Introduction

Eschatology is the study of final things. More specifically, it is the study of death, the afterlife and the end of the world in theological studies. Modern religions are diverse, ranging from monotheistic religions where one god is worshipped, to polytheism where many gods are revered Just as these religions differ in their ideas about divinity, their thoughts on death and the end of time differ immensely as well. Monotheistic religions, as I will show below, follow a linear time line. Polytheistic religions however, subscribe to the idea of cyclical time.

I will discuss the different eschatological beliefs of six different religions. In the first section I will discuss the monotheistic religions: Zoroastrianism, the Judeo-Christian religion and Islam. Next, I will describe the polytheistic religions: Hinduism and Buddhism. In each section, I will briefly outline the basic doctrines of each religion in order to provide a basis on which to analyze their eschatological beliefs. Secondly, I will discuss the ideas behind death and what lies beyond. Finally, I will describe the beliefs in the end of the world. The ideas behind individual death and the death of the world mirror each other. It is difficult to explain one without also discussing the other.

Before discussing the aspects of each religion, I would like to briefly review my choice of which religions to focus on. Although there are many other religions practiced in the world today, including Shintoism and Taoism, the two views of linear eschatology and cyclical eschatology offer an interesting area of study. Judaism, Christianity and Islam provide ample knowledge of linear eschatology. Buddhism and Hinduism offer excellent examples of cyclical eschatological beliefs. In my research, I have found that among the modern religions, these two views on time are the most prevalent.
I. Zoroastrian Doctrine

A. Religious Background

Zoroastrianism is a religion based on high moral standards and ethics. It originated in the plains of northern Iran. Although there was an Iranian religion before the founding of Zoroastrianism by Zoroaster, little is known of it. This popular religion shared many of the aspects of the Vedic religion of the time. The religion of Iran went through a metamorphosis under the teachings of Zoroaster. He is believed to have been born around 660 B.C.E., although some scholars place his birth as early as 1000 B.C.E. Zoroastrian lore states that at the age of thirty, Zoroaster was visited by an archangel Vohu Manah (Good Thought). He then received the doctrines and duties of the “true” religion from Ahura Mazda, “Wise Lord”, the supreme deity. Though Ahura Mazda is the highest god of Zoroastrianism, he is not unopposed. Angra Mainyu (Bad Spirit) is another god, trying to pull believers from Ahura Mazda. This is an essential characteristic of Zoroastrianism. Good is always opposed by evil as the true religion is opposed by the false. Ahura Mazda, upon creating the world, gave his people the right to choose. Within each individual is the struggle between good and evil. [1] Zoroastrianism is seen by many as one of the predecessors to other monotheistic religions. The marks of Zoroastrianism can be seen in Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

B. Death and the Afterlife

As Zoroastrian doctrine developed through the centuries, it gained a greater emphasis on judgment in the afterlife. Much more attention was paid to the drama of the individual judgment. After death, the soul of the dead person sits at the head of its body and meditates on its past good and evil thoughts and actions. At the fourth day, the soul travels to the Chinvat Bridge to stand before judges. Judgment is made based on the merits of the soul and a sentence is passed. All souls cross the Chinvat Bridge. In the middle of the crossing later texts tell us of a meeting between the soul and its conscience. The conscience of a good person is in the form of a beautiful maiden, “an apparition of such beauty that I hath never seen a figure of greater beauty.”[2] The maiden and spirit then go into paradise. The conscience of an evil person is in the form a hag, “an apparition of such extreme ugliness and frightfulness that it hath never seen one uglier and more unseemly.”[3] The conscience then grabs the soul and falls with it into the depths of hell. Heaven has three levels, corresponding to good thoughts (stars), good words (moon) and good deeds (sun). Hell also has several levels. For those souls who committed equal amounts of good and bad deeds, there is a place of limbo, Hamestakan, between earth and the stars.

C. Eschatology

Zoroastrian eschatology reflects the constant struggle between good and evil. At the end of the present world order, a general resurrection will take place. Good and evil will be subjected to an ordeal of fire and molten metal. The evil will be revealed by their terrible burns, whereas the good will find the metal soothing and healing.

Later writings developed a theory of four world-ages, each lasting 3000 years. During the first age, there was no matter. Zoroaster appeared at the end of the second age. During the third age, Zoroastrianism would be propagated. During this third age, three “saviors” would appear at intervals of 1000 years. They are all children of Zoroaster, as three virgins who bathed in the lake in Persia would become fertilized by Zoroaster’s seed. Upon the appearance of Soshyans, the last Messiah, the “final judgment” would begin. All souls, who were previously judged at death, would now arise. The righteous and evil would be separated and a flood of molten metal would pour out upon the earth, purifying it. Every soul would walk through it. The righteous would be unharmed, walking through it as if through warm milk. The evil would walk through it in terrible agony, having all the evil burned away. Only the good would be left in them. Angra Mainyu, the evil opponent of Ahura Mazda would send into the flames to be totally consumed. All the survivors would now live together in the new heavens and the new earth in utmost joy. Adults would remain forever at forty years old and children would remain at fifteen. Even hell, made pure, would be brought back to enlarge the world.[4]

