Hinduism And Buddhism Essays - Reincarnation, Spirituality, Shabda

Hinduism And Buddhism Religion, what is religion? Religion is a way of life, a life style, it should dictate how you live your life. However why follow a religious belief, to go to heaven, avoid the condemnation to hell, to live forever? We in western society consider ourselves a not so religious society, we say "I am Christian" or "I am Jew" or "I am an Atheist I don't believe". Keep in mind religion is a life style, it should dictate how you live your life. Sadly in western society, money and our compulsive cravings for material objects dictate our life. We are far from the highly evolved forms of religions of Hinduism and Buddhism over in the east. What are these religions? Buddhism is offshoot/reform of Hinduism. They are looked at in the same way as Judaism and Christianity are looked at (very far apart). Through this essay, I will prove - by using some of their differences as similarities - that they are very much - if not essentially the same - alike. "As an off shoot of Hinduism, Buddhism accepted the notions of karma, dharma, samsara, and moksha. It differed in its understanding ot these terms and how to achieve spiritual liberation. As Buddhism spread through south and east Asia, these differences became greater." Samsara, the "upholstered hell" , it is known in Hinduism as the endless cycle of death and rebirth, and Moksha being the supreme enlightenment, the realization of Atman the one's true self, and the liberation from samsara. Despite the fact that Moksha means Something different in Buddhism, words are meaningless but their meanings aren't. Explanation: "The ultimate goal of the Buddhist path is release from the round of phenomenal existence with its inherent suffering. To achieve this goal is to attain nirvana an enlightened state in which the fires of greed, hatred, and ignorance have been quenched." This is the essence of both religions, freedom from the ignorance of what I call "Blam"?. The central core of Buddhist teachings is the Four Noble Truths, which are: 1. All life is suffering and pain. This is more than a mere recognition of the presence of suffering in existence. It is a statement that, in its very nature, human existence is essentially painful from the moment of birth to the moment of death. Even death brings no relief. 1. Desire is the root of suffering. "People become attached to relationships or things they have, and suffer when they experience their impermanence. This impermanence leads to disappointment, which in turn leads to new cravings." My interpretation of this Noble Truth is that we suffer not because we desire but because we desire the wrong things. Meaning that what we should desire is enlightenment. 2. "Suffering and desire can be extinguished with enlightenment. The noble truth of cessation of suffering is this: It is the complete cessation of that very thirst , giving it up, renouncing it, emancipating oneself from it detaching oneself from it. 3. The way to enlightenment is to follow the Noble Eightfold Path. The Noble Truth of the path leading to the cessation of suffering is this: it is simply the Noble Eightfold path, namely right view; right thought; right speech; right action; right livelihood; right effort; right mindfulness; right concentration." These concepts are nothing pertaining to Buddhism alone, maybe they haven't listed and categorized as four noble truths but all the idea's are encompassed in Hinduism's philosophy. "Buddhism analyzes human existence as made up of five aggregates or "bundles" (skandhas): the material body, feelings, perceptions, predispositions or karmic tendencies, and consciousness. A person is only a temporary combination of these aggregates, which are subject to continual change. No one remains the same for any two consecutive moments. Buddhists deny that the aggregates individually or in combination may be considered a permanent, independently existing self or soul (atman). Indeed, they regard it as a mistake to conceive of any lasting unity behind the elements that constitute an individual. The Buddha held that belief in such a self results in egoism, craving, and hence in suffering. Thus he taught the doctrine of anatman, or the denial of a permanent soul. He felt that all existence is characterized by the three marks of anatman (no soul), anitya (impermanence), and dukkha (suffering). The doctrine of anatman made it necessary for the Buddha to reinterpret the Indian idea of repeated rebirth in the cycle of phenomenal existence known as samsara." "Atman: the one's true self, "the individual self, held by upanisic and Vedatin thought to be identical to Brahman, the