What Is The Difference Between Buddhism And Hinduism

The Eastern religion of Buddhism and Hinduism are often thought to be one in the same. While these two religions do in fact share some similarities, they are also very distinct from one another. One concept in particular that is common to both belief systems is enlightenment. This liberation of sorts is what Buddhist’s termed “nirvana” and what Hindu’s refer to as “moksha”. This paper will explore the concepts of enlightenment in Buddhism and Hinduism by examining their similarities and differences through ideas such as samsara, karma, reality and the “self”. This will aim to expose both the Buddhist and Hindu perspectives on the human condition.

One aspect that is of great importance to both nirvana and moksha is reincarnation. This reincarnation,

Hindu’s assert that the realms of samsara, the present world, are an illusion or maya. This illusion is believed to hinder one’s ability to realize the separation between atman and the Supreme Being known as Brahman (Agrawal 2002, 78), and thus the reason behind the cycle of samsara. As for Buddhism, it is quite diverse in itself, with competing ideas within its own schools. For this reason we will consider Mahayana Buddhism, which follows along with the Hindu belief of an illusory world but in a different context. Mahayana Buddhism argues the world and all things of existence to be of “nothingness”, and that what one sees is simply ones own experiences projected on the void (Goudriaan 2005,

In Hinduism, the self or atman is described as the “transcendental subject of all experiences” (Agrawal 2002, 44). That is, the combination of life experiences that is ever changing and aids in one becoming enlightened. It is these experiences that Hindu’s believe to be the basis of human existence (Ahir 2011, 16), and thus the permanent entity that is carried on through the process of samsara. Buddhism is a stark contrast to Hindu ideas in that the concept of self is very much opposite and, as such, is called anatman, or “no-self” (Ahir 2011, 17). One of the common questions about the concept of no-self is how there can be reincarnation without a soul to pass on. Firstly, the Buddha commented that such questions on the self were forms of attachment as it was a distraction from the betterment of oneself, and thus prevented one from attaining nirvana. But ultimately, the Buddha’s answer to this was that to believe in the idea of a self or soul is “to deny the possibility of spiritual self-change” (Robinson et al. 2005, 28). That is, if there was a small part of the individual that is constant throughout samsara, then one cannot end suffering because that very small element cannot be changed “for the better or for the worse” (Harris 1998, 49). Thus, without a complete change in the individuality of oneself, one cannot attain nirvana.