Comparison of Two Religions

Comparison of Two Religions

World Religions

January 30, 2014

Hinduism and Buddhism

Hinduism can be traced back to about 1500 BCE. The word Hindu is a geographical marker derived from the Sanskrit word for river, sindhu, where the Indus River acquired its name. There is no founder for Hinduism unlike Buddhism; it has no time or space of origin. However it was influenced by other cultures in which one of them is the oldest indigenous influence with symbols and deities to the Indus valley. This society is one of the oldest civilizations that date back to the third millennium B.C. This date places the religion a thousand years before the inscription of the Old Testament. There is a theory based on an Aryan invasion, which had a major religious influence on the Indus Valley civilization. The theory says that Aryans came from northeastern Europe to invade the Indus Valley civilization but others disagree and say the Aryans migrated from Europe and blended in. Scholars say there is no proof to support this theory. The Rigveda is the oldest book for the history of Hinduism, composed about 1500 BCE by an ancient form of Sanskrit. This sacred book has a collection of hymns that sing praise for the gods.

Buddhism developed from the teachings of the Siddharta Gautama in the Indian state of Kapilavastu, now part of Nepal, who lived between the mid-6th and the mid-4th centuries BCE. Siddharta Gautama relinquished his life of wealth and power to become a spiritual seeker. Gautama traveled across the country pursuing wisdom. He studied Hindu but later was dissatisfied with the teachings of Hinduism. He turned to a life of meditation where he experienced Nirvana, which is the highest degree of God-consciousness. He believed he found the answer to his questions that he has been seeking for all his life, and after this event he became know as the Buddha. Throughout his life men and women followed him to become monks and nuns. Just like the Buddha, some men renounced to...