Hinduisim And Christianity Essay, Research Paper

Two religions, both very different and both very similar. Siddhartha Guatama also known as Buddha (“Enlightened One”) was the founder and probably the most influential person of Buddhism. He sat under a fig tree for 49 days to think and contemplate his thoughts. Buddhism was started around 600 B.C. Jesus is believed to be the Son of God in the Christian religion. He was also the most influential person of Christianity. Christianity was started around 34 B.C. Comparing the rituals each religion has, the moral laws each one follows, and how their beliefs are preached can be discussed quite simply.

The way the two religions are preached, they are very different. In Buddhism, religion is preached with no authority. Basically, they are telling their ideas and beliefs, and it is your choice to believe them or follow them. However in Christianity, religion is preached with a very firm authority. They give the followers ideas and beliefs to follow. Unlike Buddhism you are not really given the option to believe or not believe them. In Buddhism they do not speculate about the after life, although they do believe in nirvana. Christianity believes in Heave and Hell.

In Christianity they have yearly rituals. In Buddhism they have no such rituals. Christians celebrate Christmas on December 24; it was the day Jesus was born. They also Celebrate Easter on the second Sunday in April, It was the day they believe Jesus was resurrected.

Both Buddhism and Christianity believe in moral laws. Buddhism’s is called the eight-fold path. Buddha urged his disciples to do eight things: know the truth, resist evil, say nothing to hurt others, respect life, work for the good of others, free their minds of evil, control their thoughts, and practice meditation. The Christians moral laws are called the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments are as stated:

“ I the lord, am your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage: You shall have no other gods besides me.

You shall not make for yourself a sculptured image…

You shall not swear falsely by the name of the Lord your God…

Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy…

Honor you father and your mother, that you may long endure on the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

You shall not covet… anything that is your neighbor’s”

In some ways the moral laws have the same ideas in mind, but are very different in many ways. In comparison, the Ten Commandments are more restrictive, and the Buddhism laws are more open, a lot less restrictive the commandments are.

It’s clear that Buddhism and Christianity share some of the same ideas and its clear that they also disagree on some ideas. From the evidence it’s clear that they had different views on the way that the religion should be taught. They do agree in a way on the moral laws, although, Buddhism has a more relaxed, meditative approach, but they share the same values.