Religion – what is it? It is a way of life, a lifestyle that should dictate how you live. However, why follow a religious belief? Is it to go to heaven, avoid condemnation to hell, or to live forever? In western society, we consider ourselves not so religious. We say, I am Christian,” “I am Jewish,” or “I am an Atheist, I don’t believe.” But keep in mind, religion is a lifestyle that should dictate how you live. Sadly, in western society, money and our compulsive cravings for material objects dictate our lives. We are far from the highly evolved forms of Hinduism and Buddhism found in the east.
What are these religions? Buddhism is an 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 alike, if not essentially the same. As an offshoot of Hinduism, Buddhism accepted the notions of karma, dharma, samsara, and moksha.”
It differed in its understanding of these terms and how to achieve spiritual liberation. As Buddhism spread through South and East Asia, these differences became greater. Samsara, known in Hinduism as the endless cycle of death and rebirth, and Moksha, the supreme enlightenment and realization of Atman as one’s true self, leading to liberation from samsara. Despite the fact that Moksha means something different in Buddhism, words are meaningless but their meanings aren’t.
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 not just a recognition of suffering’s presence in existence, but a statement that human existence is inherently painful from birth to death. Even death brings no relief.
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.
Suffering and desire can be extinguished with enlightenment. The noble truth of cessation of suffering is the complete cessation of that very thirst, giving it up, renouncing it, emancipating oneself from it, detaching oneself from it. The way to enlightenment is to follow the Noble Eightfold Path. The Noble Truth of the path leading to the cessation of suffering 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 not exclusive to Buddhism; they are encompassed in Hinduism’s philosophy.
Buddhism analyzes human existence as being 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.
