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Compare And Contrast Hinduism And Buddhism

Good Essays

In the past few weeks of class we talked about so many different religions around the world. Three religions we discuss in class were Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity. These are three of the major religions in the world that still exist today. I will be focusing on how all three religions started, and I will compare and contrast Hinduism and Buddhism. Then at the end, I will discuss on how I feel about the three different religions.
“Hinduism or Sanatana Dharma ("eternal spiritual path") began about 4000 years ago in India. It was the religion of an ancient people known as the Aryans ("noble people") whose philosophy, religion, and customs are recorded in their sacred texts known as the Vedas” (United Religions). Vedas are written in the ancient language of India, called Sanskrit. Vedas means “knowledge” or “sacred lore.” The Vedas gives great intelligence about the variety of Gods from the Vedic period, 2000 to 500 BCE (Molloy,78).
Around the world, people believe Hinduism isn’t a religion, but a way of life. Michael Molloy states, “Hinduism is not a single, unified religion; it is more like a family of beliefs (75).” It was constructed from the Aryans who brought it into India in 1500 BC. The religion is one of the dominant religion in India over centuries. “Hinduism is the religion followed by about 70 percent of the roughly seven hundred million people of India. Elsewhere, with the exception of the Indonesian island of Bali, Hindus represent only minority

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