.... is dominant in India, Sri Lanka, Burma, Laos, Thailand, and Cambodia. Mahayana, the greater vehicle, refers to the Theravada as Hinayana, the lesser vehicle. It is dominant in India, Tibet, Japan, Nepal, Taiwan, China, Korea, Vietnam, and Mongolia. Siddhartha Guatama was born in Kapilivastu. His father was the ruler of the small kingdom near the Indian/Nepal border. As a child, his future was foretold by sages. They believed that he would someday be a fellow sage or leader of a great empire. He led a very pampered and sheltered life until the age of twenty-nine. It was at that time that he realized that he had led an empty life. He renou .....

.... that I participated in, with the intent on a greater understanding of what being a Buddhist means. This exercise taught me the inherent difficulty in calming the mind, along with the negative effects outside influences like other people have on the practice. The first place I attempted to meditate was outside my dorm next to a tree. This proved to be a comfortable place, yet full of distractions. I have meditated before in my martial arts classes, yet it was difficult calming my mind. While concentrating on my breathing, I was easily distracted by outside occurrences such as leaves falling and people walking by. The more I attempted to .....

.... at just three of the countless examples that human history has to offer.  The Inquisition, "judicial institution, established by the papacy in the Middle Ages, charged with seeking out, trying, and sentencing people guilty of heresy."2  Heretics were considered enemies of the state.  The penalty for heresy was torture and death.  The crucifixion of Jesus Christ, "Jesus was taken to Golgotha and nailed to a cross, the Roman punishment for political offenders and criminals."2  The Crusades, "The name Crusade (from Latin, "Cross") was also applied, to the wars against pagan peoples, Christian heretics, and political foes of the papacy."2 .....

.... Buddha which started the religion, Buddhism. Hindu's beliefs are recorded in sacred texts. The most important being the Vedas and the Upanishads. The Vedas contains eternal thruths that were reveiled to the wise men. The Upanishads helped to explain the ideas that occured in the Vedas. This is somewhat similar to Buddhism being that the Buddah taught others what he learned as he sat under the tree. He called those ideas the four noble truths. The first truth was that suffering was universal. The second was that suffering is caused by desire. The third is that the only way to stop suffering is to crush desire. The fourth is that the only w .....

.... become the pope, yet they took part in adultery, murder, and the like. They also persecuted anyone of another religion, and tortured him or her until confession. These examples do not speak highly of the man and religion that now do not want their good name smeared. Yet, times change. In modern times the Catholic Church has changed dramatically, and the view on religions has as well. Hopefully, there is no more adultery amongst bishops and torturing has stopped. For as long as the living of today remember, the pope has indeed been a symbol of spiritual uplifting. We have also learned to accept other people's beliefs, or at least tolera .....

.... telling God that he is alone, and needs a companion (Genesis 2:23). These two completely different accounts of the creation are only the beginning of God’’s metamorphosis in the Old Testament. God also changes his temperament in the Old Testament. When Adam and Eve where in Eden, God instructs them not to eat of the tree, or they will surely die. However, Eve eats of the tree, as does Adam second, yet they do not perish. The serpent told Adam and Eve that the fruit would make them God-like, and that was God’’s reason for his command (Genesis 3:4-3:7). God becomes enraged at the serpent, Adam and Eve as well. God is upset because .....

.... because everything that happens in this world is an expression of the intentions of a higher being. This comfort comes from the belief that if you worship this higher being you will be protected from the evils of this world (or the afterlife). "And God said to him, I am God, the Ruler of all: be fertile, and have increase; a nation, truly a group of nations, will come from you, and kings will be your offspring (Genesis 35:11)." In this verse of the Bible God entices his believers for the comfort of prosperity. Nonetheless, there still lies the question of the existence of a higher being. Freud might argue that the higher being exists .....

.... all submission, and do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. We must look at the historical context of the passage. Written approximately 2000 years ago, many parts of the Bible seem outdated. The passage portrays a time when women were property and were “trained� to be weak and fragile. This stopped only about 30 years ago. Before this time, society taught women from birth to be submissive to men. What does this mean to us today? It means that although American Society is no longer training women to be submissive, the problem is still present in our belief system. Many churches do not bel .....

.... 61:4). Here the Prophet directed his preaching to the Jews raised in the Exile and now united with the descendants of those who had remained in Palestine. (Life and Literature of the Early Period 3) used the form of writing that included a variety of literary types, such as laments, oracles of promise, and condemnation to convey his messages. He used these forms of writing because he needed to shock the people into attention. ’s life and ministry comes to the central message that all human activity motivated by the fear of anything but God is contrary to faith and will almost always lead the faithful astray (Who’s who in the Bi .....

.... fact, Sufi's that claim to be at the same level of God cannot be classified as a Muslim. (Frager 11) Sufi's stress love, because they believe that love will help you in the Day of Judgement. That the people who you truly love, will give you their good deeds, so that you may enter Paradise. Normally these people who give their good deeds away are known as dervishes (this is quite different from the belief in Islam). Sufi's also stress the remembrance of God, which is called Zikr. They try to get close to God, to be one with God. They define God as something that is close to you but you can't see it. That God is all around us, but His prese .....