Hinduism Vs Buddhism Research Paper

Introduction: Two of the most popular religions in the world, ranking at four and six, Hinduism and Buddhism, both originated in India. Many of Hinduism’s teachings were based off of the Arya’s beliefs, they believed in one powerful force called Brahman. The main goal of this religion was to break free of the birth cycle and become one with Brahman after death. Buddhism was created by Siddhārtha Gautama, or Buddha, they did not believe in gods instead Siddhārtha said to worship his person or his image. The goal of Buddhism was to also break out of the cycle of rebirth. These two religions have a lot of similarities and differences that make them unique. Although Hinduism and Buddhism both believe in reincarnation and karma, they differ in

In the religion of Hinduism, what job they had, the way they acted, who they married, and who they socialized with was all based off of the caste system. There are five levels, from the highest to lowest, the Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, Shudras, and finally the untouchables. For example if a person was born as a Vaishya then the person’s job would have to be a merchant, they would have to marry a merchant, and could only socialize with merchants. The Caste system also represented cleanliness and purity, “Higher castes were considered more pure than lower castes.” (Mcgraw hill, 5, 1). The criteria for being impure or ‘dirty’ was being in a lower class and having dirty jobs, like trash collector or any untouchables job. They believed the lower castes were ‘polluting’ the upper class with their dirtiness, metaphorically and literally, so this caused the upper class to stay as far away from the untouchables as possible. Every other caste thought that any contact with the untouchables was disgraceful, or would downgrade them to a lower caste in their next life. The caste system was their way of life and they believed that their lives needed to be controlled. While the Hindus had a caste system the Buddhists had the four noble truths and the eightfold path. The four noble truths were four statements about suffering that

In both Buddhism and Hinduism they way they viewed karma was virtually the same. This is what Siddhārtha said about karma, “human beings differed as a result of karma from a previous existence.” (Mcgraw Hill, 5, 2) In Buddhism it was what someone did in their current life affected their next life and their current. The difference in Hinduism is, “what people do in their current lives determines what they will be in their next lives” (Mcgraw Hill 5, 1). This means what they will be in the caste system and which caste they would be put in. In Hinduism their form of karma was controlled by the rule of dharma. Dharma was what their duty was in their life, for example if someone was put into the untouchable caste they would have to act like an untouchable. This could affect someone badly or could make their life better. If a person were to not live like the caste they were put in, they would have karma which would affect their reincarnation. Karma controlled reincarnation for Buddhism, doing something bad that would “cause” karma would affect when a person would be able to achieve Nirvana. Karma affected what happened to people in their next lives and current lives as well for Buddhism. If a person committed a crime they could have karma in their current life by being punished or in their next life by, for example, becoming very ill. Both of these religions believe in karma because they believed this is why bad things happen.