Comparison of Religions

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Comparison of Religions Eastern (Indian)
Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism Western
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
Pravin K. Shah JAINA Education Committee Jain
Study Center of North Carolina 509 Carriage Woods
Circle, Raleigh NC 27607-3969 E-mail
pkshah1_at_attglobal.net Website www.jainism.org 919
-859-4994 and Fax
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Topics Compared

• The True God
• Proof and Knowing of God
• Paths to God and Salvation
• Destiny
• Man's Suffering
• Evil
• Hell
• Conduct and Virtue
• Religious Origin
• Reality
• Doctrine
• Ascetic Life (Sainthood)
• Worship
• Creation of the Universe

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The True God

• Eastern
• One true and absolute Self or God
• Many images of one supreme God
• God is pure love and consciousness
• There are many paths to God by way of
  understanding, temperament, and maturity
• All souls are destined to receive Liberation
• Western
• There is only one true God and One true religion
• God is loving as well as wrathful
• Those who accept God will enjoy God's grace
• All others will suffer eternally in Hell

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Proof and Knowing of God

• Eastern
• Direct proof through self-realization
• Indirect proof through the enlightened Guru
  (teacher) and the revealed scriptures
• Knowing is personal, inner, and a mystical
  experience
• Ultimately one must know God during an earthly
  life
• Western
• Indirect proof through Prophets, Messiah, and
  Paygambar
• Through His unchanging and unique revealed
  scripture
• It is essential to seek personal knowledge of God
• Socially oriented and extroverted
• Ultimately one must have belief and faith,
  coupled with a virtuous life

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Paths to God and Salvation

• Eastern
• Freedom to choose own form of worship
• Beliefs may be dual or nondual (all paths lead
  to God)
• Liberation or Salvation is through
• Self realization
• Surrendering to God's Will
• Descent of His grace through the enlightened
  spiritual preceptor
• Salvation is to be found in this life and within
  oneself
• Sin is only of the mind, not of the soul, which
  is pure
• God does not judge or punish (No Judgement day)
• Western
• Only one path leads to God, others are false and
  futile
• Strictly dualistic (God and Man are separate)
• One must accept the one true religion
• Otherwise the soul, laden with sin, will be
  damned on Judgment Day
• Salvation is through strict obedience to God's
  will, through a messiah/prophet
• Salvation comes at the end of the world

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Destiny

• Eastern
• Purpose of life is to evolve, through experience,
  into higher spiritual destiny
• Ultimate destiny is Liberation or Nirvana
• Western
• Man's destiny lies beyond this world, which is
  eternal joy (heaven) or eternal suffering (hell)

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Man's Suffering

• Eastern
• Suffering is due to soul's (man's) ignorance
• Path which leads from ignorance to knowledge
  allows soul to attain immortality from death
• Western
• Suffering is due to disobedience to God's Will
  not believing and not accepting of His law
• Acceptance of God's Will (one true God and
  religion) ensures that one will enjoy God's grace

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Evil

• Eastern
• There is no intrinsic evil, all is good and all
  is God
• No force in the world or in human opposes God
• Veiling the instinctive intellectual mind keeps
  one from knowledge of God
• Western
• A genuine evil exist in the world, which opposes
  God's will
• Evil is embodied in Satan and his demons, and
  partially in man as one of his tendencies

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Hell

• Eastern
• Hell is a lower astral realm, it is not eternal
• Exists as a period of Karmic suffering, a state
  of mind in life or between lives
• Western
• On Judgment Day the physical body of every soul
  that ever lived is brought to life
• God consigns pure souls to heaven and sinners to
  Hell
• Hell is a physical place where the body burns
  without being consumed
• One suffers the anguish of knowing he will never
  be with God

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Conduct and Virtue

• Eastern
• Virtuous conduct, Moral living, and right belief
  are foundation to spiritual progress
• Unrighteous thoughts, words, and deeds keeps one
  from liberation
• It is the first step toward higher mystical
  communion
• Liberation requires knowledge and personal
  attainment, not only belief
• Western
• Obey God's commands for a moral and ethical life
• Opposite conduct leads one away from God
• Believe in Him and in His Prophets (i.e. Moses,
  Jesus, Mohammed, or Zoroaster)
• Salvation is assured

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Religion Origin

• Eastern
• Religion is Cosmic, Eternal, and transcends
  cyclical human history
• Stress is placed on revelation of God's presence
  in the Here and Now
• Western
• Religion is Historical, Beginning with a Prophet
  or an Event
• Stress is on the past and on future rewards or
  punishments
• History is linear, never to be repeated

