Comparing Religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Zen Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Christianity, Islam
Posted by beckyclay | June 2, 2009
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In order to be completely liberated from bad karma, the Jain believes he must practice kindness, reparation, and the Five Great Vows, which include 1) ahimsa, 2) truth telling, 3) no theft, 4) no sensuality, and 5) no attachments. Full adherence to these sources of liberation will help the Jain fully rid himself from bad karmic debt, and ultimately break free from the curse of reincarnation.
Sikhism is a religion that gains its knowledge from the Nanak Doctrine, which emphasizes on perception, inference, and verbal testimony. The Sikhs believe that by adhering to these sources of knowledge, one can be led to the path to unity with God.
A Sikh’s faith in God comes from God’s existence in general and all he has created when he created the cosmos. From this faith the Sikh’s are able to overcome obstacles of social objects and worldly things, by following his teachings and the teachings of the Gurus (inspired, enlightened teachers of God).
Ultimately, once a Sikh has obtained his spiritual union with God, he is free from all karmic debt and can proceed to salvation and an eternity united with God in his kingdom.
Zen Buddhism is a religion that believes knowledge can be obtained through deep introspection and meditation alone. The Zen Buddhists believes that by dealing with the irrational, one is able to experience the beyond. Participants in the religion focus on mysticism, believing that reason and the senses are not accurate representations of reality. They are subtle, esoteric, ineffable, and unable to grasp with the mind. By utilizing this method of deep meditation, a Buddhist believes he is able to gain self-knowledge that will help lead him to the path of enlightenment.
The faith that Buddhists have in the path to enlightenment comes from the life of Buddha and the idea that Buddha was able to achieve enlightenment through deep introspection. In addition to the life of Buddha, faith is broadly applied to the Zen Buddhist by virtue of doubt and uncertainty – meaning, “extensions of faith must subsume doubt. This orientation subtly departs from most conceptions of faith that regard faith as self-willed certainty within mystery. In other words, direct experience or intellectual validation being absent, mystery itself is pointed to as a type of invitation to unwavering certainty. One is invited to be certain as an affirmation of their faith. Zen on the other hand generally embraces doubt as a non-dual aspect of reality and illumination. Being laden with uncertainty, reality contains faith and doubt as one thing. The Zen practitioner is encouraged to doubt as an extension of faith in the Buddha-nature of all beings.” 1
To obtain enlightenment, Zen Buddhists use methods of Roshi, Zazen, and Koans. A Roshi is an enlightened teacher. Although Zen Buddhists believe that one cannot be taught the truth, they believe that one must be shown the truth and directed towards it so that you can experience it. Zazen is a word used to describe a “seated meditation.” A Zen Buddhist practicing Zazen will be seated in a lotus position with his eyes half closed, attempting to achieve the deepest and ultimately negative meditative state. Koans are another method used by Zen Buddhists on their path to enlightenment. They are riddles or puzzles that a Roshi will tell a monk in an attempt to get the monk to deeply examine the elements of reason. Combining all of these efforts, a Zen Buddhist believes that he will eventually reach Satori, the ultimate goal. Satori is when enlightenment comes like a lightening bolt, leaving you with the ability to do worldly tasks with your mind and remain in a meditative state in everything that you do.
Confucianism is a religion that believes knowledge is attainable through past ways and ancient rituals. Confucian believed that if everyone in a society was taught right propriety from childhood, and if every aspect of society (such as plays, musicals, art, etc.) followed and demonstrated these rules of propriety, then children would learn from their parents, and their children from their parents, etc. Through ancient rituals, every member of society would attain Chi, the proper ways of doing things all of the time.
Confucianism’s source of faith comes from the ideal life of a Chun Tzu. A Chun tzu is one who is a superior person, fully mature, a gentleman with grace, manners, and a deep understanding of propriety. He is a man that is filled with sincerity, honesty, has no violence, no arrogance, no coarseness or impropriety. Confucius believed that the ultimate goal of humans was to live in a perfect society, and he believed that society would have to consist of only chun tzu’s.
The idea of an ideal chun tzu is incorporated in the Confucian aspect of Jen, which is the root of all Confucian beliefs. A person who has reached the state of Jen would be the ultimate contributor to a perfect society, and Confucius says would possess inner moral qualities such as ideal relationships, virtue, goodness, benevolence, righteousness, etc. Jen is the root of Confucianism and the ultimate means of which is necessary to form a perfect ideal society.
A Taoists source of knowledge comes directly from the Tao itself. Because the Tao is the cosmos, and everything in the cosmos is also the cosmos, then by learning from the cosmos one is on the path to realizing that they are one with the Tao. In the journey to realize that one is already part of the Tao, it is necessary to look at nature and the way things work in order to gain an understanding on how to not disturb the natural course of the Tao (ultimately becoming one with the Tao).
Enlightenment for the Taoist comes from understanding one’s self, deep enough to know that they are part of the Tao. As soon as someone has realized they are part of the Tao, they can finally become one with the Tao again and achieve complete enlightenment (for just to realize one is already part of the Tao is not suffice for enlightenment, it is merely a step closer to it).
