Buddhism Culture and Beliefs - Essay Example

Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism & Islamic Buddhism, Their Culture and Beliefs The word Buddha refers to ‘the awakened one’ who has been enlightened. The philosophy of the Buddhist is that every on stands a potential of Buddhahood whether aware or unaware. Though this religious believe traces its origin among the Hindus, its fundamental believes are different from that of the Hindu. According to the Hindu, Buddhism is viewed as unorthodox (nastika). The history of this religion can be traced back in the early 566 B.C. through the royalty prince Siddhartha Gautama. Being a son to Indian Warrior-King, Gautama (the founder of Buddhism) led a very extravagant life from childhood to adulthood following the privileges associated with the uppers caste of prince-hood1. When prince-hood living proved boring, he went off his way in search of understanding. In his external search, Gautama was finally made to believe that suffering awaits come end time. On believing the old man’s words, Gautama renounced his princely privileges and joined the monkhood, which deprived him of worldly possessions with strong hope of comprehending underlying truth of the surrounding environment. It was a tree that he finally believed that the end to suffering was ultimately salvation. Following his epiphany, Gautama became popular to the people of the same faith as ‘Buddha’, meaning "Enlightened One."2 Throughout his life, Buddha (Gautama) spent his entire life journeying about India, while preaching and teaching his understanding of the real world. This religion is based on four fundamental noble truths about suffering. These teachings are; the truth of suffering, the truth of causes of suffering, the truth and believe about the end of suffering, and the truth about the paths that leads believers off suffering. In the simple terms, Buddhists believe in the existence of suffering, suffering has its root cause; suffering would come to end via certain path. According to them, sufferings exist and we only need to navigate our ways through to attempt rectifying the situation. The first truth seeks to recognize the existence of suffering, the Second Truth determine the root causes of suffering. According to the Buddhists, ignorance and desire lie deep on the route to suffering. They also strongly believe that craving for material wellbeing, pleasure and immortality are human wants which can never be fulfilled. As a result, desire to have them satisfied would be more detrimental and would cause more suffering than good. With limited capacity for insight and mental concentration, Buddhists believe that development of the mind would be limited, thus unable to fairly grasp the truth about nature. Vices such as envy, greed, anger and greed, are due to ignorance. Though they also believe on the concept of leisure, but to them leisure fleets. They argue that pursuit of pleasure and leisure leads to unquenchable thirst. The same analogy is given on happiness. In the end, aging, death and sickness are inevitable for the entire human race. In the third Noble Truth, Buddhists believe that there is an end to suffering either by death or through achieving Nirvana spiritual position. The Fourth Noble Truth highlights methods that are deemed significant in achieving an end to suffering, commonly referred to as Noble Eightfold Path. The Eightfold Noble Paths are; Right Thought, Right Understanding, Right Speech, Right Livelihood, Right Action, Right Effort, Right Concentration, and Right Mindfulness. In addition, the path to overcoming suffering is divided into three themes: good moral conduct (Thought, Understanding and Speech), mediation and mental growth (Action, Effort, and Livelihood), and insight or wisdom (Mindfulness and Concentration)3. Hinduism Beliefs Hinduism is one of the historically old religious beliefs that is said to have originated basically from the Indian subcontinent. Philosophers and other religious scholars have always treated it as being more of a law or eternal path (Santana Dharma) than a religious belief. It has a large following across the world just coming third behind Christianity and Muslim. 90% of its over billion followers hail from the southern part of Asia particularly India, Sri Lanka,Nepal and Bhutan4.This religious belief does not have the idea of evangelistic campaigns aimed at conversion and this has made its spread across the world selectively and mainly through immigration. Through the immigration of Hindu believers, it has spread to other countries substantially and these states include: Malaysia, Mauritius, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Indonesia,, Singapore, United Kingdom , Canada and others. The belief is more of codified evolution of way of life and beliefs than a religion that was adopted by the inhabitants of the Northern India from where the River Indus passes through. It is from this river that the term Hinduism traces its origin i.e. ‘Hindu’ was derived from the Persian distortion of the name of river Indus to ‘Sindhu’.5 It is collection of diverse traditions and beliefs and is said to owe its foundation to no single person. This religion has undergone many stages of gradual transition to the modern believers. The Indian religion strongly dwells on the elements of different nature gods and the relevant worship of each. Over the centuries this religious belief has undergone redefining to the extent of absorbing tenets of other religious believers like Jainism and Buddhism. Some of these adopted doctrines