Research paper on Buddhism

Commenting on the reasons which opened the true essence of Buddhism to my respondent, Light said that this religion attracted him by the ability to understand the world better, and that exactly Buddhist spiritual practices allowed my respondent to look deep insight into the true nature of life and may be to look into the own internal world in more attentive way. Moreover, Light, using specific examples, demonstrated me that Buddhism teaches that all the events during the person’s life are interconnected, and even little unimportant detail can give a deep insight, so compassion is natural and even important. In addition, Light told me that he likes Buddhism and it is the state of his mind in today’s reality because this religion made him the person who he wanted to be through his whole life and only in meditations he could develop the own internal world and understand the truth. Owing to the words given by Light, I have understood that Buddhism teaches its followers many practical methods (such as meditations and relaxation), which enable people to realize the Buddha’s teachings in order to transform their experience and to become fully responsible for their lives and to develop the qualities of Wisdom and Compassion.

Comparing Buddhism with Islam, it becomes obvious that these two religions have many in common. According to Yusuf (2009), in fact, there existed long and very constructive relationship between Buddhism and Islam. If we look at the destructive aspects, it creates the impression that they were mainly caused by economic and political considerations rather than religious. In addition, such fundamental principles as love and compassion inherent in both religious teachings even cause a desire of Islamic scholars to learn more about Buddhism. For instance, the Islamic doctrine of Shariah may be in some sense very in tune with Buddhism. The Arabic word ”˜shariah’, in its meaning such as ”˜main avenue’ or ”˜street’: it is a law that people should respect for the purpose to continue their ”˜movement’ without difficulties in this world. Thus, the main Islamic concepts allow people to live in harmony, while the similar situation we can see in Buddhism, where those people, who follow the Buddha’s teachings, are also crave for harmony in their thoughts, deeds, and desires. According to Shariah, people need to know how to deal with their instincts, doubts and intuition. That is, Shariah is not a set of instructions, but is a set of methods used to arrive at the truth. In comparison to Buddhism, it is almost a meditation. Thus, Islam also consists of concepts that are very similar to Buddhist concepts.

Contrasting Buddhism and Islam, we can state that the main difference is in their faith in God. For instance, Islamic traditions demonstrate the true faith in God, while Buddhism denies the existence of God in a broad sense of this word. Buddhist studies are mostly focused on personal development than on the faith in something divine, while people who profess Islam always afraid of God’s punishment, and try to follow all the rules for the purpose to be worthy of the own God. In this regard, it is necessary to state that an important difference between the concept of God in Islam, in comparison with the concept of God in Christianity, Buddhism or Judaism is that God does not belong to human world in Islam. God is something that is completely out of this world, and people have not even a little particle of God in them from the viewpoint of Islam. According to Islam, people can only reflect the great nothingness, if their hearts are pure and they become a kind of mirrors.

Of course, some aspects of Buddhism can be attributed to Allah or to God in general sense, but Buddhism does not combine these aspects in one term. Furthermore, Buddhism does not assert a principle or the reality that exists entirely outside of people or away from them and their universe in the dual transcendental sense because the ”˜emptiness’ is the higher and all-embracing principle of Buddhism. Emptiness means that nothing can not exist in impossible or far-fetched way, being divided from everything in the world, because all beings and phenomena are dependent on each other. To add, emptiness is not separate from people or from the world, although some Buddhist traditions speak of emptiness as something beyond words and concepts. Thus, basing on the fact that all of creation and the environment are interdependent, it is necessary to care for others and to feel a kind of compassion for them, and in Buddhist studies such quality as compassion is not something separate or external, and is present in each person.

In conclusion, we have explored Buddhism from different positions, using the method of interview for these aims. It also became understandable that the own research work and conversation with a person who profess a certain religion is the best way to understand religion that you are not familiar with. In addition, I have compared and contrasted two different religious directions and we will never say that one of them is better or vice versa, because both of them are important and they are part of our world. Nowadays, it is very important to respect representatives of all religions and to be patient and calm in all life situations.