Comparative and Interactional Aspect of Hinduism and Buddhism Religion - Essay Example

Comparative and interactional Aspect of Hinduism and Buddhism Religion Religion is a set of beliefs and doctrines, which a society abides by. Hinduism and Buddhism are two major influential religions in the world. One thing common about the two, they emanated from India thus sharing common ideologies and roots (Elliot 16). Buddhism, in its origin at least is an offshoot of Hinduism. Though ranked amongst the top five profound religions in the world, Hinduism ranks third in the world and is much more popular than Buddhism. The founder of Buddhism known as Guatam Buddha had in early life brought up in posh life of Hindu society. This gives reference for Hinduism that it interconnects with Buddhism. Hinduism, better known as ‘Sanatan Dharma’, according to the Hindu people, it forms the indigenous life of the society, though its origin is still not certain. Factual studies have concluded that Buddhism grew because of the intricate nature involving Hinduism. Despite these differences, the two share a lot in common. This paper will draw the comparative analysis of the two religions, as well as how they differ from each other. On ritual dimensions, Buddhism and Hinduism share some differences and similarities in the belief and practice of meditation. Buddhism does follow some rituals like meditation, bowing to the ground in worship while offering their prayers in their Buddhist holy places. Buddhist practices and rituals do not require any priest. On the side of Hindus, their rituals are complex as they vary from birth to death of that particular person. Unlike in Buddhism, priest on the part of the Hindus plays a major role in practice of these rituals (Elliot 140). This aspect form part of their ethical teachings. Despite this difference in them, meditation as a ritual has influenced their life. The two religions believe that meditation brings them close to nirvana. In Hinduism, the worshipper chants in repetition the words ‘OM’ in order to concentrate and reach another level of consciousness. Through meditation, the worshipper searches for a deeper connection to the sacred deity. This comes due to the continual practice of this focusing technique; it brings them closer to Ultimate Reality and within the proximity of true knowledge. Similarly, Buddha was enlightened through His thorough deep meditation. In their s believe that, through Buddha’s meditation He reached enlightenment and understood the existence of Dharma makes this ritual important to the followers of Buddhism. In order to reach nirvana, Buddha learned that inward reflection was the only way thus encouraged others to do so by practicing meditation (Elliot 270). Therefore, both religions practice meditation in order to reach nirvana. Buddhism and Hinduism share common territory on the concepts of rebirths but differ on the importance of each other’s sacred text. As for the Hindus, they believe in the efficacy and supremacy of the Vedas. The Vedas are Hinduism scriptures found in the Smriti writings. They are the earliest forms of writing dating back to the times of Aryans. There are four divisions on Vedas namely: The Rig, Yajur, Sama, and Atharva-Veda respectively. They contain over a thousand hymns, words of ritual sacrifices and mythical stories about their gods. The writings explore similar themes as in other religions such as maintaining balance and order in the universe. On contrary, Buddhism does not believe in such doctrines, or any other Hindu scriptures. They have they own scriptures known as the Tripitaka. This means three baskets, which highlighted Buddha’s teachings. The Tripitaka contains Vinaya Pitaka, the Sutta Pitaka, and Abhidhamma Pitaka. In the Vinaya Pitaka, rules of basic living and the moral modalities, the Sutta Pitaka includes all the Buddha’s teachings and sermons while Abhidhamma Pitaka contains all the philosophical collections (Elliot 214). These comparisons highlight the nature of these two world religions and their etymological ratings. On the issue of Samsara, both Hinduism and Buddhism believe in its concepts. To both, life is an endless circle of birth, death and re-birth. For the Hindu’s, life is cyclical, having neither the beginning nor end. They believe once we die, away from the world we are reborn in another life but in a different physical form. These forms can vary from that of a plant, human, or animals. This successive rebirth allows one to continue learning, about how an individual should live according to the personal dharma. Hinduists believe that how one lives his life decides the standing of future rebirths. Buddhists believe in this concept as well. They believe that one can pass through continual rebirths repeatedly and the only way to escape from this cyclic nature is to reach nirvana. This calls for an individual to be enlightened according to Buddhism culture (Elliot 240). Thus, Buddhism and Hinduism have considerable differences on sacred doctrines but they converge on Samsara belief. As these two religions come from the same soil, they share a rather odd and uncomfortable relationship. According to its many followers, they believe that Buddhism become popular in India because it freed people from oppressions of tradition. In those days, Buddha’s teachings gave the people of India hope and inspiration they needed most unlike in Hinduism where such doctrines where not there at that era. Even though claims are Buddhism is a sect of Hinduism, the belief is not acceptable on the part of the Buddhists. Their claim is that Buddha was the first to discover the force of nirvana and shared it by teaching people to observe the eight fold paths is a fact that cannot be refuted. This caused the popularity of the Buddhism religion over that of the Hinduism. Just like any other religious animosities the world experiences, there was a time when Hindu rulers meted upon execution of Buddhists followers. This was in the height of religious battles for superiority. There was times of differences, execution, and persecutions, a time of peace and understanding between the two cultures. Despite their many disagreements, the two religions ended up influencing each other more than before. One common meeting ground for the two religions remains the fact that the founder of Buddhism, Buddha, got his child life much from Hindu practices (Elliot 310). They also have a fare share of differences and similarities. They have a history with each other since they blossomed from the same region of Asia. The two religions have an influence in the role of women in their society. In Hinduism, the religion remains a pre-dominantly patriarchal society. Women roles are in normal home affairs such as cleaning, raising children, tending to their husbands, and cooking. These form their daily life and nowhere else, they participate in constructive roles for their communities. On the same religion, they bare no public authority such that they cannot inherit property or rise to the position of priesthood despite their knowledge of their culture and religion. The Hindu Law book of Manu called for respect upon women only if they heed and abide by their prescribed codes of conduct. The most outstanding act was the prohibition of women to remarry after, the death of their husband since they expected little out of life after that. These cases are a total contrast as seen in Buddhism (Elliot 267). Since Buddhism traces its roots out of Hinduism, it thus practiced some of the patriarchal codes of conduct upon their women. The values as borrowed from Hinduism bound the duties the Buddhists women should carry without comprise. This changed though when Buddha disagreed with Hinduism on the aspect of the case system. He believed in dismantling the case system. By doing this, women gained more rights and their social mobility was not that restricted. This move though faced challenges from that era characterized by patriarchal society. It was the classical era. Though these religions differ in many aspects, one of the other striking similarities between the two religions lies in the shared recognition of the material world. They believe that what is on this world is superficial and accounts to mere delusions (Elliot 96). They forbid their believers on attaching their values upon this world because this has a direct impact on the eternal salvation of the individual. They term this as mere emptiness devoid of objective and independent existence. These two religions, Buddhism and Hinduism, though contrasting religions and found in Indian soil, have with time, grown alike. Buddhism curved its way out of Hinduism; hence, the two share central elements while being radically on some (Elliot 44). Work Cited Elliot, Charles. Hinduism and Buddhism. Teddington: Echo Library, 2007. Print. Read More