Gandhi and Comparative Religion Essay

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.

To explain how Gandhi applied the idea of ahimsa to modern times, I will first define ahimsa and then explore ahimsa in the Jain religion more extensively. I will then discuss how Gandhi practiced this concept in life. Ahimsa is a Sanskrit term equivalent to a- not or without hiṁsā- injury, which when translated means “the principle of non-injury to living beings”. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Ahimsa. The supreme principle in Jainism is non violence (ahimsa). It also plays an important role in Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, and other religions, but Jainism is unique in this principle because it demonstrates it to all living beings. Jains believe that everything has the ability to suffer, even non-living things such as rocks, fire, and oil. Therefore ahimsa must include everything on earth. “This view of reality, called hylozoism (Greek: “matter-alive”) may be quite ancient” (Malloy 186). Karma is also an important concept in Jainism being closely connected to reincarnation, liberation (moksha), and ahimsa. “Reincarnation is sometimes called transmigration of the soul, believing that the soul experiences rebirths of different kinds of lives - human, animal or even supernatural - until it reaches its final destination.” http://www.world-religions-professor.com/reincarnation-karma.html. Karma is what determines the course of reincarnation. “The level of rebirth is determined automatically according to one’s state of karma at the time of death of the current

The essential of Gandhi is anthology of his life. It is separated into two parts. One as Gandhi the man and the other as the Mahatma meaning Great Soul. I was very much well interested in the readings of The Essential Gandhi. What I was most interested in was that he spoke with so much determination and compassion. His firm belief in nonviolence was presented very strongly. “I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent. Gandhi believed strongly in non-violent civil disobedience, so he states that violence provides only temporary relief or satisfaction, but the pain it causes people and societies is much greater. There is so much violence in the world today and some believe you have to fight violence with violence but Gandhi was very successful with his method of not acting upon violence in such of as in a hatred way. He solely helped India become independent with his method of nonviolence. Before I read this story I knew very little details of him, but the main thing that always puzzled me, what gave Gandhi the courage to make such a difference in the world?

British rule was tough on many Indians. Gandhi, an Indian born lawyer, believed in freedom and peace for his people. He once experienced racism when he was kicked out of a train in Europe. He changed people’s point of view without breaking the law, which was tough for him. Gandhi made his nonviolent movement work through the use of determination, peaceful civil disobedience, and being a powerful leader.

Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. were both extremely eminent figures of the twentieth century. They correspond to Transcendentalism, the idea that you should not conform to society’s laws and expectations, which essential in Gandhi and MLK’s philosophies. It is to do what you feel like doing, and not follow along or be influenced by the crowd, to follow your intuition. MLK and Gandhi both held non-violent resistances. MLK focused on promoting equality and anti-racism, and Gandhi wanted to give India independence from British rule, as well as fight the racism towards Indians in South Africa. Both Martin Luther King Jr and Gandhi’s movements and beliefs were influenced by Henry David Thoreau, and they hold a strong connection to transcendentalism.

Chapter 4 of the book “Gandhi and Beyond” was pretty interesting and fascinating to read and learn about. One of the sections of the chapter that impacted me the most was the section titled Learning about Gandhi found on page 76. In this section, Chavez began to learn about Gandhi and his principles of nonviolence. Chavez admired Gandhi because of his success, his commitment, and his methods of nonviolence such as boycotting and fasting. In Gandhi Chavez found a leader who inspired him to help the poor defeat the rich. Another interesting fact that I learned on this section was that Chavez began to develop nonviolent ideas and believed that in order to practice nonviolent acts one must be prepared for sacrifice. One of the quotes that I really liked on this section was Chavez’s quote found on page 79 which states “Love is the most important ingredient in nonviolent work… Love the opponent… If were full of hatred we can’t do work” (Cortright 79). Using this word Chavez says that in order to become successful and win one must love the opponent. If people begin to use acts of nonviolence against the opponent’s one must not become successful in the movement being created.

Born on October 2, 1869 in Porbandor, Kathiawar, India, Mahatmas Karmachord Gandhi was the son of Karmchand Gandhi, chief minister, and Putlibai, who was deeply religious lived in part of the British Empire (Biography.com Editors). With early marriages common, Mahatmas married at age 1 (Housel, Debra. Pp. 73-75). Mahatmas married Kasturba Makanji, the merchant’s daughter. As a result of the marriage, the teenagers rebelled by smoking, eating meat, and stealing money from household servants. Althrough Mahatmas had a rebellious attitude, Mahatmas was a shy, remarkable student, who was so timid that he slept with the lights on even as a teenager. In 1885, Mahatmas’s father passed as well as his first young child. With an interest in becoming a doctor, Mahatmas’s family steered him to enter the legal profession just as his father wanted him to be a government minister. In 1891, Mahatmas’s mother passed. With grief, Mahatmas struggled in being a lawyer (Biography.com Editors). Mahatmas’s mother was very religious and a devoted practioner of Vaishnavism, self-discipline, and nonviolence (History.com Staff). As a result of this, Mahatmas grew up worshipping the Hindu God, Vishnu, and followed Jainism, an ancient Indian religion that stressed nonviolence, fasting, meditation, and vegetarianism. In 888, Mahatmas moved to London and struggled with the transition to the Western Culture. Mahatmas

