Religion, Philosophy, and Belief Systems Essay Example

Buddhism has shared many commonalities with other religions throughout changing times.

The Mahayana Buddhists believed in the idea of a ‘suffering savior,’ (Upshur, et al, 2002) much like the Christians believe in the idea of Christ giving his life to save mankind. In addition, both Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism all believed in equality. Each religion was available to anyone who choose to worship, from the lowest slave to the emperor and even to women.Each religion developed their own desires to worship in groups, using various icons to aid in their prayers. The many devoted Buddhists wished for images of a Buddha to help them when they prayed and, thus, the first images of Buddha began during the first century, (Upshur, et al, 2002). Similarly, Hindus created their own carvings, statues, and paintings of their various gods to aid in their prayers.

Although Christians believe and pray to only one God, they too, use statues and paintings of Jesus and Mary within their churches as part of their own worshiping rituals.Buddhism also has a lot in common with Hinduism. Both emphasize the illusory nature of the world and the role of karma in keeping men bound to this world and both believe in the transmigration of souls and the cycle of births and deaths for each soul (Commitment). These two religions also place a huge emphasis on meditation and being at peace within one’s self. This is important because of their beliefs in reincarnation and karma.

The old saying about karma is that ‘what goes around comes around,’ thus, it is important to be good and kind.Buddhism and Hinduism emphasize non-violence (Commitment). This plays into reincarnation, a belief that

if a person leads a good life then they will come back as something good and lead another good life. Buddhism also had similarities with the lesser religions, such as Zoroastrianism and Taoism. Zoroastrianism was a strong ethical religion, teaching the idea that men and women possessed free will and that their choices in life mattered (Upshur, et al, p.38). Taoism, as with Buddhism, rejected the caste systems of inequality (Upshur, et al, p. 01) and Buddhist meditation and yoga practices were very similar to those of the Taoist and the Buddhists liberally borrowed from the Taoist vocabulary (Upshur, et al, p. 166). In addition to Buddhism, Hinduism has a lot in common with Judaism, Christianity and Islam; also known as the Abrahamic religions.

All three of these religions believe in one true and all-powerful God. They believe that God is the source of all life and everything in existence. These three religions all believe in their Holy Scriptures and holding fast to their teachings.While each of the three religions does not merely focus on one set of writings, the key Scripture of Judaism is the Torah, the key Scripture of Christianity is the Bible, which consists of the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) and the New Testament, and the key Scripture of Islam is the Qur'an (Center).

They all place a very high importance on God’s laws, that God did not leave us without guidelines for behavior, and that God provided us with sound basic rules to live by, as well as a rational mind to learn how and when to apply those rules to our everyday life (Center). The three eligions embody the Golden Rule: ‘do

unto to others, as you would have them do unto you. ’ Another major religion of the world is Islam. It followed Judaism and Christianity in the 7th Century A. D. According to belief, the Prophet Mohammed is the leader of all Muslims.

Mohammed was an illiterate person who was born in "Mecca", the Center of Islam, in Saudi Arabia. Islam spread north over western Asia, northern African, and southern Europe. Muslims believe that if they do things, which please Allah, they will have a good life on earth, and also a good life after they die.It is a religion that abolished slavery, banned the killing of female babies, and called for praying to one God. When the angel Gabriel spoke to Mohammed and told him that he was a prophet in the line of Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, who would continue the faith those prophets had started, he was given the first revelation of a religion that would spread all over the world and be one of the major religions in history.

Islam gets its name from the word "Salaam" which means "Peace", and basically consists of the belief in one God (Allah) and in submission to God (Allah).Islam is based on five elements that followers must strictly believe: a Muslim must believe in God, Angels, Holy Books, Prophets, and the last day. True Muslims are instructed to follow the five basic pillars: belief in Allah and Muhammad as his prophet; prayer five times a day; giving of alms; fasting from sunrise to sunset during the month of Ramadan; and taking a pilgrimage to Mecca once in a lifetime. The practice of these five pillars is

the principal means of salvation for Muslims.Non-observance is believed to lead to eternal suffering in the afterlife.

The Prophet Mohammed was a blessed baby who was born in the northern Arabian trading city of Mecca between 570 and 580 AD. After a hard and slow start, Mohammed made a lot of converts to his religion; he suffered a lot from the people of "Koraysh". Mohammed sets an example of a true Muslim; he is the simple person who lived almost his whole life fasting and giving Alms. He married a Jew, did business with Jews, and had good relations with Christians and others.

As a basic part of being Muslim, you must believe in Moses and the Jewish Torah, Jesus and the Bible, and all prior religions that came from God. Islam gained many followers by being just and simple. It is a respectful religion that comes to unite people from all over the world to believe in one God. The empire of Islam was very successful in many parts of the world; it took advantage of the situation around, especially in Rome.

As any other religion, Islam has been used as an excuse to fulfill personal goals that have nothing to do with what the Prophet Mohammed called for.In today's troubled world, Islam seems to be a religion of terror and violence thanks to one evil man, a person who omitted all that the Prophet Mohammed called for and what God wants us to be. One should study religion in order to understand how civilization was developed. The people that started civilization had a belief system, which guided their values. Those values created their laws and established

a civilization. Religion affects every part of life.

By studying those parts one can see what is most important to people.Religion exposes the morality and standards by which people live and guides most of the cultures for any civilization. In conclusion, it is very important to fully comprehend the religion, philosophy and belief systems and how they evolved in order to understand the civilization.

References

1. Center, L. A. (n.d. ). Los Angeles Chinese Learning Center. Retrieved June 1, 2008, from Judiasm, Christianity, Islam: http://angellms.gcu. edu/section/default. asp? id=51536 Commitment, T. G.(n. d. ). Hinduism vs Buddhism.
2. Retrieved June 8, 2008, from Hinduism vs Buddhism: Hinduism and Buddhism Compared: http://www. experiencefestival. com/a/Hinduism_vs_Buddhism/id/54137 Upsher, J. L. , Terry, J. J., Goff, R. D. , & Cassar, G. H. (2002).
3. World History before 1600: The development of civilization.
4. Belmont, CA: Wadsorth/Thomson Learning. Web definitions for religions (2008).
5. English Oxford Dictionary. Retrieved June 8, 2008, from htt://www. google. com/search? hl=en&rlz=1T4DKUS_en__US251&defl=en&q=define:religion&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title