- published: 29 Mar 2011
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Soteriology (/səˌtɪəriˈɒlədʒi/; Greek: σωτηρία sōtēria "salvation" from σωτήρ sōtēr "savior, preserver" and λόγος logos "study" or "word") is the study of religious doctrines of salvation. Salvation theory occupies a place of special significance in many religions.
In the academic field of religious studies, soteriology is understood by scholars as representing a key theme in a number of different religions and is often studied in a comparative context; that is, comparing various ideas about what salvation is and how it is obtained.
Buddhism is devoted primarily to liberation from suffering, ignorance, and rebirth. The purpose of one's life is to break free from samsara, the cycle of birth-and-pain-and-death, to achieve moksha and nirvana. All types of Buddhism, Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana (or Tantric), tend to emphasize an individual's meditation and liberation, which is to become enlightened.
In Theravada Buddhism the apparent individual takes this spiritual journey alone. Along this journey, they discover in experience that they are empty of being an individual, they are selfless. Mahayana Buddhism is the spiritual journey of helping others. People who make the pledge to help others before they help themselves are called Bodhisattva. Vajrayana Buddhism is the spiritual journey of transformation, where awareness is transformed into a deity. In all of the three forms of Buddhism, one gradually moves towards liberation, and away from dukkha, and as a result the natural state of Enlightenment becomes the dominant experience in that individual's life.
In scarlet fields where fallen angels sleep:
a ground upon which mortals dare not tread,
where moves the image of the fallen man
who holds the star within his hand
beneath the shadow of a darkened sun:
intoxicated by the wine of life
we slumber through our days of emptiness
and blindness and forgetfulness.
Within the fire of awakening:
there lies the core of my triumphant self.
a spark ignites a freedom greater than all life,
my mystery profound.
Upon the altar where the chalice stands:
where coils the serpent round its offering
of knowing and of sight, the power to transcend