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Halloween,
which means Eve of All Saints, has its origin in the Christian
observance of All Saints Day on November 1. This celebration stems
from the Christian tradition of remembering the good people who have
left this world and continue to live as saints in a heavenly home.
Behind the
celebration of Halloween, there are some deep questions: What happens
when a person dies? Is there life after death? In response to these
questions, members of several faith traditions shared reflections on
their beliefs of afterlife.
BAHA'I
According
to the Baha'i teachings the soul, after separation from the body,
will continue to progress until it attains the presence of God and it
will endure as long as the Kingdom of God will endure. Baha'u'llah
states the "when it (the soul) leaveth the body it will evince
such ascendancy, and reveal such influence as no force on earth can
equal. Every pure, every refined and sanctified soul will be endowed
with tremendous power, and shall rejoice with exceeding gladness."
BUDDHISM
The Buddha
himself said nothing about the afterlife. When asked where we come
from and where we are going, he responded that answers to such
questions did not help stop our distress and others’ distress in
this moment. “The next life” is mentioned a number of times in
the scripture, but no specifics were given about when this would be
or what it would be like. As a result, many thoughts developed all
the way from the Tibetan belief in actual reincarnation to the simple
“I don’t know – I haven’t died yet” voiced by one
eighth-century Chinese teacher.
Followers
of the Soto Zen tradition emphasize the Buddha’s teaching that
there is no permanent self and his teaching that worrying about what
comes next isn’t useful in our present life. Like the old Chinese
teachers, their basic belief about an afterlife is “Don’t know –
haven’t died yet.” They are open to whatever others might
believe, but their faith says that if they take care of this life,
whatever happens at death will take care of itself.
Their
tradition also says that actions are tainted if they expect rewards.
Doing something good thinking we’ll “get into heaven” warps the
good result. Thinking about the afterlife can be detrimental to
their present lives, removing the joy and the benefit that comes from
simply giving.
If
they believe anything as Soto Zen people, they believe that their
lives are like dippers of water lifted from a stream – then poured
back after a time. The carbon, calcium, and other elements of their
bodies go on to form other things. The force that animated them
flows back into the life force of the universe to give life to new
beings. The purpose of their death is to make life available to all
things, to ensure that new birth can happen.
UNITARIAN UNIVERSALISTS
Due to
their religious pluralism, Unitarian Universalists do not have a
single view of the afterlife. However, they do collectively believe
that a person lives on in the lives and memories of those that they
touched while they were alive. When Unitarian Universalists have a
memorial service, they call it a Celebration of Life Service, because
they believe that they are called to remember the life and legacy of
the person so that they can learn from the person’s life and carry
on the person’s work. The focus is not on the person’s death.
CHRISTIANITY
The
resurrection is key to Christian’s life as it was to Jesus' life
and teaching and biblical writings.
In the life
and teachings of Jesus, a basic tenet to both his words and actions
was the underlying promise of eternal life. Christians believe that
just as Christ is truly risen from the dead and lives for ever, so
after death the righteous will live for ever with the risen Christ. [
and he will raise them up on the last day.
United
with Christ by Baptism, believers already truly participate in the
heavenly life of the Christ. When we rise on the last day we "also
will appear with him in glory." In expectation of that day, the
beliver's body and soul already participate in the dignity of
belonging to Christ. In death the soul is separated from the body; in
the resurrection God will reunite the soul and body. Christians
believe all will rise at the last day.
While this
has been the traditional Christian belief, the perspectives of
afterlife in the various Christian religions vary from the literal to
the metaphorical beliefs.
Religions recognize that there is a
power beyond oneself. That power that gives life and energy may be
referred to as the Great Mystery, a Higher Power, Allah, God, the
Great Spirit and other terms. To acknowledge this universal spirit
that connects everything, religions commonly have practices that
bring people together as a faith community for prayer, worship or
other rituals.
Recently the board members of the
InterReligious Council were invited to share the communal prayer
practices in their faith traditions. Use of symbols, song or chant,
common prayer, sermons or reflections, meditation, body movement,
readings and rituals are common elements of many traditions. The
religions vary greatly in the main elements and the amount of
structure used in their common prayer. These generally reflect the
spirituality and tenents of a religion.
BUDDHISM
For Buddhists in the Zen denomination,
the primary form of “prayer” or religious observance is zazen.