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Reality

• Eastern
• There is more to reality than we experience with
  the five senses
• The Soul is immortal, deathless, and eternal
• Ultimately the soul is liberated from the death
  and rebirth cycle
• Western
• There is more to reality than the things of this
  world
• The Soul is immortal, deathless, and eternal
• The Soul is living forever in God's presence or
  separated from Him in Hell

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Doctrine

• Eastern
• Doctrines tend to be subtle, complex, and even
  paradoxical
• Freedom to worship and to believe in a variety of
  ways is predominant
• Other paths are accepted as God's divine will at
  work
• It is universal and tolerant
• Western
• Doctrines tend to be simple, clear, and rational
• Worship and belief are formalized and required
• Other paths are endured, but not honored
• It is exclusive and dogmatic

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Ascetic Life (Sainthood)

• Eastern
• Through renunciation, self discipline,
  purification, contemplation, and meditation
• Value is placed on individual religious practice
  (Sadhana)
• yoga, meditation, and super conscious awakening
• Little emphasis on social work and concerns
• Western
• Submit to God through self-sacrifice, and concern
  for others
• Value is placed on good work, social concerns,
  and scriptural study
• Little emphasis on yoga and meditation

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Worship

• Eastern
• Worship is individual, highly ritualistic, and
  meditative
• Centers around the temple and home shrine
• All days of the week
• Western
• Worship is congregational, simple in its rituals
• Centers around the church, synagogue, or mosque
• Mostly on a Sabbath day (Moslems 5 times a day)

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Creation of the Universe

• Eastern
• Exists in endless cycles of creation,
  preservation, and destruction
• No absolute end to the world
• No duality of God and world but a unity
• Western
• Created by God at some point in time
• In future it will be forever destroyed by Him
• He is separate from it, and rules it from above
  (dualistic nature)

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Eastern (Indian) Religions Hinduism, Buddhism,
and Jainism

• Common Features
• Goal of Life - Liberation (Moksha) Eternal
• Human Suffering - Soul's Ignorance
• Philosophy of Karma
• Continuity of Life (Reincarnation)
• Mystical (Human Experience)
• Self Realization (Direct contact with God/Self)
• Scripture has no authority over Realized Person
• Individual

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Eastern (Indian) Religion Hinduism, Buddhism, and
Jainism Common Features (continued)

• Freedom to choose God(s)/no-God
• No Judgment Day
• No Eternal Hell/Heaven
• Worshipping - All Day
• Universe Exists in Endless Cycle
• Religious Symbols (OM, Swastika, Lotus)
• Cremation
• Systems of Philosophy Developed
• Brahmana System (Hinduism)
• Samana System (Jainism, Buddhism)

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Western Religions (Judaism, Christianity, and
Islam)

• Common Features
• One and Only One God
• Universe was Created By God
• Human Suffering - Disobedience of God's Will
• God's Message Revealed Through Prophet
• One Life and Eternal Judgment
• Judgment Day
• Eternal Hell/Heaven

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Western Religion (Judaism, Christianity, Islam)

• Common Features (Continued)
• Scripture has Ultimate Authority
• Non-mystical (God chooses Prophet)
• Congregational (Society is Essential)
• Worshipping - Sabbath Day
• Systems of Philosophy
• Judaism, Christianity, Islam

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Brahmana System (Hinduism)

• God - Creator, Preserver, Destroyer (Cyclic)
• God is universe and universe is God (synonymous)
• At liberation, soul merges with God or Universe
  (soul becomes infinity)
• Highly Ritualistic (elaborate and fancy)
• Animal sacrifice in the past
• Scriptures have certain authority in the initial
  stage
• Vedas, Upanishads, Geeta, Brahma Sutra
• Scriptures are in Sanskrit

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Brahmana System (Hinduism) Primary Paths

• Path of Devotion or Surrender (Bhakti Yoga)
• Enjoyment of Supreme Love and Bliss
• Path of Knowledge (Jnan Yoga)
• Realization of unique and supreme Self
• Path of Action (Karma Yoga)
• Dedication of every human activity to Supreme
  Will
• Path of Self Control/Meditation (Raj Yoga)
• Liberation through the perfection of body,
  thought, emotion and consciousness

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Philosophy of Brahmana System (Hinduism)

• Yoga
• Samkhya
• Nyaya
• Vaisesika
• Earlier Mimasa
• Later Mimasa (Vedanta)
• Saivism, Saktism, Vaisnavism, Liberalism

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Brahmana System (Hinduism) Duties of Individuals
(Caste Systems)

• Priests-intellectuals (Brahmins)
• Establish and preserve the national ideas and
  philosophy
• Rulers and warriors (Kshatriyas)
• Protect the state from external aggression and
  establish internal order
• Merchants and artisans (Vaishyas)
• Production of national wealth
• Sudras
• To do the menial work

