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Hinduism vs. Buddhism

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Hinduism vs. Buddhism
Teasa Wright
Professor King
World Religions
February 1, 2014

Hinduism is about understanding Brahma or existence from within their own Atman, roughly soul, whereas Buddhism is about finding the Anatman or not soul. In Hinduism, attaining the highest life is a process of removing the bodily distractions from life, allowing one to eventually understand the Brahma nature within. In Buddhism, one follows a disciplined life to move through and understand that nothing in ourselves is ‘me’ such that we dispel the very illusion of existence. In so doing one realizes Nirvana. About 80 percent of India’s population regard themselves as Hindus and 30 million more Hindus live outside of India. There are a total of 900 million Hindus worldwide, making Hinduism the third largest religion (after Christianity and Islam). The term “Hinduism” includes numerous traditions, which are closely related and share common themes but do not constitute a unified set of beliefs or practices. Hinduism is thought to have gotten its name from the Persian word hindu, meaning “river,” used by outsiders to describe the people of the Indus River Valley. Hindus themselves refer to their religion as sanatama dharma, a word emphasizing the fulfillment of duties (dharma) appropriate to one’s class (varna) and stage of life (asrama). Hinduism has no founder or date of origin. The authors and dates of most Hindu sacred texts are unknown. Scholars describe modern Hinduism as the product of religious development in India that spans nearly four thousand years, making it the oldest surviving world religion. Most Hindus respect the authority of the Vedas (a collection of ancient scared texts) and the Brahmans (the priestly class), but some reject one of both of these authorities. Hindu religious life might take the form of devotion to God or gods, the

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