In Ying Di Wang (Fit for Emperors and Kings), there is a story in which Hundun (Chaos) was killed when he helped to bore seven openings for seeing, hearing, eating and breathing. According to Zhuangzi, "death" is nothing but a "rest." "When death befalls me, I begin my rest." So when his wife died, he sang to the beating of bronze bowls. But there were "Perfect Men" or "Godly Men" who were beyond life and death. They could attain a state in which "both heaven and earth exist with them and all things are one with them." However, this "living beyond life and death" is somewhat different from "living in eternity" and it is only meant for a "spiritual. Both life and death were but different states in which all things existed. To life, life is life, but to death, life is death; to life, death is death, but to death, death is life. So whenever life or death is mentioned, people just give out different views from different viewpoints. Since life and death are both states in which all things exist, when living, one should live in composure and, when dying, one should die in composure.
Everything had its beginning and end, sometimes gathered together and sometimes dispersed. The life of anything was supposed to be its beginning: "gathering takes a certain shape." The death of anything was supposed to be its end: "when dispersing, things go to nothingness." "By life is meant an air that gathers temporarily the ether of anything. Temporary gathering will eventually disperse and temporary ether will finally go to nothingness." Therefore, man should know his source and his final destination, namely deliverance. Both Guo Xiang and Zhang Zhan were influenced by the Daoist thought that both life and death were but natural phenomena. According to Confucius, to realize one’s idea one can "end one's life for benevolence" and "give one's life for righteousness." He also takes into consideration mankind's ultimate concerns. One must remember the outlook of the people during the time of Confucius. Deceased ancestors were thought to exercise power over the living, sacrifice to heaven was a common occurrence, and the practice of augury, or observing the signs from heaven like thunder, lightning, the flight of birds, etc.Confucius does not here deny an afterlife: he was too respectful and reverential. He simply insisted that a good man practices good not for rewards now or later on, but for the sake of the good life itself.Confucius does not deny an afterlife: he was too respectful and reverential. He simply insisted that a good man practices good not for rewards now or later on, but for the sake of the good life itself. Death did not mean annihilation and loss in some great void beyond the grave. Confucius clearly believed in some form of spiritual survival, and in the ongoing presence of those who have departed this life. Confucianism, the dilemma of the doctrine of retribution was solved by extending retribution to the individual soul, which continued to live in another form once it had been separated from the body at death. Whereas vertical retribution means the punishment of the son for the sins of the father in the world. The concept of retribution for the soul after death refers to the punishment of the same individual for sins he committed when alive. Though body and soul are separated after death, the soul continues in existence in another form and is punished for sins committed when body and soul were united. Derk Bodde states that humans have two souls: the hun and the p’o. The hun is the soul that leaves the body but is later compelled to return by a family member. The p’o eventually makes its way to the underworld and represents the dead’s raw energy.
In Buddhism, nirvana--is the Buddhist equivalent of moksha. None of us can avoid death and if we are not free from the vicious cycle of death and rebirth, we are doomed to the endless cycles of life and death and its paradoxical nature of suffering, of happiness and sadness, youth and ageing, healthiness and sickness, pain and death, all because we are so attached to the existence in the first place. Buddhists believe people are continually reborn into this world, unless they have achieved liberation (freedom) from samsara (the continual process of birth, death and rebirth). The Buddha experienced samsara when he saw the effects of old age and sickness, leading to death. Freedom from samsara occurs when a person has reached nirvana (or nibbana).Nirvana literally means extinguishing or unbinding. Life is suffering. You can never really achieve peace. Happiness is just the flip side of sadness and no material or emotional pleasure will sustain the longing in your soul to understand itself. Reincarnation" normally is understood to be the transmigration of a soul to another body after death. Based on his no-soul (annatto) doctrine, the Buddha described reincarnation or the taking on of a new body in the next life, in a different way than the traditional Indian understanding. He compared it to lighting successive candles using the flame of the preceding candle. Although each flame is causally connected to the one that came before it, is it not the same flame. Thus, in Buddhism, reincarnation is usually referred to as "transmigration." As Leonardo Da Vinci once wrote in his notebook; Just as a well spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well spent brings a happy death. If we have lived a life of emotional turmoil, of conflict selfish desire unconcerned for others, our dying will be full of regrets, troubles and pain. However, liberated souls living in the higher heavens could come down to earth and communicate with spiritually advanced people. The plane immediately below the human is that of animals and below it is other planes Niraya, Asura and Peta which are described as unhappy states of existence. Beings are born Petas as a result of greed and attachment to their worldly belongings and are drawn to the place of attachment. Buddhism tells of many hells, of which Avîci is the most terrible. They are of course all temporary and therefore purgatories rather than places of eternal punishment and the beings that inhabit them have the power of struggling upwards and acquiring merit, but the task is difficult and one may be born repeatedly in hell. The phraseology of Buddhism calls existences in heavens and hells new births. In Buddhism there are 37 different levels of heaven (that’s why the Borobudur has 37 levels) where beings experience peace and long lasting happiness without suffering in the heavenly environment. In Islam there is no rebirth for the soul.