include the emphasis on vegetarianism and no-to-violence declaration. Hinduism concentrated much of its beliefs on idols which represented the supreme deities, holy buildings and temples that were a symbol of holiness. Since this religious belief does not have one common founder, they lack allegiance to one central doctrinal authority and hence most of them do not claim attachment to any denomination. Nevertheless there are various denominational factions based on the God worshiped as the Supreme Being. However, the various groups are not antagonistic to one another hence peaceful co-existence. Most of the practicing Hindu believers perform certain religious rituals to seek the blessings from the various supreme deities which are carried out in special shrines at home or temples. An example is the worship of the divine idol (puja) and although it’s not an obligation to visit temples, it is a customary practice to attend and perform the important festivals6. Other social events of significance are wedding and burial ceremonies. On death one is to be cremated to fulfill the religious obligation. On other aspects of religion like pilgrimage, Hinduism does not put it as compulsory although they have holy cities and temples. They also have a calendar for various festivals throughout the year. These festivals are based on mythology and some of the most observed ones include; Dussera, Holi and Diwali. This religion also came up with classification of the members of the society into four. Varnas who are teachers and priests (Brahmins), nobles, warriors and kings (Kshatriyas),merchants, farmers and businessmen (Vaishyas) and the servants and laborers (Shudras)7. This classification led to one of the worst oppressive culture since it insisted on the rigid caste and sub castes system that cannot permit social liberty. Christianity, Their Beliefs And Teachings Christianity is the world’s most popular religion with more than two billion adherents. Of which, Roman Catholic dominates (1.1 billion), Protestants (360 million), Eastern Orthodoxy (220 million), Anglicans (84 million), and other Christians (280 million). The word Christ (Christos in Greek) or Messias (in Hebrew) means the “anointed”. The world Jesus (which is the Latin word of Iesous in Greek) is used by Christians to mean “Jehovah is Salvation.” In Greek, the same word is used to imply “healer.” (Exodus 29:29; Leviticus 4:3; Acts 9:34; 10:38). The origin of Christianity is traced back in the A.D. 29, during the Roman Empire leadership of Tiberius in Palestine. The religion was promulgated on the Pentecost day to commemorate the birth of the founder, Christ. This religion is deeply rooted among the Jew and the Gentiles who observed the teachings of Jesus Christ and further spread the gospel to other nations in the Middle East8. Gentiles amidst corruption and immorality believed on the teaching of Christ the Son to the Almighty. According to St. Augustine (Retract, I, xiii, 3), “What we now call the Christian religion existed amongst the ancients, and was from the beginning of the human race, until Christ Himself came in the flesh; from which time the already existing true religion began to be styled Christian.” Among the Egyptian and the Levites, this religion gained populace from the earlier religion (Judaism). In their beliefs, Christianity is monotheistic and focuses on God as being the Supreme Being among the human generation. Christians believe on common origin of human race. All creatures were created by God within six working days, and then on the seventh day, God rested. The creator has power over His creations and can command them. Unlike other religions, Christians believes that there is life after death, as was the case of resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave after three days of in-tomb. Christianity is founded on morals and substantially teachings which differ among different Christian groups. The central belief among Christians is founded on having strong faith on mankind salvation following the death on the cross and resurrection of Christ. Christian faithful were both spiritually and physically redeemed from their evils and sins through death on the cross. Therefore according to Christians, all their sins were forgiven following the bloodshed. Through God’s grace, sinners (both men and women) ask for forgiveness from God by trusting and believing in the power of the cross, death and resurrection. The essential difference between Christianity and other religion is bestowed on the Son, Jesus, who had to leave His Father’s throne to descend in order the humanity. The most essential Christian believes are; God the Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), Jesus exhibits both human and God’s nature, Jesus was born of a virgin woman Mary, Jesus will come for the second time to judge the mankind, mankind’s final resting place is in Heaven, and the power of the Word of God, given to Christians in a tablet containing God’s Commandments for man9. ISLAMIC BELIEF Islam religion is one of the oldest religions that command a large population of adherents in the entire world. Its following base can only be rivaled by Christianity. The highest percentages of about 20% of the total global Muslim believers are found in the Middle East with Indonesia state having the highest Islamic believers’ concentration. Its following base has extended to the American continent and this was mainly through the West Africans who carried with them the belief during the slave trade. This religion's foundation dates back to the 7th