Introduction:

Buddhism is almost 2500 years old religion that started with the enlightment of Gautaum Budha in approximately 500 BC. This religion is observed to stay on the earth surface without any  contradiction from the various political, social and religious leaders. Buddhist therefore follows a tolerance attitude towards other religion. They don’t consider other religion as incorrect. Instead they oppose the deceptive thoughts and plays that are applied by the miscreant leaders for their personal benefits. The attitude of Buddhist towards other faiths can be discussed as follows.

I.  Buddhism and Other religions:

A. Buddhism and Christainity:

Buddha considered himself as one of the many enlightened ones and thus does not wanted himself to be asserted with the divinity. Infact, Buddha did not linked the attainment of true spirituality with the existence or non-existence of god. Instead he wanted his disciples to follow the path of elimination of self-expectations ast he means to attain salavation. However Christ asserted on his own divinity and wanted his disciples to follow him to achieve God. (Biblecodedigest.com, 2016)

B. Buddhism and Hinduism:

Hinduism considers Brahma as the sole creator of the universe. They consider Brahmin as the people who bear all the knowledge of Brahma and therefore wanted people to follow their guidelines. However Buddhism considered Brahma as part of the cosmic application. Buddhism believed that there exist not only one Brahma but many Brahma who leads the universe from the birth to the death. Therefore there exists many other universes and many Brahma’s. Also Buddhism opposed the Brahmins for giving the severe punishments to the people through cruse. Buddhism believed that though Brahmin are versed with vedic knowledge, yet their display of anger and anxiety showcase their inability to understand and follow the vedic information. They considered that the wise person with complete knowledge of vedas and other religious scriptures would deviate from anger, lust and other human weaknesses. Therefore the Brahmins of the Hindu culture were questioned for their ability to understand the vedas and apply them in their lives.

II.  Basis of difference and similarities with other religions:

The theology of Buddhism is different from other religion on various grounds. These includes the followings.

1. Salvation:

According to Buddhism, for salvation the existence of a particular shape of god is not important. That is the existence of the God is not relevant for attaining salvation or nirvana. This kind of theory exists in Jainism and Sikhism which oppose the definite shape of god. However the Hindu religion observes the presence of god in the human or animal form such as Krishna and Rama in human form and Narsimha in a mix of human and lion form. Also the salvation could be expected by people by following a religious guru or preacher or teacher. The similarities is observed in Jainism and Sikhism which had their teachers to direct the people at various points of time. However in Christainity, the Christ asked people to follow him as a means to reach out to the omnipotent.

2. Divinity of human with god:

Buddha did not considered himself as equal to divinity, instead he framed himself as one of the many enlightened. The similar kind of thoughts prevail in Jainism and Sikhism where the Mahavir Jain and Guru Nanak never considered themselves as equal to divinity. However in Christainity, Christ is considered god and similarly in Hindu mythology there are 33 crores god including Shiva, Rama, Krishna and many others.

3. Good and Evil:

Buddhism considered that there is nothing like good and evil, its all part of the illusion that humans have created in their realm. However in Hinduism, Christainity and many other religions consider that good and bad are always on the war and the good should win to protect the earth from getting destroyed.

4. Tolerance and coexistence:

Buddhism considers tolerance and coexistence as the main source of living a peaceful and harmony life. Therefore he did not recommend any change of religion or thoughts of other people until they are seeking tolerance and have attained peace. Although every religion in the world offers similar thought, but they are mostly misinterpreted by people who mislead the religion towards the unacceptable intolerance level for other religions.

5. Attaining god:

Buddhism offers the idea of the attainment of liberation can be achieved from within by everyone. However Hinduism considers moving to the four sacred places or dhams helps in achieving god. Like Christainity and various other religions they also considers that god can be attained through various mythical applications like purification process etc. In Hinduism, the process of purification is done by the urine of Cow, while in Christainity the process of purification is done by bath in the holy water. Jainism and Sikhism however follows the path of Buddhism where the attainment of liberation can be achieved from inside by everybody.

6. Reincarnation:

Buddhism accepts the concepts of reincarnation like any other religion. It believes that the prior lives actually determine the present status of life of every person which could be improved with the help of spiritual master.

