Research Paper – The Hindu and Buddhist religion
Both Hinduism and Buddhism are common religions in the world which are popular in the world. The two religions are among the most popular religions in the world due to the high number of followers attributed to its worship practices. These two beliefs are among the popular forms of polytheistic forms of faith worldwide. There has been a lot of controversy in the belief of this faith because some individuals tend to believe them to be sects of the within same religion but that is not really the case. These two religions possess various similarities but they also possess disparities which make them not to be associated or it disqualifies the idea whereby they are termed to be one religion.
The two religions both originated from India. These two religions are highly focussed on nature and the environment around them; these two religions also tend to believe on the existence of several heavens and several hells or several lower and higher world. They also tend to believe on Karma which can and is believed to affect an individual’s actions in the present life and it will also affect greatly on the individuals afterlife. One important aspect with the two religions is that they both have a tendency of focus on the Peace and aspects of non-violence based on the entire environment containing the living things, Individuals in these religions tend to be compassionate. This has greatly tied most of their focus on Mother Nature.
Buddhism and Hinduism also tend to believe in a number of spiritual practices such as the concentration, meditation, and the different states of individuals mind .In this faith it is believed that human desire is the largest cause of the suffering in both the two religions. They also both believe in the process of salvation and incarnation. They have believed in doing of good and helpful activities because these good virtues of an individual are works of salvation and this salvation they seek will define an individual’s life after death when incarnation is completed. The two religions also tend to believe that there are different way or paths which lead to their enlightenment, these paths include controlling the sixth sense, and the process of overcoming once feelings. By these practices both religions can be termed to be both philosophical and religious .The Hindus and the Buddhist tend to perform different practices of the Yoga and meditation and many other ways which are believed to effectively focus once mind the way it is believed the Buddha did.
These two religions Buddhism and Hinduism also tend to have many differences in their cultures and religion which distinguishes them and their overall faith. Hinduism as a religion wasn’t founded through a prophet while Buddhism arose by Buddha instigating it. The Hindus religion also tend to have believe in Vedas while the Buddhists don’t believe in Vedas and other spiritual Hindu books .The Buddhist religion also don’t put believe in the belief in the entire existence of souls or the god associated with Christianity. The Hindus believe in Atman who is basically is a single soul and Braham who is believed to be the sole creator .The Indian religion tends to believe that Buddha was a recantation of their past Gods. These two religions both tend to believe in the Karma but their conditions and terms vary differently between the Hindu and Buddhist. One major distinction between Hinduism and Buddhism is the fact that Hinduism are unaware of their original origin unlike other religions, they did lost all of their information about how their religion was founded in the years, on the other hand the Buddhist tend to know whom they believe to be their creator, also important to note is that Buddhism is more recent religion as compared to Hinduism .These distinctions have clearly shown the wide disparities that are associated with the Hinduism and Buddhist religions.
On practicing these two religions they tend to have various unique place of worshiping. These vary with Buddhist and Hindus. In the Hindu religion .The Hindus have the ability to perform their worship from home and both in temples. While worshiping at home they have decorated shrines that serve the purpose of an altar. The rooms of worship are also characterised with images of deities in the form of framed pictures .This objects tend to help the mind concentrate and they are also able to abstract other ideas. The Hindus also worship in the temples which they tend to visit mainly during various festivities according to their calendar; these festivities are led by priests and the various helpers in the temple. Important to note for Hinduism is that they consider animals like cows to be sacred hence care should be taken for them. On the other hand the Buddhist worship in temples, they perform their worship while in the barefoot state while sitting on the floor of the temple. The Buddhist also can worship at home or temples as long as they worship facing the image of Buddha. These two religions both originated from India.
Work cited
Bezruchka, S. (1997). Trekking in Nepal: A Traveler's Guide. seattle: The Mountaineers Books.
Coomaraswamy, A. K. (2011). Hinduism and Buddhism. delhi: Golden Elixir Press.
Mangla, D. V. (2011). Buddhism vs Hinduism: a comparative study. New york: Published by Academic Excellence, in association with Geeta International.
