Daoism And Buddhism Similarities

Buddhism and Hinduism come from the same region, India. Both of them are very focused on nature, the things around them, though they both believe in several hells and heavens, or higher and lower worlds. They both believe in karma which is the affect a person’s actions in this life will change his next life. Another point is that both religions focus on peace, and non violence towards all living things. They are compassionate, which ties into their focus on nature. Buddhism and Hinduism also believe in various spiritual practices such as meditation, concentration, and states of mind. Desire is the largest cause of suffering in both of the faiths. Another likeness is they both believe in reincarnation, and salvation. They believe the good deeds of a person are their work for salvation and their salvation will decide their next life, when they are reincarnated. Also, they both believe that there are many paths to enlightenment, such as overcoming your feelings and controlling over the six senses. Both religions are more philosophical then religious. Buddhists and Hindus both practice many forms of yoga and meditation

Though there were a lot of effects which resulted out of crusades, there were numerous impacts too:

Our world has been a male dominated society from the beginning of time. In most cultures, especially in ancient times, women were thought of as secondary to their male counterparts. Women were considered a possession just as a house or piece of property is considered a possession. The role of women in these early societies did not receive an education but was to take care of the household and have children. The women of the Minoan and Mycenaean ancient Greece cultures held much more roles than homemakers and mothers; they were allowed more freedoms and rights also oracles, priestesses, and political advisors yet they are also seen by men as nothing more than a mere possession.

Gender roles of diverse cultures have differed immensely throughout history. The evolution of gender roles first began in the Paleolithic Age and then began to transform with the transformation of the Paleolithic Age to the Neolithic Age. Women in Mesopotamia, India, Greece, China, and Rome were not treated as equals and viewed as inferior to men. Cultures like Egypt and Persia had similar laws for women and treated them with more respect out of any of the other cultures.

The Crusade influenced the Middle ages in many ways, such as: adding to the Church’s control over Europe and their wealth, increased the Pope’s, or papacy’s, power, caused men and supplies to be requested frequently which resulted in many deaths (both muslim and christian), knights and barons sold their manor and lands or died which caused feudalism to become rocky in Europe, brought about the code of chivalry, people developed new ideas and began to grow smarter in what is called the “Age of Learning,” led to the discovery of new countries in the undiscovered areas of Asia, and commerce and trade grew due to the necessities that the Crusaders asked for.

Before the first Crusade, Western Europe had become a place with not much progress, confined from other civilizations and hidden in the Dark Ages that had gone down on Western Christendom after the collapse of the Roman Empire. At the time of the first Crusade, the Middle East and Western Europe were greatly divided. The Crusades contributed to the end of Western Europe’s global isolation by introducing an era in which Western Europe came into direct contact with the large trade routes that united their civilization with Asia.

Looking throughout history, there are many instances in which cultures and ideologies mirror biological and scientific phenomena. Often ideas will propagate much like a species would in certain environments. Like Darwin’s finches, notions regarding religion, culture, or any other system of thought, struggle to survive through competition with other systems of ideas. Instead of having offspring that are able to survive longer, these ideologies will fight for converts to further the spread of their beliefs. But in nature it is rare that two species will actually come to learn how to live with each other, and adapt to become stronger from their interaction. Much like when Buddhism immigrated to China, carrying ideals similar to the native Daoist principles, the interaction between the two religions triggered a drastic change in both. This syncretism occurred on account of the competition in the Chinese environment. Specifically, both held similar beliefs, which caused the two to fall into direct competition. In particular, the entry of Buddhism in China was accomplished by way of using Daoist principles and former Daoist to spread their beliefs, which immediately impacted Buddhism by means of its translation. The early success of Buddhism in China forced Daoism to either adapt or become extinct. This interaction between the two caused both to adapt and develop similar religious

The Crusades were a series of defensive wars fought by European Christians against Muslims for control of the holy lands. Christians violently and ruthlessly persecuted and destroyed Jews and Muslims on their way to the holy land leaving Christians with a tyrannous reputation among these people. Before the Crusades Europe was in the Dark Ages, there was little education and very few people could read and educate themselves. Also, the Christian church had all the power. Pope Urban II called Christians to fight in the Crusades and to defend the holy land which they believed belonged to them. A new middle class was also created, middle class citizens made their profit from buying and selling property and collecting interest on loans. The Crusades led to a huge expansion of the European world. Peasants and serfs

Women throughout time have experienced position changes more times than can be counted. Not just in modern times, gender roles began in the B.C.E era. In Egypt and India, gender roles were a huge part of society. In both locations, male’s word was law. What they said was the final answer and a woman could not change that. The gender distinctions were similar in ways that women had minimal power in familiar locations, like their homes. They had a small opinion about certain subjects, but they never ventured out of the comfort zone of subjects they were allowed to discuss. Men were treated better than women, yes, but the power women held was used for some of the most important topics.

Many of the technologies that arose during the Crusades has affected the way that we live today. Perhaps one of the areas that saw the most impressive developments was the nautical industry. From navigation to steering and power, everything about the way boats and sailors worked together was changed, creating the Age of Exploration.

Oriental culture has been shaped by countless ideals, but two notable religions, Daoism and Japanese Zen Buddhism, played a crucial role in influencing the beliefs of the Asian community. Daoism emphasized unity with the Way, Though Daoism and Zen Buddhism emphasized different societal aspects and utilized various training techniques, they both aimed to achieve a similar religious goal of escaping worldly suffering. Daoism was influenced by Chinese traditions and aspired to harmonize oneself with the Dao, otherwise known as the Way. Daoist tradition placed a strong emphasis on the importance of qi, jing and awareness of relativity of perspective. Daoism believed in Qi, vital energy, and Jing, vital essence that was the basis of health, vitality and psychological well-being (The Inner Cultivation Tradition of Early Daoism, PAGE).

As civilizations began to emerge from the dust of their prehistoric ancestors, males became the dominant gender, decreasing the value of their female counterparts with every passing generation. Females were often seen as property, and female children were sometimes viewed as a punishment from the gods. It was a well-known rule in ancient times that females were inferior and had to be properly brought up, not as contributors to society, but only as mothers and housewives. However, sometimes that rule was broken. One society dared to break that rule, and developed their own system of women's rights.

Daoism means “Followers of the way”, although Dao does not means only “way”. According to the BBC religion, the word Dao or Tao can include several concepts such as “the source of creation”, “the ultimate”, “the unnameable” ,“the way of nature as a whole”, “the natural universe as a whole” and “the inexpressible and indefinable.” In Taoism they believe in way of living in which there were not many rules and believes in the philosophy of inaction. They say that you can find happiness through nature and harmony. Also this is where yin and yang come from. As we can see, there are major differences between Daoism and Confucianism, but one of them is very important, the life after death.

Ancient cultures treated women more as property than people. The cultures that I will proceed to talk about are Mesopotamia, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans and how differently yet how equally treated women. Women were more of a household decoration to the men of each culture, all they did was cook, clean, and be a mother to the children. When the men got home the women were expected to make him happy no matter what.

“Thus the Crusades contributed to the introduction of new products and helped create the conditions that led to modern methods of finance ” (Anderson). The Crusades ended up improving and creating new methods and tools which helped advance finance that is normally used currently. Another effect the Crusades had on the Europeans were the realization that Muslims were not what they thought they were. “Moreover, the discovery that all Muslims were not savage beasts, that profit lay in trade relations with them, and that coexistence was possible, must have broadened the outlook of those who made the discovery” (Anderson). Europeans discovered that it was possible they could live together in peace regardless of religious differences and by trading with one another both sides benefit from each other.