Buddhism: Discourse Community
Introduction
Discourse Community refers to the group of communicators or individuals who adopt and apply one common way of interaction or execution of activities in the context of the public. The common ways or preferred mode of public execution of activities or interactions is called the discursive practices. The term discourse community focuses on the identification of individuals who subscribe to a common language, characteristics, practices, and norms in the process of communicating and interacting with other individuals from the outside group. Accordance with the ideas of Swale, discourse community adopts and incorporates six characteristics in relation to the interaction with the entire society (Devitt p. 36). The first characteristic of a discourse community is the adopting and adherence to the set of rules or norms (formal and informal). This relates to the development and obligation to the values, morals, roles, and beliefs of the community. The other characteristic is the inclusion of a particular language for the interaction or communication within and outside the group. Another characteristic is the application of the communication technique to offer feedback and develop knowledge for the survival of the group.
Discourse groups also have the essence of unique genres or knowledge fields for the study purposes thus are wise in relation to the norms and beliefs of the religion. Another aspect of the discourse community is the essence of unique lexis for interaction with the community or other members within the society. This is an expression of the vocabularies, phrases, and choice of words to communicate effectively and efficiently within the society. There is also the element of the shifts within the concept of discourse communities. This is because of the entry of new members, walking out of old members, and death and birth of the members of the community or discourse group. The aspect of discourse community changes with regression and the concepts of progression thus the lack of rules and norms relating to the entity. Buddhism is a discourse community because of the elements or characteristics that subscribe to the issues of the entity as described in the discussion by Swale (Alexander p. 12).
Literacy Practices of Buddhism
In relation to the common Buddhism, the focus or critical training is to realize the interaction with the phenomena in the context of pure lands, Buddha bodies, thoughts, and teachings. In the perfection of the training would result in the development of a community with the concepts and qualities of Buddhism. James Paul Gee defines discourse community as, “a way of being in this world; they are forms of life which generate words, acts, values, beliefs’, attitudes, and social identities, as well as gestures, glances, body positions, and cloths” (Pahl et al, p. 16). This is because the religious community in the form of Buddhism shares similar norms, beliefs, practices, values, culture, and ideas to enhance quality interaction and association within the community or society of context. The aspect of discourse community enables Buddhism to stand out from other religious practices. This relates to the unique practices and illustrations in relation to the beliefs, roles, values, and culture of the community.
Supreme Being
Like Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism, Buddhism is a form of religious practice with unique values, beliefs, and norms guiding interaction and associations within the community. One of the illustration of Buddhism as a discourse community is the aspect the Supreme Being. In Christianity, the Supreme Being is known as God appearing or unveiling himself in the concept of trinity. This aspect differs in the practice of Buddhism in that the Supreme Being in this religious practice is known as Buddha. The Buddhists have a specific meaning for the term Buddha. This crucial term refers to the ‘Enlightened One’. Buddha is known in this discourse community as Siddhartha Gautama. According to the beliefs of the Buddhism religion, Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) is believed to be the son of an Indian warrior-king (Mathews p. 271). The ideas behind the aspect of the Buddha indicate that he spent a profligate life and decided to become a monk thus limiting his possessions of the hope of understanding the universe effectively and efficiently. Buddha subscribed to the theory that suffering in relation to humanity was eminent. The concept of salvation was developed by Buddha while enjoying life under a tree and meditating on the ways of escaping the eminent suffering faced by humanity. From this point, the son of the Indian warrior-king went on to illustrate his understanding of the concept through the act of preaching.
Beliefs
Buddhism subscribes to numerous liberal practices. One of the main beliefs of this discourse community is the aspect of reincarnation. This illustrates the concept of human beings being reborn to possess new features and characteristics. According to the beliefs of Buddhism, people are reborn following their death. This refers to the opportunity of continuing with life as a human being but in the form of a different person from the previous life before death. Buddha illustrated the concept of rebirth or reincarnation through the expression of the leaf growing on a tree. The leaf illustration draws from the concept of withering. During withering process, the leaf falls off the tree and another leaf sprouts to replace it. The new leaf is not the same leaf before withering but resembles the original one. This illustrates on how human beings are reborn to replace the dead thus the concept of reincarnation by the Buddhists. This theory is unique to the group thus the form of discourse community for case of Buddhism.
Vocabularies
Buddhism is also an aspect of discourse community because of expression and application of the effective choice of words and vocabularies for the communication purposes. The application of the unique vocabularies aims to enhance the enlightenment’s journey and develop blessing to the group or religious community. An example of the choice of a word or unique vocabularies in the illustration of the religious group is in the form of the rituals and practices by Buddhism. The Buddhism community or religious group to refer to the sacred sounds adopts the term mantras. This is an expression of unique vocabulary to enhance communication through developing adequate understanding in relation to a diverse concept. Another expression of the unique vocabularies is in the form of Mudras illustrating symbolic hand gestures for the communication purposes. These unique vocabularies differentiate Buddhism from other religious practices thus the concept of being a discourse community (Young p. 94).
Norms
Another concept illustrating Buddhism as a discourse community is the adoption and conformity to the norms or laws governing interaction and existence within the group. For instance, according to the norms of the Buddhism religious community or group, Monks, nuns, and laypersons have the obligation of refraining from sexual intercourse and misconduct. The role of the nuns in abiding with this rule is even stricter than the two institutions because of the cultural laws or norms in relation to the women gender. In other sections of the globe such as Japan and, Korea, priests under the religious practice of Buddhism have the opportunity and capacity to marry, unlike the nuns. Another norm differentiating Buddhism religious practices as a discourse community is the norms forbidding abortion or termination of pregnancy. This illustrates the norms of the community in relation to the act of killing or murder, which is not condoned within the religious group (Warren p. 58). Another aspect of uniqueness in the context of the Buddhists is rules against overeating. It is not a law to be a vegetarian as a practice of the religious group. This is because the religious practice or community allows its followers to eat flesh if it is noted under the dietary laws. This is an expression of a unique group hence Buddhism being a discourse group.
Conclusion
According to the definitions, discourse community refers to the aspect of adopting and implementing similar characteristics, norms, beliefs, values, ideas, and culture to offer crucial identification to a group. Some of the characteristics of a discourse group include unique laws or norms, vocabularies or choice of words, genre, practices, and mode of communication or language. Buddhism is a discourse community because of the elements of the characteristics available within the religious group. These include unique norms, values, language/vocabularies, and diverse religious practices.
Works Cited
Devitt, Amy J. Writing Genres. Carbondale [Ill.: Southern Illinois University Press, 2008. Print.
Alexander, O., British Association of Lecturers in English for Academic Purposes., & Scottish Association for the Teaching of English as a Foreign Language.. New approaches to materials development for language learning: Proceedings the 2005 joint BALEAP/SATEFL conference. Bern: Peter Lang, 2007. Print.
Mathews, W. World religions. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning, 2010. Print.
Young, Serinity. Buddhism. New York, N.Y: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark, 2007. Print.
Warren, H. C. (2005). Buddhism in translations. New York: Cosimo Classics.
Pahl, Kate, and Jennifer Rowsell. Literacy and Education: Understanding the New Literacy Studies in the Classroom. London: Paul Chapman, 2005. Print.
