Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
Life After Death Different Cultures
LIFE AFTER DEATH
What Lies Beyond Death
Islam
Islam was founded in 622 A.D by Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon Him) in the Holy city of Makkah. It developed in the Middle East in the 7th century and according to Islamic Encyclopedia, Islam is one of the major and widely spread religions of the world (Campo, 2009).
The Holy Book of Muslims, "Quran" states that this life is a trial, and this world is a place where humans prepare themselves for the next and eternal life. According to the doctrine of Islam, death is the end of a physical life. After this life, a new period of rest begins in which the soul remains in the kind of sleep. Muslims also believe that in this position of rest, the righteous people are able to see visions of God while the wicked see the vision of hell. This position continues until the day of resurrection comes which will be the beginning of a never-ending life.
The day of resurrection will also be the Day of Judgment; God will create all human beings once again and will judge and reward them accordingly. Everyone will be compensated on this day according to his good or evil deeds. God will do justice on this Day of Judgment; He will show His mercy on all those who bear pain in this world and waited for the eternal life. God will reward heaven to them as they believed in oneness of God and followed the teachings of Prophet Muhammad. In contrast, those who did not follow God's commands, abused His bounties and did not remember Him in this world, will be thrown into hell. Many Muslims also have a faith that that those sent to hell will also come back to heaven after the period of purification of their sins that they did in this temporary world.
Buddhism
Buddhism is also one of the major and widely spread...
It was founded in late 6th century by Siddhartha Gautama, "the Lord Buddha." Most of the Buddhists have a belief that a person is born several times and he remembers his previous life incidents in his present life. This is a concept known as 'reincarnation' in which it is assumed that the existence of humans in this world is not only temporary but also cyclic.
Lord Buddha accepted the basic Hindu tenet of reincarnation and karma and gave the lesson that the aim of the religious life is to break the death and rebirth cycle. According to this belief, every person goes through the process of birth and rebirth until the time comes when he brakes this cycle and reaches in the state of Nirvana. Nirvana is a state of liberation; in which a person sets free from sufferings.
According to teachings of Buddha, humans should try to set themselves free from the desires of the world and reach the state of Nirvana, which means liberation. The deeds of their present life will have an effect on their future births; therefore, people should make their heart and soul free from desires and makes efforts to achieve the state of Nirvana.
Lord Buddha declared that the human desire for wanting things in this world keep the humans bound with the death and rebirth process. He further stated that only the good deeds of the people could make their coming lives peaceful; sins and bad deeds greatly affect and ruin the future incarnations (Taylor and Offner, 1975). The present life of a person is the result of his earlier incarnations; therefore, Buddhists have a goal to purify their heart and do good deeds in present lives.
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion; based on the teachings of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the revealer of God and saver of humanity in Christianity.…
References
Campo, J. (2009). Encyclopedia of Islam. Encyclopedia of World Religions.
Edwards, L. (2001). A Brief Guide to Believes, Ideas, Theologies, Mysteries and Movements. Westminster John
Knox Press.
Meyer, J. (1997). Christian Beliefs and Teachings, Second edition, University Press of America Inc.
Death Rituals of Different Cultures and Countries Death Rituals of different Cultures/Countries As the globe is full of numerous civilizations and cultures in a very diverse manner, similarly, their rituals, traditions and ceremonies related to life and death are also different from one another. The people belonging to these cultures have their own sets of beliefs that are witnessed through the ways they celebrate their occasions, festivals and even the death rituals
D.). For example, in the U.S., decisions are frequently delegated, that is, an official assigns responsibility for a particular matter to a subordinate. In many European nations, like Germany, there is a strong value placed on holding decision-making responsibilities oneself. When decisions are made by groups of people, majority rule is a common approach in the U.S. while in Germany consensus is the preferred mode. One should be conscious that
" (Willmott 2000) in other words, the reality of death is removed to the edges of culture and society; which means that the significance and reality of death is in effect 'anesthetized' by institutions such as the medicine and science. As Giddens states, death is avoided or excluded from common social life and from "…fundamental existential issues which raise central moral dilemmas for human beings." (Giddens 156) This suggests that the
2006, p.1). In Anglo culture, extremities of grief may be reserved for close family members, while in cultures where extended family is important, intense grief may be acceptable and expected, even for distant family members There is also greater acceptance of death in the Latino culture as a whole, as manifest in the almost festive 'Day of the Dead' rituals in that nation, in which children often participate, and
Life and death seem to be at opposite ends of the spectrum. In fact, death entails the absence of life. Yet without life, there would be no death, and without death, there would be no life as we know it. All living things eventually run their course and perish; some just beings live longer than others. Therefore, life and death are like two sides of the same coin because everything
Another example would be the various religious views which stress reincarnation as a central part of the death and this again invalidates the first four of Kubler-Ross's stages and focuses more on the acceptance stage. The Kubler-Ross stages have been extended by some theorists to include other aspect that are more in line with thinking where death is not seen in a negative light: for example, the view of death