At the local Zen Center, Sunday morning begins with bells to announce
forty minutes of zazen, which literally means”sitting in
concentration or contemplation. The participants sit upright, facing
the wall, eyes half open, breathing quietly and letting thoughts come
and go as they will do. Thoughts will naturally slow down if the
person does not chase after them with more “thinking” bout them.
Other Sunday morning practices include offering incense, bowing,
chanting, a Dharma talk (akin to a sermon), a work period and tea
together. All these practices point the Buddhists toward living life
fully. This fullness of life is direct participation in this very
moment---without the filters of self-referential ideas or prejudices
about the situation in front of them. “Sitting Zen” is space for
this to occur. Without limiting notions of how reality should be,
the practitioners are freed to respond naturally to all that is in
their daily living. Practice cools the fires of mental distraction
of what may be called “the spinning mind”. Zazen practice is
devoted to the integration of compassion into one’s everyday
activities.
BAHA'I
Everyone is invited to gather at the
local Baha’i Center each Sunday for prayer and readings from all
the Holy Books. At the beginning of every Baha’i month, the Baha’i
members come together for prayer meetings called Feast. The Feast,
which are normally open only to Baha’is, are divided into three
sections: devotions, business meeting for the community, and social
time. Baha’is also gather for prayer on Baha’i Holy Days, which
are open to the public.
Because each person in a Unitarian
Universalist congregation is on their own individual spiritual path,
there is no consistent way to pray or meditate in each service.
However, Unitarian Universalists generally have a time in every
service for prayer or meditation. The minister might invite the
congregation to put their feet flat on the floor, sit up straight,
let their eyes rest, take a deep slow breath, and embrace a moment of
silence (to help people open themselves to a time for contemplation).
After the silence, the minister proceeds into a spoken prayer or
meditation. This prayer or meditation might originate from various
religious traditions or texts, or might be poem or prose to
facilitate a reverent contemplative mood.
The local Unitarian Universalists have
a regular Sunday service that includes hymns, readings and
benediction. A sermon is generally the centerpiece of the service.
A unique aspect of their service is the flaming chalice---lighting a
flame inside a chalice to unite the members in worship and
symbolizing the spirit of their work.
JUDAISM
Judaism sees prayer as regular routine
that is best when engaged in as part of a community. Traditional
Judaism suggests that prayer should occur three times a day during
the week, and four times on the Sabbath. In addition, many
aspects of the prayer service require the presence of the community,
a minimum of ten adults, in order for particular prayers to be
recited. Prayer can happen if 10 people are not present, but it
is believed that prayer is more meaningful when the community joins
together.
Communal Jewish prayer also struggles
to balance two opposing concepts, the ideas of kevah vs.
kavanah. Kevah is a Hebrew word that means fixed. In
Judaism, the prayers said are fixed, written down, and repeated
during every service for which the community gathers. But, even
through the same words are said, over and over, the people strive to
pray with kavannah, intention. That is, they pray not
merely as if they had the service memorized and were repeating words
without meaning, but rather they strive to be focused and intentional
in prayer, adding meaning and import to the words being said.
ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY
Christians are called to pray
ceaselessly. In the Orthodox Christian practice, there are many
times of the day set aside for prayer. The most basic prayer pattern is the
Hours - First Hour (7am), Third Hour (9am), Sixth Hour (noon) and
Ninth Hour (3pm). These services consist if Psalms and petitions and
are most usually kept in monastic practice.
Outside of monasteries, Daily Matins -
morning prayer service - and Daily Vespers - the corresponding
evening prayer service - are more typical. Our local parish of St.
George, for example, offers Matins every Tuesday morning and Vespers
every Wednesday evening.
The "main" worship service of
the Church is Divine Liturgy, every Sunday and major Feast Day. This
service consists of two sections, the Liturgy of the Word and the
Liturgy of the Eucharist. The Liturgy of the Word features readings
from St. Paul's epistles, and from one of the four Gospels. During
the second section, the faithful recite the Creed and receive Holy
Communion.
Every Saturday evening and eve of a
Feast Day, we celebrate Great Vespers, a slightly more elaborate
evening prayer service. The theme on Saturday evening is the
Resurrection. On Sunday morning, preceding Divine Liturgy is Sunday
Matins (Resurrectional Orthros).
