Portfolio in

world
religion
Submitted by:
Saher s. sahipa
11 – Mangosteen
GAS

Submitted to:
MARICE CUIZON
Subject Teacher
INTRO TO WORLD RELIGION PORTFOLIO
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE: World Religions in Focus
Lesson One: Understanding the Nature of Religion
a. Origin of the Religion
Lesson Two: Origin of World Religions
a. The Patriarch Abraham
 b. The Indian Mosaic
c. The Way of Dao
d. The Indian Subcontinent

Lesson Three: Positive and Negative Effects of Religion

CHAPTER TWO: Abrahamic Religions

a. JUDAISM
1. Jewish Principles of Faith
2. 10 Commandments

b. CHRISTIANITY
1. The 10 Commandments
2. Eight Beatitudes

c. ISLAM
1. Life of Mohammad
2. Five Pillars of Islam

Comparative analysis of Judaism, Christianity and Islam

CHAPTER THREE: Dharmic Religion

HINDUISM
a. Names of Indian Gods and Goddesses
b. The Incarnation of Avatars
c. Hindu Festivals

THERAVADA BUDDHISM
a. Life of Buddha
b. The Tripitaka
c. The Noble Eightfold Path

MAHAYANA BUDDHISM
a. The Trikaya

Comparative Analysis Theravada Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhism

CHAPTER ONE: World Religions in Focus

Lesson One: Understanding the Nature of Religion

a. Origin of the Religion

Religion is an organized collection of belief systems, cultural systems, and world
views that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many
religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to
give meaning to life or to explain the origin of life or the Universe. They tend to derive
morality, ethics, religious laws or a preferred lifestyle from their ideas about the cosmos
and human nature. According to some estimates, there are roughly 4,200 religions in
the world. Many religions may have organized behaviours, clergy, a definition of what
constitutes adherence or membership, holy places, and scriptures. The practice of a
religion may also include rituals, sermons, commemoration or veneration of a deity,
gods or goddesses, sacrifices, festivals, feasts, trance, initiations, funerary services,
matrimonial services, meditation, prayer, music, art, dance, public service or other
aspects of human culture. Religions may also contain mythology. The word religion is
sometimes used interchangeably with faith or belief system; however, religion differs
from private belief in that it is “something eminently social”. A global 2012 poll reports
that 59% of the world’s population is religious, 23% are not religious, and 13% are
atheists. Religion requires a system of symbolic communication, such as a language, to
be transmitted from one individual to another. Philip Lieberman states “human
religious thought and moral sense clearly rest on a cognitive-linguistic base.” From this
premise science writer Nicholas Wade states: “Like most behaviours that are found in
societies throughout the world, religion must have been present in the ancestral human
population before the dispersal from Africa 50,000 years ago. Although religious rituals
usually involve dance and music, they are also very verbal, since the sacred truths have
to be stated. If so, religion, at least in its modern form, cannot pre-date the emergence of
language. It is often argued that language attained its modern state shortly before the
exodus from Africa. If religion had to await the evolution of modern, articulate language,
then it too would have emerged shortly before 50,000 years ago.” Another view
distinguishes individual religious belief from collective religious belief. While the former
does not require prior development of language, the latter does. The individual human
brain has to explain a phenomenon in order to comprehend and relate to it. This activity
predates by far the emergence of language and may have caused it. The theory is, belief
in the supernatural emerges from hypotheses arbitrarily assumed by individuals to
explain natural phenomena that cannot be explained otherwise. The resulting need to
share individual hypotheses with others leads eventually to collective religious belief. A
socially accepted hypothesis becomes dogmatic backed by social sanction.