Christianity is a religion that gains its knowledge through the Bible, by which they believe was written by messengers of God. For Christians, the bible contains the truth, and so they use that book as their guide to make sense of the world. Christians are also encouraged to study the bible deeply and gain a deep understanding of it, so that they have the ability to spread the word of the gospel to others.
Faith for Christians is inspired by the life of Jesus and the claims of all he has done for the world. Jesus is said to have been sent from God to “take away the sins of the world” – and so the life of Jesus is proof of God’s fulfillment of the covenant, and ultimately gives Christians faith to not only believe in the bible and Jesus, but to live according to the standards God has set for them.
Ultimate enlightenment for the Christian is to receive salvation from God and join with him in Heaven for eternity. This salvation can only be reached by means of grace from God, and is not something that the Christian can earn on his own. One must have faith in Jesus Christ that he is the Lord and savior, and it is through that faith in Jesus that God will grant salvation and a life of eternity in Heaven.
For the Islam religion, knowledge is acquired much like it is for the Christian, through the word of God recorded in the Bible. The Bible is the truth, and a way of making sense of the world. Faith for the person of the Islamic religion is by the life of Jesus and it is through the life of Jesus that one acquires gratitude and complete submission to God.
For the Muslim, salvation from God is achieved through good acts. Muslims believe that by having proper moral conduct, as taught in the bible, God will deem them righteous and accept them into Heaven for eternity. This belief differs from the Christian who believes that salvation is obtained solely by means of grace.
The third branch of philosophy is ethics, which is the study of moral principles that govern person’s behavior. Characteristics of religion such as their primary tenets, principles, and rules are the more specific ethical areas and what we will examine to evaluate the nine great religions.
The primary beliefs of the religion Hinduism is that the world is based off of karma and Samsara (the wheel of rebirth). By believing that enlightenment will be obtained after multiple lives is inspiration for a Hindu to strive for a just and moral life, in hopes of reaching the liberated state sooner than later.
The core principles of Hinduism focus on the belief that all actions have repercussions. This is very influential for the Hindu, encouraging them to do well by following the general rules and regulations, which are: good acts done disinterestedly, selflessly, and emotionally detached.
The primary tenet of the Buddhist religion is that all suffering is caused by desire. By ridding one’s self of desires, he can begin on the path to enlightenment. The act of ultimately freeing one’s self from the attachments of the world is the core principle of the Buddhist religion, and can be done so by following the path of the Four Noble Truths. The rules to follow that are included in the Four Noble Truths include ridding one’s self from suffering, from desires, from suffering and desires, and then eventually following the 8-Fold Path which includes rules such as right views, right intent, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and finally, right concentration. The principle aim of Buddhism is to end suffering, end desires, end rebirth, and eventually reach the destination of enlightenment.
Similar to Hinduism, the primary tenet for Jainism is the belief that rebirth is the accumulation of bad karma. The more bad karma one accumulates, the more lives the will live, etc. The core principle of Jainism is that one can be released from the cycle of rebirth by ridding themselves of bad karma. In order to fully rid one’s self from karmic debt, one must make good karma by following the Five Great Vows and also follow the Vows for the Layman. These vows include: ahimsa, truth telling, no theft, no sensuality, no attachments, never knowingly harm sentiment life, don’t lie, don’t steal, don’t be unchaste, check greed, avoid temptation, limit the number of things in daily use, be on guard against evil, meditate, observe special self-denial, spend days as a monk, and give alms. Adhering to each of these rules is how the Jain believes he can obtain enlightenment.
The primary tenet of Sikhism is the belief that egoism creates bad karma. By creating bad karma, one is destined to stay in the cycle of rebirth until all of the bad karma is gone. By living more lives, prolonging their final destination of an eternal life with God. The core principle of the Jain religion is that everyone is equal. Jains rejected the caste system and believed that everyone was equal in the eyes of God. The dominant rule in Jainism requires its followers to be completely dwelling in God. This is mainly referring to “repeating God’s name is as good as 68 pilgrimages,” which emphasizes the idea that repeating God’s name and constantly reminding yourself of God will help one to be completely dwelling in God.
Zen Buddhism’s primary tenet was that reason and senses are not accurate means of finding the truth in reality. Zen Buddhists believed that they should follow the strict ways of the Buddha, using only methods that he used and rejecting any form of written instruction on how to obtain enlightenment. The Buddhist religion has rules such as respecting property, honesty and truth, proper care of body and mind, loving relationships, and no lust. Adhering to these guidelines, similar to the adherence of the rules of the Buddha and the Hindu, will result in less rebirths and an end to the cycle forever.
Confucianism’s primary tenet is that it holds the view that practice is more important than belief. In other words, it is more important for the Confucian to act according to certain principles than to believe that those principles are the truth. This is consistent with Confucian’s aim at the perfect society and that it could be obtained if everyone conformed to the principles of Jen. The principles of Jen pertain to inner moral qualities and include ideal relationships, virtue, goodness, benevolence, righteousness, love, and humanity. Following these principles will lead a Confucian to the ultimate state of Jen, however it by following the rules of Li, or propriety, that will lead a society to perfection. The main aspects of Li include Shu (reciprocity), rectification of names, Doctrine of the mean, Five Constant Relationships, and Hsiao (filial piety). These five key aspects of Li help shape a society to be more orderly, and ultimately more perfect.
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