Religions in East-Asia

Posted by Terya on August 25th, 2010 in Japan | Comments Off

The Asian continent is both the largest continent in size and in population. The different religions that are found most in East Asia include Buddhism, (Neo-)Confucianism, Taoism and Chinese folk religion and Shinto.

Today I’ll give you a brief insight into the first one: Buddhism.

The real Buddha is Siddhartha Gautama, also known as the Awakened One, who lived around the 2nd century BCE.

Buddhists believe that life doesn’t end with the death of a human being. Depending on how you lived your life, you get either good or bad karma. Judged by the karma, your dynamic energy (= not the soul) comes back to earth in a different form.

  1. Naraka beings live in hell
  2. Animals lower form of life
  3. Preta: inbetween form of existence, e.g. ghosts
  4. Human beings: one of the realms of rebirth in which attaining Nirvana is possible.
  5. Devas gods, deities, spirits or angels

Various sources put the number of Buddhists in the world between 230 million and 500 million.

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