Lesson Two: Origin of World Religions

a. The Patriarch Abraham

Abraham was the first Hebrew patriarch and is revered in Judaism, Christianity,
and Islam. According to the Bible, he was called by God to journey to a new land, where
he founded a new nation. Abraham was raised in Ur of the Chaldeans, which most
scholars believe is modern-day Tall al-Muqayyar, 200 miles (300 km) southeast of
Baghdad. He eventually settled near Hebron in Canaan. Abraham arrived in Canaan
childless at age 75 with his wife, Sarah. God promised that Abraham’s descendants
would inherit the land. Eventually he had a son, Ishmael, by his wife’s maidservant, and,
when Abraham was 100, he and Sarah had a son named Isaac. Abraham is known for his
intense faith. In Genesis, God commands him to sacrifice his son Isaac as a test of faith.
Abraham obeys unquestioningly, preparing to sacrifice Isaac, but God provides him a
sacrificial ram instead at the last minute. Unlike the polytheistic family he was raised in,
Abraham believed in a god who was uniquely transcendent and personal. Abraham
worshipped that god exclusively as "God Most High." Therefore, he is often considered
the first monotheist.

b. The Indian Mosaic

The view of India and Indians that persists abroad is narrow and stereotypical. It is
derived from an amalgam of the writings of Rudyard Kipling, the mimicry of Peter
Sellers and the heart-tugging advertisements of such charitable organisations as World
Vision and Oxfam. Personal contacts with the proprietor and family of the
neighbourhood dairy store may be leavened with the romanticism of films and television
productions like Heat and Dust, The Far Pavilions, The Jewel in the
Crown and Gandhi. The resulting picture that most Westerners have of India is an odd
and contradictory mix of falsehoods, half-truths and fantasies:
 India is a poor country with few resources;
 India has little manufacturing and industrial capacity;
 India’s overpopulation causes starvation and hunger on a large scale;
 India is a land of handsome, charming and rich princes and maharajas;
 Indians are heirs to an ancient civilisation that emphasises self-sacrificing
asceticism, spiritualism and a stable family life;
 India is full of beggars, child-brides, bride-burners, corrupt officials and self-
serving politicians;
 India is chaotic and disordered;
 India’s nationhood is fatally flawed by divisions of religion, caste and ethnicity;
 India’s defence forces are large in manpower but neither modernised nor well-
equipped;
 India is a nuclear power;
 India is a regional bully;
 India has little real influence in world affairs.

c. The Way of Dao

The Chinese word dao means a way or a path. Confucians used the term dao to speak
of the way human beings ought to behave in society. In other words, dao, for them, was
an ethical or moral way. From the point of view of Daoism, however, the Confucian
concept of dao was too limited. Daoists preferred to understand the dao as the Way of
Nature as a whole. They believed that Confucians, by insisting on a purely human Way,
exaggerated the importance of man and failed to pay attention to the lessons which
Nature has to offer about time and change, gain and loss, the useful and the useless. The
basic idea of the Daoists was to enable people to realize that, since human life is really
only a small part of a larger process of nature, the only human actions which ultimately
make sense are those which are in accord with the flow of Nature — the Dao or the Way.
Their sensitivity to the way of Nature prompted them to reject human ideas or standards
which might lead to an overly assertive mode of behavior or too strong a commitment to
the achievement of worldly goals. For Daoists, such unnatural assertiveness was the root
cause of violence and aggression. While Confucians found moral reasons to counsel
against violence and to urge rulers to govern by virtue rather than by force, many
Daoists went even further and denounced violence as reflecting the ultimate ignorance
of the Way of Nature. Their solution to the problem of how human beings should behave
is expressed in the typically Daoist doctrine of wu-wei or non-action. This did not mean
doing absolutely nothing but doing nothing unnatural, nothing that was out of keeping
with the Dao. Related to the doctrine of non-action was the idea of no desires, which
meant that no one should have excessive desires because such desires are bound to
cause injury both to oneself and to others.