century AD through the prophetic revelations to Muhammad who is the prophet of God. The term Islam in Arabic literally means "surrender" and Islam devotees are known as "Muslims". In Islamic beliefs, Allah is viewed as unique God who is the creator, sustainer and the restorer of the world. This will of Allah to which man is to surrender to, is made known through the holy Qur'an also called the Koran which was revealed to his messenger Muhammad. According to the Islamic history, Muhammad is claimed to be the last among the greatest prophets which included; Moses, Adam, Noah, Jesus and some others. Muslims’ belief is expressed in shahadah and this is a confession of faith which states that "There is no god but God; Muhammad is the prophet of God."10 The fundamental Islamic beliefs include the belief in angels, series of prophets, the revealed books and Scriptures and a Last Day (of Judgment).Besides these are some basic duties which include; a welfare tax called zakat,fasting (during the month of Ramadan), five daily prayers and a pilgrimage (hajj) to Mecca. When the profession of faith is added to these four elements, the five fundamental pillars are constituted. It is believed that all the Islamic principles were revealed to Prophet Muhammad by angel Gabriel. The establishment of a fully fledged community state of Islam emerged after Abu al-Qasim Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib ibn Hasim was subjected to persecution for his teachings in Mecca and sought exile in Medina where the religion was accepted. It is from this date of his flight which is called the hijrah that the calendar of Muslims began which is AH 28711. In the ancient period, Islam exposed itself as a religion incorporating temporal aspects of life to the spiritual life and sought to regulate both the peoples' relationship with God and social settings. This is the explanation behind the existence of Islamic religious institution which controls an individual at private level and Islamic law which governs the entire society i.e. at the public level. The Muslims believe that the values of God must be adhered to and this is to be achieved through the jihad (holy war or holy struggle) that was commissioned by God. This jihad war has been a driving force behind the strict adherence to the Islamic laws. Land that is possessed by Islam is believed to belong to the Islam even if lost to the invader and this explains their perennial fight against the Israel community. They are known for their zealous conversion campaign for their religion across the world through diplomacy or war as they claim that its Allah will that the whole world should take up only one religion. The Islamic religion is made up of two conflicting factions that is Sunni and Shi'ah.The major doctrinal differences come in where one faction the Sunni, claims that tolerance is the most important principle that can promote peaceful co-existence of one another. In that respect they claim that even a dictator must be given ample time to have his commands obeyed. On the other hand, The Shi'ah claims that the ruler must hail from the family of the prophet. These two factions presents ideas of discrimination against humanity and denial of liberty though different approaches. CONCLUSION Though I am a Christian by faith, without being biased, Christianity is a superior religion both in teachings, morals, and beliefs than other religions. The following Christian teachings serve as back-up to my position on the superiority of Christianity: Unlike other religions where man attempts reaching up to Almighty God, God reaches out to the human kind in Christianity. The Holy book (Bible) which lays out the fundamental beliefs of Christians was written by learned people who were inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Bible is not based on myths (as other books), but founded on morals from the Ten Commandment of God12. Secondly, Christianity as a religion deals with sin as described by the death of Jesus on the cross to save human race from their past sins. Besides, this religion (Christianity) encourages equality among their faithful. Christianity gives an assurance of eternity to all its followers as there is life after death for the believers. Christians are better-off as the Father Above gave them a helper. Christianity not only outlines the relationship between God and mankind, but also outlines fundamental principles that act as a guide to morality. The last six commandments focus on building a lasting relationship among human beings. Unlike other religions, Christianity is the only religion whose followers believe on life after death, as Jesus did. Finally, the fulfillment of the Prophecies in the Bible offers a rich ground to strengthen our faith in Christianity. This religion’s teaching is morally acceptable among the entire human race. Even other Muslims and Hindus confess that Christian teachings and laws are morality acceptable. Works Cited Billington, Ray. Understanding Eastern Philosophy: The Heterodox Systems II: Buddhism. London: Routledge, 1997. P. 50-80. Print. David Barrett et al, "World Christian Encyclopedia: A Comparative Survey of Churches and Religions - AD 30 to 2200," Oxford University Press, 2001. P.56-75 Ludden, David E. Making India Hindu: Religion, Community, and the Politics of Democracy In India. 2nd ed. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2005. P.45-50. Print. Nasr, Seyyed Hossein. Islam: Religion, History, and Civilization. San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 2003.p.102-5. Print. Read More