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Brahmana System (Hinduism) Duties at various
stages of Life

• Student life (Brahmcharya Ashram)
• preparative period
• Householder life (Gruhastha Ashram)
• worldly success wealth, fame and power
• Retirement life (Vanpastha Ashram)
• satisfaction of service to community and fellow
  man
• Renunciation life (Sanyas Ashram)
• renunciation of possessions and family for
  realization of true self

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Samana System (Buddhism and Jainism)

• God - Not a Creator
• Humans are capable to achieve the highest
  spiritual state
• Human experience or self realization is the
  ultimate authority
• Scriptures have no authority (guide)
• Primary Path
• Path of Knowledge (Jnan Yoga)
• Realization of unique and supreme self through
  knowledge
• Nonviolence, self control, penance, and
  meditation
• Revolt against Hindu caste distinction, fancy
  rituals, and animal sacrifice

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Buddhism

• The Supreme
• Supreme is completely transcendent and can be
  described as
• Sunya (zero), a void, an emptiness, state of
  non-being
• At Nirvana
• The future vanishes, the past vanishes, and one
  lives at the present moment
• Being looses its identity and becomes nothing
• Being turns into a state of non-being, emptiness
  void, or Sunya
• In Samsar (world)
• Being is a combination of physical and mental
  forces/energies

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Buddhism (continued)

• Four Noble Truths
• 1. Suffering Exist
• Being born, Growing old, Sickness, and Death all
  are Sufferings
• 2. Cause of Suffering
• Desire "thirst" to be and to become is the root
  cause of all sufferings and rebirth
• 3. Cessation of Suffering
• Complete cessation of Desire and Craving, which
  is a state of Nirvana
• passionless peace, perfect insight,
  enlightenment, perfect knowledge, immortality

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Buddhism (continued)

• 4. Eight-fold Path to End Suffering
• Right Belief
• Right Thought or Aim
• Right Speech
• Right Action
• Right Livelihood or Occupation
• Right Effort or Endeavor
• Right Mindfulness
• Right Meditation

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Buddhism (continued)

• Man's true nature is divine and eternal
• Preaching -
• The greatness of self giving love and compassion
  towards all creatures
• Middle path consist of living moderately and
  avoiding extremes
• Scriptures -
• Tripitika for Theravad sect,
• Sutras for Mahayan sect
• Written in Pali language (vernacular)

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Jainism - Basic Belief

• God, Universe and Life
• God is not a Creator, Preserver or Destroyer of
  the Universe
• Liberated Souls are Jain Gods, who are only
  knower and Observer but not Doer
• Universe is made up of Two Eternal and Self
  Existed Elements
• Living beings (Souls)
• Non-living Substances (Matters, Space, mediums of
  Motion and Rest, Time)
• The Principles governing the successions of life
  cycles (Birth, Life, and Death) is Karma
  particles which are attached to the Soul from
  eternity.

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Jainism - Basic Belief (continued)

• Life Sufferings
• Ignorance (Mithyatva) is the root cause of all
  Sufferings
• Soul is Ignorant from eternity
• Karma is attached to the Soul due eternity
• Ultimate Goal of Life
• Removal of Soul's Ignorance hence free from all
  karma
• Liberated Soul is all Knower and Observer but not
  a Doer which is an Ideal State of Living-being

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Jain Religion Features

• Every living being is Eternal, Individual, and
  has a potential to become Liberated or God
• At liberation the soul remains finite, lives in
  Moksha forever, and never loses its identity
• The Principles governing the successions of life
  cycles (Birth, Life, and Death) is Karma
• Our ignorance or intention behind our actions of
  body, mind, and speech bind us with Karma
• Path of liberation is to follow Right Perception,
  Right Knowledge, and Right Conduct

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Jain Religion Features (continued)

• Proper knowledge of the six Universal substances
  and nine fundamental truths (Tattvas), are
  essential for Right Perception, Knowledge and
  Conduct.
• Desire is the root cause of all sufferings
• Conquer your desire by your own effort in order
  to attain liberation.
• Self purification, penance, austerity, and
  meditation are essential for Right Conduct.
• Nonviolence is the highest principle to be
  followed in thought, speech, and action.
• One must cease injuring sentient creatures, large
  and small.

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Jain Religion Features (continued)

• Karma philosophy applies to ourselves, Compassion
  applies to all
• Scriptures -
• Agam Sutras
• written in Ardha-magdhi language (vernacular)
• Scriptures guide moral and spiritual life to
  ultimately attain liberation