Cristianity And Buddhism Essay Research Paper The

Cristianity And Buddhism Essay, Research Paper

The Spread of Christianity

Offered:

1) Redemptions of sins, personal immortality, and future life where material adversities are absent.

2) Easy message from Jesus that everyone could understand.

3) Free of , cumbersome regulations (Judaism) and costly rituals ( Mystery Cults)

4) Accessible to all- male, female, rich, poor, free, or a slave.

5) Its Historical Credibility- The fact that Jesus had lived among men and women and practiced the morality he preached.

Roman Empire at the Time

The was a large gap between the rich and the poor. The majority of the people were the poor.

Attempts to restore Roman Values (Octavian) did not stop imperialism and bureaucratic corruption.

Germanic tribes were migrating west and attacking Rome s borders

Official Approval

1. Failed to win official approval from Roman government.

Christianity was monotheistic.

Refused to worship emperor as divine.

Denied existence of Roman gods.

Christians refused to serve in Roman army.

Rome tried to annihilate Christians.

Destroyed Jerusalem

Christian converts expelled from Rome

Those who refused to make sacrifices to Roman gods were tortured, burned, beheaded, or thrown to wild beasts.

Edict of Milan

Christians faced their deaths joyously, shocking Roman audiences.

In 313, Constantine issues Edict of Milan, which proclaimed religious toleration in the West

It liberated Christians from physical and political oppression, and encouraged the development of Christianity as a legitimate faith.

They were free to establish uniform doctrine of belief, and administrative hierarchy, the rituals of worship, and a symbolic vocabulary.

By the late fourth century Christianity became official religion of Roman Empire

Buddhism

Siddhartha Gautama ( Buddha)

Lived in India three to five centuries before Jesus.

Life spanned from 560-480 to 440-360.

Born into a Hindu family.

Well educated.

At 19 he married his cousin and fathered a son.

Buddha reaching nirvana

Three Truths

Sickness

Old Age

Death

Renounced wealth, abandoned wife and child.

Enlighten

Sitting under a Bo ( fig) tree he began his meditation

Concluded human suffering was desire, or attachment to material things and ignorance

Next forty years he preached his message

Humility and compassion.

Pursuit of which might lead followers to Nirvana.

Nirvana ultimate release form illusion and from wheel of rebirth

Buddha

Buddha s Message

Reach nirvana by avoiding all extremes in accordance with the Eightfold Path:

Right views

Right intention

Right speech

Right action

Right livelihood

Right effort

Right mindfulness

Right concentration

Buddhism vs. Hinduism

Enlightenment can be achieved by all people, not just a gender or caste.

Followers were to renounce the gods of the Vegas

Followers worked out their own salvations on there spiritual journey which would take them on the Middle Path, which consists of the Four Noble Truths:

Pain is universal

Desire causes pain

Ceasing to desire relives pain

Practice of Eightfold Path leads to release of pain

Similar to Jesus

Both Criticized the current Religion ( Jesus criticized Judaism, Buddha criticized Hinduism).

Buddha also assembled disciples (5), who founded first Buddhist Monastic order.

Just like Jesus, Buddha s life was surrounded by miraculous tales

Sermons were preserved and recorded by his followers

Pitakas

Written in Pali or Sanskrit they were the there main books that recorded Buddha s teachings and divided into chapter called sutras .

Sermon of Benares

Nothing will cleanse a man who isn t free from delusions.

Reach Nirvana by finding the middle path.

Tells his disciples about the noble truths.

Return of good from evil

Spread of Buddhism

In third century emperor Asoka made Buddhism the state religion of India.

Asoka sent Buddhist missionaries as far West as Greece and southeast into Ceylon.

Because of fast migration to spread Buddhism there became many Buddhists sects , 500 in India alone

Hinayana Buddhism: emphasizes pursuit to nirvana, close to original teaching

Mahayana Buddhism: added Buddha to a divine being and added new teachings and legends, Buddha was now path of salvation.

Mahayana Buddhists

Those who postponed reaching nirvana to help human suffering were called bodhisattvas. (Guanyin)

In India Asoka s attempt failed to popularize Buddhism, the Hindu caste system eventually absorbed the Buddhists

In China he Mahayana’s were regarded Buddha as not only a teacher but also as a savior.

The Mahayana great vehicle influence spread into China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam

The Hinayana little vehicle spread only into Ceylo

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