Distinctions

Christianity and Buddhism both place great import on many of the same issues. The two religions are fundamentally opposed to one another on many of those issues, though. Some of these topics include love, freedom, and religious communities.

Love for one another plays a positive role in both Christianity and Buddhism. Both religions encourage it as and include it as a fundamental doctrine. In Buddhism, this concept is often referred to as “infinite compassion”. Thich Nhat Hanh, a “great Buddhist teacher”, states, “In the Buddhist teaching, it’s clear that to love oneself is the foundation of love of other people. Love is a practice.” In Buddhism, he says, love arises from within oneself and the mastery of loving oneself. According to Buddhism, humans are capable of love independently and must consciously strive to love. Christianity takes a polarizing position here. Its doctrine says that love is an unconditional gift from God, made possible by the Holy Spirit and made present by Jesus Christ. Love is not within in Christianity, but rather it is without. Love exists outside of us and is something we participate in. This distinction is important because it indicates the essential difference between what Buddhists consider to be the problem of existence (or rather that the see existence as a problem) and the Christian problem of existence.

The role and definition of freedom are also integral in both religions, but the distinction between Christianity’s and Buddhism’s take on freedom is clear. In Christianity, freedom is used as a means to an end, and the end is to “adhere to Being, and therefore to Christ.” Christians posit that freedom allows us to enter into a pure and simplistic relationship with Christ, free of tampering influences. One could say that freedom allows the Christian to participate in life more fully. The type of freedom described here is a freedom from the structures and systems of power that man creates and an in-tune-ness with one’s desires. Similar, but clearly distinct, is Buddhist freedom. Buddhist freedom also means to be free from the structures and systems of power, but goes further and says that freedom is also a complete uprooting of desire. A “free” Buddhist is not more in tune with his desires, but rather completely removed from them. This definition of freedom plays into the role of freedom in Buddhism: freedom is the end, not the means. Rather than seeking freedom for the sake of helping one achieve greater life, a Buddhist seeks freedom simply to be free. Free from suffering, desire, and the self, and finally embracing the “non-self”.

Finally, religious communities exist in both Christianity and Buddhism to aid men and women on their spiritual journeys, but the type of aid they provide is different. In Christianity, communities make Jesus present in the world. They exist for the purpose of others, both in the sense that each individual member must be as concerned for his neighbor’s salvation as he is for his own, but also in the sense that these communities bring the love of Christ into the world, benefitting people outside the community (evangelization, community service, social relief, etc.). Buddhist communities are quite the opposite. Thich Nhat Hanh harps on the personal benefits of the sangha, such as “the transformation and healing [taking] place more quickly.” He also says that mindfulness, concentration, and joy are more powerful in the sangha, all things used for personal enlightenment. The essence of the sangha is not to care for the journey of everyone else before oneself, but rather to facilitate one’s own journey through membership in the community.

All of these differences are easily overlooked and may even seem superficially insignificant, but they are closely tied to the fundamental difference between Christianity and Buddhism, being that Buddhism views existence as suffering while Christianity views it as an opportunity to take part in infinite truth, beauty, and love in the person of Christ. This fundamental difference is what one must take into consideration when analyzing religions or deciding what religion to participate in. 

Introduction to Buddhism

Buddhist regard Siddhartha Gautama as The Buddha, the primal example of what it means to attain enlightenment. Siddhartha grew up in a royal family and was carefully groomed to lead a royal life by his father. He wasn't allowed to leave the royal estate at all. However, as he grew older to he experienced several forays into the outside world, each time witnessing human suffering, a new concept to him. This led him to contemplate the fundamental question of life, so he set out to find an answer. After mastering meditation under several teachers, he eventually led an ascetic life, believing that he could attain enlightenment by denying the body and flesh, thus freeing the spirit.

Wherever Buddhism is practiced, statues of the Buddha are found, some as large as this one. 

The three jewels of Buddhism are the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. The Buddha refers to Buddha himself and his life as a paradigm for one's modern life. It is the root of all sects of Buddhism and the first example of enlightenment. The Dharma refers to the teachings of Buddha, but more specifically the word attempts to represent the truth of reality as experienced by reality. In addition, Dharma refers to teachings that try to express that truth in words. The final jewel is the Sangha. This is the community of spirituality, and more personally, it means the people that olay a role in one's own spirituality, such as teachers or friends.

The Three Jewels of Buddhism sit on top of a lotus flower here, a popular symbol in Buddhism.

