Hinduism Essay

Beginning in the 5th century, Buddhism became a very popular form of religion throughout Asia. Because this was such a diverse and widely followed religion, it introduced many different architectural and innovational developments that had influence from Buddhism, but depending on the region, the styles changed. Also, High officials, like Ashoka, whose’ primary influence came from Buddhism, created practices for his people to follow and live by to bring peace to his kingdom. As this religion was gaining popularity throughout Asia, the transformation that it took was very diverse and long term.

Hinduism, Buddhism and Shinto, while vast in differences there is much to learn about these three religions similarities as well. Some facts and history of Hinduism include, Hinduism (being the oldest of the three) is dated back in pre-history before 10000 BC even believed to predate the Indus River Valley Civilization! The Vedas (the holy text of Hinduism) is the foundation for Indian culture and also the basic belief system of Hinduism. The basic belief structure of Hinduism is as follows, the three doctrines; Samsara (1) which means “successive rebirths” indicating the belief in reincarnation started by ATMA or the spark of life given by the god Brahma. This cycle continues until the soul collects enough good Karma (2) to break from the

“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).

In India there are six orthodox schools of philosophy which recognize the authority of the Vedas as divine revelation, and they generally function as pairs - Nyaya and Vaishesika, Mimamsa and Vedanta, and Samkhya and Yoga. Those who did not recognize this authority were the Jains, Buddhists, and materialists. Even in India where spiritual ideas dominate the culture there were some who were skeptical of those ideals and held to a materialist view of the world; they were called Carvaka, and their doctrine that this world is all that exists is called Lokayata.

The Classical period lasted from 400 – 600 BCE. There was a change in rule which affected all of India during this period. The Mauryan dynasty was pro Buddhist and extended Aryan rule to all of India. There was an increase in the number of conversions to Buddhism and Jainism. The rising number of converts caused the Hindu religion to integrate foreign elements into Hindu tradition. The scriptures of Veda was now deemed compatible with the Upanishadic teachings and added into the Vedic body of scriptures. Due to a caste system upper classes accepted the tradition of the lower class and controlled the way lower class

It is believed that Hindu traditions appeared around 1500 B.C.E. and can be traced to the ancient Aryans as they migrated into southeastern Asia. It was during this time that the Vedic hymns were composed. These hymns, called Vedas, were composed by different Brahman priests and

Though some of these religions are related in one way or another, they each have their own sacred text that store their teachings and beliefs. The Jews follow the teachings of the Torah, which is the first five books of the Old Testament and is the cornerstone of Judaism. The Hindu text is

Conversely, Muslims have only one religious text called the Qur'an. It is considered literal undistorted word of god, and is regarded as God's final revelation to humankind and view it as the closest thing to a part of God in the world. Qur'an also talks about the relationship between God and his creatures and also about wisdom, doctrine, worship, and law (Understanding Islam and the Muslims). Besides that it teaches Muslims about the complete way of living their lives. It teaches discipline to be followed everyday which helps the Muslims to make their life easy. Although Hindus believe in many religious texts at the same time Muslims believe in only one text. Moreover, all of these texts try to teach their followers the same thing about the general way of living and about the general behavior and conduct expected from individuals at different times in their life.

The early Vedas are very concerned with rituals and goes into great detail of sacrifices; the later Vedas are specifically concerned with knowledge. It is written in complex language and it strives for answers. The writings are direct and searching for connections between interrelationships and the cosmos. They believe that if you can really know and understand the microcosm (your personal world), you can achieve and know more about the macrocosm (the entire universe).

The Bhagavad Gita is illustrative of how sacred texts continue to shape society. The Bhagavad Gita is one of the most popular Hindu texts and is actually a sort of dialogue between prince Arjuna and Krishna, his charioteer. Arjuna in the end wants to withdraw from the battle but Krishna teaches him that he must do his duty in accordance with his class and he argues that death does not destroy the soul. You can see this concept played out in how people organize themselves even today in India, where everyone seems to have “a place, a reason, a duty.” (BBC Religion Profile, Hinduism)

As I stated, before that different Vedas have different writings or beliefs in them, one such

Although we do not know the exact time that Hinduism began, it is believed to be over 4,000 years old. There have been overlapping civilizations in India that may have molded the religion into what it is now (Kinnard 1). Around 2,000 B.C.E., located near the great Indus River, the Indus Valley Civilization, who worshipped many goddesses, may have been the very beginning of the shaping of Hinduism. Near the end of the Indus Valley Civilization around 1,500 B.C.E., a new society surfaced in India. Believed to be brought by the central Asian Aryans, the Vedic religion began (Kinnard). The Aryans’ practices included the sacrifice of animals and other offerings to their gods into a sacred fire. The gods they worshipped were mainly gods of nature such as the fire god and the plant god (flood). This era was the time of the Vedas, which are scriptures describing rituals to please the gods (Kinnard). Later, around 1,000 B.C.E., priests called Brahmins began to reject the materialistic ways of the Vedic tradition and began to adopt practices

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.

The acknowledged hypothesis is that Hinduism was advanced after the chronicled meeting between the Aryans and Dravidians. Some claim that Hinduism is for the most part an Aryan culture while the others assert that it is basically a Dravidian culture. Religiously the Vedas were given by

The Vedic period lasted from c. 1750 to 500 BCE. The Vedic texts were arranged when the Indo-Aryans started to inhabit the Ganges-plain. With this new settlement, it transitioned to an agricultural society, and in the need for organization the society created a hierarchical government. The society had to include older habitants of the Ganges-plain, and incorporated them under the Aryan varnas. They also had to appoint political and religious authority to the Brahmins and Kshatriyas. The Vedas, also called Śruti, center on the worship of the elements like fire and rivers, worship of heroic gods like Indra, Varuna and Agni, chanting of hymns and performance of sacrifices. God Indra became the central deity of the developing Old Indic culture. The philosophy of Vedanta transformed the Vedic worldview to monistic one. This led to the development of tantric metaphysics and gave rise to new forms of yoga, such as jnana yoga and bhankti yoga. People prayed for abundance of children, rain, cattle (wealth), long life and an afterlife in the heavenly world of the ancestors. This mode of worship has been preserved since then in Hinduism. However, the primacy of Vedic deities has been seconded to the deities of Puranic literature. According to Muesse, some of the fundamental concepts like karma, reincarnation and "personal enlightenment and transformation" did not exist in the Vedic religion. Brahman is a very specific conception of the Absolute in Vedas. Brahman is neither