Hinduism And Buddhism
Hinduism and Buddhism both try to offer a theory of why people would suffer from temptation, drudgery and pain, and how to attain enlightenment and self-awakening in order to obtain freedom from the tempting and arduous world. Hinduism believes that all beings and existence of the universe are one, but Buddhism thinks that no body has self. Buddhism produced more workable and fairer views in terms of metaphysics and institutional requirements for individuals than Hinduism.
The fundamental core of Hindu metaphysics is that Atman is Brahman. Atman refers to the conscious core of one’s being, as well as other sentient beings, and it is eternal, pure spirit (Bresnan, p.54). Brahman is “the ultimate inner essence of all things
Both Hinduism and Buddhism are concerning the suffering of individuals and try to signal a path to self-awakening for people. Both Hinduism and Buddhism believe in reincarnation, which is a natural part of the world. The final objectives, either moksha or Nirvana, are similar to each other, that is being perfectly peaceful, understanding all things, and being liberated from the chain of reincarnations. In Hinduism, common people and individuals who are born into low-rank castes would find and achieve moksha much harder than upper-castes, such as Brahimin, simply because of their base hierarchy. However, Buddhism rejects the caste system and the privileges of the Brahmin priests. “There is no such thing as an institutional hierarchy to make final decisions about the truth, and each person must make such decisions for himself or herself” (Bresnan, p.185). The universal path to awakening, according to Buddhism, does not discriminate one depending one’s inherent caste, so the path distinguishes individuals from their strict morality and disciplined orientation. At this point, Buddhism has greater potential for success in terms of ameliorating the suffering of each individual and society as a whole
Buddhism, founded by Buddha, was a religion based on staying on the right path and doing what is right to achieve nirvana. In Buddhism, there were two paths that people should not follow and there was a middle path discovered by the Perfect One that people should follow in life (Doc 4). Hinduism, which branched off of Buddhism, an intricate religion with one idea on what to do to achieve happiness. It also has the concept of Karma, which is the sum of a person’s good and bad deeds in life (Doc 1).
Buddhism was originated in India in the fifth century B.C.E by Siddhartha Gautama. In today estimation there are about three hundred and seventy six million followers, which is the sixth most practiced religion in the world. The founder of this religion was born a Kshatriya, which was the military or ruling class in the caste system. The caste system is a Hindu tradition. Buddhist does not believe in this system. Instead Buddhist believes in the four noble truths. The four noble truths teaches that everyone suffers, selfish desires causes suffering, suffering can be overcome by destroying selfish desires, and if man follows the Eightfold Path, he will destroy selfish desires and end all suffering. Buddhist also believes in Nirvana which is a release from selfishness and pain. Karma is also part of the Buddhist belief. Karma is interpreted in many ways around the world. But in the Buddhist religion Karma refers to the good and bad actions a person does in his or her life. The good actions will bring about good things in the future. Unlike the good actions, if...
Hinduism and Buddhism have different similarities and are in some ways connected to each other. Some of the practices of the two religions are similar in various ways and there are several examples to show this.
Buddhism and Hinduism come from the same region, India. Both of them are very focused on nature, the things around them, though they both believe in several hells and heavens, or higher and lower worlds. They both believe in karma which is the affect a person’s actions in this life will change his next life. Another point is that both religions focus on peace, and non violence towards all living things. They are compassionate, which ties into their focus on nature. Buddhism and Hinduism also believe in various spiritual practices such as meditation, concentration, and states of mind. Desire is the largest cause of suffering in both of the faiths. Another likeness is they both believe in reincarnation, and salvation. They believe the good deeds of a person are their work for salvation and their salvation will decide their next life, when they are reincarnated. Also, they both believe that there are many paths to enlightenment, such as overcoming your feelings and controlling over the six senses. Both religions are more philosophical then religious. Buddhists and Hindus both practice many forms of yoga and meditation and other ways to calm ones mind and focus the mind, such as Buddha did. They have many likenesses.
According to the BBC article Buddhism at a glance, the religion, Buddhism is based on the teaching of Siddhartha Gautama or more commonly Buddha. However, when reading this article it’s evident that Buddhism shares a lot of similarities with Hinduism but at the same time it differs. For Instance, both religions stem from similar cultural belief and backgrounds, both religions practice meditation which they believe is the path for their salvation, for Buddhists it’s the desire to attain Nirvana which is the state of liberation and freedom from suffering and for the Hindus is to reach their God. Both Hindu and Buddhist believe in reincarnation, they believe the good deeds of a person are their work for salvation and their salvation will
All Buddhist final and ultimate goals are to reach Nirvana. Nirvana is a state of being perfect, ending the process of reincarnation and beginning re-birth. There is a significant difference in the way Buddhist and Hindus view re-birth. The Buddhist believe in re-birth meaning that neither the soul nor the person gets transferred, while Hindus believe in reincarnation where the soul would travel from one body to another (the same person but in different bodies). However both believe in Samsara along with their views on suffering and that everyone will even...
