SOCIOLOGY
COMPARISON BETWEEN TWO CULTURES
Christianity and Buddhism
With regard to the general statistics, Buddhism is perceived as being a remarkable human being who out of boundless compassion or love has resolved to offer guidance to any sentient beings so as to deliver mankind from suffering. Personal mortality is usually followed by reincarnations after better or worse rebirths and depending on the merit attained in pervious lives. The goal of Buddhism is the attainment of Nirvana- a state in which craving and desire cease due to the associated merit that is one can opt to be freed from endless chain of rebirth into suffering lives (Netland & Yandell, 2009). Considering the Buddhist and Christianity followers, the following graph below shows the rising arbitrary figures of Buddhist followers to date;
Y-axis
100
80
60
20 X-axis
10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Christianity is also a monotheistic religion which is based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ- the ostensible savior in the Bible’s New Testament. The reason for this is because humans are trapped in a repetitive cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth although each rebirth might be better or worse depending on the merits and sins which had accumulated during the previous and present lives (Cioccolanti, 2010). Once this is attained, a person experiences complete liberation, freedom, and non-attachment as Christian perceive it. Otherwise there are many Christianity followers than Buddhist as stipulated by the figure below;
Y-axis
100
80
60
20 X-axis
10 20 30 40 50 60 70
References
Netland, H. A., & Yandell, K. E. (2009). Buddhism: A Christian exploration and appraisal. Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Academic.
Cioccolanti, S. (2010). From Buddha to Jesus: An insider's view of Buddhism and Christianity. Oxford: Monarch.
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