Religious Traditions: Hinduism

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Religious Traditions Hinduism Buddhism
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Basic Hindu Beliefs

• Hinduism is the chief religion of India.
• Hinduism no founder or formal church
• Its roots lie in ancient Aryan beliefs and
  practices.
• Sacred texts the Vedas (eternal truths revealed
  to wise men) and the Upanishads (help explain
  ideas in Vedas)
• The Ramayana and the Mahabharata

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Brahman

• Polytheistic
• Each god is part of a single supreme force called
  brahman. (nameless, formless, and unlimited)
• Many gods of Hinduism give brahman a concrete
  form that is more understandable to the average
  person.
• Three main gods of Hinduism Brahma, Vishnu, and
  Siva
• Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and
  Siva, the destroyer
• Throughout India, different sects, or religious
  groups, worship one or another of these gods or
  their many wives and children.

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Hindu Beliefs

• Unity of all life
• Every person has an essential self, or atman.
  This self is part of a universal soul, also
  called atman. To Hindus, atman and brahman are
  the same thing.
• All things in nature are part of the same
  universal soul
• Nonviolence Respect nature and not struggle
  against it
• Reincarnation Rebirth of the soul in various
  forms ranging from a god to a flower or a snake
  (temporary)
• Moksha the true goal of life freeing of the
  sould from the body so that the sould can unite
  with brahman

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• Karma means to do in Sanskrit
• Hinduscycle of death and rebirth continues until
  the individual soul achieves union with brahman
• Law of karmaevery deedmental or physicalin
  this life affects a persons fate in a future
  life.
• A persons present situation is the result of his
  or her deeds in a past existence.
• Goodhappiness and evilsorrow

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Dharma

• Most Hindus believe that a persons caste is the
  result of karma.
• Each caste has its own dharma duties and
  obligations. Some examples obedience to caste
  rules and moral laws
• Guide to conduct
• Offers Hindus hope for a better life in the future

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Buddhism

• 600 B.C. the Brahman caste had become very
  powerful
• Some Hindu reformers tried to limit the priests
  power Siddhartha Gautama
• He left his family and his life of wealth to find
  the cause of human misery (meditated and became
  enlightened)
• Buddha Enlightened One
• Spent life teaching others what he learned under
  that sacred tree the Four Noble Truths

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The Four Noble Truths

• 1. Universal suffering
• 2. The cause of suffering is desire.
• 3. The only way to end suffering is to crush
  desire.
• 4. The way to end desire is to follow the Noble
  Eightfold Path. (guide to right conduct)
• Buddha believed that salvation was achieved (like
  Hindus) when the individual escaped the body
  reincarnation, karma
• Buddha denied the existence of any gods priests
  were not necessary people were to seek nirvana
  on their own also rejected the caste system
• Sources World Cultures A Global Mosaic
  Prentice Hall 1993.