Comparative Religion Christianity vs. Buddhism
... For many years, a split was developing between Christians in Western Europe and those in Eastern Europe and western Asia. The split occurred in the 1000’s. The churches in Greece, Russia, and other parts of Eastern Europe and Western Asia became known as the Eastern Orthodox Churches. The church in Western Europe became known as the Roman Catholic Church. In the 1500’s, a religious movement called the Reformation divided western Christianity into several bodies. Most southern Europeans remained Roman Catholics. A large number of northern Europeans, known as Protestants, formed new churches. The largest included the Baptist, Congregationalist, Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches. Beginning in the 1500’s, Catholic missionaries converted many people in Africa, Asia and the Americas to Christianity. Protestant missionaries became active in the 1600’s and made converts in the Far East, Africa and North America. This comparison document focuses on Christianity in general. Both Buddhism and Christianity have long histories. Buddhism has been around longer than Christianity. As mentioned previously, both religions stemmed from another religion and formed different branches after splitting off. Buddhism and Christianity both spread throughout the world and have many followers. There are major components that these two religions have distinct perspectives and philosophies regarding. These main components include the ultimate belief or source of worship, the physical world, man and his present condition, salvation, the role and definition of evil, and moral values. The varying viewpoints within the religions help to define the differences in their beliefs. The ultimate belief or source of worship is the apex of any religion. In Christianity God is triune (Holy Trinity) and is personal, yet distinct from his creation. Buddhism is agnostic about a personal God, instead they believe in the impersonal void as their belief system. Christians pray to a God, and Buddhists meditate within themselves. This is a major difference between these two religions. The concept of the physical world and its purpose are important in understanding Christianity and Buddhism. Christianity believes that God created the physical world for man. The physical world is not a negative or bad thing within the Christian faith. Buddhism believes that the physical world is a generator of illusion that man must separate himself from to achieve ultimate freedom. These two religions have vastly differing viewpoints on the physical world. Man’s physical form is viewed differently by Buddhists and Christians. Buddhists believe that physical man is misleading and an impediment to attaining ultimate freedom. Man’s present condition is ignorance in understanding his true divine nature. Christians believe that man is a creation of God with a personal status, which is not a negative thing. Christians do not believe that man has the divine nature of God. Man’s present condition is that of someone fallen into a state of alienation from God, which is called sin. The purpose of physical man is a foundation for both of these religions. Salvation and its attainment is key to all religions. Salvation for Buddhists is merging the divine self with the ultimate reality and annihilation of existence. This is achieved through selfless living, meditations and understanding one’s divine nature. Christians see salvation as a return to a personal relationship with God that lasts forever. Christians believe that man can not attain salvation on his own. It is only through the belief that God sacrificed his son, Jesus Christ, to suffer for man’s sins. Man must accept this grace to attain the Christian form of salvation. Buddhists believe that Christianity is an inferior way of attaining ultimate freedom from life. Man must rely on himself to attain ultimate freedom. Christians believe that man can not attain salvation on his own and that Jesus is the only way to God. Therefore, no other religion can help man achieve salvation. Salvation is viewed differently by both Buddhism and Christianity. The concept of evil plays is part of many religions. In Buddhism, evil is simply suffering and is a result of man’s ignorance regarding his true nature. In Buddhism man needs to escape suffering by leaving his physical form. In Christianity, evil is real and originates from the fallen angel, named Satan. Christians believe that man’s sin is perpetuating evil and suffering in the world. Man has been saved from evil through the sacrifice of Jesus’ life. God will judge and punish all evil doers at the appropriate time. True evil exists in Christianity and not in Buddhism. Moral values are important to each religion in different ways. Buddhism believes that morality has no value in itself because it produced false attachments. However, it is used in attaining freedom as a tool for defeating egoism. Christianity believes in both positive and negative moral values that man must make judgements about throughout his or her life. Both religions have specific philosophies that can be linked to moral values. I have concluded that religion can not be defined in simple terms. For many both Christians and Buddhists, religion is an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, practices and worship that center on either a personal God or divine power. These beliefs vary significantly within the Buddhist and Christian faith. The differences are many; however, similarities can still be seen between the two faiths. Buddhists believe they should devote themselves to finding release from the suffering of life. Through this release, people gain nirvana, a state of perfect peace and happiness. To achieve nirvana, Buddhists must free themselves from all worldly desires and attachments to worldly things. Buddhism’s main focus is the four noble truths, the eightfold path, the five precepts, meditation, and divine Buddha. Buddhists believe in an impersonal God versus a personal God or being. Buddhists have basic beliefs or philosophies to live by. • The four noble truths: 1. Life is suffering - dukkha: birth trauma, illness, old age, fear of death, separation from what one loves, staying with what one hates 2. The cause of suffering is desire – tanha: sexual desire, greed, pride, ego, etc. 3. The cure from suffering is to remove desire 4. To remove desire, follow the Eightfold path • The eightfold path: 1. Right knowledge: understand the four noble truths 2. Right thinking: decide to set a life on the correct path 3. Right speech: don’t lie, don’t criticize others unjustly, don’t use harsh language, don’t gossip 4. Right conduct: follow the five precepts 5. Right livelihood: earn a living that does not harm living things 6. Right effort: conquer all evil thoughts, strive to maintain good thoughts 7. Right mindfulness: become intensely aware of all the states in body, feeling and mind 8. Right concentration: deep meditation to lead to a higher state of consciousness or enlightenment • Five precepts: 1. Do not kill 2. Do not steal 3. Do not lie 4. Do not be unchaste 5. Do not take drugs or drink intoxicants Christians believe they should devote themselves to a personal God. This personal God created the world out of nothing and gave them life. A man’s source of meaning cannot be found in himself, unlike Buddhism, but only in his Creator. Man’s destiny and seeking is to perpetuate his own sinful nature and accept God into his heart. God is a three-pronged being that includes God the father, Jesus the son and the Holy Spirit. They are separate forms of the same entity. Christians believe that once you’ve accepted God into your heart and believe that his son, Jesus, died for your sins, you are forgiven and your spirit will ascend into heaven to be with the Creator following your death. Unlike Buddhists, Christians believe you achieve a separation of spirit from body before your spirit rises to the heavens. Buddhists believe that you attain nothingness. Christians live their life by the philosophies described in the Ten Commandments. There are similarities between these commandments and the Buddhist beliefs. • The ten commandments: 1. Thou shalt not have any other gods before me 2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image 3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord, thy God, in vain 4. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy 5. Honor thy father and thy mother 6. Thou shalt not kill 7. Thou shalt not commit adultery 8. Thou shalt not steal 9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor 10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thy neighbor’s wife or anything that belongs to thy neighbor The founder of each religion is clearly described in the historical information for each faith. Throughout history there have been only two people about whom others asked not “Who are you?” but “What are you: a man or a god?” They were Jesus and Buddha. Buddha's clear answer was: I am a man, not a god; Christ's clear answer was: I am both “Son of Man” and “Son of God.” Buddha said, “Look not to me, look to my dharma (doctrine)”; Christ said, “Come unto me.” Buddha said, “Be ye lamps unto yourselves”; Christ said, “I am the light of the world.” Yet contrary to the original intentions of both men, some later Buddhists divined Buddha and some later Christians de-divined Christ. The claims of Buddha and Christ are in fact so different that I wonder whether Buddhism can be called a “religion” at all. Buddhism seems like more of a way of life to me. It does not speak of God, as does Hinduism from which it emerged, nor does it speak of soul. In fact, it teaches the d...