We are all at some point in our lives drawn to some form of religion, whether this is in the form of believing or not believing. A religion brings us a sense of meaning and purpose in life. Each of the different types of religion, whether that be Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism or any of the other ones, all share many similarities as well as many differences. However, it is these differences that set each of them apart from one another. Two of the most prominent religions in the world today, Christianity and Buddhism, couldn’t be more different, but yet share many similarities. Both Christian and Buddhists ideas and teachings have served to guide and influence the lives and decisions of each of their respected followers for many centuries and both continue to be a dominating force in the world today

Christianity offers a distinct and comforting sense of purpose for those who believe. As a human, we are destined to make mistakes. Christianity offers us a way of knowing that we are forgiven of our sins. It shows us that we are loved no matter what, and it gives us a sense of how we should live our lives in order to be who God wants us to be. Christianity provides us with an ideal father figure to look up to and pushes us to live up to his ideals. We believe that our purpose is to work to be the best possible person we could be and to treat everyone with love and kindness. We believe that God made us just the way he wanted us to be and that God has a path already laid out for us. Many of us will essentially give up our lives to the Lord with hopes that he will guide us down the right path. Christianity offers us a sense of understanding and a way to deal and cope with trauma. We believe that everything happens for a reason and it is in God’s plan how our life plays out. This belief provides us with a coping mechanism in times of loss and disappointment. Christianity also provides us with a sense of acceptance that at some point in time our life will come to an end and we will never know when our time is over. We do not view death as frightening. We view it as inevitable and when our time is over we will be with our maker, God, and with this notion we come to peace with the thought of death.

On the other hand, Buddhists believe that their sole purpose in life is to end suffering. Their leader, Buddha, teaches that we as humans suffer solely because we continually strive for things that do not and will not ever give us infinite happiness. We try and try to hold onto things such as friends, material things, and health. All of which do not and will not ever last and this is what causes us the most sorrow. All of these things only give us short term joy and our constant attachment to them is what causes the most suffering. Buddha teaches us that the only way for us to end our suffering is to recognize that all things are not permanent and to free ourselves from being so attached to them. By doing this, Buddhists will reach the ideal form of Nirvana or Enlightenment and with this their suffering will end as well as the cycle of rebirth (Chodron 4 - 136).

As a Christian, we are brought up on the idea and belief that God created the world and everything in it during a time of six days. This belief can be found in the first book of the Bible, Genesis, and it is a belief that Christians around the world have fought hard to protect from scientists and non-believers. We firmly believe that God created the world, us and everything in it because of the astounding complexity of our universe and every living organism that lives on this earth. We find it unfathomable that some people believe that there was not a mastermind behind our creation and existence. Christians believe that once God had created the earth, he created Adam and from Adam he took a rib and created Eve. As Christians, we hold tight to the belief that God creates each and every one of us exactly how he wants us to be made and with this, we are all unique and special to God. We believe that we are all children of God.

Conversely, Buddhists do not believe in a so called Creator God. They believe that creation occurs repeatedly in cycles throughout time. At the very beginning of the life cycle, land forms are first formed in darkness on the surface of water. Then, the beings that once populated the Universe in the previous life cycle are once again reborn and some of them become the new humans in this new Universe. As we get further into the life cycle, suffering and misery continues to grow for us and eventually this leads to the breakdown of the Universe. At this point in the life cycle, all of the living creatures of the earth return once more to their soul life and the cycle starts right back at the beginning. The Buddhist’s belief of how we are created is very similar to the enemy of the Christian belief, also known as the Big Bang Theory, except it also integrates the idea of reincarnation as well as karma (Smart 93 - 386).

Christians believe that we are all related whether we want to be or not. Christian teachings indicate that we are all descendants from Noah and his wife as well as his three sons and their wives, and from the first two humans to ever be created by God, Adam and Eve. The Bible states that the population that were direct descendants of Noah’s family all shared one language and lived in close proximity to one another. This upset God because they were disobeying his command to fill the earth. In order to change this, God decided to confuse the language that they had created. This caused the once large universal language population to break up into smaller groups and migrate to other parts of the earth. Today, this belief is affirmed with the help of modern genetics which has shown a break-up of a large population could easily show variations such as skin color within only a few generations (Devine 28 - 33)

While Christians believe we are all descendants from the same ancestor, Buddhists do not believe in this form of creation. Buddhists strongly believe in reincarnation and with this notion believe all life is interrelated. They believe that nothing in life exists in isolation, but rather that all things exist solely because of their relationships with other beings and phenomena. In other words, nothing in our world can exist in complete independence or come into existence based on its own accord. Everything in our world comes into existence as a result of interactions. With this belief, Buddhists realize that our existence only becomes meaningful by our interactions and relationships with others. Through our relationships with others, we are able to establish our own identity. Once we do this, we come to the realization that we are not only just connected to and related to those who are physically close to us, but also to every living being and with this realization, our feelings of isolation and loneliness, which leads to more suffering, begins to disappear (Hughes 36 – 204). As Daisaku Ikeda wrote,

“We’re all human beings who, through some mystic bond, were born to share the same limited life span on this planet, a small green oasis in the vast universe. Why do we quarrel and victimize one another? If we could all keep the image of the vast heavens in mind, I believe that it would go a long way toward resolving conflicts and disputes. If our eyes are fixed on eternity, we come to realize that the conflicts of our little egos are really sad and unimportant” (Hughes 137).

I feel that in some ways Buddhism is seen as more of a type of philosophy rather than a religion when it is directly compared to Christianity. To the logistical human being, Buddhism offers us an applied and pragmatic way of relief from life’s suffering. It also provides us with confidence and knowledge that we need in order to achieve Enlightenment through the use of our own hard work and self-discipline. Christianity on the other hand, can be seen as very conservative as it has more constricted boundaries when compared to Buddhism. In order for someone to call themselves a Christian, his or her views must immediately reflect the teachings of the Bible. Also, Christians firmly believe in the notion of ‘forgiveness for our sins’ which allows them to make mistakes with the knowledge that they will be forgiven and ultimately accepted into heaven to live with the Lord.

Similarly, both Christianity and Buddhism lay down the foundation by which their respected followers should live his or her daily life. Both Christianity and Buddhism set guidelines for their followers on how to live a good life by respecting those around you. All of these guidelines also offer important regulations that serve to cover such factors as drinking, marriage, drugs, divorce, sex, birth, death, and the afterlife or reincarnation. All of these guidelines that most of us live our daily lives by have been established due to the vast number of religions around the world today. They have all helped to contribute to the different cultures around the world and they have helped to shape our whole approach towards the life that we lead.

References

Chodron, Thubten. Buddhism for Beginners. New York: Snow Lion Publications, 2001. Print.

Devine, Sean. “Christianity, Science, & Postmodernism.” The New Zealand Journal of Christian

Thought & Practice 15.1 (2007): 28 – 33. Print.

Hughes, Richard. Encountering the Dharma: Daisaku Ikeda, Soka Gakkai, and the Globalization

of Buddhist Humanism. California: University of California Press, 2006. Print.

Smart, Ninian. The World’s Religions. 2nd ed. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press,

1998. Print.