Comparison Of Hinduism And Buddhism

Both Buddhism and Hinduism are well known religions. They are two of the most popular polytheistic faiths in the world. Some people believe them to be sects of the same religion, but they are mistaken. Buddhism and Hinduism have some similarities, but many things set them apart from each other as well. They are each their own religion in many aspects.

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

Some people may think that Hinduism and Buddhism are the same religions with just two different names. They aren’t, Buddhism and Hinduism both have different types of rituals, holidays, founders, and so-on. The two extensive religions of Hinduism and Buddhism have lots of information behind themselves. They are made up of cultures, rituals, practices, and many other things.

While Hinduism and Buddhism come from the same cultural backgrounds, they are extremely diverse in their beliefs on afterlife, deity, and rituals. Both religions believe in reincarnation, but it is where an individual goes after he or she gets off the endless cycle that differs. These religions also part when it comes to whom they do or do not worship. Every religion comes with rituals and Hinduism and Buddhism are no exceptions.

So we can see that in one religion we have life set out the way it should be lived and in the other people are free to live the way that they see fit within their religion. The next main difference is the actual being of the dharma. In Hinduism Dharma is not only seen as the way in which people should live, but also as the god Vishnu or Rama. Here we see the term dharma as, “the preserver of dharma who takes worldly form (avatara) to combat threats to dharma,”(lecture, 9/16). It was also said that, “Rama, was a heroic king who, along with his spouse exemplifies dharma,”(lecture, 9/16). This is very different then that of the Buddhists, because they believe that, “what Buddha discovered, is that which makes him the awakened one,”(lecture, 9/23) So we see that it is somewhat of the reverse from Hinduism, because it is not represented or upheld through gods, but that which brought them their god to worship. So again we see clearly that these two religions are not as closely related as people may think.

Hinduism is a very popular religion in India, being that it could possibly be the oldest religion of all time and originated in India, the Hindu population in India is 80%. With Hinduism being such a popular religion, it competes with Christianity and Islam at 900 million followers of Hinduism worldwide (Miksic, 10). As for the popularity of Buddhism, it is not nearly as prevalent as Hinduism is, even in India. A very important attribute to Hinduism is the caste system. The caste system is comprised of five levels that each Hindu is born into and cannot switch out of or marry into another. These levels include the Brahmans, who are the highest caste and include priests, scholars and other professionals, Kshatriyas, who are typically known

Hinduism teaches the concept of reincarnation. Reincarnation is known to be the belief that all living organisms continue eternally in cycles of birth, death, and rebirth. Hinduism teaches the caste system. The Caste system is when a person's previous embodiment determines that person's ranked position in this life. This religion is considered to be ethical. There is no god like for example Allah, but instead ethical principles put in place to improve the “believer's” connection with the universe. Buddhism teaches believers of the “Buddha” or the “Enlightened One”. Believers believe they can basically skip the cycle of reincarnation by expressing their desires to seek a life full of meditation and self-discipline. The main objective of Buddhism

The appeals of Buddhism are that there is less dependence on Brahmins for ritual services, there was no caste or jati, and it did not demand the rigorous asceticism of Jainism. Buddhism is different from Hinduism because Buddhists use vernacular tongues instead of Sanskrit. It is similar to Hinduism because they both believe in reincarnation, originated in india, made people live according to a certain way (dharma/eightfold path) and they both have the idea of heaven or a spiritual union (nirvana and moksha).

Hinduism and Buddhism have common origins in the Ganges culture of northern India around 500 BCE. We have to admit that they share a lot of similarities, but also involve tons of differences. For example, as Hinduism claims that Atman is Brahman, Buddhism reject the existence of Atman. Hindus think that the way to becoming enlightened is to union with God, but Buddhists pursue a throughout understanding of the universe by following the Noble Eightfold Path. Hinduism believes that Atman is changeless, while Buddhism tells people that everything is impermanent. Disagreement about permanence is a very apparent issue between Hinduism and Buddhism.

Hinduism and Buddhism are among the oldest traditions in the world. Incidentally, both traditions have their roots in India. Since their beginning, both traditions have co-existed peacefully and even spread beyond India in similar patterns. Most people have scattered information about the traditions and make assumptions that they are similar. However, they also have clear distinguishing features. This paper intends to study the similarities and contrasts between the two traditions in various contexts. First, the traditions will be compared and contrasted based on how they began. The development processes of both religions will then be contrasted. The paper will then discuss the similarities and differences between the two religions based on the social and the political roles they played.

In the first place, the Hindus believe in a caste system made of social classes, whereas Buddhism does not have a caste system, but rather practice peace. The Hindus caste system provides a way to organize people into social classes based on their status and popularity. In spite of the Hindus, the Buddhists strive to achieve peace by making sure everything is “equal parts of a whole”. Additionally, The Hindu religion has no single founder. On the other hand, an Indian prince named Siddhartha Gautama founded Buddhism. In further detail, Hinduism was not founded by anyone particular, but instead Hinduism is a combination of beliefs of the early Indus Valley peoples and Aryans. On the contrary, Buddhism was founded by Siddhartha Gautama, whose main purpose was to erase of suffering from the world. Finally, the Buddhism religion contains no sacred literature, as the Hindu religion was built of three major scared texts. The Hindu’s three sacred texts include the Vedas, Ramayana, and the Mahabharata. However, the Buddhists have no sacred text, but followers of Siddhartha Gautama write down his ideas and teaching to this

Moksha in Hinduism is commonly achieved by reincarnating higher up the caste system, a concept that Buddha rejected in his faith as he promotes equality and the attainment of nirvana for all. Another difference between the two religions is Buddhism was founded by an individual, and it does not preach the existence

Within Buddhism it throw-outs the caste system that Hinduism believes in. Buddhism offers a vision of salvation based on individual effort. Also it was unusual in the eyes of Hinduism but Buddhism started to spread its teaching by sending out missionaries into neighboring Asian countries. Within Buddhism it is taught according to Hopfe that “any person of any caste or sex could find the same enlightenment he knew,” signifying an equality it seems among social class. Also Buddhism shows according to Hopfe that “women as well as men could achieve enlightenment,” so it also show the equality among sex within this

Hinduism is about understanding Brahma, existence, from within the Atman, which roughly means "self" or "soul," whereas Buddhism is about finding the Anatman "not soul" or "not self." In Hinduism, attaining the highest life is a process of removing the bodily distractions from life, allowing one to eventually understand the Brahma nature within. In Buddhism, one follows a disciplined life to move through and understand that nothing in oneself is "me," such that one dispels the very illusion of existence. In so doing, one realizes Nirvana.

Buddhism is a major world religion which was founded in northeastern Indiaand is based on the teaching of Buddha. The Buddha rejected many aspects of Hindu philosophy, but also challenged the authority of the priesthood, denied the validity of the Vedic scriptures. Buddhism was also opened to all castes, denying that a person’s spiritual worth is a matter of birth. Buddhism today is divided into two major branchesknown as Theravada and Mahayana. Buddhism is found all over the world not just in India.