Buddhism Compared to Other Religions

When you come to Buddhism you have to beus an example of behavior that we as human beings
prepared for some significant surprises. Many aspectsare invited to follow.
of Buddhism may seem familiar to you:- The Buddha also put together a community of
- Buddhists tell a story about the founder of theirfollowers, like other major founders of religious
tradition, as Christians and Muslims. His name wastraditions. In his case it was an order of monks and
Siddharta Gautama, he lived in Northern India aroundnuns who passed on the tradition of Buddhist learning.
the year 500 B.C. He was known to his followers as- Buddhist also has very familiar patterns of ritual and
the Buddha, or the awakened one.worship. They go on pilgrimages to important shrines.
- Like Jesus and Muhammad he developed a veryThese pilgrimages are not different from the
distinctive response to the religious problems of hispilgrimages that occur in the Christian tradition.
day. He started a religious movement that now is- Buddhists teach people how to confront and deal
expanded throughout the world, from South East Asiawith the deepest questions, not unlike other religious
across Northern Asia, and in the last hundred years ortraditions. They are concerned about issues that we all
so, in Europe and North America.confront as human beings. What will happen to me
- You might ask yourselves how the Buddha differswhen I die? How can I live my life in a way that would
from other founders. Jesus and Muhammad broughtbe happy, peaceful and compassionate? These are
many messages as if they were peoplequestions that concern all of us as human beings.
communicating some sort of divine reality. The Buddha,Buddhists have distinctive and very powerful answers
unlike Jesus and Muhammad serves more as anto these questions.
example. He doesn't bring a divine message, he gives