Home > Religion & Spirituality > Religious Concepts > Comparative Religion
Created on: November 22, 2006 Last Updated: November 20, 2008
Most religions believe in peace. However, there are only a handful of religions that promote it. Western religions call for peace. I am not so sure they promote it. Christianity, Judaism, and Islam all have bloody pasts rife with war and martyrs. In fact, more wars have been fought in the name of God (who cares which one) than anything else.
I suppose I would have to argue that Eastern based philosophies tend to be the most peaceful. Buddhists believe in ridding themselves of desire. Desire leads to war, not peace. Therefore the effort to remain desireless is a noble one. Moreover, Buddhist monks are more likely to light themselves on fire in protest of wrongs committed than to attack their wrongdoers. They would prefer to spill their own blood, thus forcing wrongdoers to self-examination than to physically attack another human being. Perhaps they have the right idea. If we were all made to look at our inner motivations then maybe we would be better able to see our mistakes. And the Buddhist method of self mutilation in favor of outright war seems to make a bigger impact on the worldstage.
The world is outraged when a Buddhist monk lights himself on fire. And usually the world is outraged for the monk, not at him. The whole world wonders why he would do such a thing. They find the answer and usually side with the monk.
I am not promoting self mutilation or setting yourself on fire. I am simply stating that this method seems to be more peaceful than outright war, and in some ways it seems to work.
Buddhist also meditate daily. Meditation has been shown to reduce high blood preasure, stabilize heart rate, and increase the flow of oxygen to the brain. All of these result in a feeling of calm. Calm is associated with peace. At the center of Buddhist philosophy is the attempt to live without desire. Buddhist believe that all the world's evil stems from desire: desire for material things, desire to have others agree with you, desire to have others believe the way you do. Indeed, wars do appear to be fought over want of one thing or another. The Buddhist attempt to avoid this conflict of "want" versus "need" is admirable. It logically follows that Buddhism must be a religion with a peaceful teaching.
Therefore I argue that Buddhism is a religion with perhaps the most peaceful teaching of all. In fact, Buddhist spend a great deal of their time trying to become at peace with themselves. And meditation both promotes peace and leads to peace.
Learn more about this author, Jayne Smyth.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.
Below are the top articles rated and ranked by Helium members on:
Religions with the most peaceful teachings
by Currie Jean
While it may come as a surprise to many Westerners, especially those adhering to the 'big three' faiths (Judaism, Christianity
Taoism is the most peaceful concept I've encountered. In his book, Tao Te Ching, Lao Tsu endeavored to explain the rightness
I think it very important to distinguish which religions teach or preach the most peaceful ideas and which religions' adherents
I think to advocate the most peaceful religions one must actually state what makes a religion peaceful. Most religions have
by Bj Its
There seems to be lot of debate about which religion is the best or most peaceful.
Theoretically all the religions talks
View All Articles on: Religions with the most peaceful teachings
Featured Partner
Text and Academic Authors Association
The Text and Academic Authors Association (TAA) is the only authoring association devoted exclusively to serving textbook and academic authors. TAA was established in 1987 for those interested in developing and publishing educational...more