II. Judeo-Christian

A. Religious Background

Christianity is the world’s most popular religion. But before Christianity, there was Judaism. Judaism is the beginning of the Western or Judeo-Christian religion. Judaism and Christianity share a common religious history. The Old Testament, as it is known to Christians, is the scripture of history, ranging from the creation to the visions of the prophets. Judaism is wholly different from many of the preceding religions of the world in that is completely monotheistic. Zoroastrianism has more than one deity, but only one reigns supreme. Judaism believes in the one God, Yahweh. From Him springs all truth, suffering and judgment. In the beginning, God created the world where there once was a void. He created, in seven days, the earth, sky, stars, moon, all creatures and man. Even the devil was thought to have come from God; Satan was once one of God’s angels but was thrown down to Hell as punishment. Well-known biblical stories of Noah’s Flood, Moses and the Egyptians and King David are a record of Judaic history. God was very much involved in the lives of the people during the Old Testament, speaking through his prophets, raining punishment on his sinners and leading his people through battles. The Jews were his chosen people. Moses inaugurated a covenant between the nation of Israel and the Creator of the world. He protected them and they solely were the ones to receive his good. He promised them a Messiah, to deliver them from the evil peoples of the world and lead them into a time of peace. This faith in the Messiah is where Christians and Jews break in their beliefs. Jews are still awaiting the arrival of their Messiah. Christians believe that Jesus Christ, a figure born in 1 C.E. was the Son of Man. He was not only the Messiah, but God himself. From Jesus arose the Holy Trinity of God, his son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. The Jews were no longer the solely the Chosen people, for all could find salvation in Jesus Christ. Jesus was crucified by the Romans in 30 C.E. and his followers believe that he was resurrected three days after his death. His death was a symbolic gesture, cleansing the sins of all that would follow him. Christian evangelist efforts have spread Christianity to all corners of the world.

B. Death and the Afterlife

The fate of the individual after death has never been as central to Jewish religious thinking as it was in Christianity. Without the ideas behind life after death, the Christian religion would lose a fundamental doctrine. However, in Judaism, the basic outline of the religion would still stand. Classical Jewish thinking dealt more with national catastrophe as a whole, not individual extinction.[5] The first discussions of the afterlife focused on a shadowy other world Sheol. Sheol was a place where some combination of the body and soul resides after death. Sheol, in Isaiah and Ezekiel seem to be hell, an abyss or grave where those who died violently or did not receive appropriate burial reside.

“Once you thought in your heart,

‘I will climb to the sky,

Higher than the stars of God

I will set my throne.

I will sit on the mount of assembly,

On the summit Zaphon:

I will mount the back of a cloud –

I will match the Most High.’

Instead, you are brought down to Sheol,

To the bottom of the Pit…

All the kings of nations

Were laid, every one,

Each in his tomb.

While you were left unburied,

Like loathsome carrion,

Like a trampled corpse

In the clothing of the slain gashed by the sword

Who sink to the very stones of the Pit. (Isaiah 14:13-19)[6]

The pharaohs, hated by God and the Jews, were also to be thrown down into Sheol. “You too shall be brought down…to the lowest part of the netherworld; you shall lie among the uncircumcised and those slain by the sword. Such shall be the fate of Pharaoh and all his hordes – declares the Lord.” (Ezekiel 31:15-18)[7] Sheol was also for Jewish sinners as well. However, there is a more neutral view of Sheol. It was also viewed as a quiet grave shared by all. These differing views of Sheol suggests that the afterlife was not a main concern in biblical Judaism. However, rabbinical writings and the Greek of the Gospels mention Gehinnom, usually referred to as the place of punishment. “…[T]heir souls are reduced to nothing and their bodies burned and Gehenna vomits them up; they become ash and the wind disperses them to be trodden underfoot by the hold.”(Toesefta Sanhedrin 13:3)[8]

There was a paradigm shift around the time of the Macabees in 165 B.C.E. The Book of Daniel describes a new conception of death. It ties the actions of the individual with the afterlife. “..and those who lead the many to righteousness will be like the stars forever and ever.” (Daniel 12:1-4) This was one of the first Jewish texts in which there is a connection of the just with heaven and the stars. There was a further development of the belief in the afterlife around 70 C.E. with the growth of popularity of the Pharisees, Jewish scholars of the period. They further elaborated the connection between the leading of a just life and the rewards after death and professed that the soul and the body were separate entities. Previous Jewish scholars believed that the body was a sacred gift from God and in death, the body would be restored to life before heavenly bliss. The Pharisees saw the body as a prison for the soul.

“The Pharisees…believe that souls have the power to survive death and that there are rewards and punishments under the earth for those who have led lives of virtue or vice: eternal imprisonment is the lot of evil souls, while the good souls receive an easy passage to a new life…The Sadducees hold that the soul perishes along with the body.” (Josephus, Antiquities 18:14-16)[9]

The Jewish faith still does not put the same emphasis on death as Christianity does. The ambiguity surrounding death still exists in Judaism as different people subscribe to different views.

