What is Hinduism and Buddhism and how do they compare and contrast?

Question

I need some MAJOR help on this. Anything will help. This is for an upcoming test and she told us this was gonna be on it. No negative comments please. I am not cheating, I am simply using resources to help me comprehend the material. THANKS!!!!

Answer 1

Two completely different religions.

The only similarities is that they both originated in India and are congruent with "Eastern thinking".

Some Buddhists believe in reincarnation, as do Hindus, but only some sects.

Hinduism is a polytheistic religion; it worships many gods.
The main "god" is the fertility goddess. It uses the caste system: A person is born into a specific socio-economic class based as a reward or punishment for good or bad deeds in past lives (Karma). If a person is really bad in a past life, they will be born as an untouchable- a person so low that no one is allowed to even observe their existence. They could also reincarnate as an animal.

Buddhism is more than anything a way of life.
A Buddhists goal is to be rid of their ego completely to achieve peace of mind; this can be done through a variety of forms of meditation. A Buddhist feels they are no more important than in ant- everything is connected and all life is, in essence, the same.

Answer 2

The Hindus think the Buddha is one of the avatars.

The Buddha said He was the teacher of all beings including the Brahma. Actually, the Maha-Brahma is known as the ruler of the universe and when the prince Siddhartha became the Buddha we know, Maha-Brahma came down to ask him to turn the wheel of dhamma or start His teaching or to teach what He has understood.

The Brahma is the creator to the Hindus and they only have one Brahma.

But for the Buddhists, there are many brahmas and if a person achieve Janna, that person will become a Brahma. In Tripitaka (Buddha's teaching), there is a story of a woman. She was a Brahma. When that Brahma died, he became a female pig and killed for her meat so she became a hen. When that hen died, it became the women. When she met the Buddha, she became a monk and finally became an Arahant.

In Buddhist countries, especially in Southeast Asia, Hinduism and Buddhism influences can be seen. As Buddhism came from India or Nepal, the lifestyle, philosophy and culture of India also went around. Hindu influences can be seen even in Bali, Indonesia. So Buddhism and Hinduism are overlapping there. Buddhism didn't give lifesyle and fashions but India did.

For the meanings of some words, please search online.

Answer 3

I am not extremely well versed in this either. I do know that Hinduism is much more like Pagan beliefs. They have a myriad of Gods/Goddesses that they worship. While Buddhism is more of an atheistic belief system. In which they have no God, but rather a Godhead. Made up of Human and Animal Souls. Good luck man.

Answer 4

Three aspects of the Buddhist teaching that clearly distinguish it from non-Buddhist teachings: (1) all things are impermanent, (2) all things lack inherent existence (no-self), (3) and that nirvana is perfect quiesence.

The doctrine of Buddhism is known as the Tripitaka (or Canon) which is divided into Sutra (record of Buddha's teachings), Sastra (detail explanation) and Vinaya (precepts, do's and don'ts). It has thousands of writings altogether.

Similarities:
(1) Both originates from India (Buddha was borned in today's Nepal, but he gained enlightenment in today's India)
(2) Both teaches reincarnation in different destinies.

Differences:
(1) Hinduism adopts caste system, while Buddhism teaches equality.
(2) Hinduism worships deities, while Buddhism teaches self-enlightenment.

Answer 5

Hinduism is polytheistic, Buddhism is non-theistic.

Answer 6

1

Answer 7

Hinduism is further classified in to many branches, which are entirely different from each other. Below is the gist of Hinduism from Samkhya's perspective -

In order to understand the overall concept, we will take an analogy. In the dark, when light falls on moving fog, it creates various shapes and illusions. For illusions to exist, both fog and light is necessary. Illusions are nothing but interplay (emulsion or fusion) of reflection-of-source-of-light and moving fog.

In the above analogy, source of light is the Pure Consciousness, where as fog represents ever changing and inert matter, which is made of ever changing qualities (Gunas) i.e. light (Satava), action (Rajas) and inertia (Tammas). The overall reflection-of-source-of-light on the matter is known as Atama, which is one because there is one to one relation between the source of light and reflection-of-source-of-light. Both Pure Consciousness and matter are eternal i.e. without beginning and no end. Since Pure Consciousness and matter are eternal, Pure Consciousness’s reflection is also eternal. Also, matter is dependent upon Pure Consciousness.

Pure Satava portion of this emulsion is known as Ishwar (Puresh Vishesh, Sagun Bhram, Shabal Bhram, Apar-Bhram), which is Collective Mind (Chitta) – the controller and owner. Like a magnet, Ishwar’s proximity makes cyclic changes in the matter i.e. manifestation at gross, subtle and causal level. Following 24 cascading changes takes place in matter –

1 From root matter (Moola Prakriti where Sattav, Rajas and Tamas are in equilibrium) to Collective I-am-ness (Mahatattava)
2 From Collective I-am-ness to Ego or “I” (Amhankara)
3 From Ego to five subtle senses (Tanmatras)
4 From five subtle senses to five gross elements (Butha) i.e. ether, air, fire, water and earth
5 From Ego to five organ of actions (Karamindriya) i.e. speech, hand, feet, genital and anus
6 From Ego to five senses of knowledge (Jyanindriya) i.e. hear, touch, see, taste and smell
7 From Ego to mind (Anthakarna)

At the same time, this emulsion crystallizes into uncountable number of individual Chittas. Because of wrong-knowledge (Avidya i.e. Consciousness gets identified with matter) and I-am-ness (Asmita), these individual Chittas binds a small portion of Atama to a portion of matter, which is known as Pursha. It’s somewhat similar of digging up a well and then labeling it as yours. Underneath each well water (Atama) is common, but you have labeled it as yours because of I-am-ness. Because of this wrong-knowledge, Pursha identifies itself with ever changing matter and creates sufferings for itself.

With the help of Sadhana (right understanding and right actions), Pursha realizes that "Atama is different from matter" (Vivek-Khayati) and gets established in its true-self (Samadhi). When Atama is realized by Pursha, then Pure Consciousness can be understood by inference, because Atama is the reflection of the Pure Consciousness. Then Pursha no longer identifies itself with matter and thus appears to gain freedom, which was never lost. Then individual Chitta gets absorbed (Kaivlya) in to Collective Chitta i.e. Ishwar. This completes the interplay (Leela) between Pursha and Prakriti (matter)!

Summary : So broad ly we have two basic elements -
1. Consciousness
2. Matter
3. Combination of above two, known as Jiva (Soul with body/Karma)

Answer 8

They are part of the same religion

Answer 9

use wikipedia to look each up.

Answer 10

The search engine is your friend:
http://www.yahoo.com

http://www.religioustolerance.org/hinduism.htm
http://www.religioustolerance.org/buddhism.htm