There is an exceptional amount of religions in the world that have contrasting and varied ideals and concepts. However, there are some common traits that the religions of differing ideologies, as in western and eastern thinking, share. One of those traits that can be found in almost every religion is a trait that people choose to call “The Golden Rule”. The basic concept of the Golden Rule is that you should treat others in the same fashion that you would want them to treat you. Even though it is a more moral and ethical aspect, it is still prominent in very spiritual religions. Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, and Confucianism all have their own ways of portraying the message of the Golden Rule. Islam is often a misunderstood religion by our …show more content…
So a buddhist who lives their life treating other with respect will become closer to enlightenment. One of the paths of the Noble Eightfold Paths is action. It is stated as, “What is right action? It is not taking life, not stealing, and not having sexual relations” (Book on Turning the Wheel of the Law, quoted in Van Voorst 81). By taking the quote literally, most people will agree that they would not something stolen from. However, in the broad sense it could mean that the right action is any action that it considered to be good. So by teaching right action, the Buddha is also latently teaching that you should treat others well. In his book, Huston Smith talks about a quality of Buddhism by saying, “It was egalitarian. With a breadth of view unparalleled in his age and infrequent in any, he insisted that women were as capable of enlightenment as men. And he rejected the caste system’s assumption that aptitudes were hereditary” (Smith 98). This egalitarian view that the Buddha had led him to accept all for his teachings, no matter what their social grouping was. He thought every individual should be treated the same, whether they live on the streets and have nothing to their name, or they are very wealthy and are able to afford almost everything without any detriment to their
“Treat others the way you want to be treated” is something burned into the minds of
different from us we are all one and must treat each other equally or as one wishes to be treated.
He also makes reference to the long history of religious intolerance and persecution within the Christian tradition, brought about by greed, mistrust, and ignorance. He emphasizes the need for continuous practice, prayer, meditation, mindfulness, and personal growth within individual religious traditions and cultures. We must make the spirit of the Buddha and the spirit of Christ part of our everyday lives. He explores the “Five Wonderful Percepts of Buddhism”: reverence for life, generosity, responsible sexual behavior, speaking and listening deeply, and ingesting only wholesome substances; comparing them to the teachings of Christ. These precepts are without a doubt, very similar to the principles thought by Christ and his apostles. Each precept or teaching works with the next, interconnecting and building upon each other toward the same goal to end suffering, bring about personal and worldly understanding, world peace, and spiritual
Buddhism acknowledges in its teachings that it is not to physically run from the world, although living a pure life is important in understanding how to live in a society. It is written, “the one who lives a pure life in the village or town is definitely far superior to, and greater than, the one who lives in the forest.” This shows that seclusion is not needed to have a pure life. “Buddhism aims at creating a society where the ruinous struggle for power is renounced” The relationships are shown in Buddhism in the six cardinal points of the heaven. East: parents; South: teachers; West: wife and children and so on. In all the relationships; honor, devotion, respect, obedience, caring, faithfulness, high morals, integrity, and many more are embedded in both teachings. Confucius also had similar beliefs. “Min Tzu looked respectful and upright; Tzu-Lu looked unbending; Jan Yu and Tzu-kung looked affable. The Master was happy.” He believed that traits like respect, upright, unbending, sociability were important. Unlike Buddha, however, he believed “Let the ruler be a ruler, the subject a subject, the father a father, the son a son.” In these quotes, the difference in how Buddha wants to break the cycle of power while still in the cast system while Confucius expects and demands the limitation of your station to be harmonious is shown. Both teachers agreed that respect, obedience, benevolence, high morals led to a harmonious society where everyone can live in peace with one
life: the Golden Rule. The Golden Rule states “do unto others as you would have them do unto
... the Biblical rule that states, “Do unto others as you would have done unto you.” Instead, we continually show that there should be no tolerance or understanding of any wrongdoing committed against us.
