated from this by sin. Biblical health begins with a right relationship with a personal God through His Son, Jesus Christ. Rather than ignoring sin, it must be dealt with through repentance and restoration. Finally, a Christian must acknowledge that God may have a purpose for suffering, and that there is value to yielding to His plan. What is certain in any case is that no constructive progress in medicine was possible until the ancient evolutionary doctrine of spontaneous generation was discarded. The fierce battle to destroy this superstitious myth regarding the origins of microscopic life is surely one of the most exciting sagas in the long development of modern medicine. Indian society was originally divided by categories of work, but later on a far more complicated division of society into different castes came into being. Different castes can not marry, nor do they eat together. A soul can be born into a different caste in the process of reincarnation. Despite attempts during the last 100 years to break down caste barriers, the caste system is still a dominating feature of Indian society. The Indian Constitution does not recognize the existence of castes except for positive discrimination in favor of groups classified as scheduled caste and scheduled tribes. However despite a decision by the Indian Supreme Court that ruled that there is not biological difference between Hindu castes, it is unlikely that the influence of the caste system will diminish for a lone time. Today, many lower caste people especially in rural villages still have little access to education, limited resources and unskilled or menial jobs as their only option. However, thanks to a long history of missionary schools and to various changes in government sponsored education many have become better educated and hold higher paying jobs. Presently, Indian society is characterized by and obsession with the kinds of development that would lead to a free market economy. "The growing economic success of some in India has created a chasm separating the rich from the poor who make up about 56 percent of the population." (Murthy, 1999) Indians who belong to the lower castes that were once considered "untouchables" now choose to call themselves by the name Dalit, meaning "oppressed" and signaling that they are actively resisting injustice India has a secular constitution which it is at present reviewing amid concerns that the review may give more power to the majority Hindu community and threaten the special position of lower castes and other faiths. Secularism in India constitution was designed to support and protect minority groups out of proportion to their size. This seemed to the founding fathers to be the only was of ensuring a society in which all Indians had an equal chance to have a good life. They must also have thought that the tolerant attitude that Hinduism has towards other religions would be entirely in support of this. But the principle of equal respect and toleration of all religions is actually inconsistent with the protection of religious minority rights, so it was definite that this would lead to trouble, and that the majority Hindu population would feel that it was getting the rough end of the deal when it saw the favorable treatment given to minorities. There is a aggressive movement for India to become a Hindu state. This is often referred to in the press as the "saffronisation" of India, because saffron is the symbolic color of Hinduism. Saffronisationis usually associated with the militant Hindu nationalist organization. In recent years Hindu nationalist have been accused of much anti Christian violence, including the killing of priests and missionaries, the raping of nuns and the destruction of churches, schools and cemeteries. The reasons why Buddhism has been in the United States for so long, and yet not until the last few decades has it begun to spread outside the small ethnic enclaves within which it had confined itself. The first Buddhist temple was built in San Francisco in 1853 by Chinese Buddhists living and working in America. It would not be until the late 1960 's, however, when non-Chinese Americans would begin to get involved in Chinese Buddhist temples. Mainstream America first became aware of Buddhism during the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893 when the Sri Lankan layman Anagarika Dharmapala, Rinzai priest Shaku Soyen, and other Buddhist representatives presented the Buddha Dharma there. Shaku Soen 's disciple D. T. Suzuki would eventually become a prominent spokesman of Zen to the American intelligentsia, most notably the Beat poets, but it would not be until the 1960 's that significant numbers of Americans would actually take up the practice of Zen. It would not be until the 1960 's when non-Japanese-Americans would take up the practice of Daimoku chanting due to the missionary efforts of Soka Gakkai members. Buddhism has been a part of the American landscape since the mid-19th century. The watershed period of American Buddhism however was the 1960 's. There were two reasons for this. The 1965 changes to the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 opened the doors to Asian immigration. This enabled a new wave of Asian Buddhists as well as Asian Buddhist clergy and teachers to come into the U.S. The second reason was the counterculture movement and especially the hippie sub-culture which it gave rise to. The youth counterculture was actively seeking alternatives to what they saw as a hypocritical and repressive Judeo-Christian heritage and the conformist and materialistic consumer society. Asian spiritualities like Hinduism and Buddhism seemed to promise a fresh and more authentic alternative. In addition, widespread experimentation with drugs like LSD inspired many to seek out Asian meditative practices in order to find a more organic and stable way of achieving and sustaining the kinds of mystical states they believed they had glimpsed by taking psychadelic drugs. This large group of youthful seekers and the greater access to Buddhism provided by new levels of Asian immigration combined to produce a boom in American Buddhism during the 60 's and 70 's. It was during this period that most of the American practice and meditation centers were established, in addition to the many new temples build by and for the growing numbers of Asian Buddhists immigrating to the U.S. Is the dawn of the 21st century, and estimates of the number of Buddhists in America ranges from just over one million to as high as four million; well over a thousand Buddhists temples and practice centers have been established; and most bookstores have large sections devoted to Buddhism. The first group is the "Elite Buddhists" who are comprised of those Americans who have