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Compare Buddhism and Christianity
The beliefs in buddhism essay
Compare Buddhism and Christianity
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Being raised as a Christian I never gave a thought to any of the other religions. Before visiting or learning about Buddhism I was sure Christianity had nothing in common with Buddhism. Christians believe that the only way to heaven is through Jesus Christ, who is the son of God, and the Buddhists believe that the only way to overcome the desire of the body is through the eightfold path which is the way to Nirvana. While Buddhists believe that suffering is brought about by our desires and humanity needs to overcome that by fighting to get rid of the craving of the body. Christians believe suffering is real and the only way to overcome that is to trust in God and through forgiveness we learn how to deal with our desire. In Christianity we believe that everything happens for a reason, mostly good ones. There is no other way to get rid of our desires. We pray and trust God to get us through whatever is happening.
ZEN BUDDHISM | What is Zen Buddhism? What is Zen meditation?. "ZEN BUDDHISM | Beliefs | Buddhist beliefs." Accessed Feb 24, 2014. http://zen-buddhism.net/beliefs/beliefs-and-dogmas.html.According to the “Buddhists Beliefs 2014” Zen does not seek to answer questions through God or after life; they focus on the present time while most religions spend time trying to answer questions such as who is God, what is life like after death, etc.? Zen believes that human conditions are so limited that nobody can possibly know the answers to these questions.
Zen Buddhism accepts life as it is since there is no way of answering those impossible questions.
Senauke, Hozan A. "A Long and Winding Road: Soto Zen Training in America." Teaching Theology and Religion (2006): doi:10.1111/j.1467-9647.2006.00274.x.
Senauke addresses Soto Zen a...
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...n. I think that moment of peacefulness that is taken and used to focus on the inner self by shutting the rest of the world out is something important to the worshippers.
Buddhist religion in general is mostly about overcoming the desire of the body. Just like Buddha left his home and abandoned all that he had to experience the real life and lived like everyone else, Buddhists accomplish this in the form of meditation. Meditation in Zen Buddhism reflects the belief that focusing on inner self is one way to calm your mind down and shut out the world and all the other distractions. There are a lot of people who use meditation, such as practicing yoga, and this would include Christians and other people as well. In visiting this meditation center I saw that the Buddhists practice meditation because both meditation and listening are an important part of their beliefs.
In the world, there are five major world religions, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism. In the past few classes, I have been exposed to and absorbed a tremendous amount of information on the religion of Buddhism. According to the dictionary, Buddhism is a religion of which originated in India, was founded by the Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, and teaches that life is full of suffering caused by desire and that the way to end this suffering is through enlightenment that enables one to halt the endless sequence of births and deaths to which one is otherwise subject. Buddhism is a way of finding peace within oneself. It is a religion that helps it’s believers to find the happiness and contentment us humans seek. One thing I found
Bibliography Suzuki, Shunryu. Zen Mind, Beginner Mind. New York & Tokyo: Weatherhill, 1982. Young, William A. The World’s Religions, Worldviews and Contemporary Issues.
Suzuki, D.T. An introduction to Zen Buddhism. Ed. Christmas Humphreys; fwd. C.G. Jung. London: Rider, 1983.
middle of paper ... ... Introduction to Zen Buddhism. Daisetz Suzuki. Kampolsky, Philip.
Zen Buddhism teaches of a concept called wu-nien, or “no-thought”. This of course is not a literal absence of thought, but it is rather a detachment from the thou...
While Nirvana is the ultimate spiritual attainment, most ordinary Buddhists show their commitment to the Buddha through several religious practices. The basic motives behind Buddhist practices mirror with those behind the Catholic tradition (Seay (2001,p.58). Both traditions aim to create togetherness within their community by developing a sense of communion with all present through a group activity. Some of these activities include group prayer/meditation and group singing/chanting. Another motive behind some Buddhist and Catholic practices is the principle of suffering, a significant element of religious tradition. This principle was formed on the basis of the suffering endured by Saddartha Gutama and Jesus Christ and is put into practice through traditions like achieving Nirvana and Le...
Zen masters enlighten their followers about importance of non-duality in realizing that everything is impermanent and there is no substantial self. Nothing has a fixed identity, if something had a fixed identity that means it would be permanent. Living is to be understood as an event as we are infinitely reborn through cycles of being born and dying (samsara) until enlightenment is found. The central theme in Zen is emptiness which is the absence of svabhava thinking (‘own being’), meaning a thing is a thing not another thing, it is essential to understand the non-duality between things. “Only because there is no self can the self be reborn. Only because the self is empty can the self be reborn.” Self is collection of parts (skandhas), what
Buddhism is currently the fourth most popular religion in our society today, following Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. Its major ideologies are based on the philosophies of Siddhartha Guatama, also known as “Buddha”, who began his teachings in 598 BCE at the age of 35, according to Buddhist texts. A Buddhist’s foremost aspiration is the obtainment of Bodhi, or enlightenment through meditation and Anapana-sati (awareness of the breath). Buddhism shares many ideologies with India’s Hinduism and Yoga such as non-harming, non-violence, and self-awareness. In many instances, people regard Buddhism as a way of life rather than a religion, for it has no clear belief in the idea of a God or Gods. Its structure is built upon a hierarchy much like Christianity where superior orders such as Lamas or the Dalai Lama are said to be chosen by nature through the process of reincarnation rather than by a council like Christianity’s Pope. Though these “higher level” Buddhists are rare (not everyone is a reincarnation of an ancient Buddhist “priest”), all are permitted to follow “The Middle Way” either as a Buddhist monk or the simple attendance of a weekly teaching session from time to time. Throughout the last few hundred years the Buddhist population has blossomed into a healthy 381,611,000 and over fifteen different sects including Zen, Mahayana, and Theravada.
