Similarities Between The Christian Rosary And The Buddhist Tradition Of Prayer Wheels

Although religions today take on many shapes and forms, and may seem so dramatically different from each other, in order to study and understand these religions, their similarities must be identified. This paper will first present a definition of religion that will connect to all religions at the simplest base. Then this paper will examine the common practices and experiences that are present in both the primary religions of the world, as well as the indigenous religions. Finally, this paper will discuss the issues that are critical to the academic study of religions.

Religion is a universal term that is widely used for a human’s belief system. The views on how religions compare to one another can be defined differently. One view explains religions using a united belief system by their common goals. Another view explains that different religions are just a shared essence and have vast differences between their specific traditions and customs. This shared essence, but vastly different theory, is explained by Stephen Prothero, using the term “pretend pluralism”. There are many major and minor religions that have guided people in their morals and beliefs. Religions, such as Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism. All five of these current, major religions have vast differences, but may have common goals in their morals, traditions, etc. Two of the most practiced religions, of these five, are Christianity and Islam. These two religions are constantly at battle with one another, but what many people don’t see is that there are just as many similarities between these two religions as there are differences. Through this paper we will discover the underlying similarities and differences between these two religions and, hopefully, conclude that supports either the common goal theory or the “pretend pluralism” theory.

Within many known religions, the devotional practices has been known to acquire great importance. The essence of practicing what you preach has scolded many religious groups, introducing true beliefs, righteousness, and a wider connection to the supreme being . In the book entitled “ Living religions” by Mary Pat Fisher, clarified and firm descriptions were introduced about religious rituals. Surprisingly; the author utilized small parts of modern concepts, limiting the reader from a full comprehension of religious practices today, therefore; I will only discuss the basic and traditional rituals. To elaborate; in this paper, I will be providing an opinionated but also, comparative description of the major practices and rituals that undergo in both the Abrahamic and indigenous religions.

In various stages of a Christian’s life, different levels of transformation occur. From physical changes, to emotional growth, and perhaps the most important, is towards a greater spiritual awareness. Though the difficulty of enlightenment is a challenging matter in today’s society due to a self-centric perspective and priority towards social association. People are more occupied with the materialistic world rather than divinity. Thus, the importance of a pilgrimage as a journey beyond the secular and temporal issues to help Christians find God and rebuild their relationship is necessary. Similar to the mentioning of Paul in the bible, “look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (qtd. In Piper, 11). Nowadays, people who pronounced themselves as Christians do not practice their faith in reality. Sacred pilgrimage allows people to reach a renewed Christian identity in three different lenses: through the literal participation in rituals, anthropologically through different social aspects, and as a spiritual conquest of the divine.

In today’s society, people are including less religion and faith in their daily lives. In fact, religion is apart of our culture. It plays an important role in our faith and culture despite how people secularize it. We learn where we descend from and how being religious had always been apart our whole life. Anthropologists included how religion helps us understand big questions in order of us to grow, be better people. So as to understand, we have religious rituals like receiving communion or even attending mass on Sunday’s. Society nowadays would rather separate from religious connection and influence. Society is slowly moving away from the Church but we can prevent that by showing how important religion is in our culture.

Religion is a fundamental element of human society. It is what binds a country, society or group of individuals together. However, in some instances it destroys unity amoungst these. Religion is a belief in a superhuman entity(s) which control(s) the universe. Every religion has its differences but most strive for a just life and the right morals. The three major groups are the primal regions which consist of African, Aboriginal and Native American religions, Asian which consist of South Eastern Asian religions and Abrahamic religions which consist of Middle Eastern religions. The foci of this essay are the differences between the Abrahamic religion, Christianity, and the Asian region Buddhism as well as making reference to the Islamic

The major Eastern religious traditions have had a shaping effect on their societies in how they look at the world and the “hope” they offer their followers. Their traditions and beliefs are different than in the west. The four major religious traditions in the East are all older than western religions. Each religious tradition can be examined for common concepts and differences. Hinduism, Buddhism, Daoism and Confucianism have several common concepts and several differences in: their worldviews, their views on the nature of reality as a whole, the nature of persons, the perspectives on the “human dilemma,” human spiritual goals, the significance of moral values and the hope each offers its followers for their lives.

Throughout the history of the world, many kinds of religions have come and gone. With each religion that has appeared, each one has had a very unique and profound way to express SACRED TIME, SACRED PLACE or other ways to practice rituals. In East Asia countries, places such as India, China and Japan has had rituals within their respective religions that coincide with individual’s belief. From the great nation of India it was the practice of SAMLEKHANA (holy death). In the land of the rising sun, feudal Japan had Seppuku and in the land of Dragons and Emperors, China follow the ritual of Li.

