Mohamud Abdi

HUMA 2300 6.30 pm

comapring and contarsting paper:
Introduction
Understanding other religions is extremely important to live peaceully !ith others and to
eliminate discrimination or hate to!ards other religions. Many people !ho are ignorant o other
religions" sho! lots o hate to!ards their members. # you can learn about someone else religion and
compare the similarities and dierence !ith your o!n religion" you !ill have a better understanding o
them. $no!ing and understanding their religion !ill also help someone respect it not %ust hate out o
ignorance. &o !hat # !ill be doing in this paper is to help you better understand 'uddhism" &i(hism
and #slam by comparing and contrasting their &acred &pace" )ituals and belie in go
Sacred Space
Buddhism
*hen you irst !al( in !e !ere supposed to ta(e our shoes o" it elt li(e you !ere !al(ing inside
your home or a amily members house. #n the temple there !ere shrines or !ith pictures o many
dierent mon(s all over the place. *hat really dre! my attention !as the Mon( giving the service
because it %ust elt li(e !e !ere in a totally dierent place because o ho! he !as dressed and because
o all the decorations on the !all and the rest o the room. # also sa! many decorations o conch shells
and lotus lo!ers" along !ith many picture rames o past mon(s. +his made the atmosphere eel more
comortable and eel li(e you connected !ith the service even i you didn,t. *hat # ound interesting
!as ho! the seats !ere set up" most o them !ere not acing the person doing the service" almost
emphasi-ing e.uality. +his service had very e! people attend and the class !as the ma%ority o them.
And they had a limited amount o boo(s that you could use to ollo! along !ith the service.
Sikhism
/ust li(e in the 'uddhist service" !e had to ta(e our shoes o right at the entrance. #t is a symbol o
respect or the sacred space to (eep it clean. 0ne o the dierences !as that men and !omen sat on
dierent sides o the prayer area and sat on the loor !ithout a cushion. +here !ere not as many
decorations or shrines but there !ere a e! o the guru 1ana(. Unli(e the 'uddhist +emple they did
not provide and boo(s to ollo! along !ith but they did pro%ect the prayer in the ront. 0ne main
dierence !as ho! they treated the sacred scripture" !hich !as or them the 2ranth &ahib. #t !as in
ront o the service area and loo(ed li(e it !as !ell ta(en care o !ith its o!n little area to be placed
on. +his temple !as ull o !indo!s to let light come into the building unli(e the budhist temple that
had no !indo!s.
Islam
/ust li(e 'uddhism and &i(hism" you !ere expected to ta(e your shoes o right in the entrance and
put them in a cupboard. Ater you !al( in the !omen must go upstairs and sit in their o!n section
!hile the men !al( straight into the service area to begin prayer. +his made it a little more similar to
&i(hism than 'uddhism because o the separation o sexes during the service. Also the area you had so
sit in to do prayer !as %ust on a carpet !ithout cushions so that !as another dissimilarity bet!een
'uddhism. +he only decorations !ere calligraphy !ritings because depictions o god or the prophet
Muhammad !ere not allo!ed. +he service area could hold a lot more people %ust li(e the &i(h service
so overall it had more similarities !ith &i(hism. +here is also a huge dentation in the ront o the !all"
!hich sho!s the direction o Mecca" the direction that everyone prays in.
Rituals
Buddhism
A mon( conducting the service !as a mon( reading rom a boo( that !e could ollo! along !ith i
!e had a boo( because the boo( !as !ritten in 3nglish and 'urman. Although there is no oicial or
set boo( o prayer there !as this one !e !ere given at the entrance" it is not considered holy li(e in
other religions. 4uring the service # noticed ater every section !e !ould be have to chant 50m mani
padme hum6 # thought it sounded really cool even though the ma%ority o us did not chant along it !as
still nice eeling. &ince not many real members attended that day not many people !ere involved in the
service. Ater the service the mon( !as very nice and !elcomed everyone as i he (ne! them. *hen #
sa! this # made the connection o the idea o being compassionate to!ards all other people and it
sho!ed me that they really did see the !orld dierently and !ere very (ind hearted even to
nonmembers.
Sikhism
+he prayer or &i(hism !as really dierent than the 'uddhism because the !hole prayer !as a
song" in act the !hole sacred scripture is !ritten in a poetic orm and must be sung. *hen the
conductor started the prayer they had the lyrics o the prayer pro%ected on the !all in both 2urbani and
3nglish. 4uring prayer people !ould also go up to the 2ranth &ahib and put money by it and bo!
do!n to it. +here is a lot o emphasi-e put on the 2ranth &ahib" it is holy boo( !hich is also their last
guru" !hich is completely dierent than the 'uddhist boo(. +hey believe that in 2ranth &ahib is the
ans!er to any problem you have. #n some parts o the service there !ere some o youth that !ent in
ront o the chamber to present their research that they have done on some o the most important gurus.
