Translated
from the original by Costas Balomenos
Τ
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he religions, not only the
oldest but also the newer,
we separate them in polytheistic and monotheistic,
i.e. to those who accept the existence of many gods and to those who accept
the existence one God. Apart from the above
distinction, the religions are divided - regardless if they
are polytheistic or monotheistic - in those
who they owe their existence to a founder and
in those that there were
traditionally without having been founded by someone. We will deal with religions that have a founder...
The founders of
religions are:
1. Buddha
2. Zoroaster
3. Jesus Christ
4. Confucius
5. Lao Tse
6. Mencius
7. Muhammad
8. Nanak
2. Zoroaster
3. Jesus Christ
4. Confucius
5. Lao Tse
6. Mencius
7. Muhammad
8. Nanak
Buddha
Before mentioning to the biography of Buddha, it is beneficial to make two clarifications necessary because most people are confused about them. First, that
Buddha did not had that name (Buddha), as most believe,
nor that the name Buddha means God.
Besides, Buddha never
argued that is a God or even a son of God.
The Siddhartha
or Sincharta Gautama
- this was the real name of Buddha –
was a son of a rich ruler of Sountontana that
ruled over the Sakya,
a small province in the north of India , which today is bisected by
the border with Nepal
For the year of birth there is not unanimous, because the different Buddhist
schools do not agree absolutely when their
Master lived. So it's hard to identify if he
was born in the 7th century,
or in 6th century,
or in 5th century
BC. The Theravada prevailing
in South Asia
puts his life of between 623 and 543 BC The Mahayana Buddhists
supporting various viewpoints. For many years prevailed the theory that he lived between 563 and 483 B.C.
But they all agree that he lived 80 years.
According to some Buddhist stories appearing speculations
that was preceded one immaculate conception of Siddhartha from Maya
his mother, in which the Holy
Spirit - in responding to the customs of the country
- took the form
of a white elephant. His mother died
before he could bring him to the world and thus they entrusted in Machapratzapati,
in her sister, who was the second
wife of his father.
He spent his childhood and early youth into luxury and opulence. At 16 years
married a beautiful and gentle new, the Giasontara
or Bantakakana, who was his cousin. The
couple acquired a son,
Rachoula 13 years after his marriage.
According to tradition, he saw successively “four pageants”: an old man paid up, a heavy sick, a
dead body and a peaceful ascetic. Then realizing the
futility of life and the possible outlet for this - in the face of an
ascetic - he abandoned
everything he had, such as comfortable
life, woman and child and in
the age of 29 years went as apprentice at Alara
Calama, a religious teacher and ascetic, who was teaching methods of self-immersion
and self-consciousness. But disappointed by
his complicated theories and
he abandoned him, becoming a
student at Ountaka
Ramapoutta, another ascetic. But gasped the same disappointment and there and after he left him and engaged in
a relentless pursuit
of the body believing that in this way he will find the redemption. Finally, he
dedicated himself to a prolonged deep
meditation under a sycamore tree, now known as the “Bodhi – Tree”. After 49
days of intensive introspection, a night of full moon May had
reached to an internal flare, realizing suddenly that the problem in humans is the "tahna", i.e. the desire from which man must be relieved, to
enter into the eternal blessedness the "nirvana". Thus became the Siddhartha Gautama, the “Buddha” = "Enlightened,"
the one who discovered the truth,
hereafter he put
purpose in life to convey to people. Immediately he did and the first students in the face of the first five ascetics who approached him, who by accepting the teachings of Buddha were admitted as “Bikou”= monks. Soon the number increased to 60, to which it entrusts - as himself he did - to tour in towns and villages preaching his theory. Quickly across the entire western region of the river Ganges were founded the first men's Buddhist
monasteries and much later, after several hesitations, gives his consent to
get up and the first female monastic orders, in which accede his stepmother and his wife.
Many kings and rulers of India
His followers and the local inhabitants burned his relics and yielded values to him for seven days. His ashes were shared in the eight states of
the region where he lived and
taught, and later were placed in
special mausoleums known
as “stupas”, which then have
become places of worship and
pilgrimage of the faithful.
Zoroaster
He is the founder of the Persian religion
of Zoroastrianism. As is the case other founders of religions, the biographical
information is covered by veil of
myth mainly for two reasons. First, that very few and disjointed biographical information have been
rescued until today and secondly the myths about his life confused with
reality. First, we
do not know exactly when he
lived. The older researchers
place him in the period
of the 7th or 6th
century BC, while the younger ones choose the time between 1400
and 1000 BC. We see that is a time difference, which reaches the 700-800 years. His name, which is the Hellenized form of the ancient Persian
“Zarathustra”, meaning “he with the light brown camels” or more likely “he who
directs the camels”. Member of the sub-race
Spitama, was probably born in the province of Bactria , an area which is currently located on the border
between Afghanistan and Turkestan .
Belonged to the Indo-Iranian wave that arrived in Persia
When he reached the age of 30 years received the call to prophetic work
through a vision. This vision puzzled him and when they followed and others, was confirmed that he was the chosen one, who
ought to convey to people
the religious revelation for the uniqueness of the
God of Good, who called Ahura Masda.
