Comparison Between Buddhism And Hinduism Coursework - 825 Words

Comparison Between Buddhism And Hinduism Coursework (Coursework Sample) Content: NameProfessorCourseDateBuddhism and HinduismBuddhism and Hinduism are the two most dominant religions in India, where they trace back their origin. The two religions are similar in certain aspects and different in other aspects. The paper discusses these similarities and differences below.Traditional Beliefs about GodTheir beliefs in God are different. In Buddhism, individuals do not believe in a Creator God. Instead, the believers follow the teachings of the Buddha. The Buddhists do not have specific days of worship but pay obeisance to the Dharma, the Sangha and the Buddha. On the other hand, the Hindus believe in various gods. The Hindus believe that the all these gods trace their origin from Atman. The followers of Hinduism religion follow the teachings of Dharma Shastras (Coomaraswamy 101). In the Hinduism tradition, the believers have a set time of worship that are the three prayer times; at dawn, midday, and in the evening.The sacred textsThe sacred scripture o f Buddhism religion is the Tripitaka. The Tripitaka scripture has three parts i.e. the discourses, the Discipline as well as the Absolute Doctrine. The scripture is full of various works of Buddha. It is the monks who collected the works to form the Tripitaka after the death of Buddha. In Hinduism, the sacred scriptures include; Upanishad, Puranas, Vedas, Sruti, Smrti and Gita. There is no single dominant scripture since there are many gods in Hinduism. The Vedas is a sacred text to both the Gautama Buddha and the Hindus. However, there has been criticism over the Vedas text citing that the Brahmins corrupted the text.Teachings about humanityThe two religions hold the view that human life is almost endless. Hinduism holds that the soul is everlasting and is rejuvenated more-or-less intact in the cycle from birth to birth. The life cycle continues in Hinduism until the believer attains enlightenment. Buddhism, on the other hand, does not believe humans have souls but instead possess feelings, perceptions, feelings and senses (Fisher 113). In Buddhism, a believer will be reborn into any of the thirty-one planes of existence very time and again until the believer attains Nirvana.Definition of universal human problemThe two religions put an emphasis on the effects of Karma to be the cause of universal human problems. Buddhism expounds on Karma this force as the cornerstone of the religious doctrines. Human beings are facing challenges today because of their bad deeds in the past. In Hinduism,Solving the universal human problemsIn Buddhism, the only way to solve universal human problems is when human beings start to lead a life that strives after things that give them everlasting happiness. In Buddhism the suffering do not just end by doing but one must be attached to the deed. In Hinduism, the only way to stop the human problem is by getting reborn (Coomaraswamy 288). The rebirth means rejuvenation of the souls of the people so that their sufferings can end.Do th ey properly define/solve the problem?I dont think the two religions define human problems well. Human beings suffer for different reasons, some may be natural while others are artificially propagated. In other words, some human beings find themselves suffering because of where they were born while others are suffering as a result of their deeds. The two traditions are, therefore, wrong to say that people are suffering because of their past deed. Someone, for example, may be born in a poverty-stricken family, and this does not mean that it is because of his/her past wrong deeds. Also, it is not possible to have a single solution to all human problems because of the divergent nature of human problems. There are those problems that an individual can solve on his/her own, and there are those problems that an individual may require the help of a superior being.Similarities between the traditions * Both traditions use statues and pictures in their places of worship. ...