Relate Spirituality with Buddhism and Christianity

A believer respects and honors all spirituality:
For a true Believer and Spiritualist, all religions preach the need for mankind to seek God and His forgiveness for our sins on earth, known and unknown.  A true believer is one who has immense and abiding faith in all religions, even outside his own. A true Christian also believes in Buddhism and Christianity, among other faiths, and also in the Gospels preached by Gautama Buddha and Lord Jesus Christ and his devout disciples and followers after him. A true Buddhist would not condemn, or deride Christianity just as a good Christian would not demean Buddhism, or any other religion; if he does so, he is not a true believer but a kafir, or non believer.

Introduction:
In this article, its author proposes to first examine the salient doctrines and teachings of Lord Gautama Buddha (Buddhism)  and also our Lord Jesus Christ ( Christianity) before considering the deeper aspects of spiritual quintessential of both Buddhism and Christianity and how it underpins and buttresses these major ad wonderful faiths, ardently practiced not only in their respective countries of origin, but in different parts of the world, and whose believers are only amassing with each passing day.

Supreme Being versus Supreme State:
As a matter of fact, Buddhism could be traced back to 361 BC when it first began known to exist in teachings of the Buddha to his disciplines. Another aspect about Buddhism, one of the oldest religions known on earth, is that it is indeed different and distinct from other religions. While other religions speak of the Supreme Being, Creator, seen as the Ultimate God, this religion considers the realization of a Supreme State, or Nirvana as of paramount importance. Thus, the essence in Buddhist docrination is not about individuals, or beings, but states of consciousness and spiritual awakening.  Another differentiation about Buddhism is that it attached more emphasis on the doing aspect, rather than on theorism, ritualism and spiritual practices. Other religious are more society bound, while Buddhism is individualistically bound. However, this is not to delude the other religions, since both Buddhism and other religions have the goal of realizing Ultimate Reality, only the paths followed to gain the Ultimate Reality may be different, depending on religious moorings and cultural impacts underlying them.

Christ’s resurrection is a essential part of Christian spirituality:
Coming to the theological aspects of Christianity, it is seen as one in which God, through Jesus Christ, seeks the redemption of sufferings, pains and torment in this world by taking the sufferings of mankind as his own, which leads on to his cruxification. The Resurrection of the Lord, “He is arisen” offers the glimmer of the salvation, redemption and hope for distressed mankind, and well answers the question of whether there is still salvation for tormented and distressed human souls. Indeed the essence of Christian spirituality has much to do with how humans could inculcate and practice the virtues of forgiveness, humility, chastity, altruism and humanistic sentiments to all living beings on Earth, to absorb the evils of others and purge their sins with one’s virtues and goodness.

Eight-Fold Path- essence of Buddhist spirituality:
It is now necessary to consider spiritual aspects of Buddhism which is essentially based on following the Eight –Fold path in terms of complete understanding, or vision, emotional control, control over speech, right and harmless actions, honest and ethical livelihood, due diligence, full awareness and mental consciousness and finally, being totally focused and full of concentrated energies.

Ultimate Spiritual Truths common to both Buddhism and Christianity: 
Buddhism, being essentially an empirical religion which dispenses with ritualism and idol worship, considers the self as most important and which constantly needs to seek and fulfill self purification through words, deeds and actions. It is based on the Ultimate Spiritual Truth that this world is full of sufferings and pain, humans would need to first find the roots and causes of their pains, identify what could end human sufferings, and seek freedom and redemption, or salvation from them through earnest and dedicated practice of the Eight fold Path. Christianity advocates abandoning the path of sin for peace, progression and spiritual prosperity.

Indeed, the spiritual teachings of Buddhism and Christianity have much in common.

Both advocate that -
1. Human sins are the cause of pains and sufferings in this material world
2. We need to seek deliverance through prayers, propitiation and surrender to the Lord
3. God, in his ultimate goodness and purity, would forgive our sins if we are truly repentant
4. The true way for redemption is to seek out the Lord and beseech Him
5. Materialistic desires are the main causes for human unhappiness and wants.
6. If we are to gain blessings of God we need to follow the Eight-Fold Path and honor the Ten Commandments.
7. Our happiness is self deterministic and no externalities can be the cause of our own sorrows, pains tribulations and sufferings.
8. We have to seek the truth within ourselves and not from the external world

Quotes by Epictetus

America’s Supremacy In Controlling The Internet

The world of internet is more complex than what we can imagine. Surfing the net and exchanging a few e-mails seem easy, but the complexities and realities behind how the internet functions are not known to many of us. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) was founded in the 1990s by the former US President Bill Clinton in order to systematize the internet governance. This is a technical body which ensures that the internet functions in a stable and secure manner. It is also responsible for assigning domain names such as .com, .net and .org.
 

The internet of today is much more diverse than when it was first invented. Today it is the largest internet in the world. It has a hierarchy of networks which includes backbone networks, mid-level networks and stub networks. These networks are used for commercial, educational, research and military purposes. Though the internet has undergone a sea of changes, the control over it is still confined to the United States. Many other countries even today do not have an answer to the question why the United States has the sole control over the internet.

In 2003 ICANN decided to limit and reduce direct public participation over how it runs the internet. Many developing countries including China, India and Iran had a difference of opinion about the power of internet resting in the US. They thought that they also have a right to govern and run the internet. China wanted an international body like the United Nations to perform the task of the ICANN. The sole power restricted itself to the United States. Some other countries wanted the United Nations itself to manage the welfare of the internet. Many countries tried to threaten the US and to partake the governance of the internet. All such efforts went in vain and the US continued to enjoy sole power over the internet. Since US invented the internet it held the authoritative position. Rest of the countries in the world were reasonable enough in questioning why a single country should govern the internet when all countries in the world use it and they could all contribute to the governance of the internet.

The countries, which petitioned the United States to lay down the control of the internet, were not unqualified to run it. A governing body like the United Nations is proficient enough to run it. But the thing is that running the internet is a lucrative business and the United States was not willing to let go the power it used to enjoy. ICANN is the only company in the world which creates addresses for websites and all those who want a permanent existence in the internet must go through them. Hence, the United States enjoys supremacy over rest of the nations regarding the governance of the internet. When a country enjoys unlimited power, naturally others will want a share of it too. They either want some monetary compensation that goes along with running the internet or they do not want the United States to be the sole country which benefits from the internet in a financial capacity.

The United States takes great pride in running the internet. Along with its dominance over other countries because of the tight hold on the internet, the United States controls, operates and influences millions of people and businesses all over the world. Therefore, China and Iran wanted to create an internet of their own and over which they will have sole control. These are some of the reasons why other countries want the United States government to surrender or share some of the rights it has over the internet. Despite the protests from many countries, the United States holds the control over the internet for the time being. It is extremely difficult to make a strong and dominating economy lay down its power.
 

It is obvious that any network requires some centralized control in order to function. Many governments are of the opinion that like the phone network the internet should be administered under a multilateral treaty. ICANN is the tool of American hegemony over the internet. The United States is the master of domain names of the websites. IP addresses and root servers are also under the custody of the United States. Therefore, it continues to be the supreme power of cyberspace.