To achieve this, had to confront the religious establishment until then, which
it did, resulting to cause warm devotion to his face but also violent reaction.
Deplored some bloody
sacrifices and rituals of traditional Parcism,
i.e. the traditional religion of the Persians, while on the
contrary he insisted on the purity
of the soul. But he kept the respect to the fire, which it considered that expresses the brilliance of Ahura Masda, but also because it also has laxative significance. The teaching of
Zoroaster was not to find resonance and response directly from the Persians,
but nevertheless he was not disappointed.
Had to go through ten long years to
find his first follower, who also was a relative
person, i.e. his cousin. Because of
the reaction, which he
met was forced to leave his
tribe and eventually resorted to the court of King Vistaspa,
who became his follower. With the
support of Vistaspa, Zoroastrianism
was declared the official religion
of Persia
All sources agree that Zoroaster died
at age 77 years. According to some subsequent information, he was
killed by a priest of the old religion in front of an altar in a raid against
the capital of Vistaspa.
Jesus Christ
He is the founder of the religion of Christianity. It is the only religion whose the founder
argued to be God, who became incarnate to save the people from evil and death. The
name Jesus means “Savior” and Christ is “one who is
anointed”. The arrest
from his mother became supernaturally without the participation of a man, but with the energy
of the Holy Spirit and the power
of the Most High.
He was born in Bethlehem in an insignificant town of Judea
when Octavian Augustus was emperor of Rome Temple of Jerusalem Nazareth
Confucius
He is the founder of the eponymous Chinese religion Confucianism.
It is he who has said the famous phrase “when the finger pointing to the
moon, the idiot looks at the finger”, phrase
meaning our involvement in life
with unnecessary and non-essential
things. Of course to be
perfectly accurate, Confucius
there has been no just the founder of religion, but he formed the existing traditional
religion of China Sung
In 482 BC
lost his son Lee
and the following year his favorite
disciple Yen Hui,
which cost him much. He died in 479 in obscurity at the age of 73. Many
disciples mourned him for three years.
In today's folk religion of China
Confucius still plays an important role. In Taiwan
In classical temples in which is honored the spirit of the ancestors, there are not statues of him
but tables of soul
as guardians of the ancestral spirit of the teacher and the most important disciples.
Lao – Tse
Famous Chinese
philosopher is the founder of the Chinese religion of Taoism. The
biographical details of his life are full of mythological
elements and therefore be quite cloudy the time of his action. It is most likely that he was born in 604 BC He was curator
of the royal library, located in the capital Loch which were lying not far from today's Loch
- Yandong of the province Ho - Nan .
The first name was Erch which means ear and his surname was Li which means plum. Stayed however known in
history under the name of Lao
- Tse meaning
"old man - teacher"
or “old man – philosopher”
but literally rendered
as “senile child”, because
according to tradition pregnant
in the belly of his mother for 81 years and
when he finally born his hair was white and
he had face old man. By researchers of ancient Chinese history is considered certain that he met
several times with the other big Chinese physiognomy, the famous Confucius
who, however, considered being much earlier than him. One
of these meetings took place in 571 BC, but it is anything but friendly it was,
but the wisdom of Lao - Tse made vivid impression in Confucius. As for the date of his death, historically nothing
is absolutely certain. The Chinese historian Schi
- ma - Chien reports that Lao - Tse was lived for a long time in
the capital. Seeing the forfeiture of Cheu dynasty, wanted to leave the
capital and make a marching in
the NW China. But in the corresponding NW city gate, was
recognized by the guard of this, who was named Yin - Xi, who urged him
to write the book “Tao - Tech – King” i.e. the book
about the divinity and the virtue.
And indeed Lao - Tse wrote this book, which is the principle of the religion of Taoism. This historian mentions then that Lao - Tse, after
he wrote this book, it delivered to the guard of the city and he departed to
an unknown address and it was not learned then neither where nor
when he died. Tradition says that he lived as a
hermit until old age to the one hundred and
fifty to two hundred years. The
format of Lao - Tse has never ceased to
be respected in all strata of Chinese society. For the people became
saint and was
deified. An inscription dating
from 165 AD describes him as “a result of the primordial chaos”, “co-eternal with the
luminous bodies”, i.e. the
sun, the moon and the
stars. The primitive simplicity
is his ideal. The proposed attitude
about life is summarized
in the famous phrase “Wo Wai”, i.e. “do
nothing” or “do everything,
doing nothing”.
Mencius
Meng - Che or Mencius as he is known in the West was another great Chinese wise, for whom many they consider to be the same level as Confucius. Previously, the researchers considered that lived from 372 to 289 BC, but now argue that he lived from 390 to 305 BC. His contribution to the growth and prevalence of the teaching of Confucius was huge, thereby affected and the culture of China and
the whole of East
Asia . By analogy, it is
considered as an "Apostle Paul"
of Confucianism. His name
is Latin transcription
of Meng - Che
or Mong - Ngi or Mang - Ngie and it means the teacher
Meng.