d. The Indian Subcontinent

The Indian subcontinent is a physiographical region in Southern Asia,
situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean from
the Himalayas. The terms "Indian subcontinent" and "South Asia" are often used
interchangeably to denote the region, although the geopolitical term of South
Asia frequently includes Afghanistan, which may otherwise be classified as Central
Asian.[5] Geologically, the Indian subcontinent originates from Insular India, an isolated
landmass that rifted fromthe supercontinent of Gondwana during
the Cretaceous and merged with the landmass of Eurasia nearly 55 million years ago,
forming the Himalayas.[6] Historically, as well as to the present day, it is and has been
the most populated region in the world, holding roughly 20–25 percent of the global
population at all times in history. Geographically, it is the peninsular region in South
Asia, delineated by the Himalayas in the north, the Hindu Kush in the west, and
the Arakan in the east.[7] The neighboring geographical regions around the subcontinent
include the Tibetan Plateau to the north, the Indochinese Peninsula to the east, and
the Iranian Plateau to the west and the Indian Ocean to the south.

Lesson Three: Positive and Negative Effects of Religion

Positive Effects:

 The strength of the family unit is intertwined with the practice of religion.
Churchgoers[7] are more likely to be married, less likely to be divorced or single,
and more likely to manifest high levels of satisfaction in marriage.
 Church attendance is the most important predictor of marital stability and
happiness.
 The regular practice of religion helps poor persons move out of poverty. Regular
church attendance, for example, is particularly instrumental in helping young
people to escape the poverty of inner-city life.
 Religious belief and practice contribute substantially to the formation of personal
moral criteria and sound moral judgment.
 Regular religious practice generally inoculates individuals against a host of social
problems, including suicide, drug abuse, out-of-wedlock births, crime, and
divorce.
 The regular practice of religion also encourages such beneficial effects on mental
health as less depression (a modern epidemic), more self-esteem, and greater
family and marital happiness.
 In repairing damage caused by alcoholism, drug addiction, and marital
breakdown, religious belief and practice are a major source of strength and
recovery.
 Regular practice of religion is good for personal physical health: It increases
longevity, improves one's chances of recovery from illness, and lessens the
incidence of many killer diseases.

Negative Effects:

 Religion is filling people with fear

Religion — at least, when it comes to Christianity and Judaism — is based on the idea of
sin: All people are born sinners, impure souls, and if they don’t purify themselves, they
will soon be condemned to hell by God, where they will have to experience eternal
suffering. In order to avoid being thrown into hell, religion demands that people prove
to God that they are worthy of heaven.

 Religion is turning people against themselves

The demands that religion places on people are unrealistic. Religion, on the one hand,
teaches that people are born sinners. Sin is what we are made of, and whatever we
humans are doing is bound to be corrupted in one way or another.

 Religion is turning people against each other

Others are just a projection of yourself, a mirror on whom you can see your own
reflection. That’s why, once you start hating yourself, you are bound to start hating
others too.
When you accept the idea that you are a sinner, you start seeing those around you as
sinners. As a result, you fear that those you meet want to harm you — they are also evil,
ill-willed, enemies of yours.

 Religion is keeping people in ignorance

When, however, you have grown up conditioned to believe what is right and wrong
according to a religious dogma, and you’ve been taught that to doubt the religion you
were born into means to go to hell, naturally you become afraid of seeking knowledge.
You stop searching to find truth, and hence to educate yourself and grow as a human
being.

CHAPTER TWO: Abrahamic Religions

a. JUDAISM

1. Jewish Principles of Faith

 The thirteen principles of faith are included in every Jewish prayer book, and are
recited as a liturgical hymn at the conclusion of a Friday or Festival service. This
recitation is known as the Yigdal and embodies Judaism's fundamental pillars of
trandional belief, just as the Apostles' or the Nicene Creeds do for Christians. 