actively sought out Buddhism. The second group is the "Evangelical Buddhists" who are comprised of groups from Asia who actively seek out converts from the general population. The Ethnic Buddhists consist of an estimated 2.2 - 3.2 million immigrants from Asian countries who have established Buddhists temples (or churches) to meet the social, cultural and religious needs of their many diverse communities. This group includes the older Chinese and Japanese communities which go back to the 19th century, and the new waves of immigration from Korea, Vietnam, other Buddhist countries in SE Asia, as well as fresh waves of immigrants from China. This group includes both professional and working class immigrants, those who are barely literate and those who hold advanced degrees. It had been his longtime wish to teach Zen Buddhism to mainstream America, and so he opened the doors of the temple to non-Japanese Americans who wanted to actually practice Zen meditation and not just read about it. Suzuki Roshi 's experiment led to the highly successful San Francisco Zen Center and its complex of related centers. In the process, however, Suzuki Roshi was forced to leave Sokoji Temple because the Japanese-American members did not want to share their temple with the "hippies and beatniks" that Suzuki Roshi was attracting. Today, the San Francisco Zen Center is at the hub of a thriving Zen communities. There are many different state and practices of ancient Chinese religious traditions in Communist China. In the following information listed will give the reader an idea of the state and practices of Chinese religious traditions in Communist China. There is the history of China, religion in general, freedom of Religion in China. China is one the world 's oldest civilizations in history by repeated divisions and reunifications amid alternating periods or peace and war with change. The country territory expands from a core area in the North China Plain, and varied according to its shifting fortunes. China was and is the world 's most technological advanced civilizations and East Asia 's dominant cultural influence. The Republic of China as it controls mainland China, the people 's Republic of China used Zhongguo to mean all the territories and peoples within their political control. This caused that all fifty-six groups recognized ethnic groups of Zhongguo ren (What 's new China.com). Before the Communist Revolution a number of religious and philosophical systems were practiced in china. Religion in China has four major religions and they are Taoism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam. While the People 's Republic of China is Officially atheist it does allow religion under strict supervision (Article; Religion in China). The other belief systems that continue to be important include ancestor worship and Confucianism. Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism, are traditional belief systems tend to be adhered to in a blend rather than singly (Article; Religion in China). Recently Falun Gong, which is a spiritual practice drawing upon Buddhism and Taoism. This practice denies that it is a cult or a religion and has attracted widespread sympathy outside Mainland China. It has approximately seventy to one hundred million followers, which is higher than any other outside group (Article; Religion in China). Taoism and Confucianism traditionally provided ethical guides to the proper behavior of individuals and officials. Both of theses systems originated in China during the Golden Age of Chinese thought, several centuries before the beginning of the Christian era (Compton 's Living Encyclopedia). Taoism promotes inner peace and harmony of an individual with his or her environment. Buddhism came to China from India in the first century AD, it was a conventional religion. Followers attend services, rituals, and attend temple. Over sixty-eight million Chinese consider themselves Buddhist (Compton 's Living Encyclopedia). Christian have been active in China since Roman Catholics in the early seventh century (Compton 's Living Encyclopedia). It was hard for them to convert due to being associated with Western imperialism. Islam was introduced to China from Central Asia, which was practiced by many Turkic people. There are a large amount of Chinese Muslims in China. The communists religious practices considered to be anti-socialist. Many temples and churches have been closed and their property taken. A mass movement called the Cultural revolution lasted several years. Most religious practices were persecuted. Confucianism is a latinized form of the honorific title K 'ung-fu-tzu, given to a wandering scholar from the state of LU in Shandong Province in northeastern China (Compton 's Living Encyclopedia). Confucius primary practices are social relations, proper conduct, and social harmony. Confucius also believes in cardinal relationships such as, between ruler, and ruled, between husband and wife, between parents and children, between older an younger brothers, and between friends (Compton 's Living Encyclopedia). The freedom of Religion in China has led to a mixture of accommodating and repressing by the Chinese authorities. China 's government forbids organized worship outside state sanctioned religious organizations. Those who do not follow rules get punished harshly. The Chinese government repression of unauthorized religious believers could cause erosion of the Chinese people confidence in their government. The government could restore confidence by protecting religious freedom as stipulated in China their constitution (News Voice of America).

References
Coleman, James William. The New Buddhism:The Western Transformation of an Ancient Tradition.New York:Broadway Books, 1999.
Prebish, Charles. Luminous Passage:The Practice and Study of Buddhism in America. Berkeley:University of California Press,1999.

http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v17/i1/medicine.asp

http://www.inplainsite.org/html/alternative_medicine_1.html

www.infoslurp.com, article.
Compton 's Living Encyclopedia, on America On line, (August 1995). www.voanews.com, New Voice Of America, August 16, 2005.

References:

http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v17/i1/medicine.asp

http://www.inplainsite.org/html/alternative_medicine_1.html

www.infoslurp.com, article.
Compton 's Living Encyclopedia, on America On line, (August 1995). www.voanews.com, New Voice Of America, August 16, 2005.

References: http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v17/i1/medicine.asp http://www.inplainsite.org/html/alternative_medicine_1.html www.infoslurp.com, article. Compton 's Living Encyclopedia, on America On line, (August 1995). www.voanews.com, New Voice Of America, August 16, 2005.