In today’s time, the common person has an understanding or has heard of the various religions that have arose from the earliest of civilizations. Whether someone is practicing this religion or has just heard of them in their history class, Buddhism and Christianity are two of the most popular religions in the world today. Despite that Buddhism spread across South Asia and that Christianity spread throughout the Mediterranean basin and Central Asia, these two religions still grew and developed similarly despite the geographical and historical contexts. One of the drastic differences of these two religions is that Christians believe in one God while Buddhists do not believe in any God(s). These two religions have similar viewpoints on the idea of being a “good person.” Overall, Christianity and Buddhism were still able to grow and develop into the religions we know today.
When looking at how these two religions developed separately, Buddhism developed across South Asia two hundred years after the Buddha died. It is said that a council of monks announced that Buddhism should be spread across the world in order to spread the teachings of the Buddha. Various missionaries of this religion traveled across South Asia spreading the teachings of the Buddha. I believe this religion grew popular due to “Ashoka the Cruel” changing his ways. If the regular person saw someone who was a cruel warlord change his attitude and allow the freedom that Buddhism gave to the people, they would be widely accepting of the religion. In addition, I believe Buddhism was popular because of the freedom and not just Ashoka changing his ways. It allowed people to see how to free themselves of the suffering life creates and how to become a better person. On the other hand, Christianity spread through the Mediterranean basin and Central Asia. As this religion entered the Roman Empire, the Romans were overall accepting of the religion. Unlike the Buddhist missionaries, Jews did not seek to convert others to their religion but sought to preserve their religion. As the Romans captured Jerusalem and Jews displayed their dislike of the polytheistic religion the Romans practiced, the Romans forced Jews to pay heavy taxes which later signaled a revolt. During this time was when Jesus was starting to preach his own ideas. Jesus taught one of the main beliefs of Christianity: that God loved all of his creations regardless of any negative impacts that creation might have. Only three years after he started preaching, Roman leaders had him crucified. This was when the story of Jesus rising from the grave originated. I believe this religion became popular based on the “miracles” that surrounded Jesus. There are many stories of healing, rising from the dead, etc. This would entice someone to believe in this religion whether these stories are true or not.
One of the many similarities of these two religions is the idea of being a “good person” and following a set of “guidelines” to become this ideal person. Even though these two religions have two different endings, one being that suffering would end and the other being that you’d be accepted into heaven, these two sources explain the same steps taken to achieve the end result. In the Embree documents, specifically the Four Noble Truths, it is said that Buddha preached a set of guidelines to stop suffering and become the “ideal” person. These were: right views, right resolve, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. Overall, these views breakdown into not putting someone over the other, not to lie, kill, etc. When looking at Christianity, the Gospel of Matthew lays out many of the similar viewpoints that the Four Noble Truths does. When looking specifically at judging others, the Gospel of Matthew states, “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgement you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get.” This allows the Christian population to understand not judge others unless you want to be judged as well. In addition, the Gospel of Matthew states that if someone is to hit you, you need to turn the other cheek. This compares to the act of peace that the Buddha once preached.
Despite the similarities, there is a drastic difference between these two religions. Christians believe in a single God while Buddhists believe in no God(s). I believe the reason Buddhist did not believe in a God is because there was not proof that there was a divine deity. Buddha preached that suffering was inevitable and to take steps to avoid this suffering. I believe that Buddha thought that, if there was a God, suffering would not be as common as it was. People would not die, there would be no hunger, etc. In addition, Buddha did not claim himself to be a God but more wanted to help people end this suffering. With Christianity, the belief in a God came with the miracles that Jesus showed. As people saw him rise from the grave, they knew that Jesus’ preaching about God had to be true. He healed people, he turned one fish into thousands, etc. In addition, people sought Buddhism to end their suffering and the path of rebirth. This makes life worth something to people, much like Christians did with God. I believe that Christians sought an eternal being to take the “pain of life” away while Buddhists are content as long as they are at peace.
Overall, these two religions have the same ideas with very minimal differences in the actual “worship” aspect. However, the belief in a God and no God(s) keep these religions very different in the eyes of the practicers. Despite growing and developing in very different areas, with Jews having to revolt and Buddhism being overall widely accepted, they still morphed into the religions that we know today and kept some of the many similarities that they had around 200 BCE.