Christianity Versus Buddhism Essay

Buddhism had originated in Bodh Gaya in India about six centuries before Christianity was introduced. Buddhism was very popular in the eastern region of Greece, and it became the official religion of the region’s kingdoms. One of the major types of Buddhist religions is the Tibetan Buddhists whose number of adherents is estimated at about twenty million people. Tibetan Buddhism is majorly practiced in Tibet, Bhutan, Mongolia and western countries. Tibetan comprises teachings of Mahayana, the Foundation vehicle, and Vajrayana. Tibetan Buddhism provides teachings on how to achieve Buddhahood more quickly. Buddhahood is a state where one is free of any obstructions to liberation and omniscience. Tibetan Buddhism is mainly transmitted by oral teachings, analytic meditations, and fixation meditation. The religion encourages critical skepticism that promotes abilities in analytical meditation.
Another branch of Buddhism is Mahayana that seeks complete the enlightenment of the religion to benefit all the sentient beings. It is one of the largest major existing today with about 53% practitioners of its teachings as compared to the 5% of the Vajrayana and 35% of the Theravada (Cuevas, 2008). The earliest Mahayana practices were found in the Andhra region of South India. The two major philosophical schools of Mahayana in indie were the Madhyamaka and Yogacara. The teachings of Mahayana Buddhism encouraged the Indian societies to give donations to Buddhists monasteries thus gave people religious merits and encouraged more people to join a religion. Some teachings of the Buddhism such as the Pure Land are still popular in Eastern Asia. Mahayana is widely practiced in Tibet, Korea, Japan, Indonesia, China and Vietnam.
Theravada is the other type of Buddhist religion that uses the teachings of Pali Canon; the oldest Buddhist recorded texts. It is the dominants religion in Burma, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Thailand. The teachings of the Theravada are said to have originated from the Third Buddhist Council in 250 BCE in India under the patronage of Emperor Asoka. The teachings were known as Vibhajjavada (Wholey, 2008).
Buddhists observe the five precepts that guide their ethics and morals. The rules are uniform across the religion, and they include the commitments to abstain from sexual misconduct, to harm one another, stealing, intoxication and lying. There are various ceremonies that are observed by the Buddhists such as the Vesak in celebration of the birth and enlightenment of the Prinivana of Buddha (Nhaat, 1995). Another ceremony is the Abhidhamma day where the Buddhists celebrate the day when Buddha went to the heaven to teach his mother, the Abhidhamma. The ploughing festival is also another major ceremony in the Buddhist religion that celebrates Buddha’s first moment of enlightenment.
Christianity originated from Roma Judea in the early first century. The doctrine was later developed to include the work of other authors in the bible such as Irenaeus. From the beginning of 1930s, Christianity gained more popularity as Christian missionaries traveled to Syria, Greece, and Egypt to spread the word. Christian theology has its foundation in the ecumenical creeds that state that Jesus suffered, and was crucified to deliver mankind from sins. The doctrines further state that Jesus resurrected and reigns in heaven, but he will return to judge the living and the dead and give eternal life to the righteous. The religion spread to Mesopotamia, Syria, Egypt, and Asia. By the end of the fourth century, the religion had spread wide, and it became the official religion of the Roman Empire. Christianity spread through to America, sub-Saharan Africa, and Australia mainly due to the work of missionaries and colonization. It played a major role in modeling the western civilization.
The three largest Christianity groups include the Orthodox Church, the Catholic Church, and the Protestantism. The eastern orthodox and Roman Catholic patriarchates split from one another in the eleventh century and began establishing their churches and spreading their beliefs in different parts of the world. The Protestantism came into existence much later in the 16 the century splitting from the Roman Catholic Church. Christians believe in obedience to the Ten Commandments, which comprise of ethical and worship standards expected of Christians. The central tenet of the religion is Jesus Christ, who is belied to be the messiah, anointed by his father, God, to be the savior of mankind (Nhaat, 1995). Christians observe various types of ceremonies such as the Christmas where they celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and the Easter holidays where they celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.
In conclusion, Christians believe in life after death with a majority believing in the literal resurrection of the earthly bodies. The righteous will resurrect and go to heaven while the evil ones will go to hell and burn in eternal fire. Others believe that it is only the soul that will resurrect (InEllens, 2013). The Buddhists do not believe in soul. According to the religion, only karma survives death, and it is transmitted to another physical body. In the event of reincarnation, sensations, perceptions, emotions, and consciousness survive death (Bromiley and Fahlbusch, 2003). One can be punished in reincarnation by being exposed to suffering, or they can achieve nirvana where they are relieved of all the earthly desires.