Chapter 3 - Four Great Religions

There exist now in the world four great religions; they are, Brahmanism or Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam. Brahmanism dated from the beginning of the world of mankind, Buddhism originated more than 2,500 years ago, Christ was born 543 BC after the demise of the Buddha. Mohamed was born 570 years after the birth of Christ.

These religions have their own respective scriptures, viz., the Vedic Scriptures of Hinduism, the Bible of Christianity, the Koran of Islam and the Buddhist Scriptures of Buddhism. Generally, we find that there is not so much difficulty for Buddhists for studying the doctrines of other religions. A considerable comprehension of their meaning and significance is possible with just a reasonable effort within a few months or years.

In the case of Buddhist Scriptures, however, people of other religions are sure to find very hard even by spending many years when making them a subject of study, even harder in the actual practice and most difficult for the attainment of the Noble Truth.

Buddhism is originally written in Pali language known as Magadha in the Buddha's time. The Pali words, though now known by many people of the world, have a great wealth or richness of meaning of varying depth and profundity.