Religion and philosophy such as Hinduism and Buddhism could have affected India in many ways. First of all, it affected the way people acted. Second, It also affected the gods you would pray to. In the article it states, “Buddhists still paid attention to Hindu gods.” This Shows,” Everyone had a god to pray to.” There is also something called nirvana. Tou can reach nirvana by being a good person and also through meditation. Lastly, there is Ahimsa which means non-violence.

The belief of this religion was “the only religious and philosophical message of India to spread far beyond the borders of its

Annotated Bibliography Source One: Pal, A. (2013). Mandela Took Inspiration from Gandhi | The Progressive. [Online] Progressive.org. Available at: http://www.progressive.org/news/2013/07/182893/mandela-took-inspiration-gandhi [Accessed 18 Jun. 2016].

In the writings by Martin Luther King Jr. And Gandhi, they share similar ideas but express them in different ways. A lot of times in the writings they express and echo in agreement on violence, because they both believe violence is not necessary. King and Gandhi also have their ideas diverge because, King often used Gandhi as a model for a peaceful but civil movement. Also there are moments in the writing where their ideas expand on each other, meaning that they contradict each other but have reasons for their ideas, for example, Gandhi believes violence is not necessary unless it is out of love and care. Alot of the times in their writings the two bold activist use tone to express their emotions towards the current event and to allow the reader to also understand the reasoning behind what they do.

Religion also has the ability to change one’s life through various practical means such as one’s state of mind and the way they choose to interact with other beings. It is evident that religion creates as sense of ease and belonging and gives people the sense that they possess power and that they are never alone all. These various aspects do in fact change one's state of mind and the way they choose interact with others as it makes people more willing to forgo their egos and selfish desires and live a life veered towards serving others and therefore I affirming Smith’s notion that Hinduism (religion) does in fact possess the power the move a person from being imperfect to (semi)

Born in 1869 on October 2. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, also known as Mahatma Gandhi lived in Porbandar, a region of India that (at the time) was a part of the British Empire, now known as Gujarat. Growing up, Gandhi worshipped the Hindu god Vishnu. His belief of Jainism aimed to achieve the liberation of the soul, embracing non-violence, meditation and vegetarianism. He believed in Ahimsa meaning non-violence and equality. As a young child, Gandhi was considered being shy, timid and an unremarkable student. Aged 18, he sailed to England to study where he read a variety of sacred texts and learnt more about world religions. He later explains “if only we could, all of us, read the scriptures of the different Faiths from the stand-point of the followers of those faiths, we should find that they were at the bottom, all one and were all helpful to one another” he considered them a comfort and recommended everyone to read them at some point in time. He stayed in England for 3 years before returning back to India where he struggled to gain any footing as a lawyer and wrestled to find work, therefore taking a job offer in South Africa at an Indian firm.

While Gandhi was well-known as a political leader, he was primarily a social reformer. Through power of a political figure, he could reform Indian society. First reason, his philosophy originated from his childhood. It matured gradually until he took political activities at his middle age. In his childhood, “She impressed him most with her spirit of self-sacrifice. As a devout Hindu in pursuit of self-purification … He makes clear that the decisive influence on his life came from his mother” (5). At the age of thirteen, he realized that “the wife is …as free as the husband to choose her own path … For a male living at this time in any society, this was an uncommon insight, yet consistent with Gandhi’s later commitment as a political activist to the emancipation of women” (6). At age of eighteen, he learnt to be tolerant of other religions. The syncretic spirit of Hinduism helped him to define “religion…in its broadest sense, meaning thereby self-realization or knowledge

Peace movements have been prevalent throughout history and there exists many theories on how to effectively achieve amity amongst so much violence. Mahatma Gandhi, a predominate figure and supporter of non-violence as a means of peace, explains how the only way to achieve reconciliation is through individual suffering. Likewise, the Dalai Lama, who is a leader of Buddhists and a user of a nonviolent approach, believes that peace is achieved by a liberation of pain and suffering from the individual, a necessary choice to make in order to have genuine love and passion. Though both approaches to peace appear similar, there are some differences and cons that appear as well. Overall, it seems that to both of these figures, there is a high importance