Newspaper Response on Buddhism Essay (Article)

Buddhism is one of the largest religions in the world. It is quite different from other world religions. For example, almost all religions have a God who is a sacred spirit. Buddhism has Buddha, who was a man reached nirvana. There are several “types” of Buddhism that are now considered different religions: Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. However, all these religions are based on one teaching and have common principles.

In the article by Tenzin Gyatso “Many Faiths, One Truth”, author discusses this question comparing the basic principles of Buddhism with basic principles of other religions. The author claims that there is not the best religion, all world religions teach people the same basic virtues but interpret them in different ways. Thus, it can be summarized that Buddhism is related to other religions of the world in spite of all its peculiarities, consequently, all “faiths” share “one truth” that is universal for all people.

The article by Tenzin Guatso is devoted to the exploration of different religions and comparing them to Buddhism and its basic principles. The author writes about situation in the Middle East and Europe. He says that there are still fights between representatives of different religions.

However, apart from these conflicts, there is also a tendency for globalization and tolerance, “peoples and religions become ever more entwined” (Gyatso). The author finds common things in Buddhist’s and Christian’s religious ideas, myths and rituals, thought, these religions were considered to be absolutely different. Finally, the author estimates that harmony is the “essential ingredient” of all religions and it is a guarantee of the welfare of all nations.

Giving a response on this article it should be mentioned that the author discusses one of the most urgent questions of the modern society concerning questions of religion.

According to Bailey and Fisher, “traditional cultures and religions naturally assumed their own points of view…Every culture saw itself as the center of the universe.” (2). However, the truth is that the world’s nations seek to uniting. And the same thing can be said about religion. Moreover, a proper analysis of different religions proves that the standpoints of all these religions are common.

For example, Buddha teaches to lead a pious life and live in piece with nature and people around. In addition, one of the core ideas of Buddhism is the theory of emptiness, which means that all things around are out of importance and the aim of everyone is to reach “nirvana”. The same assumption (but in different words) can be said about a core idea of Christianity: one should lead a right life in order to go to Heavens after the death.

Gyasto supports this idea in his article when suggesting the example with “compassion”. He says that the theme of compassion can be found in Talmud and Bible. He also found “centrality of selfless compassion in Hinduism and Islam” (Gyasto). Thus, in his article, the author provides a very important idea that “Finding common ground among faiths can help us bridge needless divides at a time when unified action is more crucial than ever” (Gyasto).

The article “Many Faiths, One Truth” by Tenzin Gyasto is devotet to the exploration of the similarities of the Buddhism with other religions of the world. The author assumes that there are very many common things, for example, a theory of compassion. Thus, having analyzed this article, we can assume that harmony between different religions is possible and very important for the welfare of our world.

Works Cited

Gyatso, Tenzin. “Many Faiths, One Truth”. The New York Times. (2010): n. pag. Web.

Fisher, Mary P. and Bailey Lee W. An Anthology of Living Religions, 2^nd. Ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2008.