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Buddhism and Hinduism are 2 of the 5 religions that are most popular in the current world. Both of these religions are widely practiced and have deep roots in history. In the rating of the most popular religions, Hinduism follows Christianity and Islam and takes the 3rd place (Nandan, G. B. and Jangubhai, N. A. M., 2013). The first written documents that contain the principles of Hinduism are called Vedas. They were copied on paper in 1000 B.C., but it is evident that they appeared long before that time in an oral form.
Both Buddhism and Hinduism appeared in the Indian subcontinent. These two religions share a long but uncomfortable relationship that can be compared to the relationship of Judaism and Christianity. The founder of Buddhism, Guatam Buddha, was born in a Hindu family and followed Hinduism for all his life just as well as Jesus Christ was brought up in Jewish society. Thus, it is evident that Hinduism is an older religion than Buddhism. Hinduism, that is also called the 'Sanatan Dharma', is considered the oldest religion in the world. This religion is so old (it likely appeared 5000 or more years ago) that its origin is still a mystery while it is widely known that Buddhism appeared in 563 BC at the time Buddha achieved enlightenment and He preached everything He learned. His teachings were called Buddhism and became highly popular among people all over the world.
More than 1500 years ago, Buddha was considered incarnated God in Hinduism. But, still strong rivalry was observed between these traditions for a long time.
The followers of Buddha and Shiva could not stand each other at the time Buddhism appeared. For instance, Sasank, the ruler from Bengal who lived at the time of Harshavardhana, burnt the pipal tree near which Buddha got enlightenment and vandalized numerous Buddhist monuments (Nandan, G. B. and Jangubhai, N. A. M., 2013).
Despite the crucial differences between these two religions, Buddhism and Hinduism influenced one another greatly. The Buddhist ideas of compassion to all creatures and non-injury took deep roots in the Indians. In its turn, Hinduism uses some traditional Indian methods of worship. The Hindu tantra had a great influence on the evolution of Vajrayana Buddhism.
Therefore, Buddhism and Hinduism are closely interconnected but they have not only similarities but also a lot of differences.
Similarities between Buddhism and Hinduism
1. Hinduism believes that every person is a part of an impersonal world. That is why, soul reincarnates into the body of another being in accordance with the deeds in life. Buddhism also includes the idea of reincarnation and believes that a person was another being in the previous life and is going to become someone else in the next life, depending on what he or she has done during the present life.
2. In Buddhism, a person should care about his or her salvation that depends on the good deeds of a believer. In Hinduism, as well a person attains salvation in case he or she made a lot of good deeds during a lifetime. Hinduism offers 4 paths to attain salvation: Raja Yoga - Way of salvation, Bhakti Yoga - Way of faith and love, Karma Yoga - Way of good works, and Jnana Yoga - Way of knowledge (Buddhism & Hinduism).
3. Both Hinduism and Buddhism believe that there is a great quantity of paths to enlightenment, for instance, controlling the six conscious senses and overcoming through your desires.
4. Both Hinduism and Buddhism believe that too close relations with people and things in the physical world give way to suffering and pain. That is why people should be free from worldly desires.
5. Both of these religions have an emphasis on meditation and different forms of yoga, that helps to get concentrated on the truth of life and facilitates the way to liberation and enlightenment.
6. Buddhism’s major sect that is called 'Tantrayana', is based on the tantric practices. In Hinduism tantric practices are also widely used, especially among the followers of the god Shiva and Goddess Kali (Buddhism & Hinduism).
7. Buddhism as well as Hinduism believes that nature of the world is illusory. These two religions emphasize the role of Karma and believe in the constant cycle of births and deaths.
8. Both religions believe that there are several heavens and hells or lower and higher worlds.
9. In both religions, there is a belief in the existence of deities or gods on various planes.
10. The closest Hinduism’s philosophy to Buddhism is Advaita. Its ideas do not differ much from the teachings of Buddhism (Nandan, G. B. and Jangubhai, N. A. M., 2013).