He was born from old noble family
in the state Chu ,
in an area that is now part of the province Santoungk. His life has similar proportions to that of Confucius. At age three was orphaned from his father, so his mother took over his upbringing, which in Chinese tradition being the symbol of excellent
mother.
A disciple of
Confucius who was his grandson, Ju Ssu
initiated him to the teachings of Confucianism, which it had embraced with such enthusiasm and passion
to become the most famous teacher of his
teaching. For a short time he
served as an dignitary in the
state of Chi, but the
bulk of his life was spent
traveling to different regions of the vast China as
in Tang, Liang, Lu,
in which he benefited not only of
hospitality but also large
prices, he and his accompaniment,
since the various rulers hired him as their mentor. This period of Mencius, he was famous as
the period of “warring kingdoms”.
But what you happened to Confucius happened to him. Because was giving great importance to good, which was not necessarily useful and because was stressed the value of the common people, displeased the Chinese rulers, since this attitude
of the Mencius did not like,
resulting in to abandon them
and come back full frustration in his hometown, where dedicated himself until his death in the
teaching of the multitude of his disciples and recording of philosophical and
political ideas.
The basis of his teaching was the boundless optimism that
harbored for human nature,
despite the frustrations that had experienced by her, who sometimes touching
the limits of utopia. Elevated the simple
people by saying that the ruler to govern needs the silent consent,
and the agricultural reforms
that proposed were
moving in socialist levels. It is particularly popular in Chinese people, because the cultivation of moral equality which advocated,
gave him his lost dignity.
Muhammad
He is the founder of the religion of Islamism or of Islam. Born
in 570 AD the
Mecca of Arabia . His father died shortly before being born.
So he orphaned by
her father at a young age and he entered to the service of the wealthy widow
named Chantitza, which he eventually married although
he was much older than her. At age 40, as referred to in Koran - the
holy book of Muslims - appeared in front of him the angel Gabriel,
announcing him that the God (Allah) chose him as his
last prophet. Muhammad was
preaching that Allah is not the leading among the gods, but it
is the only God and the worship of
other gods is a sin.
The polytheistic environment of his hometown Mecca and especially the rich class that has encountered with hostility the preaching of Muhammad and even attempted to exterminate him, because he preached the social responsibility, praising the mercy of Allah and the prospect of Paradise's joy. The powerful and wealthy feared that the spread of his views would
have had a negative impact on trade and businesses of their, mainly
because the pilgrims of the sacred stone Kaava
- a black meteorite
- can be to not returned. So, in 622 AD Muhammad and his
followers resorted to Medina
In Medina Union of the Arab tribes. The political activities of Mohammed in the Arab united match often
led to doubts concerning to the fact of revelation and became the cause be attributed of his rivals the title of “false prophet”, which is
evident in the Koran.
Muhammad himself, though he was considered himself as the last prophet, however he believed that as a man was not the standard of human infallibility. In the course of the formation of
the tradition of Islam he changed
to an infallibility absolutely
perfect man. His teaching has profound effects from
Judaism and Christianity, which
was however seen by monks of the sect of Nestorianism. This is who gave
the order to Muslims turn to Mecca Mecca
Nanak
He is the founder of the religion of Sikhism or Sikhs. Seeing the differences and
the hatred that existed between
Hindus and Muslims of India,
which often had led them to heinous crimes,
he wanted to combine on both
religions, taking elements from the one from the other
and believing that this will
solve the problem and bring the religious peace.
Born in
1469 AD in Talvanti of Punjab in
Northern India , about 65km southwest of Lahore
Without renouncing the world, work and family, after he had wife and two sons, was sunk for years to intense contemplation. At age 30 lived a spiritual experience that supposedly was found in the courtyard of God, from which he received directly his religious messages. For this, he began touring in various regions of India
In 1521 AD
with few staunch followers settled in Kartarpur, a village of central Punjab , where he
founded the first community
of “Sikka” (students). He had
already been identified as “guru” (teacher). He taught that only one God
exists, but it is not possible to do a human being. He accepts, like Hinduism,
the cycle of incarnations for humans and the law of “karma”, i.e. that the form of each new birth
established by the acts of the previous existence.
In his community were welcome everyone, regardless of gender and caste to which they belonged. Some of them stayed permanently
with him, but some others were visited
him frequently, to take his
blessing and advice. Before died, he had appointed Lechna, as his
successor, naming it “Angkant”,
i.e. “part of
my body”.
REFERENCES
Anastasios Giannoulatos: Traces of searching the
transcendental.
Dimitris A. Triantafyllou: Further help in Religious of second grade Lyceum
Hans - Christian Huf: Hell,Paradise and
Nirvana - Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad
Encyclopedia Eleftheroudaki
Encyclopedia “Larousse Papyrus”
Encyclopedia of Religions
Religious Ethical Encyclopedia
Dimitris A. Triantafyllou: Further help in Religious of second grade Lyceum
Hans - Christian Huf: Hell,
Encyclopedia Eleftheroudaki
Encyclopedia “Larousse Papyrus”
Encyclopedia of Religions
Religious Ethical Encyclopedia
Writer
Christos Pal
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