Buddhism, religion and philosophy founded in India c.525 B.C. By Siddhartha Gautama, called the Buddha. There are over 300 million Buddhists worldwide. One of the great world religions, it is divided into two main schools: the Theravada or Hinayana in Sri Lanka and SE Asia, and the Mahayana in China, Mongolia, Korea, and Japan. A third school, the Vajrayana, has a long tradition in Tibet and Japan. Buddhism has largely

It is through the process of death and rebirth that the knowledge is gained which will finally liberate the individual being from the central cause of all suffering itself - the cycle of death and birth. Essentially, it is only through knowledge that this can be achieved in most Buddhist schools of thought. The rationale behind the importance of reincarnation as a process that is required to escape the centrality

Buddhism directly evolved from the Vedic Aryan religions. The Gautama Buddha was born into a Brahmin caste family that practiced Vedic ritual and tradition. Siddhartha Gautama's teachings strongly reflect Vedic teachings regarding cosmology, morality, and culture. Although there are significant and widespread differences between the Vedic Aryan religious traditions, Buddhism reflects its roots. Some key differences between Buddhism and its Vedic counterparts include the espousal of the caste system; asceticism;

Jesus' Teachings, Prayer, & Christian Life "He (Jesus) Took the Bread. Giving Thanks Broke it. And gave it to his Disciples, saying, 'This is my Body, which is given to you.'" At Elevation time, during Catholic Mass, the priest establishes a mandate for Christian Living. Historically, at the Last Supper, Christ used bread and wine as a supreme metaphor for the rest of our lives. Jesus was in turmoil. He was

Self in World Religions Although religion is primarily a social activity -- even the most solitary and mystical of religious practitioners require an existing creed subscribed to by other people -- to a certain degree religion is required to define the self. In practice, the religious conception of selfhood can work in a number of ways -- either by setting limits to acceptable thought and behavior by the self by establishing

Taoism is another ancient religion practiced within Eastern Asia. It shares beliefs and practices with Confucianism and is mainly practiced in various parts of China. It is a polytheistic religion that has a wide variety of gods within its spiritual arsenal. Like Hinduism, Taoism is a name that covers a wide variety of smaller religious sects that can be found in various parts of China and its neighboring countries, although