Essay on Theravada Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhism

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.

Albert Einstein once said, “Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic religion for the future: it transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and theology; it covers both the natural & spiritual, and it is based on a religious sense aspiring from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity.” I though this quote was an interesting beginning into seeing how this ancient religion changed over the course of its existence. I feel that Buddhism has changed over time but has maintained that core teaching that it had with the early Indians and with the Theravada teachings. Mahayana just happens to be the more loose teachings of the Buddha. The term used in

Hinduism, Confucianism and Buddhism are three of the world’s most distinguished belief systems of the past and for some, still in the present. The guidelines they provided influenced the social, political and religious lives of people within the societies that followed them. Hinduism emerged when the Aryans arrived in ancient India and began to combine their ideas with those of the Dravidians, the native population. One major Hindu idea was the caste system, which influenced the social lives of its followers and provided the state with political stability. Confucianism first saw an emergence of numerous followers during the Warring States period, when many philosophers were developing ideas for how to return order to China in this era of chaos. It provided political stability to the state by promoting an ethical system with several virtues and the idea that education could allow for social mobility. Buddhism originated from classical India when many people started looking for a new belief system, as they began to reject the caste system imposed by Hinduism. Buddhism had a minimal political or social impact on its followers, but instead influenced their religious lives. There is no doubt that these three belief systems significantly impacted the lives of their followers, but the manner in which they did this varied for each. Socially, Hinduism had the greatest impact with their caste system. Politically, Confucianism had the greatest impact by promoting virtues and

Theravada Buddhism is known to be the “a representative school of the earliest of the branches of Buddhism”, as it is also known as “Hinayana or the small vehicle” (Young). Founded by Buddha, this branch of religion is extremely similar to Hinduism in the fact that it seeks to help people reach a state of liberation from the cycle of Earthly rebirth, but one major difference is that Buddhism “emerged from the Buddha 's honest and penetrating assessment of the human condition” instead of focusing on the connection we as individuals have with our perceived ultimacy or higher, all powerful being like many other religions do (Bullitt). Even though the teachings of Buddha consist of several aspects from The Four Noble Truths, The Eightfold Path, to everything in the world around is impermanent, three of the most important teachings would include: The concept of anatta, Buddha’s teaching that one must work out their own liberation in which he stated on his deathbed, and The First Noble Truth Dukkha. Despite its grotesque nature and imagery, James McTeigue’s famous 2006 film, V for Vendetta, illustrates not only the importance of these Buddhist concepts but that enlightenment is always possible no matter how dark one’s reality might be. Placed in the futuristic setting of Great Britain in which the dictator High Chancellor Adam Sutler rules with an iron fist, the film’s main protagonist V teams up with Evey Hammond in order to battle and overthrow the tyrannical regime they have

The Mahayana and Theravada schools, while both following the Buddhist belief, have different understanding of the religion and the idea of Buddha The Buddha is the founder and leader of this religious tradition whose teachings make up the key Buddhist beliefs. The stimulus piece would be interpreted in a different manner for each Buddhist school, while also holding some similarities. While both Buddhist schools agree upon the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path, interpretation and how they are applied differ in certain areas of Gautama 's teachings (Dickson, 2004). Traditional Theravada is described as ‘classical’ Buddhism as it is more ancient and

Buddhism originated in the early Fifth century BCE, from the teachings of Siddhartha Buddha (Fisher, 2005). Plagued by the desire to help end human suffering, Buddha reached a state of pure enlightenment showing him the way to end earthly suffering. Through meditation, people can control the desires of their human nature. By gaining control of our desires we can end our suffering. He taught his wisdom to all that wanted to learn. After his death, three main forms of Buddhism emerged; there was the Theravada’s, the Mahayana’s, and the Zen Buddhists (Fisher, 2005). For the sake of this report, the local Buddhist