I believe by complete faith that the Creator, blessed be His name, is the
Principle 1   Creator and Guide for all created beings. He alone made, makes, and will
make all that is created.
I believe by complete faith that the Creator, blessed be His name, is a
Principle
  Unity, and there is no union in any way like Him. He alone is our God, who
2
was, who is, and who is to be.
 I believe by complete faith that the Creator, blessed be His name, is not a
Principle
  body, is not affected by physical matter, and nothing whatsoever can
3
compare to Him [or be compared with Him].
 Principle I believe by complete faith that the Creator, blessed be His name, is the
 
4 first and is the last. 
Principle I believe by complete faith that the Creator, blessed be His name, to Him
 
5 alone is it fitting to make prayer and to another prayer shall not be made.
 Principle
  I believe by complete faith that all the words of the prophets are true. 
6
I believe by complete faith that the prophesy of Moses our teacher, may
 Principle
  peace rest upon him, was true and that he was the father of all prophets
7
that preceded him as well as all that came after him. 
 Principle  I believe by complete faith that the whole Torah now found in our hands
 
8 was the exact same one given to Moses, may peace rest upon him.
I believe by complete faith that this is the Torah, and it shall not be
 Principle
  changed and it shall not be replaced with another from the Creator,
9
blessed be His name. 
I believe by complete faith that the Creator, blessed be His name, knows
 Principle every action done by each human being as well as all their thoughts, as it
 
10 was said, "It is He that fashions their hearts together and He ponders all
ther deeds" [Ps. 33:15]. 
I believe by complete faith that the Creator, blessed be His name, rewards
 Principle
  all who keep His commandments and punishes all those who transgress
11
His commands. 
I believe by complete faith in the coming of the Messiah, and even though
 Principle
  he tarry in waiting, in spite of that, I will still wait expectantly for him each
12
day that he will come 
I believe by complete faith that there will be a resurrection of the dead at
 Principle
  the time that will be pleasing before the Creator, blessed be His name, and
13
the remembrance of Him will be exalted forever and for all eternity. 

2. 10 Commandments

1. I am the Lord; thou shalt not have any other Gods

2. Thou shalt not make any image of me, bow to it or worship it
3. Thou shalt not take thy Lord’s name in vain.
4. Keep (and remember!) the day of Sabbath
5. Honor thy father and mother
6. Thou shalt not murder
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery
8. Thou shalt not steal
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness
10. Thou shalt not covet thy fellow-man’s wife, house, or anything that is his.

b. CHRISTIANITY
1. The 10 Commandments

1. You shall have no other gods before Me.

2. You shall not make idols.
3. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
5. Honor your father and your mother.
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet.

2. Eight Beatitudes
The text of St. Matthew runs as follows:
 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Verse 3)
 Blessed are the meek: for they shall possess the land. (Verse 4)
 Blessed are they who mourn: for they shall be comforted. (Verse 5)
 Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall have their fill.
(Verse 6)
 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. (Verse 7)
 Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God. (Verse 8)
 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. (Verse
9)
 Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake, for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven.

c. ISLAM

1. Life of Mohammad
Muhammad was born around 570, AD in Mecca (now in Saudi Arabia). His father
died before he was born and he was raised first by his grandfather and then his uncle.
He belonged to a poor but respectable family of the Quraysh tribe. The family was active
in Meccan politics and trade. Many of the tribes living in the Arabian Peninsula at the
time were nomadic, trading goods as they crisscrossed the desert. Most tribes were
polytheistic, worshipping their own set of gods. The town of Mecca was an important
trading and religious center, home to many temples and worship sites where the
devoted prayed to the idols of these gods. The most famous site was the Kaaba (meaning
cube in Arabic). It is believed to have been built by Abraham (Ibrahim to Muslims) and
his son Ismail. Gradually the people of Mecca turned to polytheism and idolatry. Of all
the gods worshipped, it is believed that Allah was considered the greatest and the only
one without an idol. In his early teens, Muhammad worked in a camel caravan,
following in the footsteps of many people his age, born of meager wealth. Working for
his uncle, he gained experience in commercial trade traveling to Syria and eventually
from the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean. In time, Muhammad earned a
reputation as honest and sincere, acquiring the nickname “al-Amin” meaning faithful or
trustworthy. In his early 20s, Muhammad began working for a wealthy merchant
woman named Khadijah, 15 years his senior. She soon became attracted to this young,
accomplished man and proposed marriage. He accepted and over the years the happy
union brought several children. Not all lived to adulthood, but one, Fatima, would marry
Muhammad’s cousin, Ali ibn Abi Talib, whom Shi’ite Muslims regard as Muhammad’s
successor.