Accessed 22 March 2017. "Buddhism." New Catholic Encyclopedia Supplement 2010, vol. 1, pp.159-180. Gale Virtual Reference Library, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GVRL&sw=w&u=munc80314&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CCX1388100100&asid=0dfd90154f04e5057366f5c67f74554. Accessed 3 Apr. 2017.

Numerous Protestant assume that prayer beads are a solely Catholic ritual, one that is not for them (40). It is easy to forget that both Catholic and Protestants share a common history, thus the use of beads or tangible elements. In their quest to prayer without ceasing, early desert dwellers commenced praying the entire psalter daily (43). As the monks began to memorize the psalms, they required a system to count; a bowl or pocket with pebbles or stones (43). Since this method is not the most portable, prayer ropes were created around the fourth century. In the middle ages, the daily office, become the new way to pray without ceasing (43). As the daily office was primarily reserved for monastic communities, lay people were encouraged to say the Lord’s Prayer one hundred and fifty times; the tool for counting this become the rosary or as it was once called the poor man’s psalter (44). While Martin Luther warned against the idle use of empty prayer, it is possible that he did not disagree with the use of beads in prayer (44). Luther modified the Hail Mary prayer so that it contained only biblical text (46). Since habits are hard to break, the use of the Hail Mary, the rosary fell out of use among Protestants. In Old English, the word bed means prayer

An early form of the development of the Rosary in the West started with the recitation by monks of Psalms of David, and Old Testament king. The people would recite them in groups of 50, 100, or maybe even 150. Since most of the lay brothers could not read at the time, they would say the Our Father out loud. When the reciting of the Our Father spread to laypersons, they started to call the strings of the beads they counted the prayers on

Around the world people have been known to dedicate themselves and their families to a certain type of religion or God. Practicing religion has been a major part of peoples’ daily rituals for centuries. Believing in a higher power than ones own takes full dedication to that certain religion or God(s). In order to give respect and be able to apply action into these beliefs it has became a tradition around the world to build a place of worship. These places of worship are referred to differently across the world depending on location and the religion being practiced. More specifically the Temple is a building that is devoted for worshiping but also is known to house a multitude of religions depending on its location. For example, the Romans have been known to house their Gods in Temples usually with a multitude of columns to incase a statue of a God or Gods. Similarly, the people of Indonesia have been building decorative Candi (Indonesian word for Temple) to praise and worship their Gods.4 For instance, the Romans constructed The Pantheon, dedicated to the Gods of Ancient Rome compared to Candi Prambanan built by the Indonesians in order to worship the concept of Trimurti. 3 The link between these two cultures can be seen in the way that both Romans and Indonesians worship their Gods in Temples with the use of separate sacred rooms and what these Temples represent for their culture, but are able to be separated by their choice of architectural form, style and use of

On this vast planet religions are becoming more prevalent and are being studied more frequently in recent times. Many individuals want to study and learn about the origins of some religions, on where they were developed and what was the cause of this glorification of a divine. The art of religion is processed by many ideologies, background, beliefs, myths, and rituals. The five major religions of the world include: Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism are solely based on these ideologies, and ultimately leads to one goal, to follow the path of god, or to seek a euphoric state of salvation. In spite of all the differences among the world’s five major religions, they have very similar ethical constructs, which should encourage more mutual respect among them.

In this essay, I have made a comparison between the two most renowned world's religions i.e. Buddhism and Islam. In the beginning of the essay, I have given a detailed account of Buddhism and Islam to give a basic knowledge regarding the two faiths. In the next part, I have given a comprehensive comparison of the two religions highlighting their similarities and differences.

Religion, whenever looked upon as a treatise within the periphery of being the society-approved construction of the mankind, compels the process of acquisition of cognizance about the popular religio-rituals of which the signifier is the religio-cultural ceremonies that can be construed as the mean of giving birth to the idea of the temporal prosperity of the state and that too definitely at the cost of obedience to the universal divine law. Creating illusory fantasies, religion is revered for presenting the opportunity to one to be facilitated with the ability to avail solace and is a priori & posteriori at the same time where the priori is the notion of inherited nature of the mankind to submit to the unseen almighty and the posteriori is exhibition of syreligio-rituals like namaskar, domestic worship et. Al. The symbolic cultural system of religion with the prime focus on the culturally postulated superhuman agents and agencies tends to be offered in packages meaning that the first step of mode of address is executed in a bid to reinstate the transaction of sacred things i.e. emotionally driven beliefs and practices which are simply collective ideals that tend to weaken in strength unless reinforced for the sake of the socio-structural unity. In this process of reinforcement, the religious practice of religion acts as a source of identification for the individuals as well as organic solidarity to certain extent. Besides catering to the need of social control and cohesion,