COMPARISON AND CONTRASTS OF BUDDHISM TO CHRISTIANI

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For many centuries, Buddhism has been the popular religion in the eastern parts of the world. Because of the increase of the Asian population, in the United States, Buddhism has had a large impact on this country also. Buddhism is the largest religion in Hawaii, and many Americans have accepted this religion. To research both Buddhism and Christianity, for the purpose of doing comparisons, I have found a lot of interesting information. There are many contrasts between Christianity and the teachings of Buddhism.

Buddha did not claim to be of a divine nature. Theravada stayed true to his teachings that he was just a man. Not until 700 years after his death did the idea come up that he was divine. Northern Buddhism teaches that there have been many other manifestations of the Buddha and some people believe Jesus to be one also. In contrast, Jesus didn't claim to be one of the manifestations of God.

He claimed to be the one and only Son of God. This teaching wasn't created by his followers but is a principal Jesus taught since the beginning of his ministry. The salvation Jesus preached was dependent on believing and understanding his divine nature.

Buddhism maintains three important concepts to understanding this religion karma, samsura, and nirvana; Moreover, Karma is the belief that every person must go through a process of birth and rebirth until he reaches nirvana, at which time they break this cycle. Samsara, the second concept, is the belief that birth and rebirth is the existence without an individual soul. This concept teaches that what goes through this birth and rebirth process is not more than a set of feelings, impressions, present moments, and the karma. A person's human personality in one existence is the direct cause of the type of...