Christianity Vs Buddhism

At the center of Christianity is a poor man who claims to be God. At the center of Buddhism is a wealthy prince who claims he is not a god, but a man. In this short space I will compare and contrast some aspects of Christianity and Buddhism, knowing that doing real justice to the topic would take volumes of books. Such is the influence of both religions – that a true comparison could take a person’s lifetime.
Buddhism starts in India, as an offshoot of Hinduism based on the writings of a wealthy prince Siddhartha Gautama Buddha around 400-500 BCE. Buddha is disillusioned with his princely life and leaving his palace sees true suffering. He rejects much of the Vedas (the important writings of Hinduism along with the elements of animal …show more content…
The first Christians were really Jews and did not need to see to see Jesus as God on Earth to follow his message as they applied it to Judaism. This presented a problem within Christianity that was resolved under Roman Emperor Constantine in 325 CE. Constantine converted to Christianity based on a claimed battlefield vision, although during his reign he built memorials to other Roman Gods and even the Sun. His support of Christianity was very political as evidenced by the near 2000 people he invited to the Counsel of Nicaea to determine various religious argument within Christianity, not the least of which was declaring Jesus as part of trine …show more content…
Constantine comes across as a careful politician and tactician while Ashoka appears to be a man deeply affected by the consequences of war. Perhaps that’s appropriate to the two religions because as time moved forward, Christianity would be thrust into the forefront of wars of conquest from the Romans to the Nazis, with all such regimes claiming God was on their side. The Buddhists, without a specific belief in God, don’t seem to be using their religion to justify their military