Christianity And Buddhism Essay Research Paper The

Christianity And Buddhism Essay, Research Paper

The task at hand is quite impossible, especially in a ten-page paper. I am about to compare two entire religions, that is two entire belief systems that certain individuals have devoted their entire lives towards; that generations have sought to follow, further, and protect with their lives. I will attempt to do this, but please bear in mind that my personal views will inevitably surface to a great degree and I will be prone to taking sides. I believe in fact that these two systems are poles apart and have very few similarities indeed. In this sense I am forced to conclude that they are hugely incompatible and that very few people will be able to accept both. In other words, a person who is attracted to and is happy with Buddhism is likely to be a very different kind of person then the one who is attracted to and is happy with Christianity.

Let us begin with the obvious and proceed from there. While both of these religious systems reject the “materialistic inhibition” of biological science and adopt a basically spiritual dimension to the composition of a human being, they differ in many fundamentally important respects. Christians believe in one God, which rules the universe and the entire human fate. “Can any praise the worthy of the Lord’s majesty. How magnificent his strength! How inscrutable his wisdom!” The famous quote of a famous book has put it rather bluntly. Buddhists do not believe in one God, nor do they believe in any Gods for that matter. For their purposes, nature serves as their Maker, and being that they are part of nature, they are their own Gods. They also do not necessarily accept human destiny, although karma plays some obscure part in certain Buddhist sects. Being part of nature, their destiny is therefore always being a part of nature.

Christians believe that the efforts of another person or being such as Jesus, the Virgin Mary and the Saints can progress the spiritual condition of a single individual, and thus be the cause of their salvation. Indeed, though his personal suffering Christ has erased the sins of an entire civilization. Buddhists believe this is not possible and that only through personal effort can good be produced and bad reduced in the life of an individual. ‘We save ourselves’ is the very much the message of Buddhism. In any case, Christians venture to say no one can be saved except through love for and faith in Christ. This appears egotistic and self-centered. Buddhists do assert that certain saintly and highly gifted people exist and can help us, such as the Buddha himself, yet they still maintain that personal salvation will only occur though one’s own individual effort. I would also contend that the profoundly judgmental Christian concepts of sin, guilt and shame have been psychologically damaging to the people who have come in contact with them.

Christians also believe in such polarities as good and evil, God and Devil, Heaven and Hell — none of which form an important part of any Buddhist teachings. Christianity is likewise authoritarian and dictatorial — “you must believe this or you will be condemned” — whereas Buddhism tends to be more liberal and allows people to believe more or less whatever they like. Christians ban certain teachings as heretical, evil and harmful, but in general terms, Buddhists assert that anyone can believe anything they wish and that there is some merit in any belief system which has some spiritual views and respects the rights of an individual, as long as it does not harm others.

The two systems seem poles apart. Even the area where there is some overlap — such as in the encouragement of compassion and good works — even then there are some profound differences in the motivation for and supposed results of such good deeds. Buddhists believe that good works and compassion are ends in themselves which generate benefit for the world, creation and all living beings and which should therefore be strongly encouraged; whereas Christians tend to be very confused as to the exact purpose or function of compassionate activity in the world — and correspondingly rather variable in their encouragement of it. Christianity promotes such good deeds with and ere of selfishness, in that the reason for doing good deeds is to be in the good grace before God, and therefore arrange a place for oneself in heaven. Christianity thus seems to be ethically very hypocritical, and socially divisive, whereas most Buddhists are very clear about such matters and cannot become involved in killing, anger, crime, social divisiveness or indulgences like wealth. They realize the unhappiness for self and others, which is created by involvement in such activities.

Despite the above distinctions, there are conspicuous and rather striking parallels underlying the root of both of these beliefs. In order to capture this one particular diversity, we must look at the essence of these two beliefs.

In some sense religion is a means to some end. Spirituality is the way of understanding simple, yet profound “childish” questions striving for meaning. Questions such as “Why are we here.” For Buddhism that end is Enlightenment. The idea of Enlightenment, as I understand it, can be described as a complete separation from all “worldly” and secular ties or attachments. Yet, it is still so much more then that. It is the elimination of suffering itself, and is al