Comparison of Two Religions:
Hinduism and Buddhism
Strayer University
Professor Carla Thompson
April 28, 2014

Comparison of Two Religions: Buddhism and Hinduism
Buddhism
Buddhism was founded around 500 BCE by Prince Siddhartha Gautama. Gautama Buddha who was born about 2,500 years ago questioned his sheltered luxurious life in a palace. Leaving the palace he found four sights, a sick man, an old man, a dead man and a monk. Seeing this he realized that even a prince could not escape the issues of illness, suffering and death. So a monk told him to relinquish all his power and become a wandering holy man and seek the answers of why must people suffer and what was the cause of the suffering” (United Religions Initiative, 2002). For many years of doing many religious practices, including praying, meditating and fasting, he finally understood the basic truths of life. He realized this all by sitting under a popular-figtree in India for many days in meditation and this is when he was enlighten which is actually known as nirvana and this is when he was given the title of the Buddha which is the meaning of the Enlightened One. Buddha spread his teachings from India as far as Asia, becoming the dominate religion in many countries” (Fisher, 2014).It is thought that the Buddha lived many lives before his birth as Gautama, and that he continues to live through his teachings and his relics. Buddhism is the religion and philosophy which developed out of the teachings of Buddha Gautama in which he taught his followers not to believe in God. It is the one of the central religious, social and cultural institutions in Southeast Asia. Buddhism is a socio-philosophical institution, and is, in its essence, atheistic, meaning that there is no god to worship. Buddha was not and is not a god (except in Mahayana Buddhism), but was a yogi who achieved nirvana,