The Christian view of the afterlife is similar to some aspects of Judaism. The righteous are slotted to join God while the wicked are sent into the depths of hell. These popular beliefs about heaven and hell developed, particularly through the Middle Ages, with increasingly vivid imagery. The dualism of soul and body were now firmly set, forming the Roman Catholic pattern of understanding the constitution of the human being. Death was a separation of the soul from the body. However, entrance into heaven was not based on following (talmudic) law, as Judaism believed, but was granted to all who were faithful to Jesus Christ. Only those who believed that Jesus was the one and only savior would be allowed into heaven. In heaven, souls were reunited with those of loved ones, even though earthly relationships such as between husband and wife were not carried over into it. Spiritual rewards awaited those in heaven. The ultimate bliss of heaven was to worship God and look upon him face to face. Heaven was conceived to be a community in which fellowship takes place amongst the souls and between God. This idea is mirrored in the religious fellowship on Earth among Christians. Thomas Aquinas was the one of the most prominent proponents of the theology that made heaven the ultimate goal of human beings, whose purpose was to know God.[10]

Sinners are left to stay in hell for all eternity. Hell developed originally as a state of sin, being excluded from God’s presence, instead of a place of torment, as developed later by the church. Hell became emphasized as a place of punitive torment only in the later Christian doctrine.

“And he brought me to the north, to the place of all punishments, and he placed me above a well, which I found was sealed with seven seals…And when the well was opened, there instantly arose from it a foul and evil smell which was far worse than all the punishments. And I looked into the well and saw on all sides fiery masses burning…And I said: ‘And who is it who is sent into this well?’ And he said to me: ‘Here are all those who have not confessed that Christ entered into the flesh and that the Virgin Mary bore him and who say that the bread of the Eucharist and the cup of the blessing are not the body and blood of Christ.’” (Apocalypse of Paul 40-42)[11]

It is clearly stated here that those who do not accept Christ as the divine incarnated as a man and the savior of all people will suffer in hell. Christ had died for the sins of man but he was resurrected. In Christ, believers could also find life.

“…through baptism we have been buried with him in death, so that just as he was raised from the dead through the Father’s glory, we too may live a new life. You must think of yourselves as dead to sin but alive to God, through union with Christ Jesus.” (Romans 6:4,11)[12]

Christ was thus the means to be with God. Sin was the same as death, as just as corporeal life was full of sin, death would lead to a new life, free of sin, and in the presence of God.

C. Eschatology

In the literature after the Exile there appears the entirely novel idea that this world will come to an end; and that was sensed as being imminent. Before this new doctrine of eschatology, the end of time was not an area of theology that the Jewish rabbis addressed in full detail. The end was a physical event. The Jewish people felt that there would be a supernatural deliverance from their suffering. The End Time, though accompanied by unimaginable hardships and trials, would represent the Lord’s vindication of His people. It would be achieved by an agent from the heavens, a Messiah, descended from the line of King David. Although these themes began in the age of the prophets, they find their most vivid and prolific writings from 2 B.C.E. onwards. Joel, for example, described the day in graphic terms.

“’After that,

I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh;

Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

Your old men shall dream dreams,

And your young men shall see visions;

I will even pour our My Spirit

Upon male and female slave in those days.

I will set portents in the sky and on the earth,

Blood and fire and pillars of smoke;

The sun shall be turned to darkness

And the moon into blood.’

But everyone who invokes the name of the Lord shall escape, for there shall be a remnant on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, as the Lord promised. Anyone who invokes the Lord will be among the survivors.” (Joel 3)[13]

This end was foreshadowed by all kinds of evils: wars, distress, fear, famine and the rise to power of wicked rulers. But at the last moment, with the sounding of a trumpet, the Messiah would appear in the cloud. His appearance would usher in a new state of peace. Older views held that only justified Jews could hope to join the Messiah, but later expectations offered hope to all, including religious Gentiles. The Zoroastrian view of a conference of all souls, past and present, was finally accepted. Before the Messiah, they would be separated into the saved and the wicked. The wicked would be sent away into hell and the good would enter a state of bliss. Some writers though that is would be an earthly paradise; others placed it in one of the lower heavens. The Lord resided in the highest of the seven heavens with his angels. Others combined these two pictures and saw an earthly paradise centered in a New Jerusalem to be inhabited by the Messiah and his chosen people for one million year before the last judgment. Then the redeemed would be in a heavenly paradise.[14] Still others believe in Judaism believe there is no hell, but rather the absence of God is suffering enough. However, all these different views believe that there is an end to time and to the suffering of the Jews in a peaceful kingdom reigned by the true Messiah.

Eschatology is certainly one of the most complex doctrines in Christianity. Though Jesus generally shared the apocalyptic view of the Jews, he transformed it. He took the narrowly conceived Messianism of the Judaism of his day, which hoped that there would be a restoration of the kingdom of David in Jerusalem and replaced it with a new form of the old vision of a world where God’s reign would be extended throughout the world.

“I tell you, many will come from the east and from the west and take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, in the Kingdom of heaven, while the heirs to the kingdom will be driven into the darkness outside, there to weep and grind their teeth!” (Matthew 8:11-12)[15]

Jesus further predicted that only those who repented would be given the right to heaven. Outcast, tax collectors, prostitutes and sinners would inherit heaven in they repented. So-called servants of God, such as the Pharisees and the Sadducees, would not survive the end of the world if they did not repent. This was a true shift in thinking. The kingdom of heaven after the apocalypse was open to all who repented in His name. Mark states, “It is the pure in heart who shall see God; it is the meek who shall inherit the earth.” (Mark 9:45)[16]

The Christian end of the world is marked by specific stages, as set forth most notably in the book of Revelation. Revelation 20: 1-7 describes the Millennium, a time of peace lasting a 1000 years. This concept has its origins in Zoroastrianism and is echoed in Judaic writing as well. The Tribulation is a seven year period in which the Antichrist, a human form of the devil, or an incarnation of his son, takes reign over the world. It is a time where the world falls under his false prophecies and only the most righteous can resist his powers. Armageddon is a terrible war waged by the Antichrist against God and his people. Most people on earth will die in the many plagues and natural disasters God brings upon the earth. Finally, there is the Rapture. The Rapture is a miraculous event when Christ descends from the heavens. Faithful Christians who have died will rise from their graves to meet Jesus. Christians who are alive will also ascend into heaven, leaving behind the non-believers.[17] The Christian eschatological doctrine is essentially different from the Judaic one. Christians believe the Messiah had arrived as Jesus Christ. However, he returned to heaven without completing his work. Jesus will come a second time to earth to complete his plan.

