Eloheem Raheem Ali
10/6/2014
Dr. Muzorewa
Comparative Religion
Exam
What is Buddhism? According to Wikipedia, “Buddhism is a nontheistic religion that encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, who is commonly known as the Buddha, meaning "the awakened one". Now what is Confucianism? Confucianism is a system of philosophical and ethical teachings founded by Confucius and developed by Mencius. They normally seem the same but there are definitely differences between the two practices. Let us use salvation for example. Salvation is a source or means of being saved from harm, ruin, or loss. According to Confucianism, salvation can be achieved by living and behaving in such a way as to promote ideal social relations, ethical purity and cultivating harmonious relationships with those in one’s family government and society. Buddhist salvation is pretty much freedom from attachment and ignorance. The difference would be in the fact that you don’t have to detach yourself from desire in confuscnism. Buddhist is centered on detachment.
According to Wikipedia, “Shinto is a Japanese religion dating from the early 8th century and incorporating the worship of ancestors and nature spirits and a belief in sacred power (kami) in both animate and inanimate things. It was the state religion of Japan until 1945”. Zoroastrianism is a monotheistic pre-Islamic religion of ancient Persia founded by Zoroaster in the 6th century BC. Zoroastrianism concept of God falls in line with Henotheism where the ultimate most high God uses other lesser deities to convey messages or keep the universe in order. In the Shinto belief there are the kami which are beings who are spirits and ancestors. In this belief an ultimate being or God is not worshipped or clarified.
Sikhism a monotheistic religion founded in Punjab in the 15th century by