Buddhism is a beautiful religion that surprisingly shares many of the same beliefs as Wicca. They are both unique religions that share a lot in common but are strikingly different in their own respectable ways. Let’s get it straight though, when most people hear of “Wicca” they might think of a bunch of snickering witches brewing a concoction using a book of spells. Never the less, these stereotypes should not set an example for what the religion really is. So why do people even join these kinds of practices? The answer, lies behind how each religion functions as a means towards ultimate transformation. In this essay I will discuss the origins of Buddhism and Wicca, their central beliefs, practices, and how each religion does or does not offers a means towards ultimate transformation.
Buddhism was first originated in the late 6th century B.C.E. by a prince named Siddhartha Gautama. Having been on a long journey and achieving enlightenment, he became known as the enlightened one and began to preach a path of salvation to his followers. In general, Buddhism denies a supreme deity. It takes its roots in India and spread along major trade routes and rivers into central Asia. There are believed to be about 250 million Buddhists around the world while the population of Wiccans is around 204,000 (Saari 193). This is one of the most notable differences between the two religions is how the amount of followers they have. But another noteworthy difference between the two is their time of origin.
Wicca is a relatively new religion that was created in the early 20th century in England and was made popular in 1954 by a Gerald Gardner. It is a Pagan religion because it is centered on nature. The word Pagan means “village Dweller”. Wicca is a...
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Ultimately, both religions have much in common and share many of the same view points on nature and tolerance. But Buddhism is best to be practiced if one wanted to escape human suffering and achieve ultimate salvation. On the other hand one can practice Wicca if they want to escape from the persecutions of Christian beliefs toward hell and eternal damnation. Wicca is more of a religion that brings one closer to the divine and helps one learn about life through nature and good works. Unfortunately there is no way or process of achieving salvation in Wicca. The religion has no concern over such social anomalies, but offers great insight into the divine and nature. Both religions share many of the same moral teaching but each have their own end means of worship. Buddhism still stands over Wicca as a means of achieving salvation and ultimate transformation.
From the medieval times to these modern ages, the Wicca religion is still confused with the unmoral religion of Satanism. The Wicca religion has been around for many centuries. The Christian religion has harmed Wicca’s reputation by spreading fear that Wicca is an evil religion; no better than the worshipping of Lucifer. From the witch burnings in the medieval period till now, Wicca has been classified as part of Satanism. Common witch lore and costumes around the time of All Hallows Eve depict witches as evil beings, doing unspeakable things with malicious intent. This is a very common occurrence and is unfair to all that practice the ancient religion. Granted, uneducated people could easily place Wicca in the same category as Satanism; however, these two religions are completely different from each other and Wicca is obviously the better of the two.
Wicca is an old religion, having begun “more than thirty-five thousand years ago” as stated by Starhawk, a Wiccan (qtd in Allen 18). Even though it had started long before him and many events involving witchcraft had happened, research has shown that a man named Gerald Gardner was the one who brought the religion of Wicca to the public eye in the 1950s (Allen 19). Gardner said it was thought to be the pre-Christian religion of Europe called the “old religion” (Adler 637). ...
Wicca is a spiritual path, a way of seeing the world and Divinity, and our relationship to it. They believe that Goddess is imminent in the world around us. Goddess permeates every living thing, and most of them define rocks, soil, water, air, fire, and the plant herself as living things. "The God of Wicca is the Horned God, the ancient God of Fertility: the God of the forest, flock, and field and also of the hunt." He is Lord of Life, and the Giver of Life, yet he is also Lord of Death and Resurrection. http://www.interlog.com/~spawn/gods.html
Wicca is a religion and not just a religion with one God but the belief of many Gods. Wicca is an earth-based religion. I believe Wicca’s beliefs are similar to that of the Hindu religion. There are three topics in Wicca that stood out to me the most. The first topic that stood out to me was the Wicca’s belief in how creation came to be, the second topic is the many Gods and deities that the Wiccan religion believes in, and the last topic that was the most interesting to read about is the reincarnation beliefs of a Wiccan.
The controversies that surround Wicca start with its exact origin. There are some who believe that it has its origins in Witchcraft due to the similarities between the two. Witchcraft itself is a Pagan practice [polytheistic and non-Christian, Muslim and Jewish in origin] that began with the Celts around 700 B.C. As the movie The Burning Times depicts, the region during this time period was primarily a rural culture so the Celtic traditions were based completely on Nature. Their months were even named after trees and their festivals revolved around the solstices and equinoxes (Steiger). A polytheistic religion, they worshiped a host of female and male deities and are most notably associated with the concept of Goddess worship, a strong belief in the divinity of the female (Burning Times). These paganistic beliefs and rituals gradually over the centuries combined with other European religious practices, such as magic, potions, and ointments for healing, to form what we call in modern times Witchcraft. Groups who did not hav...
Today both religions are still greatly worshiped and have millions of followers. Buddhism and Hinduism are connected in many ways and still continue to flourish after many, many centuries.