2. Five Pillars of Islam

The Five Pillars are the core beliefs and practices of Islam:
1. Profession of Faith (shahada). The belief that "There is no god but God, and
Muhammad is the Messenger of God" is central to Islam. This phrase, written in
Arabic, is often prominently featured in architecture and a range of objects,
including the Qur'an, Islam's holy book of divine revelations. One becomes a
Muslim by reciting this phrase with conviction.
2. Prayer (salat). Muslims pray facing Mecca five times a day: at dawn, noon,
mid-afternoon, sunset, and after dark. Prayer includes a recitation of the opening
chapter (sura) of the Qur'an, and is sometimes performed on a small rug or mat
used expressly for this purpose (see image 24). Muslims can pray individually at
any location (fig. 1) or together in a mosque, where a leader in prayer (imam)
guides the congregation. Men gather in the mosque for the noonday prayer on
Friday; women are welcome but not obliged to participate. After the prayer, a
sermon focuses on a passage from the Qur'an, followed by prayers by the imam
and a discussion of a particular religious topic.
3. Alms (zakat). In accordance with Islamic law, Muslims donate a fixed portion
of their income to community members in need. Many rulers and wealthy
Muslims build mosques, drinking fountains, hospitals, schools, and other
institutions both as a religious duty and to secure the blessings associated with
charity.

4. Fasting (sawm). During the daylight hours of Ramadan, the ninth month of

the Islamic calendar, all healthy adult Muslims are required to abstain from food
and drink. Through this temporary deprivation, they renew their awareness of
and gratitude for everything God has provided in their lives—including the
Qur'an, which was first revealed during this month. During Ramadan they share
the hunger and thirst of the needy as a reminder of the religious duty to help
those less fortunate.

5. Pilgrimage (hajj). Every Muslim whose health and finances permit it must

make at least one visit to the holy city of Mecca, in present-day Saudi Arabia.
The Ka'ba, a cubical structure covered in black embroidered hangings, is at the
center of the Haram Mosque in Mecca (fig. 2). Muslims believe that it is the
house Abraham (Ibrahim in Arabic) built for God, and face in its direction (qibla)
when they pray. Since the time of the Prophet Muhammad, believers from all
over the world have gathered around the Ka'ba in Mecca on the eighth and
twelfth days of the final month of the Islamic calendar.

Comparative analysis of Judaism, Christianity and Islam

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have similarities and differences. To begin with,
all of them are monotheistic religions. They somewhat share a common belief in the
oneness of God (monotheism), sacred history (history as the theater of God’s activity
and the encounter of God and humankind), prophets and divine revelation, angels, and
Satan. All stress moral responsibility and accountability, Judgment Day, and eternal
reward and punishment.
“All three faiths emphasize their special covenant with God, for Judaism through
Moses, Christianity through Jesus, and Islam through Muhammad. Christianity accepts
God’s covenant with and revelation to the Jews but traditionally has seen itself as
superseding Judaism with the coming of Jesus. Thus Christianity speaks of its new
covenant and New Testament. So, too, Islam and Muslims recognize Judaism and
Christianity: their biblical prophets (among them Adam, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus)
and their revelations (the Torah and the New Testament, or Message of Jesus).”

A holy book can be found in all three religions and is considered to be the word of
God or the inspired word of God. Within the Torah, Bible and Qur’an are creation
stories in which God created the universe. Central to these three faiths are the various
prophets that came to spread messages of monotheism.

“All of the biblical prophets shared by Judaism and Christianity can also be found
in the Qur’an and Islamic writings. A level of accountability for one’s actions and the
belief in charity and good deeds are another similarity that these faiths share. In
addition, the belief in life after death is a shared belief among the three religions.

