Hinduism is the main religion of India. Honduism has no founder or formal church. This religion’s roots are from ancient Aryan beliefs and practices. It is the way a way of life. Unlike Hinduism, Buddhism has somewhat of a founder of the religion. It all started around 600 b. c. The Brahman cast had become very powerful. Brahamans claimed that they alone could perform the sacred rituals of the Hindu religion. One of the reformers was Siddhartha Guautama. Guautama was a son of a local ruler, he lived a life of luxery not knowing the meaning of suffering. One day he saw a begger, and one thing lead to another.
He now relized that life was fule of misery and suffering. He then left his family and home to find the cause of human misery. After years of searching, he meditated under a tree, and he recieved enlitghtenment. He now understood the cause of suffering. From then on he was known as the Buddha which started the religion, Buddhism. Hindu’s beliefs are recorded in sacred texts. The most important being the Vedas and the Upanishads. The Vedas contains eternal thruths that were reveiled to the wise men. The Upanishads helped to explain the ideas that occured in the Vedas.
This is somewhat similar to Buddhism being that the Buddah taught others what he learned as he sat under the tree. He called those ideas the four noble truths. The first truth was that suffering was universal. The second was that suffering is caused by desire. The third is that the only way to stop suffering is to crush desire. The fourth is that the only way to end desire was to follow the noble Eightfold path. Hindusworship thousnads of gods. Each god is part of a single supreme force known as the Brahman. The many gods give the Brahman a more stable form that is easily understandible to the average person.
The three main gods of Hinduism are Bhrama, Vsnu, and Siva. Brhama is the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Siva the destroyer. Throughout India different religious groups worship one or more of these gods. Hindus believe that every person has an essential life or atman. This is part of a unversal soul. They also do not believe in violence because they believe that all natuarel living thigs are part of the same universal soul. They respect nature. The Buddah thought of himself as a hindu but did not beilive in any god. He also thought that preist were not neccesary and that people had to seek nirvana on their own.
Hindus believe that pele undergo reincarnation, which is the rebirth of a soul in various forms. They do not think that everythig can be accomplished in one lifetime. The cycle of death and rebirth continuos until one reaches Brahaman. If a person was born into a specific caste they will remain in that caste forever. In each caste their are certain duties and obligations. If they obey these rules they will move ahead in their next life. Like Hindus, Buddah believed that salvation was achieved when the individual self has escaped the body.
Even though he rejected the caste system he believed in reincarnation. Soon after the Buddah atracted many followers. He set up monastaries and convents, so that munks could study the noble Eight fold path. After he died, his followers passed his teaching by mouth. The ideas were written down in the three baskets of wisdom, which were similiar to the Vedas. Although Buddah began in South Asia, it almost dissappearred there. Hinduism is a tolerant faith, and slowly absorbed many Buddhist ideas. Hinduismis a giant religion that buddhism origanated from.
