Compare and contrast the differing views of life after death in Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Confucius, Taoist, and Shinto beliefs

COMPARISON AND CONTRAST VIEWS ON LIFE AFTER DEATH IN HINDUISM, BUDDHISM, JAINISM, CONFUCIANISM, TAOISM, AND SHINTO BELIEFS
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In Eastern religions, the afterlife gained more prominence since the adoption of the concept of reincarnation, where souls get reborn following death, going till there is no cycle of death and rebirth referred to as samsara. Unlike Western religions which focus on bodily resurrection, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism and Jainism place great importance on the concept of reincarnation and its relevance in life after death. Even though there is no agreement on the concept of hell and heaven, the religions emphasize on the need to do good deeds as this affects a person’s fate in the after life. The concept of karma as being synonymous with cause and effects of actions provides a moral framework for followers and adherents of the religions and philosophies, as one is expected to do good in order to be a better being in the afterlife. This is a comparison contrast paper on views about life after death in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Confucianism, Taoism, and Shinto beliefs.
There are various schools of thoughts in Hinduism that make it hard to describe any single doctrine, and there are many sacred books in the form of the Vedas. The concept of reincarnation is central to understanding the belief in life after death among Hindus. This doctrine holds that there are continuous episodes of suffering or chance to improve depending on a person’s deeds. Reincarnation in turn related to the rebirth of souls and the souls are seen as being immortal. In Hinduism and Jainism, Souls are part of jiva, and subject to karma where death simply signifies an ongoing process where there is separate existence from the limited being (jiva). In death, the jiva simply rests, recover, rebuilds and returns to earth. Death is a temporary state that enables the soul to rejuvenate in preparation for the next phase of life. The soul is then to reborn various times in order to achieve completeness after overcoming struggles in incarnation.
To the Buddhists, heaven/ Nirvana explain the belief in the after life, and adherents believe that the spirit is rejoined with the god in Nirvana. In order to reach Nirvana, people must follow the Eightfold Path, and is through mastery of the Path the worshipers spirit return as gods. Similar to Hinduism, Buddhists also believe in reincarnation, and it is the bad people who go to hell and are then reincarnated. Even though, Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism originate in India, it is only Hinduism that believes in the Vedas. In Buddhism, death is not the end, as the spirit still remains even in death. A person’s spirit still remains and is attached to the body, and a person is born again out of their past deeds through cause and effects through karma, which is the influence from actions.
Jainism shares many similar traits with Buddhism, having also originated from India but also disagreed with the Brahmanic philosophy. Like Buddhism, Jainism highlights on reincarnation in the after life but focuses more on the ascetic aspects of religion. In Jainism, there is jiva representing the soul attached to living beings and ajiva, inanimate objects where there was coexistence between the two. Jainism, Taoism, Confucianism, Hinduism and Buddhism place great importance on the role of karma in life as the moral law of conduct. The concept of samsara also touches on the samsara where one is freed from samsara depending on karma. There are two kinds of karma in Jainism which can either be destructive, this affects the soul or non destructive and this affects the body. Spiritual development and karma in turn affect death whereby rebirth takes places, and there is punishment in one of the eight hells or soul liberation in heaven. Jains venerate their saints, and Hindu saints are also seen as incarnations of deities, while in Buddhism, those who achieve nirvana are saints delivered from the cycle of samsara.
Confucianism does not evaluate the place life after death through success on life, and Confucius stated that death was not a sign to a definitive end of life. In other words, death was not equated to extinction, but there was spiritual survival even for those already dead. Similar to Buddha, Confucius did not intend to speculate on extraterrestrial settings. However, Daoism reflects on infernal post-mortem circumstances unlike Buddhi...