Lastly, all three faiths regard Jerusalem as a holy city. For Jews, it is home to the
Wailing Wall and the Temple Mount. In Christianity, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
is the spot where Jesus was believed to be crucified. For Muslims it is home to the Dome
of the Rock, where the Prophet Muhammad is believed to have ascended to heaven and
where Al Aqsa Mosque is located.”

CHAPTER THREE: Dharmic Religion

Hinduism
a. Names of Indian Gods and Goddesses
 GODS GODDESSES
Brahma, the Creator Saraswati, wife of Brahma
Vishnu, the Preserver Lakshmi, wife of Vishnu
Shiva, the Destroyer Parvati, wife of Shiva

b. The Incarnation of Avatars

Name Description

The fish avatar. He saves Manu and the seven sages from the cosmic flood,
Matsya
and in some traditions, saves the Vedas from an asura called Hayagriva.

The tortoise/turtle avatar. He supports the mountain named Mandara

Kurma while the devas and the asuras churn the ocean of milk to produce the
nectar of immortality.

The boar avatar. He rescues Bhumi, the goddess of the earth, when the
Varaha asura Hiranyaksha abducts her, restoring her rightful place in the
universe.

The lion avatar. He saves his devotee Prahlada and frees the three worlds
Narasimha
from the tyranny of an asura named Hiranyakashipu.

The dwarf avatar. He vanquishes the asura king Mahabali to the

Vamana netherworld after taking three strides upon the universe, restoring the
rule of Indra.

The warrior-sage avatar. He destroys the oppressive kings of the military

Parshurama
class and creates a new social order.

The prince avatar. He rescues his wife Sita when she is abducted by the
Rama
rakshasa king Ravana, restoring just rule to the world.

The elder brother of Krishna and the god of agriculture. He is variously

Balarama described as an avatar of Shesha, the serpent-mount of Vishnu, and an
avatar of Vishnu.

The eighth avatar of Vishnu who incarnates to re-establish righteousness

Krishna in the world. He slays Kamsa, the tyrant of Mathura and his uncle, and
participates in the Kurukshetra War as the charioteer of Arjuna.

The historical Buddha, who incarnates to delude the asuras from the path
Buddha(Debated
of the Vedas, ensuring the victory of the devas. In some traditions, he is
)
referred to as an avatar of Vishnu.

The prophesied tenth avatar of Vishnu. He incarnates to bring an end to

Kalki the present age of corruption called the Kali Yuga, re-establishing the four
classes and law to the world.

C. Hindu Festivals
Diwali
Diwali is the festival of lights for Hindus and Sikhs. The celebration lasts for five
days and is marked by sweets, fireworks and lights. It celebrates the triumph of good,
light and knowledge over evil, darkness and ignorance. Diwali celebrates a good year of
harvesting and honors the Goddess of Wealth.
Makar Sankranti
Maker Sankranti is celebrated in January and it is the first Hindu holiday on the western
calendar. It is observed in different ways in various regions of India and occurs when the
sun goes into the zodiac sign of Makar, which makes the days longer.

Maha Shivaratri
Maha Shivaratri celebrations honor Shiva, destroyer of the universe. Unlike other
Hindu celebrations, this one is celebrated the night and day before the new moon.

Holi
Holi is the Hindu festival of colors. It marks the beginning of spring and all that
spring symbolizes. Holi is not a religious holiday, although it does have a religious
history. It is most commonly celebrated in Northern India and usually takes place in
February or March. During this time (known as Phagun) Hindus build bonfires to help
get the evil spirits out of the air and celebrate with gifts of food. It is a very happy time
when Hindus are all recognized as equal with no difference in wealth, gender or age.

Ram Navami
Ram Navami takes place in April and celebrates the birth of Lord Rama. On this
holiday, Hindus clean and decorate their houses with fruits and flowers. The youngest
girl in the house leads the prayers (called puja) by putting a red mark (called a tilak) on
her family. They put an image of Rama as a baby in a cradle, and at midday, they remove
the cover of the cradle and feed a special food (called Prasad) to him.

