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Differences and similarities of Buddhism and Hinduism
Meditation research essay
Differences and similarities of Buddhism and Hinduism
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Buddhism and Hinduism are two of the most well known religions around the world. Along with Christianity, Islam and Sikhism; Buddhism and Hinduism are among the top five religions worldwide. Buddhism is based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha), who was born a Hindu. He attained Nirvana at thirty six years of age and was no longer a Hindu follower. Hinduism's is believed to of begun around 4000 BCE, a religion combined of few other religions combined with many laws and ways of living. While Buddhism and Hinduism teach similar principles, the path they use to teach these principles are different.
The founder of Buddhism was Siddhartha Gautama. He lived from 565 to 483 B.C. In 563 B.C. there were no worshiped gods in Buddhism. Gautama, being raised a Hindu, still believed in certain Hindu ideas. Because he rejected the caste system, he kept the ideas of meditation, and the doing good works to reach enlightenment.
Buddhism was formed as a result of the decline of Hinduism. Hinduism was complex in many different ways including their rituals and daily lifestyle. Gautama became tired of it and went his separate way, and started a new lifestyle in hope others would follow.
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...
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... governing different aspects of Hindu everyday life. The three main gods in Hinduism are Vishnu who is the sustainer; Brahma is the creator and Shiva the destroyer. The Hindus pray to natural sources such as the sun and trees, while Buddhists only pray to Buddha.
Today there are an estimated six hundred million Buddhists and about eight hundred twenty-eight million practicing Hinduism. Both believe in an ultimate spiritual reality beyond the physical world, both practice meditation and other forms of yoga and both these religions originated in India. Although there are many similarities between Buddhism and Hinduism they both have fair differences. The small differences have a huge impact on the two religions, because they are altogether two separate beliefs. They share a special history with each other, which is to be expected since they are from the same region.
In ancient India, many members of lower casts wanted to come back as members of higher casts. While this is an important goal of reincarnation, the main goal is to reach either moksha (Hinduism) or nirvana (Buddhism). In other words, the goal is to reach a point of spiritual enlightenment that removes the person from the reincarnation process. Geoff Childs, an anthropologist, examines the views of the Buddhist religion by studying the lives of the people in Tibetan villages. He looks at issues that adversely affect these people, such as infant mortality.
Buddhism was founded by one man, Siddhartha Guatama. He was born into royalty around 563 B.C.E. in a Kingdom near the border of India and Nepal. He was raised in wealth and luxury, and at the age of 16, he married a wealth woman and they had a child together. Around the age of 29, he began to realize that all humans were in a cycle of suffering, dying, and then being reincarnated only to suffer and die over and over again. It was then that he decided to leave his wife and child to find a way out of this repeating cycle of life and death. First he studied with teachers, but found he was coming to no conclusions, so he turned to more extreme things such as self-mortification, but he was still left unsatisfied.
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.
Into the world, many religions were born; out of all of them Buddhism and Hinduism are both one of the oldest surviving religion. Hinduism is very polytheistic, it is believed to have been established around 1500 B.C but it has no founder or an origin, while Buddhism on the other hand was founded by Siddhartha Gautama, who ordinarily allotted as the Buddha, which implies the “Awakened or “illuminated one”. Both religions come from the Indian roots.
Gautama Buddha is the founder of Buddhism, a religion that is heterodoxy to Hinduism. In Hinduism, Gautama Buddha is viewed as the ninth avatar, or a purposeful descendant of a supreme being, of the God Vishnu-specifically in Vaishnava Hinduism. It is believed that he lived and taught between the sixth and fourth centuries BCE. The word “buddha” refers to the first awakened being during in a Yuga era, but Gautama Buddha is regarded as the Supreme Buddha.
Buddhism and Hinduism share vast similarities. One being both the practice of meditation. Hinduism has “no single founder” (Hinduism, Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition), no central authority, and no widely known creed. However, Hinduism does have a caste system that they run on. Hindus believe that everyone has their place in the world and they cannot overstep their roles and responsibilities outlined in their caste. Hindus also follow the “Veda as the most sacred scriptures.”(Hinduism, Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition). Due to this commonality it has helped Hindus and Buddhists come to recognize each other and remain cordial to one another. Which is pivotal since both religions are practiced so close to one another (at least geographically speaking). The “caste system” (Hinduism." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition...