“Jesus said, ‘Take care that no one misleads you. Many will come claiming my name and saying, ‘I am he’; and many will be misled by them. When you hear news of battle near at hand and the news of battles far away, do not be alarmed. Such things are bound to happen; but the end is still to come. For nation will make war upon nation, kingdom upon kingdom; there will be earthquakes in many places; there will be famines. With these things the birth pangs of the new age begin…Those days will bring distress such as never has been until now since the beginning of the world which God created – and will never be again. If the Lord had not cut short that time of troubles, no living thing could survive. However, for the sake of his own, whom He has chosen, He has cut short the time. Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah, ‘ or ‘Look, there he is,’ do not believe it. Imposters will come claiming to be messiahs or prophets and they will produce signs and wonders to mislead God’s chosen, if such a thing were possible. But you, be on your guard; I have forewarned you of it all. But in those days, after that distress, the sun will be darkened; the moon will not give her light; the stars will come falling from the sky, the celestial powers will be shaken. Then will you see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory, and he will send out his angels and gather his chosen from the four wins, from the farthest bounds of earth to farthest bounds of heaven…But about that day or that hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, not even the Son; only the Father.” (Mark 13:1-32)[18]

Jesus lays out the ideas of the end of the world. He describes the Antichrist and his followers. He also describes the disasters and punishment God reigns upon the earth. Modern Christian writings have attempted to predict the end of the world, but Biblical scholars maintain one of Jesus’ main themes in Mark; no one, not even him, could know the end of time. Only God knows when the Revelation will begin.

At the end of this peace and then chaos, God himself will send Satan and the Antichrist into the pits of hell. As with Zoroastrianism and some ideas of Judaism, there is a final judgment. All souls will be judged by the Lord and sent either to reign with him in heaven or to suffer for all eternity in hell. Many modern Christian sects and cults fixate around the idea of the Apocalypse. The idea of Jesus’ second coming and the final judgment are central ideas to many Christians. Only the most righteous will survive these horrors to reside with God in heaven for eternity.

III. Islam

A. Religious Background

Islam was founded by the prophet Muhammad. To him, the truth of God was revealed. He was not a biblical scholar but did have a great respect for prior prophets, including Abraham, Moses and Jesus. The truth of God was written down in the Qur’an. Over the years, Islam has stayed with its one main body of religious work, the Qur’an, and to this day, there are very few variations upon it. It is the Qur’an, not Muhammad that is the revelation. Ultimately, Muslim authorities organized most of Islam under three main headings: iman (articles of faith), ihsan (right conduct) and ibadat (religious duty). The former two were sent forth in the Qur’an where the ibadat was defined later. [19]

The Muslim creed reads first, “There is no god but God.” It is the most important article in Muslim theology. It implies that believing in any other God is the worst sin possible by man. The second half of the Muslim creed declares that “Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.” Allah’s words were revealed through Muhammad, but he was a man, not divine. He was considered the greatest in a line of prophets, including Jesus. Allah guides man through the Qur’an, the word of God. Although Muhammad wrote the words down, he was only a messenger. The Qur’an is God’s word. Allah also makes his will known through angels. Ihsan provided Muslims with a comprehensive guide for everyday life. They are regulatory and reformatory. The religious duties of the Muslim are summed up in the five pillars.

The Creed: “There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the prophet of Allah.”
Prayer: The Muslim sets aside time for five acts of devotion and prayer to occur at dawn, midday, mid-afternoon, sunset and bedtime. The Muslim Lord’s Prayer is usually recited.
Almsgiving (Zakat) is a free-will offering to the poor.
Fasting during the month of Ramadan
Pilgrimage, a once in a lifetime journey to Mecca.[20]

B. Death and the Afterlife

All Muslims have accepted the resurrection of the body and the existence of heaven and hell as fundamental tenets to the faith. Belief in the afterlife is so basic to Islam that Islamic doctrine can be divided into three basic principles: tawhid (the Unity of God), nubuuwa (prophesy) and (ma’ad) eschatology. Muslims believe that just as everything came from Allah, everything returns to Allah. The degree to which a Muslim fulfills his destiny determines whether Allah will reveal his compassionate, merciful self or whether he reveals his wrathful, avenging self. These two faces correspond to heaven and hell.

On the first night in the grave, two angels will question the dead about their beliefs, and based on their answer will put them in a pleasant or unpleasant situation. Some scholars believe it is analogous to being in the womb: the soul develops and transforms based on their worldly deeds. They will remain in the grave until the Day of Resurrection when everyone is judged by God. Finally, people will be given everlasting life in heaven or hell.[21] Thus Islam is concerned with individual death temporarily. Only in reference to the end of the world are the heavens and hell described in full detail in the Qur’an.