11. Both religions appeared in India.
12. Statues and pictures are used in both religions (Buddhism vs. Hinduism).
Differences between Buddhism and Hinduism
1. The Hindus worship to nearly 300,000 Gods while in the original Buddhist doctrine there were no godly figures. But the later Buddhists invented the Godly figures (Buddhism & Hinduism).
2. Buddhism follows simple rituals, mainly in the form of meditation. The religious practices in Buddhism do not need the service of priests. The Hindus follow complex rituals from birth to death. Priests play an important role in all these rituals.
3. Buddhists do not follow the caste system while in Hinduism there is a huge number of sub-castes and castes that are followed by the Hindus rigidly.
4. Buddhism rejects both great wealth and asceticism while most of the Hinduism followers keep to extreme asceticism.
5. The Buddhists believe in the Buddhist scriptures and teachings of the Lord Buddha, but they do not believe in the Vedas. The Hindus believe in four Vedas – Yajurveda, Rigveda, Atharvaveda, and Samveda.
6. The Buddhists believe that they can join any stage of life depending on their spiritual preparedness. In Hinduism there are four stages of life that are called the 'ashramas': Brahamacharya Ashram means Student life, Grihastha Ashram means family life, Vanprastha Ashram is the age when a person forgets about all worldly desires, and Sanyasa Ashram is the time when a person waits for the ultimate death or truth at the time of meditation (Buddhism & Hinduism).
7. Hinduism and Buddhism have different versions of Tantra.
8. Hinduism believes that reality is the union of the things that are combined as a glorious divinity. But Buddhism believes that reality is nothingness. When the Hindus gain Moksha they get united with everything in the Universe. When Buddhists gain Nirvana they, on the contrary, get detached from everything in order to appear in nothingness (Choate, A., 2013).
9. The main goal of Buddism is to free a person from sufferings while Hinduism follows the aim of salvation and freedom from reincarnation (Buddhism vs. Hinduism). Hinduism believe that every person should have four main aims in life: kama (passions and desires), artha (wealth), moksha (salvation) and dharma (religious duty) (Nandan, G. B. and Jangubhai, N. A. M., 2013).
10. Hinduism believes in Atman – the individual soul, in Brahman, the Supreme Creator., while Buddhists do not believe in the existence of souls and God.
11. Hinduism considers that the Buddha was an incarnated Mahavishnu, who is one of Hindu’s gods. Hinduism does not accept any equivalents to the Buddha (Nandan, G. B. and Jangubhai, N. A. M., 2013).
12. Buddhists are organized in a monastic Order and live in groups while Hinduism is the religion of an individual.
Conclusion
Hinduism and Buddhism are closely connected with one another. Though these religions are different, they influenced and enriched one another during centuries.
Hinduism and Buddhism have a huge number of followers all over the world. People of different nationalities and mentalities find these religions close to them. The tremendous popularity of Buddhism and Hinduism suggest that these religions are valid as far as a religion can be. Buddhism teaches that a person should do only the deeds that do not harm anyone. A Buddhist should not be followed by traditions, logical conjecture, analogies, pondering views and so on, he or she should be followed only by awareness of what is not harmful. Buddhism is very practical. One should experience equanimity and practice mindfulness. And that is enough for evidence. Though, for many people, it is bad that Buddhism does not give answers to such questions as who has created living beings and what we should expect after death. As for Hinduism, it is hard to call it a religion. It is more like a bunch of religions. It is an ancient philosophy that also does not need to be proved.
References
Buddhism & Hinduism. In Buddhist Tourism online. Retrieved from http://www.buddhist-tourism.com/buddhism/religion/buddhism-hinduism.html
Buddhism vs. Hinduism. In Diffen online. Retrieved from http://www.diffen.com/difference/Buddhism_vs_Hinduism
Choate, A. (2013, November 22). How Does Hinduism Differ From Buddhism? In Patheos online. Retrieved from http://www.patheos.com/blogs/whitehindu/2013/11/how-does-hinduism-differ-from-buddhism-google-questions-answered/
Nandan, G. B. and Jangubhai, N. A. M. (2013, May). The Comparative study between Hinduism and Buddhism. In International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention online. Retrieved from http://www.ijhssi.org/papers/v2%285%29/version-1/D252731.pdf