+his # believe !as important to them to sho! that the youth !as also involved in the religion. +here
!ere also a e! people that !ent up to recite parts o the 2ranth &ahib because anyone is allo!ed to do
so. 'ut or the most part most people !ere %ust sitting do!n on loor singing along. +here !ere at the
least ten times as many people at the &i(h service than the 'uddhist service so there !ere many more
people participating in the prayer.
Islam
+he prayer that everyone is obligated to do is called a &alah. #t consist o a the repetition o a prayer
!hile bo!ing do!n then going do!n to the loor" bo!ing do!n again get up" and then bo!ing do!n
again. 3veryone !ho is a member and is physically capable o doing so" do it at the same time !hen
service conductor begins the prayer. +he similarity bet!een &i(hism and 'uddhism is that they are all
reciting their prayers in a dierent language other than 3nglish. +hey do spea( in 3nglish to conduct
the service but not to do the actual prayer. 7or the #slamic prayer they get it rom the Holy 8ur,an" is
their sacred text. /ust li(e in &i(hism they ta(e the holy text as very important because it is the !ords
that came right rom god !hich !ere given to the prophet Mohammad. #n #slam they don,t let anyone
go read rom the 8ur,an li(e they do in &i(hism" there is only a select e! that can but !omen are
deinatley not allo!ed to go do!n on the lo!er level and recite the 8ur,an. Although everyone !as
very nice # remember !hen # !as leaving someone as(ed me 5Ho! you doing brother96" !hich sho!s
ho! close !ith the community they are.
Emotional Atmosphere
Buddhism
*hat # understood !ere some o the main belies o this aith" are: that all lie is ull o suering
and the !ay to end suering is by gaining (no!ledge and letting go o anything that !ill give you a
sense o permanence in the !orld. Another belie that # understood rom it is that you must not hurt
others including any other living animal and you must be compassionate to all other lie %ust li(e the
'uddha !as. # did notice ho! compassionate the mon( !as to complete strangers and visitors o the
temple. +hey also have the usual belies that most other aiths and cultures consider a taboo li(e
stealing or lying to others. +his religion vie!s lie as suering. #t believes that suering is every!here
but there is a !ay to end this suering. +hey do believe in reincarnation but they don,t believe in an
eternal soul. +hey can reach 1irvana to end the cycle o reincarnation and use the help o some deities"
!hich are 'odhisattva. 'odhisattva,s are people !ho !ere capable o reaching 1irvana but !ould
rather stay here and help others on their %ourney.
Sikhism
0ne thing # probably en%oyed most about the service !as ho! respectul and (ind people !ere
there. +he :atholic church that # have gone to in the past" there !ere al!ays been people staring at me
loo(ing at me up and do!n %udging me. 'ut at this service everyone !as minding their o!n business
not staring at any o the ne! visitors that !ere obviously not members o this religion. +his really
relects bac( to there belies that !e tal(ed about in class about treating others nice and helping others
that need the help. Also respecting other religions and other people o dierent races and not %udging us
because !e loo(ed dierent. +he service leaders speciically said that in their religion" they respect all
other religions and %ust see them as another path to reaching 2od. 0ne similarity !ith 'uddhism is that
they believe in reincarnation except they believe in an eternal soul. 'ut it is a little dierent than
'uddhism since they do not believe in a god. Also they believe every living animal has a living soul
li(e 'uddhist and are vegetarian. &o the ood they served !as great and !as glad that it !as also
vegetarian so !as very convenient.
Islam
+he irst o the 7ive ;illars o #slam is &hadaha" the belie that there is no god but Allah and his
messenger Muhammad. +his already ma(es it very dierent rom &i(hism and 'uddhism" they also
believe in an ater lie but not in reincarnation. +he second one is &alat" !hich re.uires them to pray
ive times a day and 'uddhist nor &i(hs are re.uired to pray that oten. +he third pillar is a re.uired
tax that everyone is re.uired to pay to help out those that are in need. +his is similar to &i(hism belie
o helping donate to the community and other in need also. &a!m is the period o asting during the
month o )amadan in daylight hours. #n &i(hism the do not encourage asting unless it is or health
reasons but since 'uddha asted a lot" 'uddhist are more o(ay !ith it but not extreme asting. +he ith
pillar o #slam is Ha%%" the pilgrimage to Mecca !hich all Muslims should ma(e i they are capable o
doing so. +his is similar to the ;ilgrimage that many &i(hs ma(e to the golden temple o Amritsar. 0ne
o the ma%or dierences o #slam and &i(hs are the gender rights that Muslims have but in in &i(hism
both genders are e.ual.
Conclusion
+here !ere many similarities bet!een all o these religions" most notable ones had to do
!ith the !ay rituals and prayer !ere conducted and their sacred space. 'ut there !ere huge dierences
in their belies especially !ith #slam. # am grateul to have learned about all these religions and
attending their service because # too !as very ignorant about both &i(hism and #slam. 3ver since
&eptember << terrorist attac(" the media directed hate to!ards Muslims but !hen # !ent to the service #
learned ho! nice and interesting it they are. $no!ing a little more about these religions helped me
appreciate all the good things about them.