Buddhism and Christianity

Introduction

The religion of Buddhism originated in India during 525 B.C. Siddhartha Gautama, referred to as the Buddha, was a prince who became disillusioned with his life of wealth. By the age of 29, Siddhartha Gautama had renounced his life of privilege to search for a solution to human suffering. Buddhist philosophy maintains that Siddhartha Gautama achieved enlightenment after six years and spent the rest of his life devoted to the dissemination of his teachings and the establishment of communities of nuns and monks.

Christianity is the religion that was formed in Palestine by those who followed the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, a Jew who was born about 7 B.C. and became a public figure after he turned thirty. The New Testament covers several aspects of his life, including his ministry, teachings (especially the Sermon on the Mount), and miracles attributed to him, his death by crucifixion, and his resurrection (Carus, pp. 288).

Discussion

Buddhism continued to spread across the globe and eventually became one of the world's major religions. By the first century, Buddhist tenets were practiced in China, although the religion faced opposition from other Chinese paradigms such as Confucianism and Taoism, and it was resisted by the Chinese government as early as the ninth century. By the seventh century, Buddhism had taken hold in Tibet. Between the sixth and the twelfth centuries, Buddhist beliefs were adopted in different forms by many Japanese. During the twentieth century, Buddhist sects across the globe were primarily of the Theravada sect.

The underpinning of Christianity is the concept of a three-person God or Trinity (God, the father; God, Son [incarnated as Jesus]; and God, the Holy Spirit). Essential to Christian religion is the belief that Jesus' life, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension illustrate God's love for humankind and identifies Jesus as Savior of the world. Another tenet is that those who believe in God (and accept Jesus as the Christ [Messiah or anointed one], as God's divinely appointed Son) will attain salvation and eternal life. Christianity is also characterized by the use of sacraments; Christian worship usually takes place in an organized church under the leadership of trained clergy (Fahlbusch, Pp. 593). However, Christianity has been organized differently and practiced various ways by different Christian religions.

Principles of Teaching of Buddhism Differences with Christianity

One of the principle teachings in Buddhism is emptiness, while Christianity believes in the fullness of god's will. Therefore, Christianity as being the primary cause, is given affirmative, while the base is pure negation of self being. That is why we can say that Christianity is theistic and Buddhism is atheistic in the sense that Christians believe in divine god. On the other hand, the existence of a god is not clear in Buddhism, which is a serious ontological problem of Buddhism. Therefore, Buddhism fails to answer the formation of the world.

Similarly, the radical difference lies in the assumptions about the existential assessment of human life. While in Christianity, there is an emphasis on individuals to transform the world for the ...