Belief Systems There Are Numerous

Belief Systems There are numerous belief systems that are practiced with fervor all over the world at any given time. The charm of a belief system is that it naturally entails a huge fan following, especially in the region where it was founded and developed, and therefore it serves to influence the people in that region to a great extent. Let me take the example of 'Buddhism'.

This is a major religion that is practiced all over the world, and has a wide range of systems and beliefs that are religiously and rigorously adhered to by its followers. The founder of Buddhism is said to be Siddharta Gautama, during the years from 566 BC to 480 BC. Gautama was stated to be the son of an Indian warrior king, and enjoyed all the privileges of his highborn status through the early years of his life.

When he tired of riches and wealth, he set out in search of the eternal truth and understanding. It was during his travels that he met at first an old man, and then a sick man, then encountered a corpse, and then met an ascetic.

(Buddhism: an Introduction) These coincidental encounters convinced Gautama that at the end of all existence there lay a sea of 'suffering', and he decided to become a monk to think over this and meditate on the truth of existence and of the world around him, under a 'Bodhi' tree. After a long period of meditation, he achieved salvation and discovered the truth of how to be free from suffering and attain salvation in the process. After this incident, Gautama became known as the Buddha.

The essence of the teachings of Buddha is the 'Four Fold Path' or the 'Four Noble Truths', which are: the truth of suffering, the cause of suffering, the end of suffering, and the path that leads to the end of suffering. Suffering, as Buddha refers to it, is a practical and realistic way to deal with the world as it is, and does not mean actual suffering.

The concept of 'Karma' in Buddhism refers to the good and the bad acts committed by a person during his life, and this affects the Buddhist cycle of 'Rebirth', wherein those people with a favorable Karma will be reborn into a fortunate realm, and those with a bad Karma will be born into an unfortunate realm.

This in fact affects and influences the basic behavior and the culture of those people who follow the ethics of Buddhists, and they will try to improve their karma by doing good deeds so that they may be reborn in a lucky realm. (Buddhism: an Introduction) Another belief system that exerts a great influence on the cultural behavior of its followers is that of Judaism.

This religion is one of the oldest in the entire Western world, and has served to cast certain influences on both Christianity as well as on Islam. The people who follow this religion are known as Jews, and there are about fifteen million Jews all over the world at the present time.

The Hebrew were the ancestors of Jews, and the ancestry has been traced back to the times of Abraham, in 2200 BC, when Abraham left his home in Mesopotamia and served to influence his followers, also known as Hebrews, to found an entire nation on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea that they called Israel. The Hebrew were monotheistic, that is, they only believed in one single God, and also that they were among the very few 'chosen people' of God.

It is said that he Hebrew escaped to Egypt from a devastating famine, and consequently were captured and enslaved by the Egyptians. It is also said that God sent down ten deadly plagues onto the people of Egypt to force them to release the Hebrew slaves. (Mr.

Dowling's Judaism Page) When the Hebrew managed to escape, it is said that Moses, who was the Hebrew leader, parted the Red Sea juts in time to let them pass onto the other side, and letting the sea envelop the Egyptian army that was following them. It was at this time that Moses was allowed to read the 'Ten Commandments' of God, and it is these Ten Commandments that form the basis of Jewish as well as Christian principles and thoughts.

Over the years the Hebrew were forced to leave Israel and settle elsewhere, and eventually, after the Israel nation was created in 1948, most Hebrews settled down there. As a people, the Jews have suffered the maximum amount of mistreatment at the hands of various leaders and others over the ages. In certain despicable acts carried out by man against man,.