The Much common ground is shared in attempt to provide approaches to finding answers to some of the deepest questions of life. I will discuss these significant similarities focusing on human dignity, identity, difference, and guardianship. “Islam is similar to Christianity in respect to human dignity and identity in that both acknowledge creation and that God is the creator of heaven and earth”. The aspect of both subscribes to the role of prophets who were venerated in both Islam and Christianity. Due to this fact, they both are traced to the times of Abraham (Ipgrave and Marshall 14-77). The goal of each faiths’ ethos is to love God by way of obeying His commandments on guidance from their respective Holy Books. They both do broadly consist of individuals that owe their allegiance to a metaphysical deity. Owing to the fact that the two are considered Abrahamic religions. They do both captures in the strictest sense the aspect of guardianship in respect to both having belief in only one God. A belief is impliedly preaching the existence of heaven and hell. Goes on to affirm the existence of the belief of the second coming of the Savior, which affirms the faiths’ ethos towards the attainment of the religions’ goals. Aimed at promoting and achieving a holistic understanding of religion, as the flexibility to accommodate diverse backgrounds of its adherents that is always prone to abuse. Christianity and Islam’s
As I experience college life, I realize my morals are different from others. When crossing the street, I always wait for the cars to pass and if I do cross I make sure they see me. This is also a safety precaution that I was taught because drivers are frequently distracted and do not see pedestrians walking. On University of Northern Iowa’s campus, drivers are used to waiting for pedestrians; instead, I find myself waiting for the cars to go when really they are waving me to cross. Other students mindlessly walk across the street not even thinking about the cars. Another moral of mine is the golden rule; treat others how you would like to be treated. However, other kids did not grow up in a town that taught this. So, I let others in the door first, open the door for others, or let them cut in line. While everyone else takes advantage of what I am doing for them and do not receive a “thank you” back I brush it off because I know better. For my culture system to survive and thrive well we need to treat others well. This is part of the functionalist perspective that Emile Durkheim describes with the Arunta tribe. He understood the role that religion had on
...what is right and wrong behavior. If individuals do the right things in life, they may earn the approval of the gods. If they do the wrong things, they may suffer supernatural retribution. For instance, the most sacred text of Islam, the Koran, not only provides detailed lists of specific kinds of crimes and appropriate earthly punishments, but it also gives descriptions of how to do mundane tasks such as eating specific kinds of food.
To reach enlightenment in Buddhism, one must overcome attachment to the pleasure of peace. Gampopa defines the pleasure of peace as “the desire to achieve nirvana only for oneself without the altruistic mind for sentient beings, and because of it, one does not benefit others” which is also termed as the lesser vehicle (Gampopa, 126). The remedy for this is the practices of loving-kindness and compassion. When one develops this loving-kindness and compassion, then one will have a mind that wants all sentient beings to meet with happiness as well as be free from suffering and its cause. When one achieves this, then one is attached to all sentient beings and no longer wants to attain liberation only for oneself. Compassion is so heavily ingrained in Buddhist practices, that it has been noted that the Buddha had said “the cultivation of loving kindness and compassion is not just part of our practice, it is all of our practice” (Strain, “Compassion & Stoic Philosophy”). Compassion is not just a crucial aspect of the path to Enlightenment; practicing and training in compassion can function to improve the lives of those unconcerned with achieving Buddahood through means of improving health, well-being and increasing self-motivation. Considering the benefits that can come from compassion, everyone should take part in practicing and experiencing compassion as its benefits extend into other aspects of life.
The implementation of this new ethical paradigm allowed for Abrahamic societies to link their belief in God to common social values and responsibilities (Stark, 2001). The approach which Judaism, Christianity and Islam each take toward these common social values and responsibilities displays which values are held highest in each religion. Despite differences in each religion’s approach, common themes exist. The role of justice and forgiveness in each religion displays a common belief that man’s nature is to stray from God’s justice, but that man can ultimately connect with the divine through the contemplation and understanding of what is good and right.
In conclusion respect is wrapped around our day to day lives. A famous philosopher once said “Respect is showing acknowledgement for some ones superiority in a certain field.” You can’t buy, demand, or force people to respect you but you can respect others in order for them to respect you. What people do not understand is that if we use common sense we would be respecting ourselves, respecting others, and respecting property all the time. Respecting yourself, others, and property might not be easy to do but it does have great rewards if you just do it.
Interestingly enough, the moral codes of the world's religions bear a striking resemblance to each other, with only minor variations. Religions as different as Hinduism, Islam, and Buddhism all have proscriptions against killing, lying, cheating, stealing, etc. This is not an accident, for reasons we shall explore below.
The three most predominant religions of our culture- Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, all have commandments or principles that they provide to their followers or believers. These commandments or...
the Golden Rule approach. We are told that it is right to be moral. This is an