Throughout history, great civilizations and people have risen and fallen, andduring their fleeting existence, religious activities have assumed importantfunctions in those societies.
Confucianism, Buddhism, and Islam, are threelegacies left by great men, which still have a profound affect on society. Likewith all human inventions, though, these three philosophies are all relative toeach other : They are comparable in their simplicity of beliefs, the emphasisthey placed on the role of women within their society, and the transformationinto different sects in later years; but differ from each other in theiremphasis in each field respectively. The basic doctrines of these threephilosophies can be readily compared with each other. They each carry theirtenets in a basic, simple format which is easy to understand and follow.
Theirbeliefs also provide an ethical code encompassed within their beliefs, and eachhas an objective to attain through simple means. In Buddhism, the fundamentalbeliefs are to recognize life as cycle of birth and rebirth, and to overcomethis cycle to attain Nirvana. The fundamental beliefs of Buddhism are containedin The Four Noble Truths, which are : 1. Life is suffering, 2.
Suffering iscaused by desire, 3. The way to end suffering is to end desire, 4. The way toend desire is to avoid the extremes of a life vulgar materialism and ofself-torture, and to follow the Middle Path(Eightfold Path). 1 Following theMiddle Path, to Buddha is the way to overcome the painful cycle of life, and arerelatively simple practices.
They are thus: 1. Right understanding, or views:recognizing that material security does not bring peace of mind and that ritualsdo not erase the effects of pass acts; 2. Right motives: the quality of the drivebehind the thinking and being free from carnal thirst, malevolence, cruelty,etc. .
. ; 3. Right speech: not indulging in cruel and harsh talk, thereby beingable to establish a link between ‘right motives’ and ‘right action’; 4. Rightaction: any actions that proceed from an unobstructed mind.
This also includesabstaining from unwholesome actions and performing those which are beneficial;5. Right means of livelihood: the idea of not harming living things through anymeans, and to abstain from indulging in anything which would cloud the mind;6. Right effort: efforts taken to encourage the development of of the other pathsand to discourage any hindrances; 7. Right mindfulness: to prevent the excessivedevelopment of of one path at the expense of another; 8. Right meditation: toquiet the mind and present true pictures to the mind of any hindrances to theMiddle Path.
2 The Middle Path, as seen above, is an ethical code for arelatively simple life of performing good deeds, not harming yourself andothers, and maintaining ethical thoughts and frame of mind. By following theMiddle Path, a person would eventually reach enlightenment and be able toachieve Nirvana. To the Buddha, Nirvana is the extinction of self hood and afinal reunion with the Great World Soul3. Similar to Buddhism, Islam is also asimple faith with simple teachings, with an easily obtainable objective.
Islam’sbeliefs though are held in a monotheistic framework ,and in what is known as the;Five Pillars of Islam. ; The supreme deity of Islam is Allah andobeying the will of Allah is done by following the ;Five Pillars ofIslam. ; They are thus: 1. Every Muslim must utter ;There is no God butAllah and Mohammed is his prophet;; 2.
Every Muslim must pray five times aday and publicly on Friday at noon; 3. Every Muslim must give alms(charity) tothe poor and unfortunate; 4. During the holy month of the Ramadan, every Muslimmust fast from dawn to sunset; and 5. Every Muslim must make a pilgrimage toMecca at least once in their lifetime.
4 Along with the ;Five Pillars;,Muslims(followers of the Islam faith) must also abstain from eating pork,gambling, drinking alcoholic beverages, and engaging in dishonest behavior. These ;rules; are the basic laws a Muslim must obey, and they do notrequire too much effort from the individual or put a strain on the individual. By following them and by obeying the will of Allah, a Muslim is guaranteed aplace in an eternal paradise filled with sensual delights. This eternal paradiseis the objective of those who are faithful to Allah and Islam.
Confucianism isalso similar to the others, in its simplicity in teachings and adherence. FirstConfucianism deals with the rational cosmic order and the organization ofworldly affairs. Confucian belief is that all humans were endowed with their .
