Hinduism &

Buddhism
 Hinduism
 Hinduism is a religion that began in India.
 The religion dates back to 1500 B.C.,
making it the worlds oldest religion.
 There are 750 million Hindus in the world
today.
 Most Hindus still live in India.
Hindu Beliefs
 Hindus believe in a single Divinity or
supreme God that is present in everything
called Brahman.
 Hindus also believe in other gods who are
aspects of that supreme God such as the
Trinity: Shiva, Brahma, and Vishnu.
 A Hindu believes that the individual soul
(atman)
 Karma and Reincarnation
 Reincarnation is the belief that the soul
repeatedly goes through a cycle of being
born into a body, dying, and being reborn
again in a new body.
 Karma, a force that determines the quality
of each life, depending on how well one
behaved in a past life.
 Hinduism says we create karma by our
actions on earth.
 Ifyou live a good life, you create good karma. If
you live a bad life, you create bad karma.
 Reincarnation
Samsara is the wheel of rebirth which means the soul is
reborn from one life form to another.
Continuous cycle of birth, death and rebirth
People may be reincarnated at a higher or lower level of
existence depending on their karma from their present life.
People may be reborn as plants or animals or they may be
elevated to a higher caste as a human.
Death is not final for Hindus as they expect to be reborn many
times.
 Moksha
 Each time a Hindu soul is born into a better life, it
has the opportunity to improve itself further, and get
closer to ultimate liberation.
 This liberation is called Moksha.
 One attains Moksha when one has "overcome
ignorance", and no longer desires anything at all.
 The ones who reach this state no longer struggle
with the cycle of life and death.
 The way to get to Moksha is to not create any karma.
 Three paths to achieve Moksha
 The path of duty, the path of knowledge, and the path
of devotion (unconditional surrender to God).
 Brahma
The Creator
 Brahma is the first member of
the Hindu Trinity and is “the
Creator”
 He periodically creates
everything in the universe. (The
word periodically here refers to
the Hindu belief that time is
cyclical; everything in the
universe — except for Brahman
and certain Hindu scriptures —
is created, maintained for a
certain amount of time, and then
destroyed in order to be renewed
in ideal form again.)
 The Maintainer or Preserver
 Second member of the Hindu Trinity.
 He maintains the order and harmony Vishnu
of the universe, which is periodically
created by Brahma and periodically
destroyed by Shiva to prepare for the
next creation.
 Vishnu is worshipped in many forms
and in several avatars (incarnations).
 Vishnu is an important, somewhat
mysterious god. Less visible than
nature gods that preside over
elements (such as fire and rain),
 Vishnu is the pervader — the divine
essence that pervades the universe.
He is usually worshipped in the form
of an avatar
VISHNU
 The destroyer
Shiva  Third member of the Hindu Trinity,
 Tasked with destroying the universe
in order to prepare for its renewal at
the end of each cycle of time.
 Shiva’s destructive power is
regenerative: It’s the necessary step
that makes renewal possible.
 Hindus customarily invoke Shiva
before the beginning of any
religious or spiritual endeavor; they
believe that any bad vibrations in
the immediate vicinity of worship
are eliminated by the mere
SHIVA utterance of his praise or name.
 Dharma
Dharma: ethical duty based on the divine
order of reality.
The word is the closest equivalent to
“religion.”
Belief that a person has an obligation or a
duty
 Varna-Social Class
 Brahmans or Brahmins - the intellectuals and the priestly
class who perform religious rituals
 Kshatriya (nobles or warriors) - who traditionally had power
 Vaishya (commoners or merchants) - ordinary people who
produce, farm, trade and earn a living
 Shudras (workers) - who traditionally served the higher
classes, including laborers, artists, musicians, and clerks
 Sacred Writings
 The Vedas collections of Sanskrit hymns (written
down 1200-900BCE, but based on older oral
versions).
 The oral traditions that had been handed down were
recorded in sacred books called Vedas, or “Books of
Knowledge.”
 The Upanishads which means the inner or mystic
teaching that were passed down from guru (teacher)
to disciple (student).
 Festival: Diwali
Diwali: “Row of lights

Takes place in Oct. or Nov.

It is a series of five festivals

Lights are floated on small rafts

If the candle remains lit, good luck
will follow.
 India’s biggest and most important holiday of
the year
 The Ganges River
Falling from
Its source of
Vishnu’s feet
onto Shiva’s
head and out
from his hair,
the water of
the Ganges is
sacred enough
to purify all
sins.
Banaras - Hindu’s Holy City
Pilgrims come from all over to
bathe in the Ganges.

Countless Hindus come to

Banaras to die.

It has 1500 temples, most of

them devoted to Shiva.

It is a gathering place for the

religiously learned and their
disciples.
 Jainism
Jainism is an ancient religion from India
that teaches that the way to liberation and
bliss is to live a life of harmlessness and
renunciation. The aim of Jain life is to
achieve liberation of the soul.
 BUDDHISM
 The philosophy of Buddhism is based on the teachings of
Lord Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama (563 and 483 BC), a royal
prince of Kapilvastu, India.
 At the age of twenty nine he left the comforts of his home to
seek answer to the cause of human sufferings.
 Gautama became the enlightened one, the Buddha, after
wandering and meditation for six years.
 Buddhism
 Buddhism teaches its followers to perform
good and wholesome actions and to purify
and train the mind.
 Final goal is to achieve Nirvana
 Spread of Buddhism
 The Buddha spent 45 years traveling throughout India
teaching the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path.
 Through his efforts, he was able to gain a large following of
several thousand disciples.
 After his death, the Buddha’s followers continued to travel,
preaching the new religion throughout the Asian continent,
into China, Japan, Korea, and eventually throughout the
World.
 Four Noble Truths Of Buddhism

 Lifeis suffering;
 Suffering is due to attachment;
 Attachment can be overcome
 There is a path for accomplishing this.
 Eight Fold Path Of Buddhism
 Right view is the true understanding of the four noble truths.
 Right aspiration is the true desire to free oneself from
attachment, ignorance, and hatefulness.
 Right speech involves abstaining from lying, gossiping, or
hurtful talk.
 Right action involves abstaining from hurtful behaviors, such
as killing, stealing,
 Eight Fold Path of Buddhism
 Right livelihood means making your living in such a way as to
avoid dishonesty and hurting others, including animals.
 Right effort is a matter of exerting oneself in regards to the
content of one's mind: Bad qualities should be abandoned and
prevented from arising again; Good qualities should be enacted
and nurtured.
 Right mindfulness is the focusing of one's attention on one's
body, feelings, thoughts, and consciousness in such a way as to
overcome craving, hatred, and ignorance.
 Right concentration is meditating in such a way as to
progressively realize a true understanding of imperfection,
impermanence, and non-separateness.