Christianity and Buddhism From the Time the Thesis

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Christianity and Buddhism

From the time the man first walked on the globe, they have divided and segregated themselves into different and diverse categories of cultures, religions, race and ethnicity. Therefore, it can be well sated that the humans belong to diverse and different civilizations and cultures that give them a unique social and cultural identification and distinguish them from others in terms of background, ways of thinking, norms, rituals, values and so forth. Viewing this aspect, the thesis statement is "Even though both the religions Christianity and Buddhism are conceived by mankind, yet they are very different and diverse religions from one another due to their origins, belief systems, and even rituals."

Christianity and Buddhism are two of the commonly and widely practiced religions by millions of people that are scattered in many nations of the world. Numerous differences have been found in both the religions that include their means of salvation, days of worship, religious laws, regular practices, belief in divinity, and so on. Even though there are more differences between the two religions, yet quite a few similarities have also been found such as both religions preaches peace and humanity, both involve prayers, describes simple ways of living and like that (Trebor, p. 99-130).

Considering the religion of Buddhism, the followers are true believers on the life and teachings of Gautama Buddha, who is the religious teacher for them. According to the fundamental teachings of Buddhism, it is a polytheistic religion because the followers do not have a belief in Supreme Creator or a Godly figure. This aspect makes differentiate Buddhism to Christians, who have firm belief that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and hence the values and fundamental characteristics of Christians evolve around the life and teachings of Jesus Christ (Cornish, Schreier, Nadkarni, Metzger & Rodolfa, p. 406-409).

From the Buddhists doctrine, one can significantly point out the fact that they do not believe in the Creator God, while in Christianity, the concept of God looms large as one of their elementary principles such that God is the whole and sole creator of this Universe and that Christ is His ultimate Son. Additionally, it has also come to the surface that Buddhist believes in numerous non-creator deities, while Christians believe in one God with many angels (Cornish, Schreier, Nadkarni, Metzger & Rodolfa, p. 406-409).

While considering the concept of man's destiny and life after death, both the religions portray quite a different and dissimilar opinions and beliefs to one another. According to the Buddhist principles, a man has to go through numerous reincarnations, which is based on his deeds due to which he may be punished in certain hells in order to reach the eternal goal that is Nirvana. Quite in contrary, according to the Christians beliefs, death in a man's entire life happens only once, after which he is likely to encounter the judgment. From the judgment, the individual is likely to go to two places: heaven and hell. This means that the individuals who are redeemed are supposed to live in Heaven, and those individuals who are rejected by God are prone to suffer for eternity in Hell (Cornish, Schreier, Nadkarni, Metzger & Rodolfa, p. 406-409).

The concept of life after death is typically associated with the ultimate and eternal goals of the followers, as the Buddhists believe in attaining enlightenment and nirvana, whereas Christians believe in achieving eternal salvation in Heaven (Cornish, Schreier, Nadkarni, Metzger & Rodolfa, p. 406-409).

From the concept of reincarnation and sufferings, it has come to an analysis that Buddhist strongly and firmly believes that they can breach the cycle of reincarnation and reach their eternal goal only if they free their minds from the worldly desires and aspirations. On the other hand, according to the Christian doctrine, the individuals can only enter the doors of Heaven if they develop a relationship with God that is purely based on the belief in the sacri-cial work that Jesus Christ used to perform (Trebor, p. 166-186).

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Looking deep down on the practices of the religions, it has come to the forefront that Buddhist followers does not deem any particular day as more holy or important, and for them every day has its own and equal importance. This is predominantly because worshipping for them is purely a cultural practice that has no connection with social aspect. While for the Christian followers, quite a few days are more special than others which include Sunday, Easter, New Year and so on (Trebor, p. 166-186).

The comparisons of both the religions have also enlightened the piece of information that Buddhist followers do not have any concept of sin that they perform against the Supreme Bring, while, Christian followers believe that sin is ultimately performed against the God that has a direct influence on His creatures and this world (Cornish, Schreier, Nadkarni, Metzger & Rodolfa, p. 406-409).

The followers of both the religions are involved in prayers and have a place of worship or religious building, which is one of the common factors, despite the fact that the place of worship is called with different names. This indicates that Buddhist visit temples and pagodas for worshipping and Christians have church and chapels as their religious building for prayers, and worshipping. In addition, it has also been monitored that both the religions have leaders for their religious buildings, where Monks are considered as the leader for Buddhist and Christians have a Priest at their church. In fact, the scriptures are also one of the commonalities in both religions.

Studies about the Christianity and Buddhism demonstrate the fact that both the religious leaders of the religion preached welfare of the human beings as their basic and essential teaching. Furthermore, the message of spreading love is also a similar feature that is emphasized by both the religions. This means that the Buddhist doctrine has laid key importance and prominence to spread love for the entire humanity, regardless of the fact that they are friend or an enemy. Quite in a similar manner, the Christian doctrine is also based on the same theory of spreading love upon the entire mankind (Evan-Moor, p. 96).

While analyzing the differences and similarities between Christianity and Buddhism, it has come to notice that few of the teachings are similarly shared by both the religions. This indicates that both the religions believe that suffering is one of the essential aspects of life that a man has to experience. Indeed, troubles are inherent and natural to life from which no individual can run and human desire is the substantial reason behind the sufferings. In this regard, Christian's doctrine teaches its followers a proactive path and trail of living, which is to follow the concepts of self-denial of physical desire, morality, and justice. Moreover, the Christian principle undoubtedly affirms the fundamental and vital concept of life that it is relatively painful, where the worldly desires and aspirations are the prime cause that only leads to sorrows, agony and pain (Jones, p. 84-94).

A nation is comprised of numerous people that belong to different and diverse religions, which means that nationalism and religion cannot be separated from each other. Moreover, it has also been an understanding that religion has been attributed to the derivation and development of nationalism. Besides, religion has always been integral in the human society. In fact, it is inseparable from one another in a way that it strongly unites and connects the nation and the group of individuals under one roof (Hastings, p. 1-10). The religion of Buddhism is more common and prevalent amongst the followers resided in Asian regions, although the followers are found in many other countries of the world. However, Christianity is more commonly practiced in the West that incorporate most European countries and United States.

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