Buddhism- Religious Histories and Nonverbal Communications

For my cultural Reporter project i did the Buddhist religion, and in my final video i narrowed my focus to Buddhist monks. After researching this culture, my eyes have really opened up to how different cultures communicate different ways, and how different cultures place emphasis on different things. I really learned a lot from this project!

In my first blog I looked at the basics of buddhism. Buddhism is a religion that places its main beliefs on Buddha. Buddha is not a "God" as in the Western religion sense, but he is instead a teacher. Buddhists believe in living a life that will allow them to reach enlightenment. One way Buddhists do this is by going to temple and living food and flower offerings to the temple to show respect for Buddha.

For my second blog, i looked at Buddhism and how its religious history does and does not influence the practices today. In some aspects, Buddhism does look at history for its practices. For example, Desak is a religious holiday. It symbolizes the day that Buddha was born, came to enlightenment, and died. Sometimes Buddhism does not follow its religious history. For example, many Buddhists today follow vegetarianism.  this is not in historical Buddhism, but is instead a contemporary concept. In some instances, Buddhism disregards the idea of "religious histories" altogether. While speaking with Aron Sage, a follower of Buddhism, I found out that Buddhism focuses on the present. "Buddhists believe that thinking about anything other than the present is an unnatural thought process"( -Aron Sage). This is why buddhists put such a big emphasis on meditation, as while Buddhists meditate, the focus solely on the present. 

For my video, I decided to narrow my topic down to Buddhist monks. They have always seemed like such a secretive culture and i was eager to learn more. Buddhist monks are Buddhists committed into a monastery. They try to live in the footsteps of Buddha himself. When reading the book Living Religions, by Mary Fisher, i learned that the first buddhist monasteries originated in Sri Lanka, and have since then popped up all over the globe as buddhism spread. (Fisher M. 2011)

In my video I explored nonverbal communications. Nonverbal behaviors convey relational messages, status and power, and deception. (Martin & Nakayama 2009). Buddhist monks use nonverbal communication not only to communicate with each other, but also convey messages such as status and power. Oneway buddhist monks use nonverbal communication to convey status is their eating arrangement. Buddhist monks sit on a slightly higher platform that novices, to show that monks have a higher status than novices. Buddhist monks also have a variety of gestures to communicate. One of these is "Anjali" which is a motion where hands are palm to palm over the heart. This is used as hello, goodbye, and thank you. 

I had trouble linking my video to this, but it is on the Sec 2, Comm 211 Facebook page!




After researching these concepts and how they relate to Buddhism and the Buddhist monk culture, i heave learned a lot about how to communicate with this culture and other cultures. When looking at religious histories and communication, researching other cultures religious histories is very important. Once you research the religious history of that specific culture, you can better communicate with them because you understand where their views may be coming from. 


Nonverbal communication is very important when studying other cultures. Nonverbal cues can very greatly in cultures. For example, Buddhist monks are not suppose to talk to or touch women. As a result, to Americans, their avoidance of women may come off as "rude"even though it is actually a social norm in their culture. When communicating with other cultures, researching their nonverbal communication norms will be helpful, as it will break down the culture barrier easier, and you will be able to thus communicate more effective. 


The biggest thing i learned while doing this project is to have an open mind. Cultures are all very different. In order to really study a culture, you have to open your mind and put previous prejudices and thoughts aside, and really focus on the culture itself. Once people become more open minded, we can communicate better, and this learn so much more about each other. 

Sources:


Martin, Judith N., and Thomas K. Nakayama. "History and Intercultural Communications." Intercultural Communications in Context. 5th ed. 145-46. Print.


Fisher, Mary P. "Buddhism." Living Religions. 8th ed. Pearson. 135-81. Print.


Sage, Arong. Telephone interview. 28 Oct. 2011.