Hinduism & Buddhism

Hinduism & Buddhism • In your bellwork journal, write down everything you remember about Hinduism and Buddhism.

Hinduism is unique because it has no founder or date of origin. • Hinduism is simply the religion of the people of India, which has gradually developed over 4000 years. The origins and authors of its sacred texts are largely unknown. • Hinduism's roots date back as far as 2000 BC, making it one of the oldest surviving religions. Because of its great age, the early history of Hinduism is unclear. The most ancient writings have yet to be deciphered, so for the earliest periods scholars must rely on educated guesses based on archaeology and the study of contemporary texts.

Hindu dieties • Although Hindus do worship deities other than their chosen deity from time to time, depending on the occasion and their personal inclinations, it is not expected that they will worship, or even know about, every form of God. Hindus generally choose one concept of God and cultivate devotion to that chosen form, while at the same time respecting the chosen ideals of other people.

Hindus view cosmic activity of the Supreme Being as comprised of three tasks: creation, preservation, and dissolution and recreation. Hindus associate these three cosmic tasks with the three deities, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Lord Brahma brings forth the creation and represents the creative principle of the Supreme Being. Lord Vishnu maintains the universe and represents the eternal principle of preservation. Lord Shiva represents the principle of dissolution and recreation. These three deities together form the Hindu Trinity.

The first written evidence of Hinduism that we can read is the Rig Veda, a long poem in Sanskrit probably composed about 1000 BC. People sang or recited the Rig Veda for hundreds of years before it was written down around 300 BC. The Rig Veda is a bunch of hymns (HIMS) (songs for the gods), magic spells, and instructions for what to say when you are sacrificing animals. The Rig Veda mentions many different gods (polytheism). Most of the gods are male, and many of them are sky gods or weather gods like a god of rain, Indra, or like Varuna, the god of the sea. People sacrificed animals to their gods. The Rig Veda also tells us that people sometimes got in touch with the gods by drinking a drug called soma that made them hear the gods talking to them. (We don’t know now what soma was made of). Both Soma and the fire of sacrifice (Agni) were thought of as gods themselves, too.

About 600 BC, the idea of reincarnation became more and more common among Hindus. Most people began to think that after you died you would be reborn into another body. If you had been good, you would get a good body, like a princess. If you had been bad, you would come back as a cockroach or a rat. Gradually people began to hate the idea that you had to be endlessly reborn in different forms. They wanted to get free of the wheel of rebirth, and just be left alone. People began to think that sacrificing animals was a burden on your karma, or fate, that prevented you from getting free of reincarnation. So animal sacrifice became less popular.Around 300 BC, people began to worship new gods, who didn’t need animal sacrifices. These new gods were Vishnu and Shiva. Generally people gave Vishnu and Shiva flowers, incense, prayers, food, or music, but they didn’t kill animals for them. They began to worship Vishnu and Shiva more, and paid less attention to their old gods Indra and Varuna and the others.Much later, between 400 and 650 AD, at the end of the Gupta period, another new god came into Hinduism. This new god was a Mother Goddess. Cows were sacred to this Mother Goddess, and so Hindus gradually stopped eating beef. Like Vishnu and Shiva, the Mother Goddess had many incarnations and many names. Parvati, Uma, and Annapurna were beautiful goddesses, who brought blessings to people. But other incarnations were called Kali, Chandi, Durga or Chamunda, and these goddesses were terrible giants with black skin, huge red tongues that stick out, and fierce tusks. These had many arms and each arm held a weapon, and they wore necklaces of skulls or human heads.

Brahma is described as the god of creation.

Vishnu • Vishnu is the Supreme Being. • Vishnu is the All-Pervading essence of all beings, the master of and beyond the past, present and future, the creator and destroyer of all existences, one who supports, sustains and governs the Universe and originates and develops all elements within.

Shiva • One of the principal deities of Hinduism. In images, he is generally represented as immersed in deep meditation or dancing upon the demon of ignorance.

Story of Ganesh • Probably the most popular story regarding Ganesh'sorigin is the one derived from the Shiva Purana. Mother Parvati once wanted to take a bath and created a boy from the dirt of Her own body, asking him to stand as a guard outside while She bathed. In the meantime Lord Shiva returned home to find a stranger at His door, preventing Him from entering. In anger, Shiva cut off the boy's head, upon which Parvati was stricken with great grief. In order to console Her, Shiva sent out His troops (gaNa) to fetch the head of anyone found sleeping with his head pointing to the north. They found an elephant sleeping thus and brought back its head.

