Religions of the World - Buddhism and Hinduism - Essay Example

Buddhism and Hinduism From the earliest times religion continues to influence almost every aspect of human lives. Today people from various background, social class and location face so many problems and challenges as well as issues of safety, health and mortality that religion is bound to exist. Being the universal tool of explaining things we don't understand, religion remains the most famous and favorite retreat for people in hour of need, uncertainty and doubt, people turn to it when they need explanation of things and issues beyond the physical world and usually do find their answers there. Even though there are countless religions, they all and each and every one of them serve the same purpose, i.e. they answer questions which interest all human beings at certain point of their lives - Why are we here How should I live my life What happens when I die Not only that, religion also helps people transmit their values from generation to generation and can influence the way people interact with their natural environment. Religion is there for us to teach us "how to see ourselves in light of the universe and gives purpose and meaning to life." (Wenner) Today's global society gives very good chances that within the lifetime of a person, he can very well meet people from all around the world, from every corner of our planet. So, understanding and tolerance to the religious beliefs of other people is one of the most important steps that mankind should make in order to "someday prosper together in peace." (Wenner) Since out of two religions in question - Hinduism and Buddhism, the former is the older one, let's dwell on it first. Hinduism is considered to be the oldest and most complex religion of the world. Trying to provide an adequate background and history of the development of Hinduism is a very difficult task, due to the fact that it has neither specific founder nor theology; it originated "in the religious practices of Aryan tribes who moved to India from central Asia more than three thousand years ago." (Wenner) Aryan tribes attacked and conquered the Harappan people who occupied the territories of modern India around 1500 BC. Eventually, through adaptation and assimilation of the religious beliefs of both groups, they created and developed similar systems of religious practices that were founded on both, polytheism of the Aryans and the sacredness and worship of fertility of the Harappan people. The mostly Aryan society soon developed the caste system, which divided society according to people's occupational class. The caste system ranked people in the following way: the highest caste was that of Brahmins (priests), then went Kshatriyas (class of warriors, soldiers and kings, who often fought wars, were also referred to this caste), third caste was for Vaishyas (merchants, laborers, farmers, craftsmen), the lowest caste was Harijahns, "the untouchables" (beggars; it is thought that people belonging to this caste descended from the aboriginal Harappans who were extremely poor and experienced discrimination). (Wenner) "The higher a person's caste, the more that person is blessed with the benefits and luxuries life has to offer. Although the caste system was outlawed in 1948, it is still important to the Hindu people of India and is still recognized as the proper way to stratify society. Since the early days of Hinduism, it has branched and now encompasses a wide variety of religious beliefs and religious organizations. Not only is it the primary religion of the region around India, but portions of Hindu beliefs have found their way across oceans to other countries and have been influential in the foundations of other religions, such as Transcendental Meditation and Buddhism." (Wenner) Perhaps, two qualities that distinguish Hinduism from all other religions of the world are, first, that being a Hindu you have absolute freedom what you believe in and whether you believe in anything at all or no will not prevent you from belonging to Hinduism. Indeed, in order to survive, Hinduism has to and does accept the changes; it is liberal, progressive kind of religion. It inculcates whatever people feel is good for them. Some people believe in worshipping deities, some believe that God is not and can not be seen, some believe that there is no shape and size of God (nirakar), some believe that God is within us as well as within each and every thing existing on Earth, some worship even stones and all this is within Hinduism. Being the oldest religion Hinduism chose the non-violent way of dealing with new flows of philosophical and religious thought. Instead of fighting the foreign influences, it chooses to accept them, absorb them and give space for new forms of beliefs and worshipping. And, second important quality of Hinduism is that it is much more a way of life, rather than a religion. It is intertwined in each and every aspect of Hindu's life since birth to death on a day-to-day basis; rituals are incorporated in day routine. As Hindu's life is divided in 3 stages - the birth, the marriage and the death - for each stage there are specific rituals. But not only that, the rituals follow a Hindu since morning till night every day, that's why religion becomes in fact part of life, way of behavior, outlook and world perception. Of course, there is the law of karma and interconnected with it reincarnation, samsara, in Hinduism, numerous Gods and Goddesses, strong belief in destiny and as a result flourishing sciences of astrology, palmistry, horoscopes, anything that can help to have a glimpse of future. There is so much to Hinduism that it's hardly possible to even mention all the various, at times even contradicting facets of this fascinating religion in one essay. Buddhism originated in India, too. It is a school of Indian speculative thought, which was founded by Siddhartha Gautama (566-486 B.C.). His religious teachings came to many countries and set standards of gentleness, compassion and tolerance, influencing the indigenous cultures. As Albert Einstein described it, "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 and spiritual, and it is based on a religious sense aspiring from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity" ("Buddhism") Even though both Hinduism and Buddhism appeared in the same country, there are a lot of differences as well as natural similar features in these religions. In order to explain the connection of Buddhism with Hinduism, to understand the reasons and conditions of the appearance of new religion and to realize its significance as a religion separate from Hinduism, it is necessary to go back in history to the times of Gautama Buddha. Aruna Deshpande writes in his book "India - A Divine Destination": "Unlike Hinduism, which emerged by slow, spiritual accretion, the religion of the Buddha appeared overnight. At the time of Buddha, the Vedic Gods were widely accepted in India and the Upanishads had become the philosophical study of the higher castes in some places. Although Buddha's teaching and Hinduism differed, they shared some