Religion/Philosophy and Main Beliefs                                                                                       11/17/14

Buddhism- Buddha is the means the enlightened one and the followers of Buddhism worship him. Buddha believed in the living in the moment and the Four Noble Truths. Buddha tries to achieve Nirvana which means that you are freed of human suffering, hatred, ignorance. The philosophies of Buddhism are prayer, teaching, meditation, and argumentation.

Confucianism- Confucius is the man that started Confucianism and he was mostly a teacher. Confucius believed in Universal Law which means that even if people were of different class they treated and respected each other equally. Confucius strongly believed in have a wise ruler lead his people with compassion and forethought. Confucius also believed that people should focus on their every day morals instead of the afterlife like some religions do.

Han Fei-Tzu- Han Fei-Tzu believed in Taoism which was a much political way to rule population. Han Fei-Tzu believed in law, method, legitimacy, power, and government. This was a much more totalitarian belief system which controlled its followers more than any of the other beliefs we've seen. Human nature was believed evil so the government tried to control people as much as possible.

Lao-Tzu- Lao-Tzu believed in Legalism which was the worship of nature, reduction of person desire, and never ending search of self purity. The followers of Lao-Tzu believed in seeking equilibrium in their life which includes the philosophy of balancing the hot force and the cold in their life to create equilibrium. 

1.) The difference between a religion and a philosophy is that in a religion there is a set God or gods that are worshiped and in a philosophy it is less about worshiping and more of following guidelines or beliefs to live a better life.   

2.) All of these beliefs are similar in the way that they all are ways of leading people, but some are more religious and others are more like philosophies. Buddhism and Legalism have both religious aspects and philosophy aspects because they both worship a higher power, but they also have strong everyday beliefs. Taoism and Confucianism are both much less religious and more like philosophies because they don't worship higher powers and are much more focused on how to treat people properly.