Compare and Contrast

There are similarities and differences between the experience of Buddhism and Christianity. These two men have greatly been affected by their respective religions and are trying to teach others of their experience. Both religions search for the same things but merely have different approaches. Three things that they have in common that are like this are their experience, their way to happiness, and their reason for loving others.

Both experience their leader in a certain way. The difference lies in the tense that you use. The Buddha was a human being and so is dead and is past tense. Jesus is God so he is present in our everyday lives today and is possible for every person to experience. However, since Buddha became one with the universe he lives in everyone and there is a Buddha in everyone.

Like most religions, through this experience they wish to reach happiness. Buddhism says that if you make others happy, you will be happy because your happiness and theirs are the same. Christians find happiness in the experience of God’s love and in his grace until you reach ultimate happiness in heaven. Buddhists don’t find happiness in nirvana because they become nothing. They also teach that you can’t be happy until you realize that you are nothing.

This leads me into loving others. As religions both Christianity and Buddhism give guides on how we should interact with the people around. They are generally the same but have different explanations. Buddhists believe that you should love everyone because they are all a part of you and you are a part of all of them. Christianity teaches that we should love everyone because they are our neighbor and Jesus is in everyone.

These two men spoke of many similar things with different approaches. These things included the experience they went through, happiness, and loving others. They have different teachings and methods that try to get to similar results. They both strive for the ultimate though they give it two different names.