beliefs." Buddha accepted the basic Hindu doctrine of the continuous cycle of birth, death and rebirth (samsara) and the Hindu belief in the law of karma, the moral law of cause and effect. However, the attitude of Buddha to "the inexorable law of karma" was not so pessimistic as in Hinduism. He created a certain philosophy as well as a practical method, the Four Noble Truths, which could help overcome the law of karma when, instead of experiencing a series of rebirths before emancipation, one could attain it in this present life. Buddha's own life is the perfect example of this philosophy. The law of karma in Buddhism is respected and believed in. Mr. Hoogcarspel, a Buddhist philosopher, underlines, "Buddhism could not have arisen if the law of karma and reincarnation were not there, because Buddhism is a religion of salvation, salvation from reincarnation," samsara, the cycle of births. (Westerwoudt). However, Buddhism doesn't agree that one's actions results can be redeemed by grace or prayers, or that God rewards or punishes a man according to his deeds. Instead, they believe that "karma is the law itself and that bad (akushala) actions will bring degenerating effects and good (kushala) actions will bring good results." Every action leaves its impressions and these impressions determine whether one's life will go upward or downward. (Deshpande 431) Buddhism's view of the cosmos also experienced Hindu influence. It also considers time in terms of kalpas, each consisting of millions of years, during which birth and rebirth takes place and influences all beings. Buddha wanted to eliminate metaphysics and too much ritualism, which made religion of that time accessible only to high caste people who knew all the ways of practicing it. "In Hinduism of Buddha's day, authority had become hereditary and exploitative as Brahmins took to hoarding their religious secrets and charging exorbitantly for ministrations. Rituals had become mechanical means for working miracles. Explanations had lost their experiential base and developed into arguments. Tradition had become a dead weight. God's grace was being misread in ways that undercut human responsibility, and mystery was confused with mystification - perverse obsession with miracles, the occult and the fantastic." (Deshpande 425) And at this time came Buddha with the intention to clear the ground for the true and new message. He preached a religion devoid of authority, ritual, and supernatural, religion that skirted speculation and tradition and was based on intense self-control. (Deshpande 425) Siddhartha wanted to bring religion closer to people. One story can serve as an example of his sympathy and compassion for everybody, but more so for the poor and the ignorant. At the times of Buddha, Sanskrit was no longer the spoken language in India. It appeared only in scriptures and the books of the learned. When some of his disciples-Brahmins wanted to get his teachings translated into Sanskrit, Buddha expressed his views: "I am for the poor, for the people; let me speak in the tongue of the people." Up to this day, the main part of his teachings is in India's vernacular of that time. (Vivekananda) Since then up to now, Hinduism and Buddhism, being close in some basic aspects, are still worlds apart in their philosophical and spiritual ideas. The most profound differences between these 2 religions are the following: Hinduism believes and relies on its Holy Scriptures while Buddhists do not. Hindus believe in atman, individual soul and Brahman, who is the Supreme Creature while Buddhism doesn't accept the concept of God. Hindu people think that Buddha was a reincarnation of Vishnu, one of Gods in Hindu trinity, Buddhists do not believe that. Buddhists are usually monks who live in groups while Hinduism is a religion of an individual. (Deshpande 440) Although it can be seen that Buddhism is quite different from Hinduism and is accepted as one of the most popular religions of the world, there are some religious scholars who refuse to acknowledge this fact. Christopher Dawson, for example, points out and proves this statement with the argument that the Buddhist monks were the Brahmins' lineal descendants and Buddhism is a kind of Brahminism with sacrifice rite being replaced by moral asceticism practiced by the priestly caste of monks. (King) N. Chandran in his essay "Hinduism - Buddhism different religions" underlines that Buddha was in no way against the Vedas, the holy scriptures of Hinduism, he participated in Vedic rituals himself, "he only opposed the prominence given to the Vedic rituals in the scheme of spiritual liberation and the sacrifice of animals in this process." Buddha's rejection of castes is also doubted by Chandran, who writes that the Vedic religion allowed access to spiritual knowledge to three top castes and Buddhism opened such knowledge to lower castes people and women. Given this fact, the writer concludes that caste system was not entirely rejected in Buddhism, which only fought to allow all people into spirituality and religion, not only Brahmins. Chandran goes on to analyzing Buddha's teachings and finds out that Four Noble Truths appear already in Upanishads and are perceived as a fundamental reason for the spirit's life throughout Indian philosophical spectrum. Further, the author explains that Buddhism in India and Buddhism in other countries should be differentiated since the religion historically developed in either case differently. Thus, it would hardly be meaningful to distinguish between Buddhism and Hinduism, as one can do with, say, Buddhism and Christianity, or Buddhism and Islam. (Chandran) Swami Vivekananda, too, expresses the similar idea: "The relation between Hinduism (by Hinduism I mean the religion of the Vedas) and what is called Buddhism at the present day is nearly the same as between Judaism and Christianity. The teaching of Lord Buddha lies principally in this: he came to preach nothing new. He also, like Jesus, came to fulfill and not to destroy" (Vivekananda) Thus, Buddhism and Hinduism, having originated in one country, naturally have a lot of similarities, but there are many profound differences, too, which distinguish Buddhism from Hinduism and give it a meaning and significance of its own. At the same time, the most important thing is that they both preach non-violence and bring to the world a message of compassion and peace. References: "Buddhism based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama", Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance. 2005. 07 Aug. 2005 Chandran, Nandakumar. "Hinduism - Buddhism different religions". Oct. 2002. 07 Aug. 2005 Deshpande, Aruna. "India - A Divine Destination", New Delhi: Crest Publishing House. 2005 King, Edward. "Christopher Dawson on the Religion and Culture of India: Part II". The Dawson Newsletter Winter 1995. 07 Aug. 2005 Vivekananda, Swami. "Buddhism, The fulfillment of Hinduism". Understanding Hinduism 2005. 07 Aug. 2005 Wenner, Sara, "Religions of the World". 2001. 07 Aug. 2005 Westerwoudt, Maria. "Affirming the Sanatana Dharma". Hinduism Today Jan. 1991. 07 Aug. 2005 Read More