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Compare and contrast hinduism, buddhism and jainism
Impact of religion on culture
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The religions of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism were all ancient religions that came out of India.
I found the Jainism religion interesting as I hadn’t heard of that one before. It was interesting to note that the Jainism did not believe in the caste system and allowed women to pursue the holy life. They also believe in nonviolence and asceticism (abstinence and self-denial), these traits help obtain moksha. Moksha is the release from death and is based of karma – the balance of good and bad a person does during their life. After death, if a person did not have enough good karma, they would return to another worldly life (reincarnation). I also find it interesting how they did not follow the caste system and were also the most
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I find it interesting that in order to be enlightened, he had to abandon his wife and family. I wonder what all the “back story” is to that? His Four Noble Truths focus on acknowledging that sorrow and suffering are something everyone goes through, that those emotions can come from greed, escape is made by giving up the desires, and then once you give up the desire you reach perfect peace and enlightenment you reach nirvana. Buddhism is open to all castes – they do not believe in the caste system, and nirvana is attainable by all – men and women (Verrill, …show more content…
Buddha is seen as a great sage, but he had to abandon his family to do so, I would like to read more into that. If one of his beliefs was to not hurt anyone – how did he reconcile that with his actions. Jainism seems to incorporate earthly success (they were frequently merchants) with helping others (scholarship and libraries), this to me seems more tangible way to help others. I also like how Jainism believes that everyone can achieve enlightenment and conquering self-demons/inner enemies is the way to achieve the state of supreme being. I know a lot of people follow Buddhism and Hindu, but after reading about these religions, I feel the most equality based and realistic is Jainism. Hinduism caste system is a difficult concept to understand. I know it is outlawed in modern India, but the old ways have had a tough time changing. Like all religions, I feel that there is good and not so good in all of them, and I really can’t say without further study if their founders were great or not (Verrill,
His father was warned by the “Brahman soothsayer” the young boy would leave his home to live among the seekers in the forest, therefore his father kept him distracted in the palace. Once he realized that luxury, commodity, and wealth did not guarantee happiness, he sought the key to human happiness. After six years of meditation he found the “middle path” though enlightenment. He continued to teach Buddhism enlightenment. These teaching principles can be found in book Dhamma (Document
Like Hinduism, Buddhism also started in India. It is based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, who is called the Buddha or the Enlightened One. Buddhism started a monastic movement in the Brahman tradition.
...by god. In India, dharma is very similar to the Mandate of Heaven. It recognizes the idea that there is a predetermined order to the world that we must follow, or bad things will happen (karma). Mohism is also very similar to Jainism as both religions emphasize peace and love between one another. However, unlike India, China’s philosophies are not based on works to achieve salvation. There is no caste system and you are not required to complete works to achieve your salvation. Also, in India, unlike China, there is no legalistic school of thought with the ideals that you must authoritatively rule the society in order to obtain results. Both societies have their benefits and drawbacks but one thing is for certain. The ideals and thoughts of the ancient civilizations of these nations have carried over and helped to shape the modern day remnants of their existence.
Before reading "The American Encounter with Buddhism, 1844-1912: Victorian Culture and the Limits of Dissent" by Thomas A. Tweed I had no experience with Buddhism except for what I have seen in the movies and in the media. Seeing Buddhism through these different sources, it does not portray an accurate illustration of what the religion is truly regarding. Having little to no knowledge about the background of the religion makes reading this book both interesting and a little difficult to read at the same time. In Buddhism, two groupings define the religion. The first group is known as "The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism," the categories underneath are life means suffering, the origin of suffering is attachment, the cessation of suffering is attainable, and lastly, the path to the cessation of suffering. The second group is "The Eightfold Path," which consists of, the right view, the right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and lastly, the right concentration. Once read and understood the different points, it made this literature easier to comprehend and made for smoother reading.
