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Introduction
Buddhism has long been associated with theories related to individual and societal peace. Though these are key results of practices in this religion, very few people understand teachings and practices enabling Buddhism to be so successful in the facilitation of peace. This paper thus looks into the framework behind Buddhism’s peace mechanisms, religious practices, and relations with other ideologies, religions, and political groupings. The three subsequent sections of the essay would concentrate on various aspects of religion concerning peacebuilding. A conclusion noting some important points shall follow.
Buddhism’s Vision for Peace
Buddhism holds that peace-building should not come after a war, which is what many individuals tend to think. This religion holds that making peace should serve as a preventative measure against a war that could occur (Kimball 89). In this regard, it is up to individuals in society to ensure that peace is cultivated among themselves, so confrontations can be avoided. This is contrary to what many people in the world would think of peace. Indeed, all peace-building processes being undertaken in the world are a result of war, meaning that world leaders tend to run when harm has already taken place.
The world community should learn from Buddhism that creating foundations for peace during peaceful conditions is the best measure of avoiding confrontations and wars that have come to characterize living conditions in various world regions. The main reason for this Buddhism teaches is that by encouraging people in the communities to live in peace with neighbors, chances of conflicts would greatly be diminished (Narayan 141). Taking such measures would save the world a lot of resources being used in healing processes after conflicts; it has to be considered that creating foundations of peace before the confrontation is way cheaper than subsequent healing processes.
The facilitation of peace during calm periods means that societies would avoid confrontations that characterize peace negotiations after wars. Such nonviolence processes of achieving peace are one of the key foundations for Buddhism’s foundation for peace. This nonviolence approach has a greater advantage of having many people contribute to the process. Indeed, it is likely that individuals would feel more comfortable taking part in the process, meaning that successful decisions agreeable to all parties would be agreed upon. Achieving such high expectations in peace-building processes that take place after violent confrontations can prove to be an uphill task for all participants.
To achieve the best results in the process of peace creation and prevention of conflicts, Buddhism requires the use of all-inclusive approaches (Jayatilleke 58). All stakeholders in communities should therefore be involved in the process. As just mentioned, it is possible that community members would most likely feel obliged to take part in the process. This all-inclusive process avoids infighting that is likely to be found in healing processes. The latter process could be characterized by the blame games on who was the main cause for wars that brought the community to the negotiation table. Such benefits of enabling peace before wars should be encouraged among world societies.
How Religions Become Evil
Most religions in the world are established to help adherents to live in peace with neighbors and world communities. Indeed, religions are consistently used in peace facilitation processes. This is not different in Buddhism, a religion that has been famed for its success in creating foundations for peace in and among individuals. The strength of Buddhism in achieving peace is buried in its teachings, which encourage adherents to first establish peace within themselves (Kenneth 101). It is this internal peace in individuals that later spreads to the community; having many individuals with internal calm negotiate peace in the community has a higher propensity to succeed.
However, world religions have the weakness of having adherents believe that only their religion is the right one and none else. Such thoughts lead to prejudice against believers of other fails. As a result, having several individuals in the community with such extreme thoughts in communities could be disastrous in peace-finding missions. Indeed, it sometimes happens that individuals’ extreme beliefs may be the ones resulting in conflicts. Conflicts resulting from such religious beliefs could become as fatal as those caused by other reasons. Religious ones may prove harder to control as it is equally hard to change beliefs or force extremist believers to accept other religions.
Believing that one’s religion is the world’s best could lead to a situation where believers are starting to follow their beliefs blindly. This means that adherents do not care readily about scriptures as and interpreting them in ways that they should be. In some cases,
believers with little skills in interpreting religious texts end up misleading others by looking for other meanings. Instead of reading texts and trying to understand their meaning and relation to world experiences, these individuals happen to take their own beliefs and religious teachings as cover. They then embark on causing aggressions on other religious believers with religious teachings as pretexts.
The just mentioned religious behavior is what causes holy wars between religions. Even religions that have been at the forefront of cultivating peace, such as Buddhism, have not been saved from this problem. This is because believers in such faiths find it important to defend themselves against aggression from extremists from other faiths. Though it can be said that self-protection is justified, some religions go the too far length of causing greater harm to their aggressors. Some other religions could just claim that is being attacked, to use that pretext to attack their purported assailants. This trend has become common in several regions of the world.
Buddhism Relations
Other than inter-relational conflicts described in the above sections, it can increasingly be observed that world religions increasingly gravitate towards developing political interests that result in joining hands with the political class. It is no longer unique to see religions controlling national or local governments. Buddhism has also been affected by this tendency in some Asian regions. Indeed, some Buddhism leaders have been at the forefront of political associations with politicians of similar views. This is however hard to avoid because politics is all about representing interests to authorities, especially legislative houses. In addition, it has to be understood that members of world religions have to exercise their democratic rights.
Buddhism’s relations with other modern and traditional ideologies have been quite positive. This is cultivated rough tolerance seen in this religion. Individuals practicing the faith are encouraged to be tolerant of other individuals’ views. Owing to the tolerance being exemplified by Buddhism, many other traditional religious ideologies exemplify greater acceptance of the faith, meaning that they reciprocate by showing tolerance. This interrelation has resulted in peace and good relation with the faiths. In reiteration, Buddhism has been successful in such endeavors because of its bottom-up approach to relationships in and among communities. In this regard, members of the faith start cultivating peace in their souls before embarking on the larger community. Only then can peace be achieved in straddling world communities. This relation between Buddhism and traditional ideologies has been replicated in with other major religions; the religion has been tolerant of small and big religions. Again, this relationship with other religions has been achieved through the encouragement of adherents to first cultivate peace in their souls before embarking on spreading the same to neighbors, other congregations, and political groupings.
The success of Buddhism in establishing foundations for peace has resulted in the faith being taken as the most peaceful one (Smith & Novak 120). Other religions in the world have a lot to learn from Buddhism experiences. First, they have to learn that successful cultivation of peace starts with individuals, not with leaders. This is considering that other religions have concentrated on relying on leadership to cultivate peace within their congregations and with other faiths. These religions have also relied on senior leadership to cultivate peace with and positive relationships with political groupings. Success in both situations has been minimal. To ensure all religions achieve positive cohesion within communities, they have to start relying on adherents themselves other than the current reliance on leadership. Adherents themselves should feel obliged to shoulder that burden, leading to the establishment of peaceful communities worldwide.
References
Jayatilleke, Kulatissa. Buddhism and Peace. Budhist Publishers, Delhi, 1969.
Kraft, Kenneth. World Peace and Inner Peace. Sunny, Buffalo.1992.
Kimball, Charles. Inside World Religions. Harper Collins. New York, 2003.
Narayan, Sachindra. Buddhism Contribution to World Peace. Inter-India, Delhi, 1998.
Smith & Novak. Buddhism: An Introduction, Harper Collins, New York. 2004.
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