The Baha'i Studies Listserv How devout is devout? Religionists tend to be broken into three categories of followers: laity, devout devotees, clergy/monastics.
I will give an example of this negleacted middle category. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up%C4%81saka_and_Up%C4%81sik%C4%81 That was the only example I can find because laity is usually the first category with some rare instacnes of second category. It is stratified with various levels sometimes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pratimoksha Thet range from widely depending on level of responsibility one undertakes oneself with. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Precepts http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%9A%C4%ABla It's done on a daily basis. So statue could fluctuate on a daily basis in theory. Technically, non-practicing is a below the minimum group that comprises anyone who identifies with a religion or its accosition, but fails to meet a minimal threshold for official membership. So, what would set some laity up to devout devotee status in religion not that systematized? The Baha'i Faith has no clergy/monastic category, therefore it has two rather than three. What pratices would cause a Baha'i to qualify for devout devotee status? A devout devotee of Buddhism is someone who takes the most strict Pratimoksha avialable to laity each and every day: keeping all five pecepts, pure conduct, and wearing robes. The second most stirct is that without the robe requirement. The third most strict is just five precepts daily which is the definition of laity. You also have the option of only taking x out of 5, which means some precepts in all honesty you know you won't/can't/etc follow and won't try. The least strict is just taking refuge, which is nonminal. Non-practicing is not even taking refuge. Purity of conduct with or without robes seems to be the main difference, but I'm not an expert. __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[email protected] Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:leave-537075-27401.54f46e81b66496c9909bcdc2f7987...@list.jccc.edu Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [email protected] Or subscribe: http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:[email protected] Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st News (on-campus only) - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
