Hinduism & Buddhism
In comparing Hinduism and Buddhism, I am compelled to say that Buddhism seems a subset of Hinduism. It is a form of Hinduism that is easier for ordinary people to understand and follow. Some of the differences between the two religions and their complexities lie in their origins. The multiple levels and systems of Hinduism can be attributed to its origin of many years of change and growth. Buddhism has a very distinct origin, and its growth merely extends the religion, instead of changing it. The differences in supreme beings between Hinduism and Buddhism show two extremes of the same idea. Hinduism believes in one Supreme Being, but separates its characteristics into many different Gods. Everything is a part of the Supreme Being. Buddhism sees the individual’s thought and nature as supreme, and therefore does not have a single God, and so turns inward instead of outward. Similarities between views of man and nature greatly show the progression from Hinduism to Buddhis!m as the same ideas of everything being one and the same are expressed in different contexts. Both religions are also similarly based on attaining a certain knowledge in order to reach salvation or Nirvana. Hinduism follows that salvation is sought by kn . . .
These many religions emerged over time as aspects of the religions were changed in various parts of India. Krishna (dispeller of ignorance), Shiva (forces of creation), Vishnu (sustainer of life), Kali (goddess of death), Lakshmi (wealth and good luck), and Ganish (wisdom) are actually one, added together to total Brahman. Four aims are explained as Dharma (one’s duty), Artha (gains), Kama (pleasure), and Moksha (liberation); with Moksha being the ultimate goal after having lived through every possible experience. Hinduism changed many times over the years to give many different subsets of the religion. In time the ceremonies became more elaborate with different priests for different functions. Buddha began preaching his new doctrine known briefly as the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path and gained a large following. But on closer examination of the actual views of God in the two religions, we can see that they are distinct but related, showing evolvement of one into the other. For Buddhists, however, God is not a supreme or personal “deity” but a metaphysical reality. Nirvana in Buddhism refers to the final peace, an eternal state of neither being nor nonbeing. Buddhism takes a more impersonal view of the ultimate reality; Buddha rejected Indian bhakti, or devotion to a god, as an unhealthy dependence on external realities; rather each person must climb the ladder of salvation for himself. In Buddhism, the Supreme Being is a part of everyone. After a while, domestic rites became more common and public rites were reserved for harvest, rain, and spring. All three of these thoughts can be viewed as a take on the Hindu thought. It is the origin of it, the place of its preservation, and of its dissolution at the end of the long cycle of existence. Tantrism became the predominant influence on the development of a special form of Buddhism in Mongolia and Tibet.
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