The Threefold Way is the path to enlightenment. Unlike Hinduism, it is not three (or four, in Hinduism's case) separate ways to achieve the spiritual goal. Instead, it is a progressive path. First comes ethics. Education in ethics provides the spiritual and moral basis for meditation, the next step. Meditation is contemplative thinking, and is difficult and rewarding. The goal of meditation is the attaining of wisdom. Wisdom is achieved and accumulated over time, and eventually leads, with contemplation, to enlightenment. 

These three paths here represent the Threefold Way.

The four noble truths are the foundation of Buddha's teaching. First, Buddha teaches that all existence is dukkha, or suffering. Second, he says that our desire is the root of this suffering, because we desire impossible and infinite things which we can never achieve. Third, Buddha says that the suppression and elimination of this desire will supress and eliminate our suffering. Finally, the Buddha teaches that there is a path out of dukkha, such as the Noble Eightfold path. Manchester City lost to Southampton yesterday, moving them farther away from Manchester United. Man U will win the season now, yay.

Come on, you Devils!

In one of his earliest discourses, the buddha taught of a path out of dukkha with eight facets. They are as follows: Perfect Vision, Perfect Emotion, Perfect Speech, Perfect Action, Perfect Livelihood, Perfect Effort, Perfect Awareness, and Perfect Meditation. These eight limbs of spiritual life represent a balanced and holistic approach to the dharma that will allow one to fully and evenly grow in order to achieve enlightenment.

The Noble Eight-fold Path.

Hinduism Review Questions

1. Moksha is an omniscient state of awareness. It is the ultimate bliss and final goal of life, and is the release from the cycle of samsara and the accompanying suffering.

2. Monism. All forms of reality have a common essence in the same way that ponds, lakes, rivers, and oceans all share the common essence of water.

3. Atman- The eternal self, which the Upanishads identify with Brahman; reincarnated with the body from one worldly life to the next until the soul exits samsara through Moksha.
Brahman- The eternal essence of reality and the source of the universe.
Atman is the individual soul and essence while Brahman is the universal soul.

4. The general function of the many Hindu deities is to provide access points for human beings to participate in the eternal reality and life force, Brahman.
5. Samsara is the worldly cycle of rebirth and reincarnation. It states that one's karma stays with the atman, the eternal soul that is reincarnated in this cycle until moksha, which breaks the cycle, is acheived. The cycle of samsara is one filled with struggle and suffering, but moksha is a separation from this suffering.

6. Bhagavad-Gita

7. Karma and Dharma. Karma is the belief that one's actions Build up positively or negatively and carry over from one life to the next.

8. Shudra-servants and laborers
Vaishya-Farmers and artisans
Kshatriyas-Soldiers and government officials
Brahman-priests

9. Because it is Arjuna's duty as a member of the caste system, or dharma.

10. Student-begins at puberty, And requires study of sacred literature
Householder-begins at marriage, concerns pursuing a career and accumulating wealth
Forest Dweller-begins at birth of first grandchild, and is preparation for the fourth stage
Acetic-begins when one is ready and consists of detachment from society and denial of pleasure

11. Sensual pleasure-pursuit of the pleasures of sensual love
Material success-accumulation of worldly wealth
Harmony with Darma-following one's ethical duties based on caste gender and stage of life
The bliss of moksha-the ultimate goal and unification with Brahman

12. 3 paths of liberation
     1. The path  of works - people who like physical activity and go by day to day task of raising a family
     2. The path of knowledge- is the shortest yet biggest path to liberation and and is for those with talent for philosophical reflection
    3. The path of devotion- is for those who have alot of emotion al attachment

13. 3 most important schools of philosphy - Vedanta, Sankhya and Yoga

14. 3 important god or goddess of Hinduism - Brahma the creator, Vishnu, the preserver, and Shiva, the destroyer

15. An avatar is an incarnation of a God, similar to demigods in Greek mythology. 

16. The Hindu text most closely associated with Bhakti Marga is The Bhagavad Gita

17. 3 aspects of  Hindu devotional life are household and village rituals, pilgrimages to holy places, and cow veneration.

18. Mahatma Gandhi changed India and Hinduism with his efforts to stand up to oppression by using non-violence and civil disobedience.

19. Significant changes in the caste system have tried to promote economic and social justice, especially concerning the Shudra caste and the untouchables.

20. Sati is the archaic practice of widow suicide, and is concerned with the idea that women aren't worth anything without a man. 

21. A significant development in India has been the split between Hindus and Muslims. The Muslims seceded, forming the nations of Bangladesh and Pakistan.