World Religion: Buddhism

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Buddhism is one of the most popular religions in the world, it originates in Nepal, where the “enlightened one” Saddartha Gotama was born. The word Buddhism originates from the word “Buddhi” meaning to awaken. Buddhism is a nontheistic religion, meaning that they do not have any gods in their faith. Buddha is seen as one of the enlightened ones, rather than a God. One interesting fact about Buddhism, Saddartha Gotama acknowledges Jesus Christ as a very good man and a prophet, however does not acknowledge him as the Messiah. Saddartha Gotama was born into a very wealthy family, and he always wanted to find more purpose in life than money and materialistic things. He began his faith journey at a young age, and by age 35 he became Enlightened. On his journey he found the idea of Samsara, or the continual and repetitive cycle of life and death that occurs before complete enlightenment. Samsara is characterized by suffering, anxiety, and depression. Karma is the force that drives Samsara, when most people think that Karma is the main point of Buddhism. When these people are right, however they are wrong at the same time, Karma is the driving force behind Samsara, Karma determines if you have done your mission and deserve to become an enlightened one. Buddhism is slowly becoming one of the most popular religions in the world, and is estimated to have about 300-400 million followers at the beginning of 2014. The numbers of followers have declined in the countries where Buddhism originated, due to the arising of “New Age Religions” in that part of the world. My favorite part about Buddhism is that it is real life stuff, even if it isn’t necessarily my specific faith, is that it never hurts to meditate on things when you can. The B... ... middle of paper ... ...onclusion, this presentation has helped me with my life, and helped me to find my inner peace. It actually really helped me with that. Most of Buddha’s teachings are applicable to any average Joe, which is a category I would probably fall under, and just one simple project changed my outlook on life. I mean I couldn’t imagine what extensive study on Buddhism would do, but I’m assuming it wouldn’t exactly be the worst thing for most people in today’s current society. The Buddha realistically has food for thought for anyone wishing to better themselves mentally, physically, or spiritually. Works Cited http://www.mormonteachings.com/ http://www.catholic.com/tracts/distinctive-beliefs-of-the-mormon-church http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=429652 http://carm.org/mormonism http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/Cults/mormon.htm http://www.mormonteachings.com/

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