Case Study on Death and Dying: Buddhism and Christianity

Case Study on Death and Dying
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Introduction
It is a widely known belief among professionals and practitioners that the practice of healthcare exposes individuals to a variety of beliefs. Consequently, it is essential for providers to become aware and open of the different beliefs that guide the decisions of these patients even if it opposes medical guidelines or even your own beliefs. In line with this, this article would focus on the case of a patient named George and examine them under the beliefs of Christianity and Buddhism. As of today, these two are the most widely known beliefs in this world followed by millions of different people. On the one hand, Christianity is the biggest religion in the world which has over 2.1 billion followers around the world (BBC.Co.UK, 2018). On the other hand, Buddhism has about 550 million followers that are located mostly on the continent of Asia. In the succeeding sections of this article, these two worldviews would be analyzed in closer detail.
Description of the Worldviews
One of the most visible aspects of both religion – Buddhism and Christianity – is their aim towards peace and harmony as well as the prime importance that they give to human life. In Christianity, it is believed that in order to for someone to live his life to the fullest, he must follow with God’s ten commandments as well as follow the teachings of Christ. It is also through these actions, where one could enjoy salvation and enjoy eternal life as promised by God. This was even explicitly stated in the book of Matthew, which says “Keep on, then, seeking first the Kingdom and his righteousness, and all these other things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33, The New World Translation). Similarly, Buddhist beliefs also hinged on the importance of peace and harmony, which could both be achieved through meditation. The importance of meditation among other beliefs are mostly elaborated in Buddhism’s Four Nobel Truth, which are the Truth of suffering, the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of the end of suffering, and the truth of the path that leads to suffering (Byrd, 2013). Followers of this belief also aim to achieve enlightenment of ‘nirvana,’ which is somehow synonymous to Christianity’s concept of the heaven (Fernando, 2017). Nonetheless, it must be noted that despite the similarities in their beliefs and guidelines for morality, Christianity worships one God while Buddhism believes in no supreme deities.
As stated earlier, both of these religions believe in the importance of being ‘good’ towards one’s neighbors. In turn, this concept of goodness includes helping another individual in alleviating his sufferings. However, what made these two different is how they view life and the extinguishment of it, regardless of any reason for doing so. On the one hand, Christianity strongly believes in the prime importance of life as given by God. It was even explicitly stated in the Ten Commandments, which is Christianity’s pillar, that “[one] must not murder” (Exodus 20:13, The New World Translation). On the other hand, Buddhist believes in the necessity of achieving enlightenment in one&rsquo...