“’Worldwide, more than eight-in-ten people identify with a religious group,’ said a new comprehensive demographic study of more than 230 countries and territories conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life.” (Harper). Within the top five most popular religions, Christianity was found to be at the top with Buddhism ranked number four. There are millions of human beings participating in these religions and humans might wonder how they compare. When a human being explores Buddhism and Christianity, they will find that the importance of a spiritual master, shared values, and the follower strive to be enlighten. Buddhism and Christianity have an abundance of similarities within the religions, the fundamental differences in the view of God, salvation, and reincarnation ultimately outweigh their likeness.
One of the similarities between Buddhism and Christianity is their belief in a spiritual master. Buddhists believe the story of the Buddha. According to Dr. Umar Johnson Buddha means black face. Buddha was born as Siddhartha Gautama and became the Buddha though out his life after being awakened. “Siddhartha was born the son of a prince of the Shakya tribe... Legend says his mother, Maya, dreamt that a white elephant entered her side—this was the moment of conception of the future Buddha—and that Siddhartha was born miraculously from her side” (Molloy 124-25). After witnessing the Four Passing Sights, Siddhartha devoted his life to reaching spiritual
In present-day society, the globalization, briefly including economics, and culture, has become an unstoppable tendency. With its rapid development and cultural communication, some controversies have emerged. Religious conflicts are characteristic examples showing the detrimental influences of cultural globalization. It is generally acknowledged that Buddhism and Christianity are ancient and global religions; however, whether the belief in Buddhism is credible or not, has sparked spirited debate. The Christian believes the Buddha is a “shadow”, and he is not to be believed. Actually, there are some similarities in terms of histories, main figures, and beliefs between Buddhism and Christianity. In order to solve sources of conflict, the
Anti-Transcendentalism, also known as dark romanticism, was a literary movement that revolved around the negative aspects of life and human nature.Many authors have made a name for themselves through Anti-Transcendentalism, including Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe.Both writers used their stories as a platform to expose the "reality" of human nature. Hawthorne discuss' the foolishness found in youth in "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment" while Poe writes about the tragedy of not being able to escape your fate in "The Fall of the House of the Usher". So essentially, each writer effortlessly demonstrates the traits of Anti-Transcendentalism.
I believe that the opportunity of going to 6th grade camp, offered by the Mayville Middle School, has helped prepare me for the future. One reason why I think 6th grade camp has prepared me for the future is because it got me out of my comfort zone. Going to 6th grade camp, I did many things I probably wouldn’t be ordinarily comfortable with. This helps me prepare for the future because it made me be able to go out and try things that I would regularly do. Another reason why it has helped prepare me for the future is it made me see things that wouldn’t could be a new interest. For example, some kids may have never been able to ride a horse until 6th grade camp. They might really enjoy it and find an interest in it. The final reason is, that
Buddhism and Christianity are closely related in many unique ways. While their founders exhibit significant differences in when they began their existence in the world, their teachings hugely resemble each other. Gautama Buddha was reported to have lived about 600 or 500 before Christ was born. Buddha was born in Nepal, India while Jesus was born in Bethlehem, which is currently located in Palestine. Both Jesus and Buddha espoused altruism and always insisted in service of others. They emphasized the need for giving than receiving and both believed in love as the only tool of defeating hatred. Both teachings contained the need not to judge others. A key difference between the two was how Buddha taught followers to lose one’s self to receive Nirvana while Jesus encouraged his people to lose one’s self in order to receive an everlasting life (Talim, Jeffrey & Anant, 67). This assignment attempts to highlight the similarity between Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount and Gautama Buddha’s Jataka Tales.
In this essay, I intend to compare and contrast two major religions, Hinduism and Buddhism, that came out of India thousands of years ago. Though these two religions are old, they are still practiced today by millions of followers within the continent of Asia and the West.
In comparing Buddhism to Christianity, Buddhism predates Christianity by 500 years and could have influenced the beliefs that resulted in Christianity. In the Christian faith it is believed that Jesus Christ is the son of God who died for our sins then was resurrected from the dead. Buddhist does not believe in an immortal soul or a supreme being. Christianity believes that there is only one life with one soul, whereas Buddhism believes in countless lifetimes of progression towards enlightenment. Christianity believes in consequences of good and evil, also following the 10 commandments in everyday life. Buddhism follows an eight fold path of universal suggestions to a more content life.
