Hinduism Vs Buddhism Essay

Buddhism and Hinduism are clarified as religions through their practices rather than their beliefs because people of different religions could potentially not believe in the same ideas. However, practices display ritual and culture, which are important aspects in identifying a religion. A religion is considered to be a belief in/worship of a higher power (a God or Gods) and is a particular system of worship or faith. Through each of their individual practices and worshiping rituals to a higher power, both Buddhism and Hinduism prove to be portrayed as true religions due to the strong sense of tradition and commitment to meditation and the desire to seek realization along the journey to reach fulfillment in life rather than strictly based on

Buddha realized that attachment to wealth and materialistic items are not what will bring someone happiness and that one must take the middle way to avoid attachment to different things in life. Along Buddha’s journey to try an reach enlightenment, he realized the reality of life, thus forming the Four Noble Truths, which describe how there is always going to be some source of pain in one’s life and the desire to end that pain leads to the Eight Fold Path, which is the way to stop suffering and reach Nirvana within the Buddhist religion. This practice encourages those who follow this religion to overcome pain and suffering, and if they do that successfully, then they can finally reach peace within life. Within the Buddhist religion there are three main branches. Theravada is the first branch and it is also the most traditional form of Buddhism. It draws inspiration within its scriptures from the earliest known records of the Buddha’s teachings. The second branch is Mahayana, which focuses on community. In this form of Buddhism it is believed that the immense focus on one’s self in the attempt to reach nirvana makes it selfish. It is also believed that people can be reborn into pure land, which facilitates one to enlightenment. The final branch of Buddhism is Vajrayana. It is a form of Tantric Buddhism, which focuses on one of the later scriptures that incorporate rituals relative to meditative and sexual