BUDDHISM

According to tradition, the founder of Buddhism was Siddhartha Gautama, who most
probably lived from 563-483 B.C. He was a son of a wealthy leader belonging to the Sakya clan.
He was born in the foothills of the Himalayas in what is now known as Nepal. Throughout his
early life his father sought to protect him from the sorrows of the world. He was reared in the
palace and was married to a beautiful princess who bore him a son. Despite his riches Gautama
eventually escaped from his wealthy environment and outside the palace, he met an old and
dying man, a sick man afflicted by a disease, a corpse being carried to the crematica ground
and a shaven-headed wandering religious beggar, but radiating peace and joy. Gautama
resolve to leave his wife and son and to live the life of an ascetic. For six years, with five
companions and went to meditate under the Bo tree by the River Gaya, it was there that be
received enlightenment and from then on was known as Buddha- “the enlightened one.”

Buddha advocated the Four Noble Truth to wit: 1) the noble truth of suffering all mortal
existence is characterized by suffering; 2) the noble truth on the origin of suffering the cause of
suffering is desire; 3) the noble truth on the cessation of desire- to stop desire means to stop
suffering; and 4) the noble truth to the way of the cessation of desire- the stopping of desire
comes by following the Noble Eightfold Path to break the chain of Karma and reach Nirvana.

The Eightfold Path on the other hand are 1) Right View; 2) Right Resolve; 3) Right
Speech; 4) Right Action; 5) Right Livelihood; 6) Right Effort; 7) Right Concentration; and 8)
Right Contemplation or Ecstasy.

CONFUCIANISM

Confucianism is the body of beliefs and practices that are based on the Chinese
classics and are supported by the authority of Kung fu-tzu or Confucius although he himself
maintained that he was a transmitter rather than a creator. Confucius was born in 551 B. C. in
the city of Lu in Northern China, and died around 497 B. C. He taught the importance of by
which means propriety and orderliness, and the ideal of a gentleman whose life is governed by
propriety and filial piety. For almost 2500 years Confucianism has been the religion of the great
masses of China. The teachings of Confucius are fund in the Analects – a collection of
discussions and sayings. The Confucian Scriptures are known as the Six Chinese Classics (1)
Shu Ching – the Book of History; (2) Shi Ching – the Book of Poetry; (3) I Ching – the Book of
Changes; (4) Li Chi – the Book of Rites; (5) Yueh Ching – the Book of Music; and (6) Ch’un Chu
– Spring and Autumn Annals. Many adherents to this belief considered it as a way of life a code
of moral and social behavior, rather than a religion. Thus, they need not believe in any god and
they may follow their master, Confucius, and at the same time profess another religion.

TAOISM

The word Tao literally means path or way. It may denote a way of acting or a principle
teaching. Tao is the inexpressible source of all being, the First Cause, The Ultimate Reality. It is
the principle, which moderates and controls universe, they way in which men live in harmony
with the universe.

The original teachings of Taoism are found in Tao Te Ching, China’s most influential
book. The book is attributed to Lao Tzu (born in 604 B. C.) but is now believed to be an
anthology brief passages dating from about the 4th century B. C. Lao Tzu’s very existence are
disputed today. His name means “Old master”; a title applied to a number f teachers in the
period following Confucius.

To follow the Tao is to follow the way of nature. The “watercourse way”. Water flows
softly and effortlessly to humble places; yet even so it can be the most overpowering substance.
So, too, with the follower of Taoism, he is likely to be mystical quietist by stilling himself, his
senses and appetites, he can gain inner perception of the Tao, a oneness with the Eternal, a
harmony with that Principle underlying and penetrating the whole world. He attains
enlightenment. Te means virtue or power, and a follower of popular Taoism seeks to harness
this power through magic rituals. He is likely to be preoccupied with death and the quest for
immortality. Taoist writings include Chuang Tzu – the formal treatise of philosophical Taoism
and Tao Te Ching (The Way and its Power) – the classic of mysticism, of first importance in the
Taoist religion.

ISLAM

Islam, which literally means submission to God, is one of the three monotheistic religions
in the world. Its followers, the Muslims, are those who commit themselves in the surrender to
the will of God (Allah)

Islam traces its origin to the prophet Muhammad, who was born in Mecca, Arabia, about
AD 571, the time where a power vacuum existed between two great empires of East and West –
Persia and Byzantine. His relatives looked upon Muhammad, who was orphaned at an early
age, until a rich uncle sent him on trading expeditions to the north where it is reported that he
met Christians. At the age of 25, a rich forty-year-old widow name Khadija proposed to him and
eventually bore him three daughters but no son.

In middle life, Muhammad began to show mystical traits and develop the habit of
withdrawing to the hills for contemplation. On one such occasion, at the age of forty, he received
a revelation calling him to denounce the paganism and polytheism of Mecca and preach the
existence of one God – Allah. The in 622, at the request of the people of Medina, he left Mecca
for Medina accompanied by his followers. This is known as the celebration of hijra or emigration
– the event fro which the Muslim calendar begins. Meanwhile Muhammad had expelled most of
the Jewish tribes whom he hoed to win and gradually incorporated the Bedouin tribes of
Western and Central Arabia into the Muslim community. In 630, he attacked Mecca and
captures it. Muhammad immediately set about eliminating the polytheists and rededicated the
ancient sanctuary of the Ka’ aba to Allah, making it the central shrine of pilgrimage for Muslims.
In 632 Muhammad died without naming a successor. He was succeeded by a series of Caliphs
(successors), the first being Abu Bakr and Umar.

The Islamic faith is centered on the Five Pillars of Islam:

Shahada (confession of faith) – There is no other God Allah and Muhammad is his
prophet.

Salat (prayer) – Muslim pray five times daily facing Mecca – at daybreak, noon, mid
afternoon, after sunset and early in the night. They also go to the Mosques
during Fridays.

Zakat (almsgiving) – Muslims give 2 ½ percent of their income and other properties
to charity.
 Ramadant (fasting) – During this period the Muslims do not eat, drink, smoke or
engage in sex between dawn and sunset.

Hajj (pilgrimage) – A Muslim is required to go to Mecca at least once in his lifetime.

Soon after death of Muhammad, the revelations which he ha received were put
together from oral and written sources to form the Qur’an (recitation), which the Muslims
believe as the infallible word of Go sent down from heaven and that nothing has changed it.
Next in importance to the Qur’an is the Hadith (tradition), which is the records of the life and
activities of Muhammad and the early Muslim communities. It contains the Sunna (example)
of the prophet and the standards, which all the Muslim should follow. The Qur’an and the
Sunna have combined to form the Shiari’a (law), an extraordinary comprehensive guide to
life and conduct (Langley, 1987)