C. Eschatology

The Day of Resurrection is spoken of by Muhammad in terms of thousands of years. Many events take place for the dead during that time. Souls of the righteous experience these events as pleasant whereas the souls of the damned undergo terrible tribulation. After these events, the people are divided in tow groups. One group is taken into the Garden and the other into the Fire, where they will stay for all time. The soul alone is taken there and appears to itself and others as a body. The Garden is situated in light and the Fire in darkness. The Garden is said to have eight levels and the Fire seven, although there are countless subsections to each. The degrees of heaven and hell are as different as each individual. In paradise, each person is taken to see the face of God once a week. Just as heaven and hell are gradated, so is each individual’s perception of God. To be veiled from God is the worst punishment and thus the people in the Fire suffer, not only from torture, but from the absence of God. In the Fire, the dead lose all things that made them human except for their regret, for they know what they should have become. Most Muslim authorities maintain that after many eons, those in the Fire will become so accustomed to the veil that they could not bear to enter Paradise[22]. Thus Allah is merciful even to the damned.

Closely associated with the end of time is the second coming of Jesus. Jesus was considered to be a human prophet, not divine as the Christians assert. Muslims assert that he was not dead and resurrected but was instead taken by God. He would however, have to return to earth to die as all other humans dies.

“Then he will die and the Muslims will pray over him and bury him at Medina beside the grave of Umar. Read if you will, the words ‘There are none of the People of the Book but will believe in him before his death and on the Day of Resurrection he will be a witness against them. (Qur’an 4:159)” [Jeffrey 1962: 596-597][23]

The Qur’an and later Muslim writings vividly illustrates the nature of heaven and hell. Heaven is described as “perpetual gardens which they will enter with those of their fathers, wives and children who are virtuous and at peace.”[24] But the descriptions of hell and the torments the unbelievers encounter are more vivid and written about in more detail.

“But when an unbeliever is drawing near to the next world and being cut off from this world, there descend to him from heaven, angels whose faces are black, bringing with them haircloth, and take their seats just within his vision. Then the Angel of Death arrives, takes his seat at his head and say: ‘O you pernicious soul, come forth to God’s discontent and wrath.’ Thereupon his soul is scattered all through his members and the angel drags it forth like the dragging of an iron spit through moist wool, tearing the veins and sinews. Thus he takes it, but it is not in his hand more than the twinkling of an eye before those angels take, put in the haircloth where the odor from it is like the stench of a decomposing carcass.” (Jeffrey 1962: 209)[25]

The importance of eschatology to Muslim doctrine is illustrated in the time that is given to understanding and reading about the afterlife.

IV. Hinduism

A. Religious Background

Hinduism is not really one religion but an umbrella term for Indian faiths of unlimited diversity. It is rather a family of religions. This range and complexity of beliefs and practices among Hindus has led observers to make a distinction between the broader and narrower tenets of Hinduism. Generally, the broader definition is preferred. It began from the time when their most scared scriptures, the Vedas were composed. Hinduism is set apart from the Judeo-Christian religions by two beliefs: the belief in many thousands of gods and the reincarnation of the soul.

Modern Hindus follow the four permissible goals in life.

1. Kama or pleasure, especially through love.

2. Artha, or power and substance. A man is allowed to seek wealth and power but should come to his own conclusion that this is not the way to true happiness.

3. Dharma or sustenance. It sets the standard (more strictly, the law) for a worthier and more deeply satisfying life. Generally, one who follows dharma is willing to give up personal pleasure for the good of the society.

4. Moksha or release and liberation. This is the culmination of the previous three, indicating a release from the birth-death cycle and achieving pure freedom.

Moksha may be found through three different methods in traditional Hinduism: a Way of Works, a Way of Knowledge and a Way of Devotion. Moksha is the goal of each Hindu. Society is set up to facilitate those who are close to Moksha, and thus the caste system was enacted.

Each of the gods are an expression of Brahman, or World Soul. Every human being is also tied into this soul. Upon release, the individual soul is returned from where it began, to Brahman. Thus for most Hindus, there are eons of no end, of continual cycling.

B. Death and the Afterlife

Samsara is the belief in birth-death-rebirth-redeath cycle of change. Thus time, for the Hindu, is cyclical. Birth implies death and vice versa. The Judeo-Christian heritage dictates that time is linear, as there is a beginning to time and there is an end. The atman or soul is imperishable and is reincarnated life after life. This cycle continues for all time unless the should returns into indistinguishable oneness with Brahman. Karma is what determines the nature of the next birth, whether it be as a bug or a high priest. Karma is the cause of what is happening in one’s life now.

