Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume I — Page 93
! ! 93 d. Then there are the Arians. They do not believe in avatars, nor do they believe that God create d the soul and matter. They assert that these two thing s have always been and will always remain eternal , t hat God joined them together for his own benefit, as a potter creates pottery from clay. Regarding salvation , they believe you reap what you so w in the form of your deeds, and in transmigration. That human beings will continue to return to this world to be punished for their actions. Therefore, they will never achieve eternal salvation. 5. Buddhism : Some believe this religion has the most followers. It began in India , but now mos t of its followers live outside with many residing in China and Japan. The founder of this faith, Buddha, was the son of a king who abandoned everything to worship God. They believe that salvation lies in abandoning all desires and f reedom from wants leads to surrendering one’s self. That is the hallmark of this religion. They wish to eliminate all forms of desire ; therefore , they do not fast, nor do they engage in other forms of worship, believing that to be covetous. For them, this abandonment of desires leads to the dissolution of the Self, which will result in salvation. 6. Jainism : There are twenty - five million followers of this faith residing in India. They believe there is no God, rather tha t a few pious souls rule the world. T he rest of the s pirits continue to progress and may at one point achieve salvation. They believ e that the human spirit has attached itself to the [human] form and when it separates from it, the spirit will attain salvation. Their belief is analogous to a thorn attached to one’s clothes which can be separated. Until the form sheds from the spirit, th e spirit will continue to return. Th ese reappear ances are called transmigration and is a common belief of theirs. 7. Zoroastrianism: This faith originated in Iran about five thousand years ago. Some believe it predate s Hinduism. Zoroaster introduced t his faith and many of the beliefs resemble those of Islam. Their religious acts include those like wudu , tayammum [ablution without water], and Salāt. They also believe in Heaven and Hell. The greatest difference between Zoroastrianism and other religions , is that they