Raksha Bandhan
Raksha Bandan celebrates love for comrades and brothers. Hindus celebrate it
when there is a full moon. This usually takes place in August. Raksha means
"protection" and Bandhan means "to tie." During this festival, sisters put a bracelet
called a rakhi on their brothers' wrists as a symbol of their love and affection for them.

Krishna Janmashtami
Janmashtami is a festival celebrating Krishna's birth. Krishna is the god that
Hindus worship the most. They celebrate his birthday in August, eight days after Raksha
Bandhan. The celebration lasts two days.

Navaratri
Navaratri is a fun and religious holiday in October. During this time, Hindus
from all over India put aside their daily chores and prepare for Navaratri, a nine-day
celebration honoring three goddesses of the religion: Durga, the goddess of valor;
Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth; and Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge. Hindus
dedicate three days of celebration to each of the three goddesses, which are the
incarnations of Goddess Shakti (the Mother Goddess).

THERAVADA BUDDHISM
a. Life of Buddha
The teacher known as the Buddha lived in northern India sometime between the
mid-6th and the mid-4th centuries before the Common Era. In ancient India the
title buddha referred to an enlightened being who has awakened from the sleep of
ignorance and achieved freedom from suffering. According to the various traditions of
Buddhism, buddhas have existed in the past and will exist in the future. Some Buddhists
believe that there is only one buddha for each historical age, others that all beings will
become buddhas because they possess the buddha nature (tathagatagarbha). The
historical figure referred to as the Buddha (whose life is known largely through legend)
was born on the northern edge of the Ganges River basin, an area on the periphery of
the ancient civilization of North India, in what is today southern Nepal. He is said to
have lived for 80 years. His family name was Gautama (in Sanskrit) or Gotama (in Pali),
and his given name was Siddhartha (Sanskrit: “he who achieves his aim”) or Siddhattha
(in Pali). He is frequently called Shakyamuni, “the sage of the Shakya clan.” In Buddhist
texts he is most commonly addressed as Bhagavat (often translated as “Lord”), and he
refers to himself as the Tathagata, which can mean both “one who has thus come” and
“one who has thus gone.” Traditional sources on the date of his death—or, in the
language of the tradition, his “passage into nirvana”—range from 2420 to 290 BCE.
Scholarship in the 20th century limited that range considerably, with opinion generally
divided between those who believed he lived from about 563 to 483 BCE and those who
believed he lived about a century later.

b. The Tripitaka
The Tripitaka teaching is associated with Hinayana, the teachings of
the Nikaya and Agama scriptures, closely parallel to what is found in the Pali canon:
the doctrine of impermanence of all conditioned dharmas, arising and perishing in every
instant, along with the thoroughgoing denial of any sort of permanent or unconditional
entity, with the exception of Nirvana itself. Reality is pure flux, arising and perishing a
vast number of times within the span of each moment. This means suffering is the real-
time coming together of factors to form temporary phenomena, and their real
dissolution into their parts to vanish. It also means that samsara (deluded suffering
experience as a whole) and Nirvana are mutually exclusive: samsara, suffering,
conditionality really ends in real-time, and thereafter there is Nirvana, unconditionality.
Suffering really arises (First Noble Truth), produced by a real set of causes which are
really distinct from it (Second Noble Truth), and can really cease in Nirvana at some
point in time (Third Noble Truth), through the cultivation of certain practices which
cause this cessation, but which are themselves really distinct from their effect (Fourth
Noble Truth). Both suffering, and its causes, and the cessation of suffering, and its
causes, are matters of arising and perishing. This teaching is seen, in Tiantai as in many
Mahayana schools, as implying a fundamental contradiction that ensures it cannot be
the ultimate teaching. That contradiction is the idea that the unconditioned, Nirvana, is
something that can begin at a particular place or time, that the unconditioned is itself
conditioned. This is precisely what is meant to be stressed by the Tiantai
characterization of this teaching as “The Four Noble Truths as arising and perishing.” I
will call this the Nirvana paradox. This problem is addressed with progressive
thoroughness in the following teachings.

