The Experience After Death in Buddhism, Hinduism, and Zoroastrianism Essay

The Experience After Death in Buddhism, Hinduism, and Zoroastrianism - Essay Example The three religions are mostly practiced in the South Asian region of the world. With the advancement in science, people have started questioning the different beliefs in their respective religions. A detailed study of the three religions gives us convincing evidence of the existence of the after life, the nature of the soul and the journey towards its final destination and the concept of heaven and hell. In this paper I will study the concept of life after death in the light of the teachings of Hinduism, Buddhism and Zoroastrianism. Like most religions of the world Hinduism, Buddhism and Zoroastrianism also believe in the experience of the life after death. Each of the three religions gives detailed accounts of the journey of the soul from the time of its departure from the physical body towards the final destination. According to Glin-pa and Evans Wentz (2000), in Buddhism the after death journey is covered by the soul in 49 days (pg. 104). During this period the soul passes through a number of stages which have been mentioned by the authors in â€Å"The Tibetan Book of the Dead (2000)†. After which the soul enters into another body and is ready for rebirth. Death is not a sad experience for the Buddhists. It is just the beginning of the process of rebirth. In Hinduism, like in Buddhism the experience of death is not a sad one. It is rather referred to as the changing of the clothes (pg. 15) or moving from one house to another (pg. 15) by Sri Swami Sivnanda (1997) in his book entitled â€Å"What becomes of the Soul after death†. The after life journey of a Hindu soul is completed in one year during which the soul passes through many stages. The greater the sins committed by the soul the harder become the journey (pg. 16). Peter Clark (1999, pg. 63) discusses the concept of life after death in his book entitled â€Å"An Introduction to an Ancient Faith†. According to him the Zoroastrian faith also supports