Shelby Ball

12/7/14
World Religions
Suzzane Jacobs

Final Comparison Paper

Before taking the class and attending the religion field trips, I knew little about
other types of religions. I was familiar with some, but knew very little compared to what I
know now. I chose to write my comparison paper on the Sikh, Christian, and Buddhist
field trips. While all are a type of religion, they vary in many different ways and beliefs.
For example, Sikhism and Christianity are monotheistic religions, while Buddhism is a
polytheistic religion. But at the same time, Sikhism and Christianity are still very
different even though they believe in one God.
The first religion to discuss is Buddhism. Buddhists believe in the Three Gems
which are the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. They believed in the Buddha's life
and his teachings, which is dharma. Dharma also contains the four noble truths which are
1. Suffering exists 2. The cause of suffering 3. The conditions of suffering and 4. The
path to removing the conditions that cause suffering. Sangha is a monastic tradition and
contains Mahayana. The Buddhists believe in liberation from rebirth, or samsara as well
as "All life is marked by 3 experiences: All things suffer, all things are impermanent, and
all things are interdependent. There is no soul, there is only what is."

The Christians believe in God, Jesus Christ who is the incarnation of God as his
son, and the Holy Spirit. They believe that attending church/mass every Sunday,
repenting for all of their sins, and reading scriptures from the Holy Bible will allow you
to go to heaven and live with God and his angels. They believe in the Holy Bible as their
sacred text, which is a compilation of old and new testaments.
Lastly, the Sikhs believe in God and that he is the one God. The goal in life is to
come to know god and do this by meditating, songs of prayers or Kirtan, and by living a
compassionate life towards others. They believe that all man kind is equal and do not
discriminate against race, gender, or social class. They also believe in reincarnation and
karma, and ending reincarnation by living a non-egocentric life. The scriptures of the
Sikhs is called the Adi Granth/Sri Guru Granth Sahib, which was written by previous
Gurus, or teachers.
In general, I think that Sikhism is a combination of Buddhism and Christianity in
that they believe in one god, but incorporate meditation, reincarnation, and karma into
their ceremonies and beliefs. Buddhism and Christianity are quite distinct from each
other. While the Buddhist believe in accepting that suffering exists and that there are
ways to remove it, the Christianity religion solely relies on the worship of god and the
repenting of sins. I feel like with Christianity its more like trying to save ones self from
damnation and to praise god. However, Buddhists seem more relaxed and just try to
remove suffering from their lives, as well as other peoples lives.
The ceremonies of the three religions in question are very different from each
other as well. They all consist of worship, love and devotion but are displayed in different

ways. Each religions ceremony has a different atmosphere and energy. I think that the
most upbeat or exciting of the three religions is the Sikhism religion, because they play a
lot of music involving drums, which makes things more lively. On the other hand, the
most relaxing or calming service to attend was the Buddhism religion, due to the fact that
there was a lot of meditation and chanting involved.
The Buddhist ceremony, or puja, was a teaching ceremony meant to introduce the
Buddhist religion. Throughout the puja there was visual and breathing meditation,
mantras/chants, and prayers. Most of it was in English but there were parts of the prayers
in Tibetan. The purpose of the meditation, mantras, prayers, etc. were to remove suffering
from ones self and others, including all realms of existence.
The Christian service or mass, consisted of songs, prayers, and sermons. Songs
were sung both by the fathers/Frs. and the congregation, as well as played on the organ.
There were prayers throughout the service, both silent/private prayers and prayers
involving everyone. The songs purpose was to remember the sacrifice Jesus made and to
praise and show love for God. The prayers were directed to god and were meant to ease
life for ones self and others. They also burned incense, used bread and water/wine in the
sacrament, and had a small pool at the back to dip your fingers in holy water.
The Sikhism Sangat or worship ceremony, consisted of the priests or bhais who
prayed through song/Kirtan, completed a sermon, and gave communion to the
Sangat/congregation, which consisted of a dough like substance. The purpose of the
Kirtan was to pray, praise god, and ask god for blessings, forgiveness, and understanding.
They believe that god is abstract and is in pure spirit.

The ways that the three religions expressed their beliefs were different as well. For
instance, at the Buddhist temple there was a glass picture at the entrance depicting the 6
realms of existence. The beliefs were also represented during the puja in the chants and
meditation. The main idea from the puja was compassion and pity, which directly
connects to the idea of suffering. The emotional/mood observations I made at the temple
also correlate to the beliefs of the Buddhists in that they care about all people and living
things and don't want anyone to suffer. The man directing the service at the temple, Mark,
said that being a Buddhist has been difficult in that now he can not kill a spider; he must
use a paper and cup to put it outside.
The beliefs of Christianity were very obvious in my physical observations of the
cathedral because of all of the paintings. I feel that they represented their beliefs
extremely efficiently on the walls. You could see the crucification of Jesus, angels
watching over, and God standing right above Jesus. They showed their love for god and
Jesus in the prayers and songs as well. In looking at the people in the congregation, I
could definitely tell that they displayed that love for god. Everyone seemed very devoted
and excited to sing and pray to god.
The Sikhs belief in loving god is similar to that of the Christians in that they show
their love of him through songs and prayers. They also believe that god is abstract and is
spirit, so there were no paintings, drawings, etc. of him at all. The Kirtan with the songs
and prayers showed their love for god and the songs taught to be good, love god, and to
be understanding of others.
While there are a lot of differences between the three religions and their

ceremonies, there are also a lot of similarities. For instance, all of the participants at each
of the services were very kind and eager to help. None of them were judgmental and were
happy to have us all there. Although they were at times intimidating, especially at the
Sikhism Gurdwara, I enjoyed my time at each of them.