A closer look at Hinduism and Buddhism

So how did each belief system define these relationships with God, society and other people?

First I will take a look at Hinduism. Through several web searches and various secondary sources I learned that Hinduism is often called “the oldest religion” because it has no single founder and the basic ideas of the religion are contained in various different texts written over time, starting around 4000 years ago.

The interesting thing about Hinduism is that it was developed by a group of people living in the Indus Valley who had a strict hierarchical social structure called the caste system. Michelle Ferrer summarizes the basic tenets of Hinduism in her book The Budding of Buddhism, quoted below.

The Untouchables, the lowest members of society, took care of human waste and the dead. This group did the work that others did not want to do. They were considered ritually unclean by other groups and therefore completely outside the group hierarchy. The Sudras had service jobs and the Vaisyas were shepherds, farmers, artisans and merchants. The second highest caste, the Ksatriyas, were warriors and administrators. At the top were the Brahmans, who were priests, scholars and teachers. Because priests were part of this caste, the early religion is known as Brahmanism. Brahmanism developed into the larger Hindu tradition.

Hindus worshipped many gods. They believed that people have many lives (reincarnation). They also believed in karma. This meant that everything a person did in this life would determine what would happen in the next life. Therefore, reincarnation creates a cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth.

The cycle ends only when a person realizes that they have their own soul and God. To help achieve this goal, Hindus had various spiritual practices, such as meditation and yoga, some of which are practiced in the western world today.

Hindus also believed in Purusharthas: The Four Purposes of Life. These goals motivated people in their lives:

1. Dharma: Living a virtuous life

2. Wedge: Pleasure of the senses

3. Artha: Achieving wealth and success legally

4. Moksha: Liberation from reincarnation

So what this tells me is that religion evolved from a social class structure where people had very defined roles. Since religion is based on the idea of karma, where what you do in this life determines what you will do in the next life, I wonder if the untouchables can return as a higher caste if they “live a virtuous life”.

If I go back to what the McNeills say about religion adding meaning to the drudgery of everyday life, Hinduism seems to fit this description perfectly. Moreover, it seems to be an effective system for maintaining social hierarchy and control over the population. If you can actually improve your situation in the next life by living well in this life, why do you keep thinking about how miserable your current life is when you can focus on living a better life next time?

It is also interesting that the four paths in life are not just about spirituality and God. The second and third goals are really about daily life. According to this view, the path to Moksha looks pleasant. You are supposed to be happy, rich and successful.

It is very similar to the seventeenth and eighteenth century political philosophies that would shape the founding of America: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Now focusing on the positive and trying to achieve happiness really gives meaning to life and takes people's focus away from daily toil or suffering, in the hope that one day people can achieve eternal salvation or be freed from the cycle of reincarnation (samsara).

The second religion I will examine is Buddhism. Buddhism evolved from Hinduism and the ancient Indian social structure. In this case, the religion has a male founder. His name is Siddhartha Gautama and he was born in 563 BC in South Asia (now Nepal).

He was born into a Ksatriya Hindu family of the warrior/managerial class. According to the story, Siddhartha's father asked some wise men what his son would become in life.

These wise men told him that if he did not suffer, he would become a great leader. So Siddhartha's father kept him within the palace walls all his life. When he was 16, he married and had a son. Then he went outside the palace and saw all the disease, poverty, death and human suffering in the world.

He ran away from home and began to seek peace. Siddhartha wandered around South Asia for six years, looking for ways to alleviate the suffering of the world. One day, he sat under a Bodhi tree to meditate. While meditating, he became enlightened or saw the truth. This is how the Buddha earned the name Bhodi Satva, or the Enlightened One. After his enlightenment, he began to share what was revealed to him under the Bhodi tree.

These teachings include the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. I learned that the whole purpose of ending suffering (dukkha) in the world is to achieve the ultimate goal of enlightenment (nirvana).