Cristianity And Buddhism Term paper
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The Spread of Christianity
Offered:
1) Redemptions of sins, personal immortality, and future life where material adversities are absent.
2) Easy message from Jesus that everyone could understand.
3) Free of , cumbersome regulations (Judaism) and costly rituals ( Mystery Cults)
4) Accessible to all- male, female, rich, poor, free, or a slave.
5) Its Historical Credibility- The fact that Jesus had lived among men and women and practiced the morality he preached.
Roman Empire at the Time
The was a large gap between the rich and the poor. The majority of the people were the poor.
Attempts to restore Roman Values (Octavian) did not stop imperialism and bureaucratic corruption.
Germanic tribes were migrating west and attacking Rome s borders
Official Approval
1. Failed to win official approval from Roman government.
Christianity was monotheistic.
Refused to worship emperor as divine.
Denied existence of Roman gods.
Christians refused to serve in Roman army.
Rome tried to annihilate Christians.
Destroyed Jerusalem
Christian converts expelled from Rome
Those who refused to make sacrifices to Roman gods were tortured, burned, beheaded, or thrown to wild beasts.
Edict of Milan
Christians faced their deaths joyously, shocking Roman audiences.
In 313, Constantine issues Edict of Milan, which proclaimed religious toleration in the West
It liberated Christians from physical and political oppression, and encouraged the development of Christianity as a legitimate faith.
They were free to establish uniform doctrine of belief, and administrative hierarchy, the rituals of worship, and a symbolic vocabulary.
By the late fourth century Christianity became official religion of Roman Empire
Buddhism
Siddhartha Gautama ( Buddha)
Lived in India three to five centuries before Jesus.
Life spanned from 560-480 to 440-360.
Born into a Hindu family.
Well educated.
At 19 he married his cousin and fathered a son.
Buddha reaching nirvana
Three Truths
Sickness
Old Age
Death
Renounced wealth, abandoned wife and child.
Enlighten
Sitting under a Bo ( fig) tree he began his meditation
Concluded human suffering was desire, or attachment to material things and ignorance
Next forty years he preached his message
Humility and compassion.
Pursuit of which might lead followers to Nirvana.
Nirvana ultimate release form illusion and from wheel of rebirth
Buddha
Buddha s Message
Reach nirvana by avoiding all extremes in accordance with the Eightfold Path:
Right views
Right intention
Right speech
Right action
Right livelihood
Right effort
Right mindfulness
Right concentration
Buddhism vs. Hinduism
Enlightenment can be achieved by all people, not just a gender or caste.
Followers were to renounce the gods of the Vegas
Followers worked out their own salvations on there spiritual journey which would take them on the Middle Path, which consists of the Four Noble Truths:
Pain is universal
Desire causes pain
Ceasing to desire relives pain
Practice of Eightfold Path leads to release of pain
Similar to Jesus
Both Criticized the current Religion ( Jesus criticized Judaism, Buddha criticized Hinduism).
Buddha also assembled disciples (5), who founded first Buddhist Monastic order.
Just like Jesus, Buddha s life was surrounded by miraculous tales
Sermons were preserved and recorded by his followers
Pitakas
Written in Pali or Sanskrit they were the there main books that recorded Buddha s teachings and divided into chapter called sutras .
Sermon of Benares
Nothing will cleanse a man who isn t free from delusions.
Reach Nirvana by finding the middle path.
Tells his disciples about the noble truths.
Return of good from evil
Spread of Buddhism
In third century emperor Asoka made Buddhism the state religion of India.
Asoka sent Buddhist missionaries as far West as Greece and southeast into Ceylon.
Because of fast migration to spread Buddhism there became many Buddhists sects , 500 in India alone
Hinayana Buddhism: emphasizes pursuit to nirvana, close to original teaching
Mahayana Buddhism: added Buddha to a divine being and added new teachings and legends, Buddha was now path of salvation.
Mahayana Buddhists
Those who postponed reaching nirvana to help human suffering were called bodhisattvas. (Guanyin)
In India Asoka s attempt failed to popularize Buddhism, the Hindu caste system eventually absorbed the Buddhists
In China he Mahayana's were regarded Buddha as not only a teacher but also as a savior.
The Mahayana great vehicle influence spread into China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam
The Hinayana little vehicle spread only into Ceylon, Burma, Thailand, and Cambodia
Buddhism in China
Entered in First century and rose in power during last years of Han Era.
Similar to Rome there was conflicts between wealthy landowners and peasants.
Also there were repeated attacks to the north by Mongol tribes (great wall)
The Buddha s sermons were translated into Chinese and popularized in China by Indian poet Asvaghosha.
Daoism and Confucianism were replaced by Buddhism and many sects were formed
The Language of Faith: Symbolism and the Arts
Diocletian : divided Roman Empire into Western and Eastern Halves and appointed a coemperor to share with administration
Constantine: levied new taxes and tried to revive money economy
In 330 he moved the seat of power form Rome to the Eastern capital of the empire, Byzantium which he named Constantinople (Istanbul), forming the Byzantine Empire, and it prospered while the Western Rome Languished
Byzantine Emperors formed alliances with church leaders and flourished until mid-fifteenth century.
Slavic regions converted into Orthodox Christianity during ninth and tenth century
Arch of Constantine
Christian Identity
Roman catholic Church replaced Roman Empire as dominant authority in West
In 313 followers of Jesus moved to fix hierarchy dogma and Liturgy. Archbishops for provinces, Bishops for dioceses, and priests in the parishes.
Rome became the administrative center of faith and the bishop of Rome, Leo the Great, advanced the Petrine Doctrine claiming that Roman pontiffs inherited positions as successors...
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