In addition, they have been converted to Zen Buddhism, with its glorification of all that is `` natural '' and mysteriously alive, the sense that everything in the world is flowing.

And Zen Buddhism, though it is extremely difficult to understand how these internal contradictions are reconciled, helps them in their struggle to achieve personal salvation through sexual release.

Love and compassion are components of all forms of Buddhism, and are focused on all beings equally: love is the wish that all beings be happy, and compassion is the wish that all beings be free from suffering.

" Many would agree with the Dalai Lama that Buddhism as a religion is kindness toward others.

In the context of larger ethical discussions on moral action and judgment, Buddhism is characterized by the belief that negative ( unhappy ) consequences of our actions derive not from punishment or correction based on moral judgment, but from the law of karma, which functions like a natural law of cause and effect.

In Buddhism, karma ( Pāli kamma ) is strictly distinguished from vipāka, meaning " fruit " or " result ".

In Buddhism, karma is not the only cause of all that happens.

This view of karma is in contradiction to Buddhism, Jainism and other Indian religions that do view karma as a law of cause and effect.

Many religions, whether they believe in the soul's existence in another world like Christianity, Islam and many pagan belief systems, or in reincarnation like many forms of Hinduism and Buddhism, believe that one's status in the afterlife is a reward or punishment for their conduct during life.

Likewise a popular Hindu ritual form of worship of North Malabar in Kerala, India is the Tabuh Rah blood offering to Theyyam gods, despite being forbidden in the Vedic philosophy of sattvic Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism, Theyyam deities are propitiated through the cock sacrifice where the religious cockfight is a religious exercise of offering blood to the Theyyam gods.

In fact, Buddhism, in its fundamental form, does not define what is right and what is wrong in absolute terms for lay followers.

Therefore the interpretation of what kinds of sexual activity are acceptable for a layman is not a religious matter as far as Buddhism is concerned.

Buddhism teaches that all craving, including sexual craving, is a hindrance to enlightenment.

It is an important tenet of some Indian religions ( Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism ).

Another view of the Buddhist theory of the self, especially in early Buddhism, is that the Buddhist theory is essentially an eliminativist theory.

In Buddhism, a bodhisattva ( bodhisattva ; bodhisatta ) is either an enlightened ( bodhi ) existence ( sattva ) or an enlightenment-being or, given the variant Sanskrit spelling satva rather than sattva, " heroic-minded one ( satva ) for enlightenment ( bodhi ).

Mahāyāna Buddhism is based principally upon the path of a bodhisattva.

In Mahāyāna Buddhism life in this world is compared to people living in a house that is on fire.

For example, in Burma and Ceylon many Buddhists argue that Buddhism ought to be the official state religion.

Unlike the Vedic religion, ancient Buddhism had strong misgivings about violent ways of punishing criminals and about war.

Remnants of the old society were abolished and religion, particularly Buddhism and Catholicism, was suppressed.

Buddhism became the predominant religion for common people.

The power of the Buddhist clergy was so great and the wealth of the monasteries so impressive, that it instigated criticism from Confucian scholars, who considered Buddhism as a foreign religion.

Historically, most states where the official religion is Buddhism have imposed capital punishment for some offenses.

For example, Bhutan has abolished the death penalty, but Thailand still retains it, although Buddhism is the official religion in both.

The Britannica does not cover topics in equivalent detail ; for example, the whole of Buddhism and most other religions is covered in a single Macropædia article, whereas 14 articles are devoted to Christianity, comprising nearly half of all religion articles.

In the 1st century, the land became part of the Kushan Empire whose official religion was Buddhism.

With the introduction of a new religion to the court, a deep rift developed between the Mononobe clan, who supported the worship of Japan's traditional deities, and the Soga clan, who supported the adoption of Buddhism.

The term ‘ Hindu ’ came to include persons professing any Indian religion ( i. e. Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism or Sikhism ) after India became an independent country

During this period, aspects of Indian civilization, administration, culture, and religion ( Hinduism and Buddhism ) spread to much of Asia.

Founded by Maharaja Sri-Gupta, the dynasty was the model of a classical civilization. Maurya and Gupta empires are called as the Golden Age of India and were marked by extensive inventions and discoveries in science, technology, art, religion and philosophy that crystallized the elements of what is generally known as Indian culture. The religions of Hinduism and Buddhism, which began in India, were an important influence on South, East and Southeast Asia

Other examples of syncretism include Judeo-Paganists, a loosely organized set of Jews who incorporate pagan or Wiccan beliefs with some Jewish religious practices, like Messianic Judaism ; Jewish Buddhists, another loosely organized group that incorporates elements of Asian spirituality in their faith ; and some Renewal Jews who borrow freely and openly from Buddhism, Sufism, Native American religion, and other faiths.

His laws tended to target wealthy and educated Christians, and his aim was not to destroy Christianity but to drive the religion out of " the governing classes of the empire — much as Buddhism was driven back into the lower classes by a revived Confucian mandarinate in 13th century China.

The predominant religion is Theravada Buddhism.

Their culture was nomadic, their religion Shamanism or Buddhism and their military strength formidable.

In the 1576 the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism became the state religion of the Mongols.

In the most recent census in Mongolia, almost forty percent of the population reported as being atheist, while the majority religion was Buddhism, with 53 %.

Buddhism became the dominant religion in the Maldives and enjoyed royal patronage for many centuries, probably as long as over one thousand and four hundred years.

The document known as Dhanbidhū Lōmāfānu gives information about the suppression of Buddhism in the southern Haddhunmathi Atoll, which had been a major center of that religion.

Weber's work in the field of sociology of religion started with the essay The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism and continued with the analysis of The Religion of China: Confucianism and Taoism, The Religion of India: The Sociology of Hinduism and Buddhism and Ancient Judaism.

The Religion of India: The Sociology of Hinduism and Buddhism was Weber's third major work on the sociology of religion.