Hinduism And Buddhism Should Be Regarded As One Religion. Agreed?

Question

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Before Everyone starts plonking down "NO", read the arguments that I have listed.

Islam and Christianity have completely different and often contradictory views....Hinduism and Buddhism are 98% identical...

Actually, if you visited a Buddhist temple, many of then do have idols of Gods..and secondly Hinduism is a MASSIVE religion (in terms of content)..Not all Hindus believe in and worship Hindu Gods and God worship is not a requisite for Hinduism.

"Hindu's believe things that Buddhists do not"...Example please???? You are forgetting that much of what Buddhism teaches was actually already taught in Hinduism. Buddha never refuted Hinduism but what he refuted was the abuse of Hinduism by Hindus...His purpose was NOT to create a religion independent of orthodox Hinduism, but it was to ADD to Hinduism, to REFORM Hinduism, to CONTRIBUTE to Hinduism and most fundamentally to PURIFY Hinduism.....

Hinduism and Buddhism will always be together

Answer 1

YES of course bhuddhism came from US hindus so why not??? Just like sikhism, you know they all were once HINDUS so i plonk a big fat YES!!! Bhuddihsm came from a hindu, Siddhart Gotma???

Answer 2

What goes for Hinduism is very diverse however although Buddhism emerged out of an early form of Hinduism in reaction to certain aspects Hindu culture (as did Jainism at about the same time in history) and although what we now call Buddhism was the dominant religious philosophy in India for nearly 1000 years, Buddhism and Hinduism are quite different. If you want to know how different they are, try to become a spiritual practitioner of both simultaneously. It's quite difficult. Among other things, the dogma is in conflict regarding the nature of God and self. In Tantric systems some of the practices and observances are very similar but ideological distinctions still exist. Early Advaita Vedantic treatises by Shankaracharya and also Kashmir Shaivite treatises (by Kshmeraja, for example) as well as Buddhists texts often critically compare their belief systems against each other pointing out many ideological differences. Two main points of contention in early literature was the nature of "Emptiness" and also "Absolutism." Hinduism essentially is theistic, Buddhism essentiall is not.

In later Hinduism, when the idea of the avatara was being developed, Buddha was included into an idea about there being 10 classical avatars of Vishnu. Buddha is revered in Hinduism because of this--but some Hindus also believe (as a previous responder guilelessly noted) that the Buddha was some kind of weird trickster avatar who introduced confusion into the Hindu religion for a while so that the faith would naturally aright itself. (I'm sure Buddhists really find that idea charming . . . )

Answer 3

Some things Hindus believe that Buddhists don't:
* Caste - the Buddha argued very strongly against caste and especially untouchability.
* The ultimate importance of the Gods - Enlightenment was said to be beyond the understanding of Gods the Buddha is said to be teacher of Gods as well as Humans.
* The Atman or "soul" that survives rebirth - the Buddha had a dynamic approach to the self.

OK there are lots of ideas the Buddha and his followers took from "Hinduism" or the Vedas but there are important practical differences which are not easily resolved.

Answer 4

#1 what have i said before
#2 when have buddhism and hinduism been intergrated?
#3 Buddha never started a new religion, he started a way of living which people either chose to accept or not.
#4 Buddhism in its original and modern context does not accept any first cause or that gods matter in any way
#5 hinduism did not exist 2600 years ago, it was a developing form of brahmism, which has similarities to what is known now as hinduism.
#6 what are the similarities which are so conected for them to be considdered identical?

what you are saying is the same as saying Muslim and christianity are the same. just becouse their are surface similarities and a combined starting point (which isn't really shared as a start at all) and some similar consepts such as Kamma or Karma, rebirth or reincarnation, (the understanding of even these are different) doesnt mean they are the same thing, or have been the same hindu's think The buddha was a avatar of vishnu where as the pali canon has the Buddha saying he is only a man.

EDIT
Buddha wasn't even seen as an avatar of vishnu untill 2000 years ago aprox

Answer 5

Though there may be many similarities as far as certain understanding of Reincarnation and karma and not eating animal flies etc. Hinduism has the understanding of a personal God. God being a Supreme Being. There is no God in Buddhism. Though we actually know that the Buddha is an incarnation of God to trick the atheists to accept the instructions of God so they wouldn't go to hell. If The Buddha said he was God then non of the Atheist would turn to Buddhism. We do accept Nirvana (the light) as an aspect of God (his light energy) but we are not interested in merging with that. We want to serve God and Love God and have a personal Relationship with Him. Not be like a bug and hang out in His energy. This is not recommended for the devotee of the Lord. Even the demons in the Vedas can get that type of liberation if they get killed by God. So No Buddhism is only a partial aspect of God and even then Buddhist deny it is a part of God. And frankly they envy God and will not serve Him. But we love you anyways. You will ultimately fall from the Brahma Joti and come back to earth and get another opportunity to serve God again. The Problem is, it can be in billion of years and that is a very long wait to get to serve Him. It is really a huge obstacle on the path. Been there done that. Thanks.But no thanks. I love Krishna the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Also known as Allah, Jehovah, Vishnu, Rama, Elohim, etc.) I love Buddha too, but not his teachings I understand he gave those for the most stubern souls who would not accept a personal God nor want to serve Him. Thats Ok keep serving Buddha and in billions of years you will get board in nothingness and want to do what we do. It is just so much more fun.

Answer 6

While they have many similarities, especially when looking at Buddhism and Vedanta, but different epistemologies. Thus, even when having the same experience, a Buddhist and a Hindu will often not have the same metaphysics to interpret the experience. So, no, they are not the same religion, though one can be said to have emerged from the other, similarly to Christianity and Judaism.

edit: Reconcile Atman with Anatman. Buddhism also has many texts clearly arguing against hindu ideas about deities (a good example is the writing of Dharmakirti).

Answer 7

Earlier Buddhists were unaware that they were also Hindus. So, they destroyed the "Sarangnath Shiva Temple" at Saranath, near Varanasi.

On the debris, they constructed their Ashram (School) of Buddhism.

After a long time, the King of Kashi attacked the Saranath, and destroyed the Buddhist Ashram to avenge.

I think, both religions are two different faces of same coin

Answer 8

A simple no would have done just fine, right? Instead I had to speak my mind. People are unique and deserve unique choices. Saying Hinduism and Buddhism are one, is like tell Christians that Christ really died that day.

What a mess, if it we're all true.

Answer 9

Not at all. Hinduism believes in a multitude of gods. Buddhism takes no position on the existence of any god at all, and is thus close to atheistic.

Answer 10

Only if you believe that Christianity, Islam, and Judaism should be regarded as one religion.

Common heritage seldom counts as a singular identity. Oddly enough genealogical records indicate that Barrack Obama & Dick Cheney are distantly related. Still, I don't think they would consider themselves members of the same family.

Your comments about Buddha's intentions are entirely irrelevant, since Buddha himself sought not to be emulated, but instead to encourage others to discover the benefits of his dharma on their own. Therefore, no matter what the Buddha taught, it is for his followers to define for themselves the course of Buddhism. He died almost 2500 years ago. Accepting the current reality and its implications.

So, since they themselves define themselves as separate (and even within Buddhism, there are separate metaphysical models), doesn't it make sense that the differences between them are enough to divide them? After all, Chimpanzees and Humans share about 98% of the same DNA, but we still are distinct species. (Although to a hyenna, we probably don't taste too differently.)

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EDIT:
However, since Buddhist philosophy is one that inclines the practitioner to find the unity in the universe, not only could Hinduism and Buddhism be unified, but also all sentient efforts to find a helpful way to live in this world.

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