A man of noble birth, living in the time before the Common Era, preached a way to extinguish the fire of self-centered delusion. This state of Nirvana can be achieved by understanding The Four Noble Truths, suffering in life, he explains can be avoided by following an Eightfold Path. Sounds simple? This must have been an awaking for people of his time seeking a more personal religion, away from the rigidities of a priest-dominated Hinduism of India. The man, the Buddha, spent the rest of his life teaching the religion he discovered and its doctrine based upon his Dharma (cosmic law and order). The first written evidence of the existence of Buddhism is found over 400 years ago after the life of the Buddha. (Kozak) Historians pose the
India and China’s geography helped them spread their religion to other areas. India’s religions, Hinduism and Buddhism, spread to other regions. The trade that was created due to each civilizations’ geography not only traded regions’ goods with one another, but their religion as well. According to World History: A Pattern of Interaction, Hinduism spread to Nepal and south to Sri Lanka and Borneo. A majority of the spread of Indian religion was due to Buddhist merchants and monks that converted people along the route of the Silk Road. China is similar to India’s religions, as the Chinese region believed in Buddhism because of the conversions of religion that had occurred
Hinduism is made of many different religions and does not have one origin or single founder. The religion of Hinduism is very old, “300-100 B.C.E.--- The first trace of temple worship. Hindu people worship at the shrine, where Hindus make offerings to a murti. A murti is a statue of a god or goddess” (McMillan). In addition, other religions are based off Hinduism, “5000-10000 B.C.---Hinduism can be traced back to 5000-10000 B.C. Hinduism is a very old religion, many religions are based off of Hinduism, like Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism” (McMillan).
All three believe in the afterlife and in some form of reincarnation. Of course, how you reach that state is different in each. These religions also believe in the concept of karma, or how your actions in life will decide your fate. When looking at how each views rituals and sacrifice, we can also note that all three religions believe in having an extremely personal connection with their supreme deity. However, as was previously noted, they differ on how that connection is made, In regards to ritual and sacrifice, between Hinduism and Buddhism, we see food sacrifice, and between Jainism and Buddhism we see the belief of
In today’s society, there are roughly around 4,200 religions that exist on this planet. Some define "religion" as a cultural system of behaviors and practices that help people make important decisions in life. Out of the many religions, Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism have many similarities that connect them to one another. Themes of morality, justice, love are found through both the Buddha's teaching and the Hebrew and Christian Bible.
Hinduism was the first major religion to develop in South Asia. Along with it, came a strict caste system and clear social hierarchy. Hinduism stressed the importance of karma and people purifying their lives over many reincarnations to achieve holy perfection. Later on, Buddhism developed in India and incorporated many of the same cultural and religious practices. One key change was the looseness of the religion in regards to social status, as it did not see a person 's place in the caste system as a factor in achieving the afterlife. In response to a decline in Hinduism, especially among the poorer classes, Hinduism became more accepting of these classes and also developed alternate paths of devotion. In summation, South Asian religion has taken on a trend of
One of the most important elements of these religions is their history. The Hindu religion disputably began around 2500 years before the Common Era (B.C.E.) in India. It was geographically based along the Indus River, which was called “Hindu” by the Persians who had migrated there. They also called the land Hindustan and it’s inhabitants, Hindus. After that, the religion that followed was called Hinduism. Today, almost 800 million people practice the Hindu religion (Spodek, 261)
Hinduism is a very unique religion; it is the oldest living religion and does not have a single founder unlike Buddhism. Hinduism
Hinduism, as well as Buddism, both came into existence in India. Both religions are similar in many ways. The religions both believe in reincarnation and that the specific purpose of their teachings is to escape this cycle.
It is clear that there are more similarities than differences in all three ancient Eastern religions. The first point unifying all three trends is that the Brahman in Hinduism, Buddha in Buddhism, and Vardhamana Mahavira in Jainism were all sacred figures that used to be people who lived a comfortable and socially privileged life due to birth into a privileged family but then recognized the nature of the Universe, the wrongness of living in idleness, and started wanderings that lasted for many years until enlightenment and understanding of their true destination. After their enlightenment, they all started teaching and spreading what they had learned through the insight they had gained, attracting followers of both sexes, and continued to wander and communicate a religious truth, a religious way of living and the ways to achieve liberation from the wheel of life (McKay et al., 2008)
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.