The Conversation

Emma : Hindu
Patrick: Shintoism
Alex: Buddhism
Eric: Taoism

ERIC:  Who is God?
Alex: There is no god! Only the spirits in us all.
Patrick: There are many gods that dwell within nature, they are called kami. They are not the same omnipotent God of some other religions but our gods are rather just spirits of nature
Eric: HEY!!!!!!!! there is a GOD ALEX! , the god is called DAd from the religion of Taoism
Emma: There are many gods but there are three main ones. Brahma - the creator, Vishnu - the preserver, Shiva - the destroyer.
Alex: So there is some in wisdom in the Hindu ways. The impermanence of all things prevails into your religion too.
Patrick: I see that our religions differ, what is the meaning of life in your religions?
Alex: For us, a Nirvana, where we are free from all desires should be the goal of any life, and therefore is the meaning for which we all strive.
Eric: In taoism, Qi (or Chi) is also known as the “life force”, philosophical Taoist don’t really believe in life, but more of how people live in the universe
Emma: For Hindus, the goal and grounds for being is to reach Brahman or Ultimate Reality.
Patrick: For Shintos,  we regard life as the realm where the divine spirit seeks to purify itself by rightful self-development. We want to prolong our life on Earth as a victory of our divine spirits
Emma: It seems that our religions have similar meanings of life, but are these the reasons why mankind exist? Is the meaning of life and the reason for mankind the same thing? We believe that the purpose of humans is to perform the proper sacrifices to the gods.

Alex: Mankind exists because we exist. But, it is important for you to live according to the Buddha’s teachings so we may find happiness.
Patrick: I see, what is the afterlife like in your respective religions?
Eric: Taoist believe that they can achieve immortality through completing many task in their life times.
Alex: Immortality doesn’t exist. We Die When WE DIE. Though there is the Dallai Lama’s reincarnation.
Eric: Well ALEX! Immortality does exist when people die and go to heaven after achieving life goals during their lifetimes.
Patrick: It is said that when we die, we go to a place called yomi, an underground realm with a river separating the living and the dead. It’s similar to the underworld in greek mythology
Emma: In hinduism, we believe that when we die we a reincarnated into different castes depending on how good we were in our previous life.