Christianity vs. Jainism

In the past few weeks of class we talked about so many different religions around the world. Three religions we discuss in class were Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity. These are three of the major religions in the world that still exist today. I will be focusing on how all three religions started, and I will compare and contrast Hinduism and Buddhism. Then at the end, I will discuss on how I feel about the three different religions.

Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism gained importance and popularity during a time of great religious exploration. While these religions have some similarities, they also have some distinct differences. The key to all three of these is enlightment. Let’s look at some other similarities between them.

Firstly, Christians and Taoists differ in their approaches to absolute essence. Taoism establishes that the goal of each human is to find one’s own personal flow of the natural world. Essentially, the goal of Taoist life is to become in touch with one’s self spiritually in order to live in harmony with nature and the “Way” of the world. Lao Tzu perfectly displays this principle in the Tao Te Ching: “Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power” (Tao Te Ching 33). Also, Taoists stress the importance of developing peace by disengagement with society and turmoil. Meanwhile, Christianity takes an opposite approach to the goal of life. Ultimately, the optimal life of a Christian is dependent on one’s ability to live in accordance with the norms established by one’s faith. Only by abiding by one’s religious doctrine will a Christian be granted the ideal life: “And without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).

Christianity and Buddhism are two religions that seem completely different on the surface, but when the layers of ritual and tradition are peeled back they are extremely similar at the core of their beliefs. Beginning at their origin, both religions were founded by men with a miraculous birth. Both of the religions founders set off on their spiritual journey around the age of thirty, and both of the founders lived their lives as an example of how to correctly practice their religions. The only core differences between Jesus Christ and Buddha is that Jesus came from humble beginnings and claimed to be a deity as the son of God and Buddha was a prince but did not claim to be a deity. The creation of their sacred texts has similarities as well. Professor

In our present day, there are roughly 4,200 religions being practiced all over the world. Some are more popular and well-known than others, with a few of the main world religions being Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism. With each religion, one can be slightly similar to one and completely opposite in beliefs to another; this is seen in the idea of the afterlife, in which Buddhism focuses on the idea of rebirth and awakening, whereas Hinduism and Jainism both believe in the idea of reincarnation until liberation.

It entails a lifetime of practice and includes being as gentle and harmless as can be. It involves restraint from any act of violence and the Jains uphold this belief with the highest regard. They understand that it takes a great deal more than not harming other living beings but also from harming oneself. The concept of Jains is to achieve freedom of spirit. “Jains do accept ending one’s own life, but we must understand the practice form the Jain point of view and within the context. Jains see all life as a preparation for the liberation of the jiva (Spirit) from the body, and when a person is sufficiently evolved spiritually, that person can then make the final choice to no longer create more karma” Malloy(2013). The Jains believe in nonattachment to earthly possessions, and therefore one can find honor is ending one’s life. Sallekhana or holy death is “the most highly esteemed method, however, is self-starvation,” Malloy (2012.) There by withholding from food the Jains are becoming more selfless and freeing his or her spirit from the earthly plane and achieving a high level of

Religion is a prominent aspect of many people’s lives. Not only does religion provide ethical and moral values, but also acts as a cultural system and often gives people a sense of order in existence. There are many religions across the world, and understanding the characteristics behind each one is important. Religion is intertwined with culture, economics, politics, and modern social relationships on every dimension. Buddhism is a religion that practice and spiritual development leading to insight into the true nature of reality. It's also a major global religion with a complex history and systems of beliefs. Buddhism is based on what the founder believed in, which was that the suffering from people arises from confusion and negative states of mind. Christianity is one of the strongest and perhaps most misunderstood movements in the world. Christianity is a religion based on the teachings and miracles of Jesus.

There are many religions and sacred texts that have shaped complete civilizations and cultures. They have varied in their theories of creation and how man should live and act towards each other and nature. The more I study religions and sacred text the more I see that for the most part they are alike. Most of them share a view of love and peace towards all things living. What varies between them are simply deities. It is these minor differences that cause their followers to completely abstract their sacred text to the point where they have completely deviated from their text and do the opposite of what their text commands. For example

Throughout the class we have learned about four different religions. Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Christianity are all very complex and interesting religions, but all of them are very different from each other. Hinduism and Buddhism are very similar while Christianity and Judaism are similar. The two with the most differences would be Buddhism and Christianity. There are many differences between the two religions, but when a person puts them side by side there are three major differences that pop out at them. Those differences are, who each religion worships, the sacred text of the two, and finally the idea of life after death or the afterlife. Yes, almost all religions have commonalties between them, like prayer or meditation, or even the idea of a human messiah sent by their deity, but at the core of these two religions are very different from each other. In order to understand these differences in greater detail one must look at the origins of the two religions and look at the little differences before you can explore the three larger ones.

A third teaching of Jainism is that lying and exaggeration are damaging practices that are to be avoided. On another hand Jainism also teaches that “absolute truth” is impossible to express because everyone experiencing any given situation from a unique perspective. Other teachings condemn stealing, and confine acceptable sexual practices to those between a married couple, both of which try to curb improper desire, and stop the perpetuation of pain inflicted on others. These teachings, which emphasized acceptable societal practices are similar to the Dharma of Hinduism, which emphasized social obligations (Molloy, p196, 2010).

The resources will be used to help compare the two faith will include resources from Grand Canyon university resource center, books, journals, peer-reviewed articles, and internet resources websites. The resources will give us an in-depth understanding of two religion, so that we can compare and contrast its philosophy.

The world is full of diversities which are mostly characterised by the geographical disparities. These diversities range from the way people interact with one another socially, economically and politically. Through the lens of social organization, religion stands out to be one of the major aspects of human life. Everybody has some element of religiousness in him. Fortunately or unfortunately, often people adapt to the religious partners they find at the place of their birth. However, globalization and civilization is gradually transforming and integrating religious believes from the different parts of the world and perhaps someday, which is not known to anyone as per now, people will have a common believe in regard to religion. Till then, humanity continues to believe differently on matters of religion. Among these many religions of the world are Jainism and Daoism. Both based in Asia, these religions have a history and a following which is noticeable. Because of their prominence in Asia and a growing global integration of the ideologies upheld by these two forms of religions, this paper critically examines them with intent of exhuming any form of similarity or difference. This paper also checks into exactly what these two religions entail or teach its followers.

In Hinduism, the concept of the almighty God (Brahman, Vishnu, and Shiva), who created the Universe and have the proper powers and possession to destroy it. God is in everything that Hindus’ seek. Buddhism and Jainism have different concepts, as there is no understanding of a God. Jainism embodies Godliness, rather, and focuses on the practice of perfecting the knowledge of peace and an infinite amount of bliss and power. Buddhists have continuously rejected an almighty God or gods.

It’s incredible how two religions can be so different yet so similar. Whether it be the various branches of Christianity, the Chinese religions, or even Judaism and Islam, they have so much in common when you work down to the roots of the religions. For starters, I will be comparing Islam and Baha’i.

It can be easy to view two separate religions as completely contrasting and distinct in their own ways. However, this difference is solely on the surface level of spiritual beliefs. As one takes a closer look at certain faiths, similarities can be found. Two religions that seem completely unalike initially are Christianity and Hinduism. Nevertheless, there are numerous aspects of Hinduism that can be connected to Christian beliefs. The aspects of Hinduism that are most predominantly related to Christianity are the life and teachings of Krishna as well as His concept of Karma.