Having grown up as a Christian I never thought about any of the other religions. Before visiting or learning about Buddhism I was sure that Christianity had nothing in common with Buddhism. Christians believe that the only way to heaven is through Jesus Christ, who is the son of God, while Buddhists believe that the only way to overcome the desire of the body is through the eightfold path which is the path to Nirvana. While Buddhists believe that suffering is caused by our desires and that humanity must overcome it by struggling to get rid of the desire of the body. Christians believe that suffering is real and that the only way to overcome it is to trust in God and through forgiveness we learn how to deal with our desire. In Christianity we believe that everything happens for a reason, mostly good. There is no other way to get rid of our desires. We pray and trust God to get us through whatever happens. ZEN BUDDHISM | What is Zen Buddhism? What is Zen meditation?. "ZEN BUDDHISM | Beliefs | Buddhist beliefs." Accessed February 24, 2014. http://zen-buddhism.net/beliefs/beliefs-and-dogmas.html. According to "Buddhists Beliefs 2014" Zen does not seek to answer questions through God or after life; they focus on the present time while most religions spend time trying to answer questions like who is God, what is life after death like, etc.? Zen believes that human conditions are so limited that no one can know the answers to these questions. Zen Buddhism accepts life as it is because there is no way to answer those impossible questions. Senauke, Hozan A. "A Long and Winding Road: Soto Zen Education in America." Teaching Theology and Religion (2006): doi:10.1111/j.1467-9647.2006.00274.x.Senauke tackles Soto Zen at...... middle of paper ......n. I think that moment of peace that is taken and used to focus on the inner self to the exclusion of the rest of the world is something important to the faithful. The Buddhist religion in general is mainly about overcoming the desire of the body. Just as Buddha left his home and abandoned everything he had to experience real life and lived like everyone else, Buddhists accomplish this in the form of meditation. Meditation in Zen Buddhism reflects the belief that focusing on the inner self is a way to quiet the mind and shut out the world and all other distractions. There are many people who use meditation, such as practicing yoga, and this includes Christians and other people as well. Visiting this meditation center I saw that Buddhists practice meditation because both meditation and listening are an important part of their beliefs.