Thinking of converting to Buddhism. How much of Buddhism is based off the principles of Hinduism?

Question

I am an Agnostic who has been studying many different religions over the last few years. I have found the principles of Buddhism to truly symbolize what I would like to strive to become. Please do not mention other religions; I find the principles of the other major religions to be immoral at best.

The only major religion I havn't touched yet is Hinduism, except for the knowledge I got about some Hindu concepts from studying Buddhism. My question is how does Buddhism differ from Hinduism?

Wrong, in Buddhism the concept of God is irrelevant. It is not an atheist religion.

I'm sorry you must not have read, I already know about the Buddhist religion. And I don't believe I was arguing with anyone, maybe you just like to argue so you see arguments in speech?

Answer 1

In his very first sermon,the Buddha said that the dhamma which he preached was unheard before. However some people claim that the Buddha did not preach a new doctrine but merely reformed the old teaching which was existing in India.
The Buddha was no mere reformer of Hinduism as some protagonists of this ancient creed made him out to be.The Buddha's way of life and doctrine were sudstantially different from the way of life and the religious beliefs that the people in India had.The Buddha lived,taught and died as a non-vedic and non-brahmanic religious teacher.Nowhere did the Buddha acknowledge his indebtness to Hinduism.The Buddha considered himself as initiating a rational spiritual method,as opening a new path.

The Buddha was condenmed,criticised and insulted by the most noted teachers and sect of Hinduism.It was with the intention of destroying or absorbing the Buddha and his teaching,that the Brahmans of the pre-Christian era went so far as to accept the Buddha as an Avatara or incarnation of their God.

As far as the fundamental,philosophical and psychological teaching are concerned,it is groundless to say that the Buddha had copied ideas from any existing religion at that time.The idea of the 4 noble truths,the 8 fold path,dependent origination and nibbana,were not known before the Buddha coming.

Although the belief in karma and rebirth was very common,the Buddha gave a logical and reasonable explanations to this belief and introduced it as natural law of cause and effect.

Answer 2

Buddhism is a Dharmic religion as it sprang from Hinduism. Hinduism is based on the laws of nature, what is right and what is wrong.

One of the similarities that both Hinduism and Buddhism share is the belief of karma, which simply means whatever u do, good or bad, it comes back to u.

The other similarity is the belief in reincarnation, which is the concept of being reborn after death.

Karma extends throughout one's present life and all past and future lives. This is a continuous never -ending cycle that goes on and on until the "soul" releases its attachment to wordly desires.

The main difference between these religions is the fact that Buddhism belives that in order to achieve Nirvana (salvation), one does not have to accept the authority of the Scriptures or even the existence of God. That it is possible to achieve liberation just by ending one's attachment to worldly desires and by following the teachings of the Buddha.

Answer 3

The Buddhist religion has very resemblance to the Hindu religion which was part of Buddha's formation. In Buddhism, the concept of God is considered not so much irrelevant as it appears to be left as a mystery.

In many ways, though, it resembles the other great religions of the world, in that it attempts to understand who and what man is, what he thinks he wants, and what is actually best for him, and humanity as a whole.

Answer 4

both hinduism and buddhism are non violent, peace loving religions. But they are different. Buddhists beleive in following the teachings of the buddha, the eight fold path , which is beautiful. Buddhism is simple . Hinduism , on the other hand is an old and complicated religion, the oldest i think. They beleive in the movements of the planets affecting your life and have dieties named after each planet, and they worship them, --they see a connection between science and religion. They also follow the teachings of the bhagawat geeta and it just goes on and on..the concepts of karma, moksha, it's a huge subject that may take years to study. .but ofcourse, both religions teach you to acheive purity and peace of mind through meditation.

Answer 5

Beiing a Buddhist, i warmly welcome you for converting to

Buddhism. but, I wanna say you that Buddhism is much much

different form hinduism. Buddhism warned strongly against blind

faith and encouraged the way of truthful inquiry. the main teaching of

the Buddha focuses not on philosophical speculation about a

Creator go or the origin of the universe, nor on reaching world

ever after.

At first, all Buddhism have to refrain from,
1.Deliberately causing the death of any living being;

2.Internationally taking for one's own the property of another;

3.Sexual misconduct, in particular adultery;

4.Lying and breaking promises;

5.Drinking alcohol and taking stupefying which lead to a

weakening of mindfulness an moral judgement.

They are called five Buddhist precepts.

Changing into Buddhism is also simple.

generally, recite' I take refuge and trust in Buddha.'

'I take refuge and trust in Dhamma'

' I take refuge and trust in Sanga.'

This is the way of changing into Theravada Buddhism. As u have studied about Buddhism, you might know that there are totally 18 branches of Buddhism.

Among which, Theravada Buddhism is the oldest and reliable record of the Buddha's words.

Ok, let discuss how Buddhism is differ from others religion, including Hinduism.

Buddhism believes rebirth.The Buddha clearly remembered many of his past lives. Such a strong memory of remembering past lives is a result of deep meditation. we have passed many many lives and we are goin to continue like this. if we haven't attained enlightenment through meditation.


In buddhism, there is no god or priest nor any other kind of being who have the power to control universe. no god who create universe.

and meditation way of theravada Buddhism is radically different from Hinduism.

It seemed that Buddhism is similar to Hinduism.

But, actually, there is no connection between Buddhism and Hinduism.

Please visit these sites, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theravada

http://www.nibbana.com/

http://mb-soft.com/believe/txh/theravad.htm

http://buddhism.about.com/od/theravada/Theravada_Buddhism.htm

http://www.buddhanet.net/snow.htm

Answer 6

actually, a lot of buddhist philosophy is similar to hindu philosophy- the concept of nirvana exists in hinduism
but yes, the concept of god is the big difference and the caste system
i'm an agnostic too, and I like reading up on buddhist or hindu or existentialist philosophy, i know the latter isn't a religion, but i'm not looking for religion
people should draw from multiple sources to create their own values and beliefs,

keep goin at it!

Answer 7

None. Hinduism is based on Gods. Buddhism is an atheist religion.

Answer 8

Don't know Hinduism from a hole in the ground so I can't answer your question.

But I can wish you the best in converting to Buddhism. Some of the best people I've met in my life are Buddhist. My wife and daughter are Buddhist.

Good luck.

Answer 9

Remember Siddharta Gautama was an indian prince and he had studied under the hindu mystics before he came to his own conclusion.
Buddhism is about contemplating one's deeds and to strive for nirvana, by following the eight fold paht. Mainstream Hinudism is much like mainstream Taoism ,(since China and India are neighbours) dealing and praying to divinity.
So, while Buddha uses practices like meditation to reach enlightenment, he believed that people should actively do good to attain enlightenment, and not depend on prayers to idols.
But that just my opinion

Answer 10

hinduism and buddhism are similar in the way that they stress self mediation and that life is important.

now in terms of differences..

hinduism beleives in oen god, but in lots of deities. however, it stresses God.

some buddhists actually do believe in God, because the Buddha mentioned several tiems about a god, but buddhists focus more on life then death by far.

overall, they are different religions, but in a way similar.