For your blogs this week I'd like you to compare and contrast 2 different traditions (1 'Abrahamic' and 1 'Eastern') on the question of postmortem judgment. Do they both have a concept of judgment after death? How does it operate? How are they similar/different? How do the myths of the religion support their view? Is there a role for ritual in the judgment? Defend your analysis with material from readings and/or lectures.
Christianity really puts an emphasis on postmortem judgement. Christians have a duty to God to live their lives according to the teachings in the Bible. They should live in fear and awe of God, and show their true devotion to him everyday. When someone dies, the fate of their soul comes down to whether or not God believes that you are a true Christian. You stand before God and your life is judged to determine whether your soul will travel up to heaven or down to hell. Before Jesus sacrificed himself for our sins, the souls awaited his resurrection for their judgement. The Bible even speaks of a huge judgement day during the end times, when Jesus comes a second time, where everyone on Earth will be judged and separated accordingly. Once judgement comes, souls can be sent to heaven, a paradise where you will want for nothing, or hell, a torturous inferno where you will suffer for the rest of eternity.
Buddhism, on the other hand doesn't really concentrate on judgement, but does have guidelines for how you should live your life in order to fulfill enlightenment and rid yourself of any suffering life may bring to you. There is an Eightfold Path you must follow in order to achieve enlightenment, and this path requires you to resist all evils, (just as Christians must resist temptation from Satan) be kind to every person, creature, and organism that exists. practice meditation and more. The Eightfold Path works to release the mind from the suffering that is life, and help the person to achieve Nirvana, and join the universe. If Nirvana is not achieved in this life, you are reborn and depending on how you lived your previous life, you may be reborn as a human, or god in the good realm, or as an animal, ghost, or demon in the bad realm. You must be reborn again and again until you achieve Nirvana, and free yourself from the suffering of life.
It is easy to see the differences in these religions. One main difference being that in Christianity, you remain an individual even after death, while in Buddhism you join in the eternity of the universe and become part of it. You are the universe. Christianity and Buddhism do have some similarities. They both strive to live a life free from sin and temptation in honor of a greater being. These two religions have a similar view of a peaceful afterlife. Buddhists believe that once Nirvana is achieved, you will desire nothing. The Christian idea of heaven is very similar to this in that when you reach heaven, you will have everything you could ever want, you'll have no desired because you are truly in paradise, joined with God. When Buddhists achieve Nirvana they join the rest of the universe, and all suffering ceases as desire is abolished. They are also similar in that there is a specific way you should live your life in order to reach paradise, you should be humble, kind, and rid yourself of any sin or worldly desires you may have. The Christian idea of hell could be compared to the bad realms of rebirth, you may be reborn as an atrocious ghost, or a hell being, just as in Christianity you may be sent down to a place where you are subject to all sorts of suffering and atrocities.
Myths in Christianity give a guideline for how their lives should be lived. Stories from the Old and New Testament give lessons on how a Christian should live their live, humbly and graciously, and in God's honor. In Buddhism, ritual plays a role in that when a person dies 49 prayers are said for them in order to wish them an end to their suffering, and a straight path to Nirvana. They pray that the person achieve Nirvana or at the very least be reborn as a greater being so that they may be closer to Nirvana.
You make an interesting parallel comparison between the two religions, pointing out that both Christians and Buddhists strive for that level of "desiring nothing", which of course comes in very different forms (heaven as opposed to nirvana). It is clear from your post that Christianity and Buddhism are quite different in practice and doctrine, yet aim to achieve similar goals for salvation.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was really interesting that you said that the fate of the Christian soul comes down to whether or not the person had faith. While there are other religions that focus on living a "good" life, the Christian religion seems to come down to whether or not the person had faith. This makes me wonder, what happens to an individual that doesn't live a "good life" but still believes in God. Will that person be judged on their actions or would they be judged on their faith? I know that there's that story that while Jesus was on the cross, there was a guy next to him who was a criminal but changed his mind and had true faith and said I believe in you and he supposedly went up to heaven.
ReplyDeleteIt also makes me wonder if a person had true faith in Christianity, would they just change their lifestyle so it matches up with what is expected (as in the Bible), so they would be living a good Christian life because of their faith?