Two Religions-Two Paths: Buddhism and Hinduism

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Buddhism and Hinduism-- the core area of both is Northern India and each spread through the Indian subcontinent, yet both did not seem to expand with the same radius. Buddhism flourished and spread across central and eastern Asia; whereas, Hinduism generally stayed close to home, in India. The question now becomes why.
The main area where these religions emerged is referred to as ‘religion hearths’, and these religions originated where large civilizations also did in Mesopotamia, the Nile, and the Indus Valleys. (Park) “This hints at a more complex interplay between religion and culture, involving factors such as innovation and cultural diffusion, religious adaptation, and exchanges of ideas, beliefs and values along migration and trade routes.”(Park)
Hinduism originated in the Indo-Gangentic Heart, located on the “lowland plains of the northern edge of the Indian subcontinent that are drained by the Indus and Ganges rivers, where Buddhism also surfaced. Now “once a religion is born, the quickest and easiest way in which it can spread is by diffusion.”(Park) Therefore, Hinduism spread from Afghanistan and Kashmir to Sarayu then to Sutlej and the Jumna. As it spread across the south and east, it was inevitable that the religion, as easily as a sponge, soaked in different beliefs and practices of each region until it covered all of the Indian subcontinent. However, these different beliefs and practices, since within a central radius, did not cause a significant amount of conflict for the religion to be broken off in to numerous sects. The conservation of the cultural aspects of Hinduism is why this religion is referred to as an ethnic religion.
Buddhism, on the other hand, though an offset from Hinduism, was able to spread elsewh...

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...d in doing so, they will be rewarded in their next life. Weber agreed with Marx in that eastern religions, such as Hinduism and Buddhism, do not encourage people to change the world. (Monnier)

Works Cited

"Religion - Boundless Open Textbook." Boundless. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 May 2014. https://www.boundless.com/sociology/understanding-stratification-inequality-and-social-class-in-the-u-s/consequences-of-social-class/religion/
Monnier, Christine. "Religion." Global Sociology /. PBworks, n.d. Web. 21 May 2014. https://globalsociology.pbworks.com/w/page/14711247/Religion
Gascoigne, Bamber. "History of Buddhism." History World. N.p., 2001. Web. 22 May 2014.http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/plaintexthistories.asp?historyid=ab77#ixzz31WT1QuZh
Park, Chris. "Religion and Geography." (n.d.): n. pag. Web http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/staff/gyaccp/geography%20and%20religion.pdf

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