Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Religious conversion experience
Sacraments of baptism and communion
How is karma understood in buddhism
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Religious conversion experience
To answer the five following questions about my opinion, I have to mention, that it is constantly changing during my lifetime. It is always influenced by experiences or thoughts. Grown up in a catholic kindergarten, primary, middle and high school, I have been confronted with many catholic processes. From a baptism, communion, altar server to a conscious confirmation. During the offered religion lessons all topics have been covered and taught by atheistic and believing teachers. Thus, I had a chance to create a well-thought-out and objective view on my own belief. I studied the controversial topic and analyzed positive and negative criticism.
If Buddha is not a god, then what is he?
Originally, Buddha was a boy named Siddharta living in 563
…show more content…
Since Buddhism is not only a philosophy, Buddhists are not recognized as atheists. My personal explanation for this comes from previous lessons back at school. I remember to distinguish between atheism and agnosticism. Both types do not believe in a god. The difference is, that the agnostic person had no realization of god, whereas the atheists is not sure about the realization of god. To answer that question, we should ask whether someone has realized a form of god? Therefore a god is required. According to my definition within the first question, Buddhists believe such a thing as god. Therefore, the atheistic characteristics do not fit into the concept of …show more content…
Nevertheless, both religions share several core values. The essential one is, that Religion may be an answer to things that can not be explained. For many people it makes life reasonable, fulfilling and valuable. Christianity believes in only one god as it is in the islamic or judaism. The christian god always comes in three forms: As the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In focus there is the awaken of Jesus after his painful crucifixion and death. He stands up from the dead and release people from their suffering. The whole happening is written down as the old and new testament in the holy Bible. Buddhism also has records of Buddha. Jesus Christ and Buddha were both born as mortal humans. They travel and teaches during their lifetime. Compared to Jesus, Buddha wakes up continuously in another body. Nowadays he lives in the body of Dalai Lama. In comparison to that, Christians believe in the afterlife and the concept of heaven and hell. Being good brings you to heaven- being bad to hell. Buddhists also believe in the concept of Karma and reaching the highest level of clearness and independency. Its goal is reaching Nirvana through the enlightenment after multiple lives. Coming to the 21st century, young people distance themselves from religion. Basically, I have got a notion that the reasons are: wealth, education, wars, own answer for „enlightenment“, lack of time and the
It is said that history is shaped by the lives of great men. Great men are leaders. They bring about change; they improve the lives of others; they introduce new ideas, models, and theories to society. Most of the world's religions were founded, developed, or discovered by great men. Two particular religions - Christianity and Buddhism - developed in different parts of the world, under different circumstances, and in different social atmospheres. But each religion is based upon the teachings of a great man. When one compares the life of Buddha with the life of Jesus, one finds that the two share many things in common. This essay aims to compare and contrast the lives of Buddha1 and Jesus in two key areas: conception and birth. In these two areas, one finds that the Buddha and Jesus share many similarities.
Buddhism continued its expansion into the 20th century and saw continual bursts of influence throughout the following decades. In 1993, the World’s Parliament of Religions chose to hold their ceremony in the same city, Chicago, a 100 years later (40). Since its early roots in America during the 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions, one estimate placed approximately three million Buddhist in America at the close of the 20th century (40).
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...
If it was a philosophy then it would just be a belief and the person would most likely keep the idea of nonviolence to themselves. However, according to an article from Opposing Views, “The Buddhist's core practice is meditation, which is intended to calm the mind and enable the practicer to experience the state of true awareness that is free from suffering.” Where the follower then recites a mantra to aid concentration in the act of meditation. Which is in direct correlation to Jainism and Cao Dai where they rely heavily in meditation to communicate with the spiritual word, and for their everyday practices. Having a practice is what makes Buddhism cross the lines to religion more than a philosophy. Which creates a religion of having more than 488 million buddhism followers across the word. As where the other religions like Cao Dai which has up to about 6 million followers, Eckankar that has 50,000 followers and Jainism which has 60 million followers; the amount of members may be different but they are still a religion where people are taking their core beliefs and structures for themselves. Why would the amount be counted for a philosophy? The answer is, that the followers are practicing it, so it makes it a religion. The amount of followers in each religion is what creates and build the religion for people to follow and practice them. In order to have a
From the information above it is clear that Christianity and Islam believe in one Supreme God. All believers should focus on following the commandments and rules as stated in the respective holy books. However, Christianity and Islam share great differences hence it is appropriate to conclude that Christianity is different from Islam.
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”).... ...
The study of Buddhism over the past century or so has resembled the encounter of the blind men and the elephant in many ways. Students of Buddhism have tended to fasten onto a small part of the tradition and assume their conclusions held true about the whole. Often the parts they have seized on have been a little like the elephant's tusks a striking, but unrepresentative, part of the whole animal. As a result, many erroneous and sweeping generalizations about Buddhism have been made, such as that it is 'negative', 'world-denying', 'pessimistic', and so forth.
one"), who lived and taught in northern Inda in the 6th Century B.C. The Buddha was not a god and the philosophy of Buddhism does not entail any theistic world-view. The teachings of the Buddha are aimed solely to liberate sentient beings from suffering.
Buddhism and Christianity are different religions. Both have numerous similarities as well as differences that one might find really interesting to look at in details. These two religions have certain beliefs, values and traditions which are really compatible. On the other hand, some of these values, beliefs and traditional practices are quite contradicting and conflicting. This makes the study of these two religions an inevitable and pleasurable task. Theology historians have raised adequate concerns and issues relating to connections between Buddhism and Christianity. They claim that there is strong comparability between the characters of Jesus and Buddha, especially their lives and teachings.
Islam and Christianity seem to have very little in common; however, the two actually show strong likeness, principally in the central areas. Both Muslims and Christians are monotheists, believing in one God. While both believe in the same God, He is called by two completely different names. He is referred to as "Allah" by Muslims and "God" by Christians. Although Islam and Christianity are two different religions, their similarities in beliefs and prayers make them comparable in many aspects.
...fter. Its emphasis on inner peace and understanding is what separates it from most other faiths. In Buddhism you don't need a god to answer your questions about life and faith. Once you have canceled out the suffering in life, that all becomes clear to the believer.
Therefore the major differences of Salvation between between the Christian and Buddhist soteriology is the difference between “Amazing Grace” and “Amazing Non-selfness”, and that Christ claims to be humanity’s saviour whilst Buddha claims to be humanity’s teacher for salvation,
Although Islam and Christianity differ in major ways, they also share some similarities in their belief in God. First of all, Christianity and Islam are both monotheistic religions; worshipping only one God. While both believe in the same God, he is called by two completely different names. He is referred to as "Allah" by Muslims and "God" by Christians. The basic creed of Islam is brief: “There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah”.
A major concept that separates both of the religions is the fact that the God of each faith has different qualities. This means Islam and Christianity don’t worship the same God. Islam and Christianity are two separate belief systems in which two separate Gods exist. The commonalities of Christianity and Islam center around the idea of believing in one God. The God of Christianity and Islam is separate from the world and creation.