Introduction
Religion refers to human relationships that they believe to be divine, moral, or sacred. There are several different types of religions in the world today. That is because of the numerous cultural traditions that occur among people. Many nations in the world have religious freedom, which encourages people to dedicate themselves to whatever religion they think is better for them. Religions vary due to different aspects such as divine, faith, sacred, and supernatural entity or entities. People who do not believe in any kind of religion are classified as atheists and they have the freedom to choose what they want. Example of religions that exist in the world today includes Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and much more. The paper lays particular emphasis on Christianity and Buddhism, looking at the similarities and the differences that exist between the two religions.
Christianity
Christianity is one of the world’s most famous religions with the greatest number of people.it bases its teachings on the life of Jesus Christ and his teachings. Christians tend to believe that Jesus is the son of God who will come to save the people of the earth. Buddhism is a religion that bases its teachings about Buddha it lays particular emphasis on living right and self-minded meditation that was modeled by Buddha. Both religions were formed by great spiritual masters who wanted to offer the right to salvation (Cochrane). The terminologies that they used for their teachings were however very different for example Jesus Christ died to save people from sin. The two religions are also taught through the use of simple parables, for example, the parable of the sower in Christianity and the Buddha raft parable in Buddhism.
Worship and Practices
Worshipping in Buddhism includes practices and beliefs such as bowing, ringing bells, the use of the rosary and the burning of incense, meditations and prayers among others. Christians do have similar forms of worship like in Buddhism such as the use of incense and rosaries, the ringing of bells and erection of towers. Both Buddha and Jesus wanted to change the existing forms of social and religious practices which were being practiced by people like a routine with no spiritual meaning. For example, Christ was a critic of the Pharisees and money lenders in the temple. He considered the Pharisees as people who focused so much on their outward appearance than on what was really inside that only God could see. Buddha also criticized the hypocrisy of the Brahmans and the caste system.
Emphasizing Love and Charity
Both of the religions emphasize the power of love to overcome the forces of hate that are widespread throughout the world. Buddha emphasized that hatred cannot be overcome through hatred and Jesus Christ stated that people should love their enemies (Bapat). The two religions encourage their followers to take steps towards improving their well-being and practice charitable actions towards the poor.
Differences Between Christianity and Buddhism
There are also differences that exist between Christianity and Buddhism. The Buddhist does not believe that there is God, they do not believe that there is an omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient being. The Buddha himself rejected the argument that the universe was created by God. Christians, however, believe that there is God, they believe that there exists a holy trinity which is comprised of God the father, the son and the Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament, God is referred to as being that dispenses divine justice to people.
Scriptures in Buddhism are from the Tripitaka which is a vast canon that is composed of three section that includes the discourses, discipline and the commentaries. It also consists of early scriptures, for example, the Gandhara texts. Christians use a book that is referred to as the Bible; they consider it to be a holy book. The bible is comprised of the old and New Testament; the Old Testament consists of scripture that was written before the birth of Jesus Christ, and the New Testament consists of scripture that was written after the birth of Jesus Christ.
Places of Worship and Origin
The Buddhist usually worship in monasteries, temples or shrines while the Christians worship in churches, chapels, cathedrals, and even in personal dwellings. Buddhism originated from the Indian sub-continent while Christianity originated from the Roman province known as Judea. Christians believe that there is eternal life after death, they believe that upon death, people go to heaven or hell and in some cases to temporary purgatory (Wallace). The Buddhist, however, believe in rebirth. To them, people exist in a constant cycle that is birth, death, and rebirth. The cycle can only be achieved when someone reaches a state known as nirvana. They believe that when a person attains nirvana, they escape permanently from suffering Original languages that are used in Christianity include, the Greek, Latin and the Aramaic, while languages that Buddhist use includes pali and Sanskrit. To Buddhist sin is not a concept. However, Christians believe in confessing to God for their sins, the Protestants confess directly to god while the Catholics and Anglicans confess to a priest.
Conclusion
These two religions tend to have many differences however people should be encouraged to live in peace with one another. People should not be able to suffer because of the religion that they choose.
Work Cited
Bapat, Purushottam Vishvanath. 2500 years of Buddhism. Publications Division Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, 2016.
Cochrane, Charles Norris. Christianity and classical culture. Ravenio Books, 2015.
Wallace, B. Alan. Mind in the balance: Meditation in science, Buddhism, and Christianity. Columbia University Press, 2014.
