Question

Buddhism shares many of the same concepts and words with Hinduism. Sometimes, the two religions use the same word, but their understanding of that word is different. This has much to do with Buddhism coming out of the Hindu context, but also wanting to reform some Hindu thought. How would you explain the Buddhist understanding of karma and samsara? Are these explanations different from Hinduism? Were there other shared concepts between the two religions that Buddhism interpreted differently?

Answer 1

Hinduism and Buddhism are the ancient regions emerged in India.

Many scholars believed that Buddhism is very influenced by many beliefs of Hinduism. On the other hand, there are lots of dissimilarities between Hinduism and Buddhism. The concept of Sansar and karma are different in both religions because according to Hinduism samsara(world) is a Maya(illusion) and every human being will punish according to their karma. On the other hand, Buddhism does not tell anything about afterlife judgement.

Buddhism is an ancient religion which was founded by Siddhartha Gautama or Gautama Buddha in the eastern part of India around 6 B.C.E.

Buddhism is a religion that teaches us nonviolence (ahimsa), harmony and peace(Shanti) and truth(Satya).

It is prohibited to take the life of anyone (including suicide or euthanasia) in Buddhism because it violates core idea of the Buddhism the nonviolence(ahimsa) and peace(Shanti), and truth(Satya).

According to teachings of Mahatma Buddha, No person has a right to take the life of anyone because it is a gift of nature to the mankind and we must follow the ahimsa in any condition.

Suicide or euthanasia prevents people to achieve Nirvana because it is a sign of ill mental state and also creates bad karma.

There are two main branches of Buddhism present in modern time:

1. The Theravada (South East Asia and Sri Lanka)

2. The Mahayana (East Asia and the Himalayas).

In Buddhism, a movement was arose known as Mahayana. The term Mahayana means a great vehicle or great course. This movement was dubbed another movement of the Hinayana movement. this term means limited vehicle.

The main difference between them is Great vehicle beloved on Buddhahood. On the other hand limited vehicle or Hinayana believes in sainthood.