Buddhism - Research Paper Example

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Buddhism INTRODUCTION In Christianity worldview, the concept of rebirth means regeneration of the human soul. The concept of rebirth is possible only when the person has strong connection with Jesus Christ as per the belief in the New Testimonials. The western believe of the people about rebirth is that the soul travels from one physical body and gets incarnated as another human being in their ‘life after death’…

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Subject: Religion and Theology
Type: Research Paper
Level: High School
Pages: 8 (2000 words)
Downloads: 1
Author: judd14

Extract of sample "Buddhism"

Download file to see previous pages For instance, where Christian worldview advocates that salvation and rebirth is possible through the divine nature of the individual as it was in the case of Jesus Himself, in Buddhism, believes argue that salvation and rebirth is a cycle of life which is judged by the Karma of the individual and is not restricted to the spiritual holiness of the soul. To be precise, in Buddhism, the deeds of the person during his life cycle, decides the form of his/her birth as a human or else. However, in Christianity, the philosophical claim propounds that the way to salvation is through Him. Again, principles in Buddhism showed the way to Nirvana and asked the followers to find their own path to attain a life after death. The Christian worldview thus believes that rebirth is possible by following the doctrines of Bible, and the human soul gets birth as only human; but, Buddhism states that rebirth means ‘life after death’, which depends on the Karma of the individuals, where the individuals can take birth as anything in accordance with their deeds (Zukeran, “Reincarnation and Christianity”). ...
On the other hand, the new testimonial followers believed that rebirth is possible only when following the path of Jesus Christ. The concept of rebirth, as per the Christian worldview, thus happens through miracle, which was only possible by Jesus Christ as He was the ‘son of the God’. Reincarnation of soul from one body to another is only possible only when the individual have a strong believe on Christ’s principles and by such means get His blessings on the soul. The path to rebirth, according to Christianity, is determined through the life of the people as per the new vision on reincarnation. The philosophical claim of Christianity thus propounds that a strong belief of the individuals on the principles of Christ will help them in attaining rebirth. Hence, Christian worldview, the concept of rebirth revolves around the strength of the belief one has about the existence of God (Hodson 1-6). BUDDHISM PERSCEPTIVE ON REBIRTH The Buddhism perspective on rebirth demonstrates change in continuity of life from one individual to other. According to the perspective of Buddhism, the karma of an individual helps to attain enlightenment which represents purity of life. In case, a person or an individual does not attain Nirvana, the death cycle continues and the soul gets rebirth in the form of “Asura,” “Hungry Ghost,” “Human life” and “Animals” (Buddha Dharma Education, “Fundamentals of Buddhism”). According to the teachings of Buddha, rebirth depends on Karma of the person that denotes his/her acts and deeds. Also, Buddhist believes that death is the end of physical body, but the spirit seeks out for new life and body. The rebirth of an individual is the cause and effect of his/her ...Download file to see next pages Read More

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Buddhism

... believed in him and in his teachings began to be called as the Buddhists. This paper tends to explore the major principles and teachings of Buddhism and its influence on other religions. Teachings of Buddhism One of the major aims of Buddhism was to give people insights on the true nature of reality regarding death and sufferings. For the spiritual development as foreseen by Buddha, a complete change, both mental and physical, was essential. Since life involves a process of constant changes, man has to change for a better state than the present. It is one’s mind that plays the crucial role in changing oneself. So, Buddhism developed many a number of methods for working on the mind. The major tool used by Buddhists to change people in order...

7 Pages (1750 words) Essay

Buddhism

... to a constant desire to either crave for something or avert something (Ba Khin & Confalonieri, 1999, 168). According to the Buddha, if one took control of such desires completely, one would end his suffering and become awakened and would have reached the state known as nirvana (Ba Khin & Confalonieri, 1999, 168). This brings me to my research statement which would be to discover whether Buddhism seems to revolve around the life and teachings of the Buddha alone or the ultimate end of suffering by controlling craving and ignorance is the main motive of following this religion? Since Buddhism took shape from Asia it still remains to garner the most following from this part of the world, however it is observed to be practiced the world over...

