Socrates Buddha And Confucius Comparison Essay

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The main similarity between Socrates, Buddha and Confucius, is that they stressed the importance of honor and integrity. All three of them taught a form of the golden rule. The golden rule is “Do not do to others what you would not like them do to you” (Clarken, 2010). Socrates was a philosopher in Athens, and he encouraged people to reflect on ethics, morality and knowledge (Tignor et al. p.197). Morality and ethics are what people believe is right, and what people believe is wrong. Buddha also known as Siddhartha Gautama, believed in the ascetic life, and that life is full of faith to reach nirvana. Nirvana is enlightenment and the absent of pain (Tignor et al. p. 177). To be able to reach Nirvana, people have to follow Buddha’s teachings known as the four truths and emptiness. Confucius believed that humans behaved ethically because it is in their makeup to do so. He also highly believed in respect for the elders or …show more content…

There are several similarities between the three of them; the major one is that they all stressed the importance of honor and integrity opposed to wealth and power. All three of them lived during historical periods of change, such as war, conflict and demoralization. Demoralization is to destroy the morale of others. These changes gave rise to the thought and beliefs of the philosopher and the rise of Confucianism and Buddhism. There are differences between Socrates, Buddha and Confucius. These differences include that Socrates’ teachings are about knowledge, Buddha’s are about a path to emptiness, and Confucius’ are about virtue. For Socrates to be able to find this knowledge is to accept that you know nothing. Socrates believed that knowledge derived from dialogue. Buddha believed in emptiness, which is when you get people to think and focus in the present, and forget the rest. Confucius believed in education that leads to learning of the virtues (Clarken,

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