Is Buddhism A Buddhist Or Not A Christian - 1192 Words

Introduction The famous president of united states made a wonderful statement regarding religion. He said: â€Å"what I do good I feel good. What I do bad I feel bad. That’s my religion.† This quote highlights that every human being on this planet have the right to transform any ideology or attitude as their personal religion. They are seeking for a spiritual guidance that can help them to accomplish their purpose in this life. That’s why today we have a religion called Buddhism. It’s one of the major religion after christianism, Islam and Hinduism. According to a projection made by The Pew Research Center:â€Å" The number of Buddhists around the world is expected to increase between 2010 and 2030, rising from 488 million to about 511 million.†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦show more content†¦Buddhism as a religion Before we are going further on Buddhism’s view on salvation it’s very important to define the word Buddhism. In his book Modern Buddhism Geshe gives a definition of Buddhism. he said: â€Å"Buddhism is the practice of Buddha’s teachings, also called ‘Dharma’, which means ‘protection’. By practicing Buddha’s teachings, living beings are permanently protected from suffering. The founder of Buddhism is Buddha Shakyamuni, who showed the manner of accomplishing the ultimate goal of living beings, the attainment of enlightenment, at Bodh Gaya in India in 589 BC. At the request of the gods Indra and Brahma, Buddha then began to expound his profound teachings, or ‘turned the Wheel of Dharma’. Buddha gave eighty-four thousand teachings, and from these precious teachings Buddhism developed in this world.† Paul carus goes a little further than this definition. He said: â€Å"Buddhism is generally characterized as a religion without a belief in God and the human soul, without the hope of a future existence, pessimistic and desolate, looking upon life as an ocean of suffering, quietistic in ethics, and finding comfort only in the expectation of a final extinction in nothingness.† Halverson in his book about world religion identifies for us two major branches in Buddhism. â€Å"The first one called Mahayana (The greater vehicle) those Buddhist believe