If a Christian follows Buddhist traditions, then one must assume that there is an overlapping of similarities in both teachings; a Christian’s worldview must be complementary to that of a Buddhist’s. Though I am arguing the similarities between Christianity and Buddhism, I do not completely shut down the obvious differences between the two traditions. Christians are devoted the Jesus Christ’s teachings, while Buddhists believe in the Buddha’s teachings. Jesus is God in human form while Buddha was a human being who reached supreme insight under the Bodhi tree. Roderick Ninian Smart, a Scottish writer and university educator of religious studies, argues in his book, Buddhism and Christianity: Rivals and Allies, “Jesus saved humanity through his deeds and death, while the heart of liberation for Buddhists is through the Eightfold Path” He then continues to defend
Abundant in traditions and culture, Judaism and Buddhism provide a spiritual path for followers. Both faiths are two of the four major religions of the world. The religions’ central belief is to live a fulfilling and deserving life. Buddhism and Judaism identify as two seemingly diverse religions, yet still bear many resemblances to each other within their beliefs and practices.
“Rivers, ponds, lakes, and streams—they all have different names, but they all contain water. Just as religions do—they all contain truths,” said by Muhammad Ali. Religion is the belief and reverence for a supernatural power and powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe (2003). The religions I’ve chose to compare and contrast would be non denomination/ Christianity and Buddhism. Each religion would be broken down by their religious belief, religious ritual, and religious experience. The definition of these religious things are: religious belief is a statement to which members of a particular religion adhere, religious ritual is a practice required or expected of members of a faith, and religious experience is the feeling or
At first glance the traditions of Christianity and Buddhism appear very different from each other. One centers around a God that was at one time physically manifest on earth in the human form of his "son" Jesus Christ, the other primarily worships a historical figure that gained divine status through enlightenment. This assessment is broad at best, especially in the case of Buddhism where the Theravada and Mahayana traditions differ significantly. Christianity also has division within itself, the most prominent being between the Roman Catholic and Protestant systems. There are however, despite obvious differences, some very interesting similarities between Buddhism and
Two of the most widely practiced religions around the world today are Christianity and Buddhism. However, they did not start off with such a large following. Christianity, was a small cult that branched off of Judaism and was being strongly prosecuted against. Buddhism was just a single person trying to find a reason for and an end to the universal suffering that he had just newly encountered. Even though the following of Christianity and Buddhism had started off small, by developing their core beliefs as rejections of Judaism and Hinduism, they were able to better fascinate and convert others.
Christianity and Buddhism are two different religions that developed and spread contemporaneously in during the Classical Period different territories. Both of them share some similarities as well as differences. Both of these religions were founded based upon different principles taught by different people; in Buddhism’s case Gautama Buddha a thinker and in Christianity’s it is Jesus Christ who is a prophet. These two universal doctrines spread in times of chaos, in which citizens of their own territories were looking forward to achieve salvation of any kind. Although alike these two doctrines didn’t have a
According to our text, Huston Smith believed that all religions were essentially the same, whereas Stephen Prothero believes that they are all fundamentally different. These two differing opinions can be looked at further by comparing two of the world religions: Christianity and Buddhism. I believe that all religions are a mixture of both; religions are essentially the same and are also fundamentally different. Christianity and Buddhism both have similar aspects within them, and they have different aspects as well. In order to make sense of the world, one needs to have knowledge of religion and the implications it has on society (Prothero).
The task at hand is quite impossible, especially in a ten-page paper. I am about to compare two entire religions, that is two entire belief systems that certain individuals have devoted their entire lives towards; that generations have sought to follow, further, and protect with their lives. I will attempt to do this, but please bear in mind that my personal views will inevitably surface to a great degree and I will be prone to taking sides. I believe in fact that these two systems are poles apart and have very few similarities indeed. In this sense I am forced to conclude that they are hugely incompatible and that very few people will be able to accept both. In other words, a person who is
Compassion is basically considered to be one of the most virtues in almost all religious traditions such as Buddhism and Christianity. Buddhism and Christianity are two different religions but both of them are interrelated. Both religions have hope of life after death, hope of reincarnation of Buddhists, eternal life of Christians, but live consciously. Both Buddhism and Christianity were founded by spiritual leaders and masters who tried to prove a way of salvation. Based on religious writings, this paper explores the way Buddhism and Christianity are different and in what ways they similar from the point of salvation, life after death, and love.