In Islam there is no rebirth for the soul. Immediately upon death a person begins to feel an awakening to the higher life, made from his deeds in the present life. But this is only a partial realization. It is on the Day of Judgment that everyone is fully awakened and raised to the higher, spiritual life. It is called the Day of Judgment because each person shall then become fully conscious of the effects of his deeds in this life, and have a 'body' (so to speak) made out of his or her own deeds. Until the Day of Judgment, deceased souls remain in their graves awaiting the resurrection. However, they begin to feel immediately a taste of their destiny to come. Those bound for hell will suffer in their graves, while those bound for heaven will be in peace until that time. Heaven is presented, according to their concept, as an immeasurably large garden literally abounding in beautiful trees casting eternal shadows under which rivers will flow. The rivers would be of milk and honey. The garden will be fruit bearing and all man may desire of fruits would be his at his command. The meat would be that of birds of all sorts; it is only for one to wish which meat he particularly craves. Female companions of exceeding beauty and refinement would be provided to the pious men, with no limit imposed on the number, which will be decided according to their capacity. All that a healthy spiritual man was craving was nearness to God and His attributes and to imitate divine virtues. In heaven, such a healthy soul would begin to see and conceive and feel the nearness of the attributes of God like never before. They, according to the Promised Messiah, would not remain merely spiritual values, but would acquire ethereal forms and shapes, which the newly born heavenly spirit would enjoy with the help of the erstwhile soul, which would function as the body.
In Shintoism, we find the worship of ‘kami’. Every kami has a ‘rough’ side (ara-mi-tama) and a ‘gentle; side (nigi-mi-tama), but you will not find a foil to God and Satan in them. Because of this there is no concept of the wrath of God or the separation of God from humanity by sin. The general concepts concerning the afterlife are the belief that a person becomes a spirit-deity, and eventually becomes a part of a collective ancestral spirit. Even though an afterlife isn't heavily emphasized, a Hades-like realm, called Yomi, is briefly mentioned in the Nihongi and Kojiki within the creation story involving Izanagi no Mikoto and Izanami no Mikoto. Custom dictates that a few decades after a person's death, their memorial tablet is thrown away and replaced with a pebble, and the collected pebbles from generations of doing this ritual represent the family guardian. This seems to suggest that people believe some sort of link is broken at that point - either that the soul finally leaves this world, or that it loses its individuality and becomes part of the guardian spirit. Shinto lore suggests the soul has multiple sections that can act and move around independently, so it may be that different parts have different afterlives - one being reincarnated, one becoming a guardian, etc.Christianity wants our souls free of sin before we die, to reach salvation in the next life. Hinduism wants their followers to be good so that they are not reborn to a lower form of life. Buddhists want us not to have any attachments, so that we can reach Nirvana. The Shinto faith, on the other hand, wants all of us to not even focus on the afterlife. In fact, Shinto does not want us to even fixate on our death, which is in contrast with other religions. (not to be considered as a complete original piece)
I am convinced that God has done nothing more than given us five lines, and told us that he's going to draw a picture of the end of all things in which each of those lines is an integral part. I am further convinced that Satan will be able to figure out what that picture will look. he knows probably more than I know, and has undoubtedly taken the time to read every work on the end of the world ever produced, no matter how minor (even, I suspect, this one), it must also be true that none of us will ever correctly predict the end of all things in any important detail
