TOPInfluence to TodayBuddhism and Chiristianity





There are all sorts of religions around the world, though here, we would like to examine the difference of Christianity and Buddhism. If you categorize these two religions into Western and Eastern, Eastern would be Buddhism and Western would be Christianity. It could be inferred that each of these religions occured from the different environment of the East and West. To put it in an extreme, Christianity stands for Linear world and "The thinking of Desert". On the other hand, Buddhism stands for Circular World and "The thinking of Forest".

The idea of Liner world and "The thinking of Desert"is suggested in the bible, which is a written book of Christianity. In yhe Old Testament, there is a description that god created the world of afterlife is merely a place, and all the dead will revive on the day of the last judgement, gaining life ever lasting. From these descriptions, in Christianity , the world has a beginning and an end, and understands the world linearly.

In Buddhism, human are included in the wheel of life. After they die, it is said that they are reborn as another living creature, such as humans or insects, according to tgeir deeds during their previous life. Beginning and end doesn't exist in Buddhism. One endlessly born abd die in an endless world. This is the extreme of a circular world.

Also, there is "Etiology" in Buddhism, which is an idea that all matters have a cause and an effect, and that the acts in the previous incarnation affect thr life afterward. This is to encourage the Buddhista' good deeds, abd it still exists in Japan as a saying, "因果応報 (ingaouhou)". This idea seek for reasons in any results, and its nature lies in observing and delving a matter thoroughly. Therefore, it could be said that Etiology stands for "The thinking of Forest".

Back

To the top of this pageTOPAbout us