Unlike Hindus, Buddhist follow Buddha’s four noble truths. The four noble truths provide a pathway to enlightenment; they teach what causes suffering in life and how to stop it. The noble truths are very simple and easy to understand. The first truth is that all existence will suffer no matter what, the second truth is the understanding of craving, the third truth is the cessation of suffering, and the final truth is following the noble eightfold path. Practicing Buddhism isn’t complex or difficult, unlike Hinduism. As long as one gives love and acceptance to everyone and everything, is mindful, practices Ahimsa, and detaches themselves from materialistic items one can be a successful Buddhist. Unlike the simplicity of Buddhism, Hinduism is very strict and complex. It is male oriented and difficult to follow through. To practice Hinduism one must follow the four stages of life. The first stage is being a student and study the Vedas. The second stage is being a house holder; support a student and have a family. The third stage is being a Hermit; withdraw from family for many months and prepare to become an ascetic. Finally, the last stage of life is becoming an ascetic. These stages are only allowed to be done by men and an extremely small percent of
Buddhism and Hinduism share many similar beliefs. The idea of being reborn after death until one reaches a certain point to which they reach their Nirvana, or Moksha as they refer to the action of being set free of the life, death, rebirth cycle. Both of these religions share a belief in karma being one of the defining factors of a person’s place in the world. Similarly, both religions advocate for nonviolence against all living beings. In Hinduism and Buddhism there are many different levels of heaven and hell and higher or lower worlds. Each of these religions practice spiritual meditation, concentration, and cultivations of special states of mind. The idea of detachment, or the renunciation of worldly life being a precondition to enter the Nirvana or spiritual life is shared by both religions as well. Desire is considered to be the main cause of suffering of people and each religion aims to teach their followers to shed the want and desire out of their lives in order to get closer to attaining Nirvana. While there are many similarities in both religions, they each contrast each other in many ways as well.
First let’s start with the similarities. Buddhism and Hinduism have a lot in common starting for their origin India where both religions originated from. The Buddha who is the founding father of Buddhism was believed to be Hindu before he became the Buddha. Also both two religions believed in the cycle of rebirths, Buddhism accepted from the start the concept of rebirth, which sees an individual life as one in a successive round of existence (samsara) in which life is conditioned by one’s earlier actions, that is moral value of deeds performed in previous existences. Whiles Hinduism also believes in the existence of an everlasting soul that passed from one rebirth to the
Like Hinduism, they believe in karma and that everyone is responsible for their own life and “pointing the finger of blame at external forces such as deity, demons, or fate is not acceptable” (Farnaz 44). Or so to say, our life is a consequence or reward (depending on your living status) of any actions we have taken, so blaming it on anything other than ourselves would be wrong. Although their beliefs are quite similar, they do have their differences for example, Buddhism doesn’t seem to directly mention a soul while Hinduism does. The belief is that people are made up of; a physical body, feelings, the senses, volition and consciousness (Farnaz 44). The mind is what they believe to continue onto another life along with the karma. Buddhism has a path to end the cycle, known as the “Noble Eightfold Path” which leads to Nirvana (literally to be blown out or to achieve enlightenment) (Farnaz 48). This includes to have the right view, the right intentions (free thoughts of cruel to others and lust), the right speech (to not lie or speak badly of others), the right actions (to not steal or kill), the right livelihood (to have a job that doesn't cause harm to anybody or anything), the right effort (to stay away from bad thoughts), the right mindfulness (pay attention to every state of the body, mind and feelings) and finally the right
"In Hinduism, salvation is achieved through a spiritual oneness of the soul, atman, with the ultimate reality of the universe, Brahman. To achieve this goal, the soul must obtain moksha, or liberation from the samsara, the endless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. As a result of these basic teachings, Hindus believe in reincarnation, which is influenced by karma (material actions resulting from the consequences of previous actions), and dharma (fulfilling one's duty in life)"(Teachings and Beliefs, 2004, par. 1).
They define a state which is beyond the ordinary which can only be characterized by achieving a particular spiritual state. It is notable that Moksha is a common belief in the Hindu religion and it describes a state where one’s soul connects with god’s soul. On the other hand, it can be noted that Nirvana can be obtained by individuals who detached themselves from sin. However, it is clear that both require an individual to remain steadfast in their pursuit for spiritual liberation while abandoning the earthly life and desires. Reincarnation is a consequence of life that moksha and nirvana believers wish to avoid in order to overcome the suffering in the death and rebirth cycle, samsara. Hence, the practices have more similarities that
Hinduism is an ancient religion. It has no known founder. It has several holy books. The most important of these is the Vedas, a collection of hymns. Hinduism like buddism believes in reincarnation. The goal of this religion is also to escape the birth-death cycle. Through Hinduism the entire Indian social structure was formed by creating the caste system. The major difference between Buddism and Hinduism is that Hindus believe in a god. Brahman is the spirit that encompasses all living things. There are several lesser gods who are believed to be incarnates of Brahman.
Man has always found pleasure in expressing himself by creating art. Through the centuries, man’s art has left behind clues and insight that enables the generations of today to understand their ancestors. In particular, historians and artist alike can see what certain Asian sculptures reflect of the culture and religious beliefs of Hinduism and Buddhism. Hinduism is the parent religion to Buddhism; much like Judaism is to Christianity. Despite Buddhism and Hinduism sharing similar philosophies and various idealisms, their respective sculptures also show their differences. There are two important characteristic of the sculptures of these religions. The first is motion versus rest, and second the subject matter. It is these two types of characteristics historians and artist can help use to decipher Hindu and Buddhist sculptures.
Hinduism has been a religion for a long time, the Buddha was a Hindu before seeing how terrible the world was, he then found the religion Buddhism. Since the creator of Buddhism was Hinduism as a child, it is only expected for the two religions to be similar. While the two religions are similar they are also quite different as seen by their creation stories. The creation stories are these religions way of explaining how the world started. With most religions the creation story gives the most basic beliefs of the religion as this is where their religion supposedly starts its life. The two stories this paper focuses on is no different, and since they technically have the same origin, it can be obvious as to how they would be similar. However, in the case of the idea of social order and moral decline, they can be different too.