“Men who delight in doing hurt become carnivorous animals; those who eat forbidden food, worms; thieves, creatures consuming their own kind…For stealing grain a man becomes a rate;…for stealing a horse, a tiger; for stealing fruits and roots, a monkey; for stealing a woman, a bear; for stealing cattle, a he-goat.” (Laws of Manu 498)[26]

Release from the cycles cannot be achieved by ritual sacrifices but is only achieved when one recognizes his true self, his atman by giving up all desire and desirous action. This philosophy was laid out in the Upanishads, scriptures produced between 800 and 500 B.C.E. However, the Upanishadic teachers stated that the only way to find one’s atman was through the pursuit of knowledge. Unfortunately, most Hindus were not born into a class where that would be possible, so a new philosophy was founded by the second century B.C.E., the devotional way. Devotional theism was not based on knowledge but on worship of popular deities, such as Shiva, Yogi and Devi. These deities responded with concern for their devotees and aided their followers. Release from rebirth could thus be a gift from the gods. For example, Krishna promises in the Bhagavad-Gita,

“You will be freed from the bonds of action,

from the fruit of fortune and misfortune;

armed with the discipline of renunciation,

yourself liberated, you will join me…

Keep me in your mind and devotion, sacrifice

To me, bow to me, discipline yourself to me,

And you will reach me! (9.28, 34)[27]

The goal of life for devotional Hindus was still to relinquish desire and attachment that caused rebirth. To achieve release, Hindus should instead be attached to one’s chosen god or goddess by devotion.

C. Eschatology

Hindu eschatology is characterized by Yugas. Yugas are ages, or periods of history which last thousands of years. Time is merely a manifestation of the Supreme Being, Brahma. Vedic literature states that Vishnu the Preserver sleeps on the ocean floor. While he sleeps, a lotus appears from his navel, out of which the god Brahma is born, who then creates the world. This continues for thousands of ages and finally everything dissolves again into Vishnu. There are four yugas in each cosmic cycle. The four ages are: Krita, Treta, Dvapara and Kali.[28] According to the Vedic system 1,000 Yuga cycles equals One Day of Brahma. The lengths of time in the Satya, Treta, Dvapura and "Kali" yugas are 4, 3, 2, and 1 times an interval of 432,000 years. Within these periods of time human life span decreases from 100,000 years in the Krita-yuga, to 10,000 years in the Treta-yuga, 1,000 years in the Dvapura-yuga, and finally 100 years in the Kali-yuga. A Yuga cycle consists of the passing of the four yugas, or 4,320,000 years A thousand yuga cycles makes One Day of Brahma equal to 4,320,000,000 years.[29]

Each of these ages are characterized by differing levels of goodness. The first, Krita, also known as the golden age, has the majority of the world living in goodness. They had immense spiritual and physical power. They performed their religious and moral duties. Each of the following ages had the goodness of the world decreased by a quarter. Treta, the silver age has only three-quarters of the world in goodness, Dvapara has only half of the world in goodness.

We are living now in the age of Kali. Kali, or the iron age is the decline of the cosmic cycle. It is an age of hypocrisy and quarreling. Only a quarter of the world lives in consciousness of the gods.[30] Kali is characterized by an awareness of the physical body, but very little awareness of the spiritual. It is corrupted by materialism and greed. The Hindu apocalypse or end of the world is the end of the Kali Yuga. The main character of this story of the end of time is Vishnu, into whom the whole world will be reabsorbed and born again.

“Oppressed by their excessively greedy rulers, people will hide in valleys between mountains, where they will gather honey, vegetables, roots, fruits, birds, flowers and so forth. Suffering from cold, wind, heat and rain, they will put on clothes made of tree bark and leaves. And no one will live as long as twenty-three years. Thus in the Kali Age humankind will be utterly destroyed.” (Hindu Puranas)[31]

Each of the yugas of the cosmic cycle are marked by visits from human incarnations of Vishnu, avatars. Among them are Rama and Krishna. It is said that nine of the ten avatars of Vishnu have already appeared. The last avatar, Kalkin will be sent at the end of time. He will be born a Brahmin and will glorify Vishnu. Kalkin will destroy all things and bring a new age. As the king of kings he will kill foreigners and restore peace. He is the deliverer of the world.[32] At the end of Kalkin’s reign Shiva, the Destroyer, will destroy the whole universe in the Night of Brahma. On the next day, known as the Day of Brahma, Brahma will create the universe once more. The cyclical view of individual human life is mirrored in the life of the universe. The universe is destroyed as a whole, earth, heavens and all, but is re-created, as the body is reincarnated.

The cyclicality of time is an essential part of Hindu thought.

V. Buddhism

A. Religious Background

Buddhism has its roots in Hinduism. Life is looked upon as cyclical, repeating itself. However, there are essential differences. Buddhism was founded by Siddhartha Gautama, also Gautama Buddha around 500 B.C.E. Buddhism was a reaction to the strict laws and assumptions of the Brahmins of the Hindu faith. Buddhism, like Hinduism, is more of a collection of an array of beliefs and practices. It differs in one important aspect however; all Buddhism is based upon the teachings and life of Gautama Buddha. Broadly, Buddhism seeks to release the self from the suffering in the living world. It chooses to achieve this freedom by following a middle path, between extreme asceticism and extreme sensuality. Somewhere between the third and first century B.C.E. Buddhism developed into a religion that offered eternal rewards to the faithful. It gave rise to Mahayana Buddhism.

Gautama Buddha was now the object of devotion and was worshiped as a divine being who came to earth out of compassion for humanity. Buddha was a person destined to be enlightened, a bodhisattvas. His previous lives only led up to the day when he would return to the Tushita heaven from when he came. Mahayanists emphasize that there were many Buddhas before Gautama. Some had come to earth, others remained in heaven and some were Buddhas of the future, the bodhisattvas. Bodhisattvas were people who made a vow many lives ago and go through their future lives to gain merits in order to pass into Nirvana. Prayers reach these supernatural beings and out of compassion, they may give up some of their merits for those who pray to them. Everyone is potentially a bodhisattvas. Man or woman can make the vow in their current life to become enlightened.[33]

The Buddha shared his knowledge with others by outlining the four Noble Truths.

