Religions of the World
From Buddhism to Judaism
The Budda that promises Nirvana
Buddhism began in India nearly 2,500 years ago by a 'wise' man named Siddhartha Gautama, who believes that he know how to break free of suffering. Both Buddhism and Hinduism stem from the same culture, India, though, that is about all that is similar between the two. Buddhists believe that your Karma, or your thoughts, actions, and words spoken all of which contribute to your Karma, determines your next life, after being reincarnated. They believe that you can only move up the Caste System in your next life, of which you must climb to the top, and you must move up once more, only instead of a rebirth, you reach Nirvana. By reaching Nirvana, you have freed yourself of the suffering of which is life. Another way of practicing Buddhism is by meditation. They believe that meditation clears your mind, and brings you to a peaceful state for a brief period of time. This method of ‘freedom’ spread to many regions, including but not limited to Ceylon, Burma, Nepal, Tibet, central Asia,China, and Japan were all regions in which received this ‘freedom’. One of the many ways in which it was spread was through the readings of the holy books called the Tripitaka, Mahayana Sutras and the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Finally, Buddhism affects a person’s everyday life by showing kindness and compassion to everyone. They also meditate once a day to clear their mind, and to keep the peace within their body and spirit.
The Many Forms of Brahman
The Religion that Wasn't
Though Confucianism is not technically a religion, though a way of life, it is still a practice that eventually all of China was practicing many years ago, in 480 BC. This way of life was created by a guy named Kong Qiu, although was given the name Confucius by a group of Jesuit missionaries. He developed Confucianism as a social policy of there always being a dominant in a relationship, and a way that China might find order and peace, for they were going through a rough time of unrest and disorder. The system says that a Ruler is dominant over its subject, a Father is dominant over his son, the Eldest Brother is dominant over the youngest brother, a Husband is dominant over his wife, and a Friend is dominant over a friend. Though mainly popular in China, few adopted it outside of China. By having this system in effect, it provides order from the chaos, and an order of authority, and this system worked for many years, and although it nearly collapsed, it is experiencing a revival over these past several years as China’s leaders attempt to bring back the social policy.
The Africans of Religion
Finally, Judaism is one of the most famous, as well as infamous, religions of the world, given the infamous title by Adolf Hitler during World War II with his mass extermination of the Jews. Out of the 9.7 million Jews that lived in Europe at the time, the Nazis were able to kill 2.8 million of the Jews. This was one of the largest, if not the largest religious casualty in a war, similar to the crusades, only instead of it being a war between religions, it was an execution of a religion during a war. Although, the hatred they receive stems from before Hitler was born. In 1570 AD, Martin Luther founded a religion branching off from Christianity. He started Lutheranism, although it branches heavily from Christianity. He kept the church relatively unchanged, but he changed other parts of the church, such as not needing to go to a priest to get forgiveness from God. He also expected Jews to convert to his faith, which was later named Lutheran. And when most Jews didn’t convert to Lutheran, he began preaching that the Jews are the source of everyone’s problems, and that they are devils sent by God. And the people listened, and since then, Jews had been discriminated against ever since. Ever since, Jews have always had a bad name The have always been the topic of discrimination in religion. Putting aside the discrimination that Jews have suffered, the history is far more interesting. Judaism was founded over 3,500 years ago by Abraham, who has appeared in both the Bible and the Torah, the Jewish equivalent to the Bible. Judaism began in the Middle East, although the exact location is unclear even to this day, although what is clear is their beliefs. They believe that they are the chosen people by God, and that they are to lead the human race to greatness. They also don’t believe in Christmas. Instead, they believe in what is called Hanukkah. Compared to other religions, Judaism is not too intense. The only interruption in their schedule is on Saturday, or their holy day where they go to a temple/synagogue to worship God, and reflect on all he has done for them. Besides for worshipping on Saturday, their life is normal besides for also not being allowed to eat certain meats. They also must follow their code of conduct called the halakhahs.
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