III. Buddhism and tolerance with other religion:

Buddhism does not support rivalry, anger, blood shed or struggle. This is the reason that has helped this religion to grow and prosper around the world without any kind of opposition. The elasticity in the acceptability of new ideas and the ability to adapt with the changing conditions has resulted in easy spread of this religion. The followers of Buddhism showcase high level of tolerance with other religions. The liberality in thoughts and application of coexistence concept has been brought in nor trail or persecution for its followers in any country. Unlike catholics and various other religions, this religion has been able to survive the ups and downs in the global arena and finally reached the top notch place where the coexistence concept of its considered as the main idea of living a peaceful life by present day global community. Not only living in peace with other religion, it has been observed the kingdom applying Buddhism as its mainstream showcased high tolerance with other religions. Hence in all state this religion brought in peaceful living and coexistence to the community.

IV. Buddhism towards God/Deity:

A. Rejecting thoughts of other religion:

Buddhism believed that the god has its presence around the universe. Therefore they believed in the presence of god in everything. They opposed the concept of the Hindu mythology in which Brahma was considered as the creator of the universe and thus a god. Buddhism believed that Brahma was just another creator of the many universe that exists and thus many Brahmas exists. Therefore the originators of the universe’s actually follows the directions of one celestial body that has no definite form. Unlike Christain mythology that God made earth and threw Adam and Eve on earth was also not supported. Instead it was believed that the earth itself is a copy of various other inhabited regions in which the children of god come and play and live a life for accomplishing a definite reason. Hence Buddhism is opposed one particular or human form of god, instead they consider god as non definite form that exists in everyone of us.

B. Approving thoughts of other religion:

Sikhism also follows the similar concept of belief in God. They consider god to be “Nirankar” or non-uniform. Therefore the concept of belief in God and its appearance is followed by Sikhism which considers that God is away from all kinds of weaknesses of human beings such as anger, greed, lust etc. Buddhism approves thoughts of other religion in which the followers are given right to enjoy life and follows equality. The similar concepts are observed in Sikhism. In addition, Buddhism considers the life of animals, birds, insects and even plants as also vital. Therefore they oppose the hunting of animals for any reason. The similar of ideals are followed in Jainism. Jainism oppose killing of animals and even insects. Due to this reason they place cloth on their mouth so that any insect does not enter there mouth by mistake.

V. False religions and beliefs identified by Buddhism:

Buddhism criticized the four false religions. These are as follows.

The first is the materialism which is held by a person from its life to death. Instead, Buddhism considered the inequitable distribution of wealth as the root cause of every social evil in the society. Therefore considering materialistic things as the basis of life of a person was completely rejected.

The second was the application of various immoral values and religious cults. During the early age of Buddhism there was a widespread of various religious cults and immoral values that were affecting the living conditions of common people and severly affecting the weaker section of society. Buddhism completely criticsed the application of such false religion and its practices that led to the suffering of the weak people.

The third false religion was dependence on miracles. Therefore Buddhism rejected the application of any kind of miracle to save people. Instead they wanted people to take caution and protect themselves than waiting for help to come from above. Buddhism believed in natural and casual laws, but the dependence on miracles as inappropriate.

The fourth false religion was the denial of the freewill. Buddhism clearly rejected all laws created by other religions that affects the freewill. A human is considered to have a capacity to do many things, and therefore applying implications on them was not considered commendable. Thus Buddhism advocated the application of the free so that the all humans can be given chance to lead a happy and prosperous life without holding their capacities on the basis of their ranking or wealth accumulations (Jayatilleke, 2016).

Conclusion:

In conclusion, Buddhism considered Brahma as part of the cosmic application. Buddhism believed that there exist not only one Brahma but many Brahma who leads the universe from the birth to the death. Therefore there exists many other universes and many Brahma’s. Buddhism does not support rivalry, anger, blood shed or struggle. This is the reason that has helped this religion to grow and prosper around the world without any kind of opposition. The elasticity in the acceptability of new ideas and the ability to adapt with the changing conditions has resulted in easy spread of this religion. The followers of Buddhism showcase high level of tolerance with other religions. The liberality in thoughts and application of coexistence concept has been brought in nor trail or persecution for its followers in any country. Unlike catholics and various other religions, this religion has been able to survive the ups and downs in the global arena and finally reached the top notch place where the coexistence concept of its considered as the main idea of living a peaceful life by present day global community. Not only living in peace with other religion, it has been observed the kingdom applying Buddhism as its mainstream showcased high tolerance with other religions. Hence in all state this religion brought in peaceful living and coexistence to the community.