“This, O Bhikkus, is the Noble Truth of Suffering: Birth is suffering; decay is suffering; illness is suffering; death is suffering…This O Bhikkus is the Noble Truth of the Cause of suffering: Thirst, that leads to rebirth, accompanied by pleasure and lust, finding its delight here and there. This thirst is threefold, namely, thirst for pleasure, thirst for existence, thirst for prosperity. This O Bhikkhus is the noble truth of the Cessation of suffering: the complete cessation of this thirsts - a cessation which consists in the absence of every passion…This O Bhikkhus is the Noble Truth of the Path which leads to the cessation of suffering: that holy eightfold Path, Right Belief, Right Aspiration, Right Speech, Right Conduct, Right Means of Livelihood, Right Endeavor, Right Memory, Right Mediation.” (Vinaya Texts 101)[34]

By understanding the four Noble Truths and following the eightfold path, Nirvana is open to all.

B. Death and the Afterlife

Ultimately, a Buddhist wants to attain Nirvana. It is a state where we see reality as it really is. The individual is freed from the suffering of repeated reincarnations of the body. Instead he attains the Buddhist ideal and becomes One with the universe. Nagarjuna, was a Buddhist thinker who offered a description of this blissful place.

“nirvanas not any some: thing

(lost or gained) eternal

or ending arisen or

destroyed…

after his final cessation

the Blessed One isn’t is

(isn’t isn’t) isn’t is & isn’t

isn’t isn’t is & isn’t)…

when all events are empty

what is endless

what is ending (what is endless

& ending) what is neither

endless nor ending”[35]

Indeed the idea of Nirvana is incredibly cryptic as Nagarjuna’s paradoxical reflections on it indicate. Another development in Mahayana Buddhism was the idea of shunya (void). The true nature of the world, also called the Buddha Nature, is the void, which is not a non-existence, but an Ultimate Reality free of any duties and limitations. It is very similar to the Hindu idea of Brahman. This true nature of the world has to be understood by man through mystical visions and interpretations.

“Every being has the Buddha Nature. This is the self. Such a self is, since the beginning under cover of innumerable illusions. That is why a man cannot see it. O good man! There was a poor woman who has gold hidden somewhere in her house, but no one knew where it was. But there was a stranger who, by expediency, speaks to the poor woman, ‘I shall employ you to wee the lawn.’ The woman answered, ‘I cannot do it now, but if you show my son where the gold is hidden, I will work for you.’ The man says, ‘I know the way; I will show it to your son.’ The woman replies, ‘No one in my house big or small knows where the gold is hidden. How can you know?’ The man then digs out the hidden gold and shows it to the woman. She is glad and begins to respect him. O good man! The same is the case with a man’s Buddha Nature. No one can see it. It is like the gold which the poor woman possessed and yet could not locate. I not let people see the Buddha Nature which they possess, but which was hidden by illusions. The tathagata shows all beings the storehouse of enlightenment, which is the cask of true gold – their Buddha Nature.” (Mahaparinirvana Sutra 214-5)

Once one is free of illusions, he can ascend to where the Buddhas are. It is a place completely different from earthly reality. It is analogous to a destruction of the personhood and transcendence into the spirit.[36]

C. Eschatology

Just as in Hinduism, Buddhists believe that the world order has a cyclical nature. As individuals die and are reincarnated, so does the universe. Buddhism, like Hinduism, has defined ages for the cosmic cycles, called kalpas. There are three great kalpas per cosmic cycle, the age of True Dharma, the age of Imitation Dharma and the age of Last Dharma.. Similar to Hinduism, each kalpas is marked by deteriorating morality and religiosity; in general, a decline in Dharma. The end of time will be heralded by a new Buddha, Maitreya who will usher in the golden age. The last age is marked by various signs of decline including negligence in the observation of the precepts, moral pollution by secular values, and social and political conditions unfavorable for the perpetuation of the faith.

"When the Dharma is on the verge of being destroyed, it is women who will concentrate on advancement, and have the habit of performing good deeds. Men will be lazy and indolent; they will have no use for the words of the Dharma. They will consider monks to be like befouled earth; they will not have believing minds. "The Dharma is about to be wiped out, and when the time for that comes, all the Devas will weep tears. Rainy and dry seasons will be untimely, the Five Grains will not ripen, pestilential vapors will be prevalent; there will be many dead. The common people will toil in hardship, the public officials will be calculating and harsh; not compliant with the principles of the Way, all will have their hearts set on pleasure or disorder. Wicked men will steadily increase in number, to become like the sands of the sea; the good will be very scarce, no more than one or two.

"Because the kalpa is nearly at its end, the days and months will become shorter and shorter, and men's lives will pass more and more hastily; their heads will be white at forty. Men will be filthy and depraved; they will exhaust their semen (25) and shorten their lives, living at most to the age of sixty. The lives of men will become shorter, but the lives of women will become longer, to seventy or eighty or ninety; some will reach a hundred years.