Into the world, many religions were born; out of all of them Buddhism and Hinduism are both one of the oldest surviving religion. Hinduism is very polytheistic, it is believed to have been established around 1500 B.C but it has no founder or an origin, while Buddhism on the other hand was founded by Siddhartha Gautama, who ordinarily allotted as the Buddha, which implies the “Awakened or “illuminated one”. Both religions come from the Indian roots.
Wicca has gone down through the history with its many trials and tribulations. It has a very colorful history, that can’t be covered all in one research paper.
Wicca, commonly known as the “Craft” or “Old Ways” is an expression used to describe various traditions of contemporary Paganism, an earth-centered religion that shows a substantial amount of respect for nature; celebrating the changes in the season and lunar cycles (Mankiller, Wicca); As stated by Morrison Wicca celebrates, “the beauty of the moon, the stars, and the sun (5)”; and the worshipping of the deities (Morrison, 2001). Those who follow the path of Wicca are usually referred to as “Witches” or “Wiccans” derived from the Anglo-Saxon term wicce, which can be translated as “Sorceress” or “Wise One” (Morrison, 2001), they are nothing like the witches seen in modern media (Mankiller, Wicca). Throughout History Wicca has been depicted as a Satanist related religion, leading to mass persecution of those who adhere to its principles (as seen in the Salem Witch Trials); few truly fathom the Wiccan faith. The real truth about Wicca is that, it is a religion centered on the theology of the deities in form of the Patron Goddess and God, it is a matriarchal religion, with varying traditions and religious branches, that doesn’t believe in predestination, and has basic tenets that must be followed.
This paper is a comparison between two very different religions. Specifically Christianity and Buddhism. Coming from opposite sides of the globe these two religions could not be any farther apart in any aspect. I will discuss who Christ is for Christians and who Buddha is for Buddhists. I will also get into the aspects of charity, love, and compassion in both religions and I will be looking at the individual self and how christians see resurrection where the buddhists feel about the afterlife. One thing to keep in mind is that the two religions are very different but they seem to have a very similar underlying pattern. Both believe that there was a savior of their people, Buddha and Christ, and both believe that there is something good that happens to us when our time is done here on earth. This is a very generalized summarization but in order to go in to depth I need to explain the two religions more to fully convey this theory.
...ey also worship a goddess who changes with the phases of the moon. Another similarity is Christians and wick both have communion in wicca a chalice is passed around their wiccan circle so each witch can take a drink from the chalice. And the words “may you never thirst” are said to the person with the chalice. Even though both religions have communion they are for two completely different reasons. Christianity has communion as a reminder of the last supper which Jesus gave thanks and took bread and told his disciples that the bread is his body and the wine is His blood which is given to us for the forgiveness of sins. So even though both religions have communion this does not mean that they mean the same thing. Lastly both religions have a doctrine only where chriastianity has the bible wicca has the wiccan rede which is much shorter in comparison to the bible.
Buddhism is one of the oldest religions in the world, which began in India. The origin of Buddhism is traced back to the experience of single man, Siddhartha Gautama, later known as the Buddha. Born around 563 B.C.E., legend follows that Siddhartha was the son of a prince in a kingdom near the border of what is now India and Nepal. As such, he was sheltered from the world and lived a life of luxury and comfort. (Molloy 124) However, at age 29 Siddhartha left the royal grounds and witnessed the suffering of ordinary life for the first time. What he saw deeply affected him and caused him to question everything in his materialistic life. Siddhartha made the decision to give up his possessions and embark on a search for enlightenment, an event known as the Great Going Forth. (Molloy 125)
Both these religions have basic beliefs that are relatively different from each other. Buddhists on one hand believe in karma, rebirth, dharma and moksa. Karma is "cause, effect and the law which equilibrates the two" . It is the consequences of every action, whether good or bad. This action-reaction may take effect anytime, may be in the current life or not. Rebirth is inter-connected with karma. If one did more good things than bad in his life, his karma will lead him to a life of better condition than the previous one. Dharma is the basic concept of the religion; that is the Buddhist teaching, also meaning the nature of existence. Lastly, moksa refers to the renunciation of the world, which is parallel to the Hindu belief in the importance of asceticism and meditation .
At first glance, Wicca and Scientology may appear to be completely opposite religions, sharing no common tenets or practices. Contrary to this, both systems of beliefs actually share several distinctive qualities that set them apart from many major religions in the world.
Wicca is a nature worshipping religion based upon beliefs and rites that are believed to rooted in ancient practices. Wicca, like most Neo-Pagan spiritualities worships the sacred as immanent in nature, and draws much of it's inspiration from both pre-Christian and non-Christian religions of Euroupe. It is not an ancient religion, but in fact Wicca was invented by Gerald Gardener in the 1950's and was based on older religions. It is a gentle nature based religion and Wiccans worship the Goddess, with most choosing to worship the God as her consort which is often known as "The Horned One".