Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism
Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism
Simon Osorio
Stanbridge College
HUM 1020 (ITT/ITS)
Daniel Else
March 25, 2013
Assignment #1
Hinduism, Buddhism Jainism, and Sikhism are all Eastern religions with similar philosophical beliefs. In Hinduism you embrace a great diversity of different beliefs, a fact that can be easy confusing to western religions which are accustomed to creeds, confessions, and carefully-worded beliefs of statements. In Hinduism you can believe a wide variety of things about God, and the universe. There are some beliefs common to nearly all forms of Hinduism that can be shown, and these common beliefs are generally regarded as boundaries outside which they are considered to be heresy or non-Hindu religion. The common fundamental Hindu beliefs are: the authority of the Vedas (the oldest Indian sacred text) and the Brahmans (priests); also including the existence of an enduring soul that transfers from one body to another at death (reincarnation); and last but not least there is the law of karma that determines one’s destiny for both current life and the next.(Hinduism: Beliefs, religion & spirituality
What is interesting about Hinduism is that a specific belief about God or gods is not considered an essential need, which is the major differences between Hinduism and the strict monotheistic religions like Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Sikhism. Most of all Hindus are devoted to followers of one of the principal gods Shiva, Vishnu or Shakti, and some others, however all of these gods are regarded as manifestations of a single Reality. The main goal of a Hindu is to find a way out form the cycle of rebirth. The release is called “moksha” and the cycle of rebirth is called “samsara”. For those Hindus that possess a devotional bent, basically being in God’s presence to eventually become united with God as a single rain drop falls into a lake. In Buddhism, like most of the great religions of the world it can be divided into a multiple
Simon Osorio
Stanbridge College
HUM 1020 (ITT/ITS)
Daniel Else
March 25, 2013
Assignment #1
Hinduism, Buddhism Jainism, and Sikhism are all Eastern religions with similar philosophical beliefs. In Hinduism you embrace a great diversity of different beliefs, a fact that can be easy confusing to western religions which are accustomed to creeds, confessions, and carefully-worded beliefs of statements. In Hinduism you can believe a wide variety of things about God, and the universe. There are some beliefs common to nearly all forms of Hinduism that can be shown, and these common beliefs are generally regarded as boundaries outside which they are considered to be heresy or non-Hindu religion. The common fundamental Hindu beliefs are: the authority of the Vedas (the oldest Indian sacred text) and the Brahmans (priests); also including the existence of an enduring soul that transfers from one body to another at death (reincarnation); and last but not least there is the law of karma that determines one’s destiny for both current life and the next.(Hinduism: Beliefs, religion & spirituality
What is interesting about Hinduism is that a specific belief about God or gods is not considered an essential need, which is the major differences between Hinduism and the strict monotheistic religions like Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Sikhism. Most of all Hindus are devoted to followers of one of the principal gods Shiva, Vishnu or Shakti, and some others, however all of these gods are regarded as manifestations of a single Reality. The main goal of a Hindu is to find a way out form the cycle of rebirth. The release is called “moksha” and the cycle of rebirth is called “samsara”. For those Hindus that possess a devotional bent, basically being in God’s presence to eventually become united with God as a single rain drop falls into a lake. In Buddhism, like most of the great religions of the world it can be divided into a multiple
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