"Great floods will suddenly occur; they will strike by surprise, unlooked-for. The people of the world will have no faith, and hence they will take the world to be permanent (26). Living creatures of every variety, with no distinction between gentry and the base, will be drowned and float away, dashed about, to be eaten by fish or turtles.”[37]

The present world will be destroyed and there will be a return to the void, the completion of the cycle of the universe. After some time, the universe will be re-created and the cycle of the universes will begin again.

Buddha foretells the gradual decline of his religion in the Anagatavamsa. He characterizes the decline by five disappearances, spread throughout the kalpas. The first disappearance is that of attainment, which will occur a thousand years after his achievement of Nirvana. The disappearance of proper conduct is inaugurated by the breaking of moral habit by the last monk. The disappearance of learning begins natural disasters, as the earth begins to decay and the memory of Buddha’s teaching decays with it. There will be a new king at the end of the learning. His pronouncement will show the world that there is no more learning.

“When a king who has faith has had a purse containing a thousand (coins) placed in a golden casket on an elephant’s back, and has had the drum (of proclamation) sounded in the city up to the second or third time, to the effect that: ‘Whoever knows a stanza uttered by the Buddhas, let him take these thousand coins together with the royal elephant’ but yet finding no one knowing a four-line stanza, the purse containing the thousand (coins) must be taken back into the palace again – then will be the disappearance of learning.[38]

Finally, the disappearance of the relics is the actual destruction of the world.

“Then when the Dispensation of the Perfect Buddha is 5000 years old, the relics, not receiving reverence and honor will go to places where they can receive them. As time goes on and on there will not be reverence and honor for them in every place. At the time when the Dispensation is falling into (oblivion) all the relics coming from every place…will teach Dhamma. No human being will be found at that place. All the devas of the ten-thousand world system gathered together will hear Dhamma and many thousands of them will attain to Dhamma.”[39]

The world is lost when no one remembers the religion and it will await a new cosmic cycle to begin and restore the pureness of Buddha again.

Conclusion

The doctrine of eschatology is always an intriguing aspect of religion. Some religions, such as Christianity and Islam, emphasize the end of the world theology. It is integral to its understanding of God and the other religious tenets. Other religions, such as Hinduism and Buddhism, do not focus as much on eschatology. Life, death and the existence of the universe is seen as a never-ending cycle. There may be temporary ends to individual and cosmic lives, but the universe becomes reincarnated and starts again. The essential difference between the Western and Eastern religions I have focused on in this paper is that the Western religions see time as linear. The Eastern religions see time as cyclical. In Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, there is a beginning to time and an end to time. The Eastern religions see time as a cycle; where there is a beginning, there must be an end and vice versa.

Although the scope of this paper will not allow such analysis, some interesting questions can be raised from comparing eschatological studies. How do these different view of time and the end occur? Is it the view of suffering in this world? Judeo-Christian and Muslim doctrines emphasize the suffering of the individual on the earth and the eventual paradise with God. Hinduism see suffering rather as part of one’s lot in life and that with each life, one has the chance to improve. Does the difference arise from the definition of good and bad within each religion? In Western religions, clear lines are drawn between who and what is considered good and bad. The lines in the Eastern religions are a little more blurred. Perhaps eschatology gives a solution to the issue of how to deal with the good and bad people of the earth. In a religion such as Hinduism, there is no final punishment and only a final good. The cyclical nature of the universe enables all people to achieve bliss. Although there is clearly no one explanation for the differences in the beliefs of the end of time in the religions, these questions do pose interesting areas of further research and consideration.

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[1] David S. Noss et al., A History of the World’s Religions (New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1990).

[5] Goldenberg, Robert, “Bound Up in the Bond of Life: Death and Afterlife in the Jewish Tradition,” in Death and Afterlife: Perspectives of World Religions, ed. Hiroshi Obayashi (New York: Greenwood Press, 1992), 97-108.

[6] Peters, F.E., Judaism, Christianity and Islam (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1990), 1125.

[17] Robinson, B.A. “Millennialism: Competing Theories”, 14, October 2000, (7 May 2001), http://www.religioustolerance.org/millenni.htm.

[21] Chittick, William C., “Your Sight Today is Piercing: The Muslim Understanding of Death and Afterlife,” in Death and Afterlife: Perspectives of World Religions, ed. Hiroshi Obayashi (New York: Greenwood Press, 1992), 125.

[27] Hopkins, Thomas J., “Hindu views on death and the afterlife,” in Death and the Afterlife: Perspectives of World Religions, ed. Hiroshi Obayashi (New York: Greenwood Press, 1992), 149-151.

[28] Parrinder, Geoffrey, Avatar and Incarnation, (New York: Barnes & Noble, 1970), 22.

[30] http://www.harekrishnatemple.com/bhakta/chapter19.html

[31] http://members.tripod.com/EsotericTexts02/Doomsday.Hindu.htm

[34] David, T.W. Rhys and Herman Oldenberg. “Vinaya Texts Translated from the Pali,” in Sacred Books of the East (Delhi; Morilal Banarsidass 1881) p. 101

[35] Beyer, Stephen, The Buddhist Experience (California: Wadsworth Publishing 1974), p. 212,3

[36] http://www.comparativereligion.com/salvation.html

[37] http://www.cic.sfu.ca/NACC/articles/decline/declinetext.html

[38] Eliade, Mircea. From Primitives to Zen: A Thematic Sourcebook of the History of Religions, (New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1967) 392.