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Buddhism

... of followers until meeting his death at the age of 80 (Gethin 19). The Basic Tenets of Buddhism Reincarnation According to Buddhism, human beings possess the ability to get free from sufferings by observing, meditation and cultivating a lifestyle as prescribed by Buddha. Buddha gave a number of teachings known as Dharma. The wheel is a distinguished symbol in Buddhism since it depicts the perpetual cycle of life and death. According to Buddhism, after human beings die, they are born in a new form. They could either take the form of a deity, a human being, a ghost, an animal or even an inhabitant of hell. It is the belief that all the positive thoughts and people’s actions bring good karma, and may direct an individual into getting reborn...

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Buddhism

...people that awakening and enlightenment comes through self realization and it has nothing to do with one’s beliefs and ideals. After Buddha’s death, his followers spread his teachings to distant places and Buddhism appeared as a new religion in Asia; today it is the fourth largest religion of the world (Fisher ). Siddhartha Gautama was born to King Suddhodana of Shakya near Nepal in 583 B.C. His mother died soon after giving birth to Siddhartha. It was predicted by one of the holy men of Suddhodana’s court that Siddhartha will be a great conqueror or a great spiritual leader in future; his father was delighted to hear this because he wanted his son to be a great conqueror. Siddhartha spent his early life in his palaces...

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Buddhism

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Buddhism

... religions and cultural practices that might not be able to appreciate their teaching of Buddhists in return. Buddhism In essence, Buddhists are in a position to respect the views of man and appreciate other practices without harboring any religious prejudices. Buddhists, who are not able to appreciate the ways of other religious practices, maintain their silence and refrain from confrontations of any kind thus ensuring that is peaceful co-existence through sympathetic understanding (Harvey 23). Buddhism commenced as a reform group in Hinduism; India in the sixth century B.C (Eliot, 20). It was one of the ancient religions to emerge to become international having a membership of over two hundred thousand people. It was founded by Siddhartha...

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Buddhism

... with the Supreme Being (Hughes 38). Therefore, there will be tremendous ultimate joy in this experience, allowing an individual to be free from suffering and other related negative consequences of life. Unlike any other religions that have special time or day for their worship, Buddhism only considers its followers to go to the temples when they only have time or technically when they can (Brannen 30). However, in most of the time, Buddhists go to the temple on a full moon day (Guruge 60). In a temple, Buddhists find the best education for life. They call their temple a Vihara where there is a shrine room with large statues of Buddha and his disciples. A temple shows a complete manifestation of what Buddhism is all about. For instance...

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Buddhism

...s founded on teaching of Gautama Buddha (500 B.C.E). The traditional date of the birth of the Buddha is 560 B.C.E. The Buddha is believed to have been born in northeastern India, and was a prince. He followed ascetic way of life and devoted himself to meditations and spiritual development. One day, he meditated near the Ganges River, and came to conclusion that asceticism did not work and did not help a person to achieve spiritual development. He understood that a person should eat a sufficient amount of food to have a good heath, should take enough rest but not too much, and meditate. In 525 B.C.E, the Buddha achieved Enlightenment and began to preach (Lyons and Peters 1985). As with other major world religions, the history of Buddhism...

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Buddhism

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Buddhism

... and whether the soul is immortal upon human death. Whereby, Aristotle assertions supported the eastern religion of Buddhism that the nature of the self as an activity and that self exist within human being but it is separable from the human body. Aristotle added that self when a person dies, both the body and the self perish. He further substantiated his assertion using a knife as an example. The knife was considered as the body that has a soul whereby, during the process of cutting an object, the soul executes the task of cutting. When the knife is destroyed the act of cutting also seizes. Aristotle used this example to imply that the act of cutting is inseparable from a knife because if the knife is destroyed the act of cutting stop...

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Buddhism - Research Paper Example

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