Buddhism is one of the oldest religions in the world, which began in India. The origin of Buddhism is traced back to the experience of single man, Siddhartha Gautama, later known as the Buddha. Born around 563 B.C.E., legend follows that Siddhartha was the son of a prince in a kingdom near the border of what is now India and Nepal. As such, he was sheltered from the world and lived a life of luxury and comfort. (Molloy 124) However, at age 29 Siddhartha left the royal grounds and witnessed the suffering of ordinary life for the first time. What he saw deeply affected him and caused him to question everything in his materialistic life. Siddhartha made the decision to give up his possessions and embark on a search for enlightenment, an event known as the Great Going Forth. (Molloy 125)
Both these religions have basic beliefs that are relatively different from each other. Buddhists on one hand believe in karma, rebirth, dharma and moksa. Karma is "cause, effect and the law which equilibrates the two" . It is the consequences of every action, whether good or bad. This action-reaction may take effect anytime, may be in the current life or not. Rebirth is inter-connected with karma. If one did more good things than bad in his life, his karma will lead him to a life of better condition than the previous one. Dharma is the basic concept of the religion; that is the Buddhist teaching, also meaning the nature of existence. Lastly, moksa refers to the renunciation of the world, which is parallel to the Hindu belief in the importance of asceticism and meditation .
Hinduism and Buddhism There are many religions that are practiced around the world, especially in Asia where there are eight different religions being practiced. In the country of India, Buddhism and Hinduism are the main religions that are practiced today. Buddhism and Hinduism were both founded in Asia, but they were founded by two different people and practiced in two different ways and languages. Buddhism is a living tradition that is passed down from teacher to student as a set of instruction and techniques for sanity and brilliance in the inner self and the world. Hinduism is more based on the thoughts and attitude about one’s everyday life, and reflects in his actions.
Buddha believed that by following the Eightfold Path, one could fulfill and find legitimacy in the Four Noble Truths, and reach Nirvana; the release from selfishness and pain. Like the Hindu, Buddha believed in reincarnation, a major factor in achieving Nirvana, as...
Siddhartha Gautama is famously known as Gautama Buddha and was the founder of the idea of Buddhism. The Buddha was known to possess supernatural powers and abilities. He was born in the holy land of Nepal and his journey began in India when he decided to travel and teach himself about life. In the midst of his journey, he discovered Buddhism after he experienced a profound realization of the nature of life, death and existence. Buddhism became a religion based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama and since then Buddhism has been popular throughout many civilizations. Buddhism is now one of the most ancient religions in the world, where people follow Buddha, which stand for “awakened one,” and Buddhism which has gained popularity because of the teachings of the Buddha.
In both Hindu and Buddhist philosophies, they follow and focus on similar yet different concepts of liberating themselves from ‘Samsara’ and the suffering that comes with it. Samsara in both Hindu and Buddhist philosophies is the endless cycle of death and rebirth. So, the end goal is to work towards the enlightenment from this cycle. Though the two concepts are similar in that the goal is the same, the two have distinctive and important differences on how they view this “release” from the rebirth-death cycle; they both follow different paths to reach that end goal which, in basic terms, is to live a happy life.
Hinduism is the 3rd most popular religion in the world followed by Buddhism, together they are followed by 22 percent of the world’s population. These two religions are alike in many ways, and are tied together by Asia, where they have deep roots in its culture and history. Although Hinduism and Buddhism are similar in many ways, very important and large differences separate the two. No one and nothing can ever truly prove either religion is better than the other because that is up to personal beliefs and opinions, but many more people around the world prefer Buddhism over Hinduism because of its beliefs and practices.
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.
Buddhism was founded around 520 BC by Siddharta Gautama, who was an Indian Prince. Buddhism emphasizes practice over belief. In reality, however, Buddhism centers on correct understanding of human nature and ultimate reality. The Buddha was, after all, called the "Enlightened One." He taught that the way to eliminate suffering began with understanding the true nature of the world. In Buddhism, the purpose of life is to end suffering. The Buddha taught that humans suffer because we continually strive after things that do not give lasting happiness.