c. The Noble Eightfold Path

This Eightfold Path can be summed up with the threefold practice of morality,
concentration and wisdom. Morality includes right speech, right action, and right living.
Concentration includes right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration. And
wisdom includes right view and right intention. In order to provide a basis of the
meaning of these path factors within the structure of the threefold practice through
passages from the sutta’s. Then we will dwell on the threefold practisce as whole.

MAHAYANA BUDDHISM
Mahāyāna is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and
practices. Mahāyāna Buddhism developed in ancient India and is considered one of the three
main existing branches of Buddhism. Mahāyāna accepts the main scriptures and teachings
of early Buddhism but also recognizes various doctrines and texts that are not accepted by
Theravada Buddhism as original. These include the Mahāyāna Sūtras and their emphasis on
the bodhisattva path and Prajñāpāramitā.[2] Vajrayāna or Mantra traditions are a subset of
Mahāyāna, which make use of numerous tantric methods considered to be faster and more
powerful at achieving Buddhahood by Vajrayānists. "Mahāyāna" also refers to the path of
the bodhisattva striving to become a fully awakened Buddha ( samyaksaṃbuddha) for the
benefit of all sentient beings, and is thus also called the "Bodhisattva Vehicle"
(Bodhisattvayāna). Mahāyāna Buddhism generally sees the goal of becoming a Buddha through
the bodhisattva path as being available to all and sees the state of the arhat as incomplete.
[4]
 Mahāyāna also includes numerous Buddhas and bodhisattvas that are not found in Theravada
(such as Amitābha and Vairocana).[5] Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophy also promotes unique
theories, such as the Madhyamaka theory of emptiness (śūnyatā), the Vijñānavāda doctrine,
and the Buddha-nature teaching.
a. The Trikaya
Mahāyāna Buddhism, the concept of the three bodies, or modes of being, of the
Buddha: the dharmakaya (body of essence), the unmanifested mode, and the supreme
state of absolute knowledge; the sambhogakaya (body of enjoyment), the heavenly
mode; and the nirmanakaya (body of transformation), the earthly mode, the Buddha as
he appeared on earth or manifested himself in an earthly bodhisattva, an earthly king, a
painting, or a natural object, such as a lotus. The concept of trikaya applies not only to
the historical Buddha, Gautama, but to all other buddhas as well.

Comparative Analysis Theravada Buddhism and Mahayana

Buddhism
Theravada Buddhism
Theravada Buddhism is older and the more conservative of the two main
divisions of Buddhism and is often referred to as the ‘traditions of the elders’. Many
Theravada Buddhists follow the teachings of the Buddha exactly, and many of them
are monks or nuns. Theravada Buddhists strive to be arhats. Arhats are perfected people
who have gained true insight into the nature of reality. This means they have followed
the Noble Eightfold Path to ‘blow out’ the three fires of greed, hatred and ignorance and
have become enlightened. In Buddhism, enlightenment leads to nibbana (or nirvana),
which means freedom from the cycle of rebirth (samsara). Consequently, they will no
longer be reborn through samsara.

Mahayana Buddhism
Mahayana Buddhists believe they can achieve enlightenment through following
the teachings of the Buddha. The goal of a Mahayana Buddhist may be to become
a Bodhisattva and this is achieved through the Six Perfections. Compassion is very
important in Mahayana Buddhism. Therefore, Bodhisattvas choose to stay in the cycle
of samsara to help others to achieve enlightenment as well as themselves.

This is a key difference between Theravada and Mahayana Buddhists.

Whereas Theravada Buddhists strive to become Arhats and gain freedom from the cycle
of samsara, Mahayana Buddhists may choose to stay in the cycle of samsara out of
compassion for others.