Hinduism And Buddhism Research Paper

Andrew Jackson once stated that the government should offer, “Equal protection and equal benefits” to all its white male citizens. During his presidency, he demonstrated his belief by changing politics, economic development, and reform movements to be more suited toward the “common man.” Based on such evidence the Jacksonian Period has lived up to its characterization as the era of the “common man.” Jackson, the face of the Democratic Party in the 1830’s, celebrated honest and simple workers and contrasted them to corrupt forces of established wealth. These views contrasted from those of the Whigs, who favored the expansion of the federal government and was strongest among merchants and manufactures in the Northeast.

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.

Both Hinduism and Buddhism are prominent religions in the ancient and modern world. They are arguably two of the most popular polytheistic faiths as well. Most people make the mistake of grouping them as one uniform religion, but this is inaccurate. Buddhism and Hinduism do split some resemblance, but several aspects of these faiths cause them to be contrasting from one another. The pair have been exceedingly significant throughout history, providing hope to the common people of India.

Religion is a very intellectual topic in the world. There are so many different types of religions such as Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, Jainism, and many more. So many people in this world believe in numerous different religions. Some believe in one god, and others believe in hundreds. Hinduism and Buddhism are popular religions that are practiced around the world.

Hinduism is known as the world's oldest religion. According to ISKCON Educational Services (2004), it is hard to construct a timeline because Hinduism has no identifiable human founder or specific origin in history. It is so old that its past goes into pre-history. It is extremely diverse with the Hindu people being more interested in the meaning of events than in providing first hand records. There is also no clear-cut divide between history and myth.

Throughout history, numerous religions have surfaced, growing profusely with followers and becoming more significant. Moreover, many just think there is only a few religions but there are a plethora of religions, some even have things in common. Buddhism and Christianity are among one of the most well known religions out there with followers all around the globe. Both religions impacted millions of lives and changed their perspectives.

Unlike many modern day religions, there are no clear origins of Hinduism. Hinduism is a fusion of various Indian cultures and traditions that over time molded into a religion. Its main roots, however, are in the Indus Valley civilization which was located in what is today known as northwest India and eastern Pakistan between 2500 and 1500 B.C.E, along with the Aryan culture and religion which existed between 1500 and 500 B.C.E. This dates back almost 4,000 years, which makes it one of the oldest religions to date (“Hinduism Influences”). The term Hinduism, however, wasn't always used to describe the religion. The word Hinduism is derived from the Persian word that refers to the Sindhu River in northwest India, and was adopted as a way to refer to the people of that region. By the end of the 19th century, however, the British Colonial Administration began to use the word Hinduism to describe the various religious beliefs and practices of the majority of India's population (“Hinduism Origins, Hinduism History, Hinduism Beliefs.”).

In comparing Buddhism and Hinduism there are many factors to consider. There are many similarities between these two religions. While looking at both, although Buddhism was formed as a response to Hinduism, you see that both don’t have a primary god they worship. Adding on to this each religion also has religious leaders. The differences are also very obvious as well such as Buddhism having a very prominent founder while Hinduism doesn’t have a primary founder. Although both religions believed in reincarnation, Buddhism believed that your goal is to reach a state of enlightenment whereas Hindus used a caste system where the person can only be moved up a caste after dying.

Buddhism originated in India and spread throughout Asia, where it is most heavily concentrated today. Buddhism spread early to Tibet and Sri Lanka, where it continues to be a popular religious practice today. Along with the inherent similarities one would expect, both countries have many differences in the beliefs and practices associated with each form of Buddhism.

Throughout the world, different nations have different beliefs or religion. Some religions evolve from others, and others are combination of other religions. Religion is a way of life, a lifestyle; it should dictate how you live your life. For instance, in India, Buddhism evolved from Hinduism, a religion were people believe in 300, 000 gods. Even though, Hinduism and Buddhism have different similarities such as believes in god, soul, and rituals, which in some ways connected to each other, both religions believe of what happens after life.

Since the Chinese culture was the first to introduce the ways of Buddhism to the Japanese culture there are many similarities in their belief system. The concept and affluent beliefs of Buddhism is evidently demonstrated in the arts of both the Chinese and Japanese culture. Both cultures demonstrate great Buddhism influences within their arts, meanwhile they still keep up their own cultural identities. Similarities within cultures not so long after the development of Buddhism did the missionaries from India begin to spread the religion into North China. Buddhism was introduced to China from India along the Silk Road ads many Buddhist monks were on the path spreading the newfound knowledge of enlightenment.

Hinduism and Buddhism are both eastern traditions with much to say about the human condition as well as the reason human beings exist at all. In some ways they are different while also being similar in other ways. In this essay, those differences will be discussed and the similarities examined for their message. In conclusion, we will examine what these two faiths offer to the human beings of the twenty-first century.

Every society is based on different religion. Different people follow different types of religion according to their birth or by choice. The major religions of the world are Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism, and Judaism. Each religion is similar and different from one another in terms of festivals, practices and beliefs. Apart from Christianity, Hinduism and Islam are the two most widely practiced religions in the world today. They have their own traditions, beliefs and practices. These two religions are similar to some extent and differ in terms of the God they worship, religious text and the place where they offer their prayers.

In Southeast Asia, Hinduism comprises what is the thirst largest religious group today. However, unlike other religions, Hinduism’s beliefs range from monotheism, polytheism, and even atheism. In this essay I will argue that although the religious diversity in India is so vast between religions like Sikhism and Jainism, there are still very many similarities between them.

The main focus of Buddhism is that the faith centers on correct understanding of human nature and ultimate reality, The Buddha was also called the Enlightened One, he taught that the way to eliminate suffering begins with understanding the true nature of the world. He rejected speculation about such matters as God, the nature of the universe, and the afyterlife, urging his folloers to focus instead on the Four Noble Truths by which they can free themselves from suffering. “We do not believe that this world is created and ruled by God.” The disbelief in God does not make Buddhism an atheistic religion. The Buddha rejected the concept of the atman, or soul. In