Practicies in Hinduism and Buddhism

Religion is a word that can take on many different meaning based on the person that you are speaking to. When the question is asked what is religion there is a wide verity of answers that people will say. The answers can vary between people of the same dominations. Some people say that religion is putting your faith in a superior being. Others might say that it is the rules by which you make right or wrong decisions. It is very hard to nail down a definition that encompasses all of the world’s different religions. However, a working definition of religion is “an organization of spiritual aspirations, which reject the sensory world and negate the impulses which bind us to it” (Conze 2).

In the world today there are the three major religions Christianity, Muslim, and Hinduism. Hinduism is oldest religion that is still practiced today. Historians have traced Hinduisms origins to “‘streams’ which feed into it are very ancient, extending back to the Indus valley civilization” (Flood 8). When someone ask you, what comes to mind about Hinduism, the most common response is that they belief in reincarnation. Which is true but there is a lot more to Hinduism than just the fact that they belief in reincarnation. Hinduism does not have a specific date of when it started. It also does not have a specific founder. Hinduism has sacred text called the Vedas that are now written down but still primarily based down through oral traditions. The society is divided into four classes also known as the caste system. The Vedas say that “the highest caste or Brahman, are the closest Hinduism gets to a legitimizing authority” (Flood 12). At the top there are the priests that are near moksha which is the enlightenment or release from the cycle of reincarna...

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...ived from the Hindu primary revelation, the Veda, and from the secondary revolution, the inspired texts of human authorship” (Flood 12). In Hinduism you have many different paths that you can chose to find moksha. You could do your dharma and reach the enlightenment faster. Or you could take the time and learn your mistakes through the processes of reincarnation. Whereas in Buddhism you are following the way that one man took to find moksha. A typical day would be learning things the duties of a women, such as how to take care of the house. I would not be getting an education or learning the Vedas. My parents would arrange a marriage for me to a man in the same class as myself.

Works Cited

Conze, Edward. Buddhism: Its Essence and Development. Birmingham: Windhorse, 2001. Print.

Flood, Gavin D. An Introduction to Hinduism. New York, NY: Cambridge UP, 1996. Print.