Nirvana And The Hindu Religion

- Karma, samsara and nirvana fall under the religion of Hinduism. When all of our actions bring consequences, either in this life or the next is referred as karma. Samsara means the cycle of birth and death. Us humans are basically good, but are caught up in a cycle of pure desire and also of suffering that is a direct result of ignorance and of the go. Nirvana is another word to describe the permanent liberation from life. It is a liberation from the cycle of samsara, in which we cease to exist and become one with the universe.

free from the cycle of rebirth. However, under this religion moksha can only be attained is one 's

The Upanishad scriptures suggest that followers exercise their body and mind. These exercises become more important to Hindu practice as time goes by. Through the teachings of Upanishads there is a spiritual essence called “Brahman”. Brahman is a single world soul that is the base of all physical matter, energy, time and space. Brahman is all things on earth and beyond. It is thought that a person’s inner soul known as the “atman”, is part of Brahman and therefore; a person’s innermost soul is part of the single world soul. The meditation associated with the search for perfect knowledge has evolved into a permanent aspect of Hinduism and is known as “Yoga”. During this period Buddhism and Jainism were created as additional ways of reaching enlightenment while denying key teachings and practices.

I want to compare the Hindu concept of moksha to the Buddhist concept of nirvana. Moksha is the main goal of Hinduism, and nirvana is the main goal of Buddhism. Moksha is viewed by Hindus as freedom from the cycle of reincarnation (Narayanan, 37). Nirvana is viewed by Buddhists as having a life that is free from all desire and suffering of the world (Taylor, 249). Both Hindus and Buddhists search to achieve these goals in their religions. They both want to be released from cycles, but they are different cycles. Hindus want to be released from the cycle of reincarnation, and Buddhists want to be released from a cycle of desire and self-interest. They want to be freed from desire because in Buddhism, desire is viewed as the main cause of suffering (Amore, 200). Once Hindus achieve moksha and Buddhists achieve nirvana, then they are truly free from these unpleasant cycles. Both Hindus and Buddhists understand moksha and nirvana as a sort of “superdeath” that ultimately ends the cycle of constant rebirth and death (Taylor, 250).

We don’t know details about the life of Siddhartha “Buddha” as nothing was written down by him or his disciples until hundreds of years after his death. However, the legends that were passed down paint a very humble and intriguing picture of the man known as Buddha. The story states that Buddha was born into a very lavish lifestyle; he was given anything and everything he could ever want and kept very sheltered in order to protect him from the realities of the world around him. Eventually becoming curious of the surrounding world he escaped the royal walls and seen what the world

As two of the world’s oldest and most established religions, Hinduism and Buddhism have their similarities, as well as differences. Both religions are practiced in Southeast Asia, starting in India and have influenced each other. Hinduism dates back to 5,000 years ago, while Buddhism was created three centuries ago. I will explore what the two religions share and what separates the two from one another covering the origins, number of followers, the texts used, and the belief system followed.

Hinduism, Buddhism, and Daoism are all religions that connect in more than one way. One major way that these religions connect is through the afterlife, otherwise known as the unconditioned reality. Hinduism and Buddhism have very similar views on the afterlife while Daoism has a slightly different view. In the end, they all have the same goal which is to achieve the final state that lasts forever. Even though this is true, that does not mean they do not differ in more than one way. Hinduism, Buddhism, and Daoism rely strongly on theoretical, practical, and sociological standpoints. A large part of the theoretical standpoints, are myths about the gods and how things are. A large part of sociological standpoints are festivals, and temples. Lastly, practical is practiced through mediation, yoga, and payers. In Hinduism, there are various sects that worship a total of roughly 360,000,000 different gods. As you could imagine, this would be difficult to generalize in just one essay, so the branch of Hinduism I will go over just includes the basic trinity and Vedic gods. Along with this, this essay will include information on the two major types of Buddhism and how one attains enlightenment. Finally, we will go over how one is to attain immortality through Daoism, along with the beliefs of the traditional Chinese Folk religions.

Believers of both Catholicism and Buddhism share the interest of obtaining certainty for their souls from their religion. The believers of Buddhism have the aim to reach a state of peace, called “Nirvana”. Nirvana is the state where one’s soul is at peace and disappears into nature. For Catholics At the moment of death, the soul is separated from the body and no longer sustains

“Hesse used Hindu terms and names with their traditional meanings-Om, Samsara, Nirvana...,”(Timpe 348) The significance of the words Om, Samsara, Nirvana have a large impact inside of the book, and the obstacles Siddhartha had to face to attain his main objective of reaching Nirvana. Samsara, being the cycle of death and rebirth emanates the fear that everyone that does not reach nirvana is doomed because of the materialistic world. The significance of om lead to sidhartha opening his eyes, in a way Om is a concept that signifies the unity and perfection in the universe. Nirvana being the highest state that can be attained, it is evident that the main objective of anyone, including Sidhartha, on the journey of enlightenment is to reach Nirvana.

He didn’t want to go back to the lavish life nor the impoverished life; so he journeyed down the middle path. Down this path is where he attained enlightenment or became “The Buddha” through meditation and reflection of his life. “Buddhist legend tells that at first the Buddha was happy to dwell within this state, but Brahma, king of the gods, asked, on behalf of the whole world, that he should share his understanding with others” (“The Buddha”). This is how the religion of Buddhism started in the world.

While there are numerous significant characteristics of Buddhism, Nirvana would definitely hold a place at the top of the list. Nirvana is described as a sanctified and blissful state where those who achieve Nirvana are freed from temptation, misfortune, and secular egotism; Buddhists who obtain Nirvana also no longer die or undergo reincarnation, and they are liberated from

He also encouraged others in his life to follow his way of living. However, according to the Buddhist text, called Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion, the Buddha decided to pursue the middle way since the two extremes were not beneficial to him. Therefore, it was interesting to read that drastic measures of starving and becoming sickly helped him to meditate and move towards the path of enlightenment.

The word "nirvana" is heard pretty often. For example, people might say they've achieved nirvana when they're really happy or they might talk about going to nirvana as an eternal reward after death. Then, of course, there’s the rock band who adopted the term Nirvana with a certain amount of irony. Furthermore, the word is fully imbedded in the modern vocabulary. But in reality, to most people in¬ the Western world, religious nirvana is a total mystery. Both known religious traditions Hinduism and Buddhism focus on liberation from the endless cycle of rebirth and death and the suffering that comes with that cycle – known as samsara. However, there are important distinctions in how the two traditions view this liberation. Many associate

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.

Jainism and Buddhism acknowledge extremely similar aspects in their respective religions. They both have a grounded belief of karma, samsara, and one of liberation. Although these basic principle are the same, they have differences within them. In this essay, it will discuss the similarities and differences between the basic beliefs and traditions regarding karma, samsara, recognition of the self, and final liberation in regards to Jain and Buddhist religions.