Siddhartha Gautama is famously known as Gautama Buddha and was the founder of the idea of Buddhism. The Buddha was known to possess supernatural powers and abilities. He was born in the holy land of Nepal and his journey began in India when he decided to travel and teach himself about life. In the midst of his journey, he discovered Buddhism after he experienced a profound realization of the nature of life, death and existence. Buddhism became a religion based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama and since then Buddhism has been popular throughout many civilizations. Buddhism is now one of the most ancient religions in the world, where people follow Buddha, which stand for “awakened one,” and Buddhism which has gained popularity because of the teachings of the Buddha.
Although Buddhism and Christianity show several parallels, their three key differences are that Buddhists do not believe in one divine being, and have different views about both the purpose of life and the concept of afterlife. Buddhists do not believe in a Supreme Being, God or Creator, though many Buddhists today worship the Buddha - the central figure of Buddhism - and his teachings. They view him as someone with a universal spirit, an essence that can be attained by everyone rather than only a higher deity that rules over the world (Brown). Especially in Mahayana Buddhism, the concept of the Buddha nature is fundamental (“Pure Land”).... ...
Many people seek success in their lives, whether it’s wealth, a good education, or a family of their own. Zen Buddhism leads to a different kind of success than that. It brings success in the form of happiness, morality, self-actualization, and lack of stress: most of which one will not take away from Taoism. With origins in China, Zen Buddhism focuses on discipline and meditation as a portal to spontaneity and freedom. Many describe it as a blend of Mahayana Buddhism (originally from India) and Taoism (another philosophy from China). Ultimately, Zen Buddhism is the philosophy that will lead to a successful life because of its principles of showing others unconditional love and compassion as well as letting go of surrounding negativity.
230). There are two main “types” Buddhism that are practiced around the world. The first is Theravadin, and the second is Mahayana (Smith-Stoner, 2005, p. 228). Buddhism contains a “message of salvation” that considered the “Four Noble Truths” (Leming & Dickinson, 2011 p. 134). They are, the truth of suffering, the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of the end of suffering, and the truth of the path that leads to the end of suffering. Leming and Dickinson (2011) describe how the combination of ethics and meditation are the eightfold path to enlightenment (Leming & Dickinson, 2011 p. 136). The author believes it is important for practitioners to recognize the increasing numbers of people practicing Buddhism in the United States in order to enhance their ability to care for end of life needs in this population. Smith-Stoner (2005) states that Buddhism is one of the fastest growing religions in the United States and that Colorado is one of the main population centers (Smith-Stoner, 2005, p. 229). In Buddhism, it is extremely important to be able to tame emotions and the mind which is done through meditation. The author thinks it is pertinent to know the
Buddhism is centered upon the life and teachings of Gautama Buddha, whereas Christianity is centered on the Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ. Buddhism is a nontheistic religion, i.e., it does not believe in a supreme creator being God. Christianity is a monotheistic religion and believes that Christ Is the Son Of God. In Christianity, they believe in Jesus. Christianity is monotheistic because they only believe in one God, unlike Buddhism whom believes in several Gods. First and foremost, I will start by looking at the various similarities between Buddhism and Christianity. Both religions are based on the golden rule which concerns individual wellbeing as well as the interests of other people. Both Lord Buddha and Jesus Christ taught their disciples about the welfare of all human beings. They encouraged their followers to do good to others the same way they would like others do unto them. Jesus and Buddha preached the importance of social values and ethics. Both Buddha and Jesus rejected and highly condemned excessive asceticism and emphasized on self-liberation. Both Buddhism and Christianity doctrines lay emphasis on equal love for all human beings. According to Buddhism, this love should be extended to human beings as well as other living things. Similarly, Christian doctrines are based on the principle of loving a neighbor as much as one loves him/herself. This special kind of love, usually referred to as Agape by Christians, begins at individual levels and should be extended to all people, including friends and enemies. Both Buddhism and Christianity entail worships that involve use of rosaries, incense and performance of rituals among other spiritual practices. Buddhists and Christians worship through personal confessions, monasticism, bowing before holy images and mediations. Often, bells are rung to indicate transitions within prayer
Zen practice also has a revealing theory about the nature of the self, namely that it ...
Buddhism does not believe in a superior creator such as god, Christianity is a monotheistic religion, Christians believe that Christ is the son of god. Christians praise god but Buddhism does not look up to a god, Buddha confuted the theistic argument that a God created the universe. However, many other different religions have their own meaning of god. The goal of Buddhism was to eliminate mental suffering by mediation and learning one’s self. When you are born into Christianity you are expected to be baptized to be “saved”.