Buddhism is a world religion based on the teachings of the "Buddha," which means "The Enlightened One" or "The Awakened One" (Smith and Novak 4). Buddhism is usually associated with India and Nepal, though it has spread worldwide (Powers 12). It is difficult to trace all Buddhist beliefs back to their original sources because nothing was written about the religion until nearly 150 years after it began (Smith and Novak 50). As Buddhism evolved, its believers split into different factions, for example: Theravadinism, which believes that the Buddha was a great sage but stopped influence the world when he died/entered nirvana (Smith and Novak 68-9); and Mahayanism, which believes that the Buddha is a savior of the world who keeps drawing people to himself even now (Smith and Novak 70). Furthermore, as Buddhism spread, it evolved into different types of Buddhism, such as Vajrayana,

Hinduism is a very broad term that encompasses a multitude of different backgrounds, traditions, beliefs, and practices. Hinduism, as we know it today, has gone through many changes. To fully understand how Hinduism became as it is currently, knowledge of its development over the course of history is essential. This paper will demonstrate the primary shifts of its central beliefs, practices, and goals between periods of Early Vedic, Late Vedic, and Classical Hinduism.

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.

Theravada Buddhism has been the pre dominant religion/school in the continental south-east Asia, it is mainly found in sir Lanka, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Burma, Taiwan and Lous. Today Theravada Buddhist is a group which has well over 100,000,000 member’s world-wide. Theravada is considered to be the soul-survivor of the traditional and original Buddhism. It implies rather traditional and the strictest moral field of teaching. Theravada concentrates on monks and nuns, those who give full devotion to god. They live their lives only by the traditional teachings of the Buddha.

Buddhism was developed by Siddhartha Gautama or “Buddha” who is believed to have been a prince in the Shakya republic (von Sivers, Desnoyers, and Stow 228). Gautama’s sermons revolved around change, karma, and the cycles of death (von Sivers, Desnoyers, and Stow 229). However after Gautama's death religious disputes emerged that eventually divided the religion into two groups (von Sivers, Desnoyers, and Stow 229). Theravada Buddhism became the most prominent and began to spread as changes to its teaching made it more available to a wide range of followers (von Sivers, Desnoyers, and Stow 230). New ideas around the religion unfolded creating the branch of Mahayana which dispelled Theravada Buddhism. The religion became widespread as trade routes in central asia spread the religion to places such as China, Korea, Japan, and Tibet (von Sivers, Desnoyers, and Stow 230). Ultimately India’s the expansion of Indian culture in Asia came as a result of trade outpost and Indian settlements within Asia (von Sivers, Desnoyers, and Stow

Evidently, all of the religions in the world have different beliefs. Beliefs are the basis of one’s behaviour. Everything an individual does, traces back to the beliefs they have about the world. Hinduism and Buddhism are two religions that originated from the same nation, India. Both religions share beliefs on different paths to enlightenment, beliefs on reincarnation, and both believe in the spiritual practices of meditation. The purpose of this paper is to further discuss these beliefs, along with their similarities.

The traditionalists, now referred to as Sthaviravada or "way of the elders" developed a complex set of philosophical ideas beyond those taught by Buddha. These were collected into the Abhidharma or "higher teachings." But they, too, encouraged disagreements, so that one group after another left the fold. Ultimately, 18 schools developed, each with their own interpretations of various issues, and spread all over India and Southeast Asia.

Is concentrated on spiritualism than religious teachings. Established by the buddha, one must obtain their own spiritual awakening, or nirvana through meditation. There are three main branches of Buddhism Theravada Buddhism , Mahayana Buddhism and Tantric Buddhism.

Buddhism first appeared in India between the 5th and 6th BCE and is considered to be one of the oldest practiced religion and philosophy. It is a way of life that is governed by a series of passages and countless rules. These passages and rules are meant to enable an individual to further their growth as an agent of transformations to reach the ultimate goal of enlightenment. Though Buddhism, as its original form, is a strict and non peruvious practice of life, it provides of practical outlook on life and how one should be with their environment. The first teaching or the first Dharma, dictated by Siddhartha Gautama, were the Four Noble Truths. Not only are the four noble truths the backbone of Buddhism and they help us understand the