Goddess Durga represents the power of the Supreme Being that preserves moral order and righteousness in the creation. • Goddess Durga is shown in a female form, wearing red clothes. She has eighteen arms, carrying many objects in Her hands. The red color symbolizes action and the red clothes signify that She is always busy destroying evil and protecting mankind from pain and suffering caused by evil forces. • Durga riding a tiger indicates that She possesses unlimited power and uses it to protect virtue and destroy evil. • The sound that emanates from a conch is the sound of the sacred syllable AUM, which is said to be the sound of creation. A conch in one of the Goddess's hands signifies the ultimate victory of virtue over evil and righteousness over unrighteousness. • Other weapons in the hands of Durga such as a mace, sword, disc, arrow, and trident convey the idea that one weapon cannot destroy all different kinds of enemies. Different weapons must be used to fight enemies depending upon the circumstances. For example, selfishness must be destroyed by detachment, jealousy by desirelessness, prejudice by self-knowledge, and ego by discrimination.

Lakshmi: Goddess of wealth and prosperity, both material and spiritual • The four arms represent the four directions in space. The red color symbolizes activity. The golden lining (embroidery) on her red dress denotes prosperity. The idea conveyed here is that the Goddess is always busy distributing wealth and prosperity to the devotees. The lotus seat, which Lakshmi is standing upon, signifies that while living in this world, one should enjoy its wealth, but not become obsessed with it. Such a living is analogous to a lotus that grows in water but is not wetted by water. • The four hands represent the four ends of human life: dharma (righteousness), kama (genuine desires), artha (wealth), and moksha (liberation from birth and death). • Since the right side of the body symbolizes activity, a lotus in the back right hand conveys the idea that one must perform all duties in the world in accordance with dharma. This leads to moksha (liberation), which is symbolized by a lotus in the back left hand of Lakshmi. The golden coins falling on the ground from the front left hand of Lakshmi illustrate that She provides wealth and prosperity to Her devotees. Her front right hand is shown bestowing blessings upon the devotees.

Saraswati is the Goddess of learning, knowledge, and wisdom. • The left side of the body symbolizes the qualities of the heart and the right side symbolizes activities of the mind and intellect. A book signifies knowledge acquired must be used with love and kindness to promote prosperity of mankind. • The rosary signifies concentration, meditation, and contemplation, leading to samadhi, or union with God. • The Goddess is shown playing a musical instrument that is held in Her front hands, which denote mind and intellect. This symbol conveys that the seeker must tune his mind and intellect in order to live in perfect harmony with the world. • Two swans are depicted on the left side of the Goddess. A swan is said to have a sensitive beak that enables it to distinguish pure milk from a mixture of milk and water. A swan, therefore, symbolizes the power of discrimination, or the ability to discriminate between right and wrong or good and bad. • A peacock is sitting next to Saraswati and is anxiously waiting to serve as Her vehicle. A peacock depicts unpredictable behavior as its moods can be influenced by the changes in the weather. Saraswati is using a swan as a vehicle and not the peacock. This signifies that one should overcome fear, indecision, and fickleness in order to acquire true knowledge.

Caste System • Caste (jati) comes from a Portuguese word, and it is often applied inaccurately to different systems of separating layers of society. • Varnasare the historical division of society into 4 broad classes. • Jatis form the complex multi-layered present-day system. • Varnas • Traditionally, there were four main varnas, plus one group of outsiders: • The Brahmins, or priests: • the highest varna, believed to have emerged from Brahma's mouth. • The Kshatriyas: • the warrior or ruling class who were made from Brahma's arms. • The Vaishyas: • merchants or artisans who came from Brahma's thighs. • The Shudras: • the unskilled labourers and servants who emerged from Brahma's feet. These were the lowest class, or varna. • The Untouchables: • those too lowly to be within the varna system.

Caste Today • Members of the upper castes consider the lowest castes to be ritually unclean. Marrying someone from a different caste, whilst not officially outlawed, is generally not recognized. • Today, caste barriers have largely broken down in the large cities. "Untouchability" has been abolished by law. • However, loyalty to a caste is much harder to eliminate and it still provides a sense of community and belonging, particularly in country areas.

Traditions and Culture • The basic building block of Hindu society is the joint or extended family, usually consisting of three of four generations living together. • The women collectively cook and share domestic responsibilities, and the men provide the pooled income. • From early times the main purpose of marriage was to raise children. Overall, Hinduism emphasizes that children should be loved and in no way neglected. • Children are generally treated with much affectionate indulgence, especially before schooling begins

One must clearly understand that Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are not three independent deities. They represent the same power (the Supreme Being), but in three different aspects. Just as a man may be called a doctor, father or husband based upon the tasks he performs, the Supreme Being is called Brahma, Vishnu or Shiva when conceived as performing the three different cosmic tasks of creation, preservation, and dissolution/recreation.

Hindu religion is often labeled as a religion of 330 million gods. This misunderstanding arises when people fail to grasp the symbolism of the Hindu pantheon. According to the Hindu scriptures, living beings are not apart from God, since He lives in each and every one of them in the form of atman. Thus each living being is a unique manifestation of God. In ancient times it was believed that there were 330 million living beings. This gave rise to the idea of 330 million deities or gods. • This vast number of gods could not have been possibly worshipped, since 330 million names could not have been designed for them. The number 330 million was simply used to give a symbolic expression to the fundamental Hindu doctrine that God lives in the hearts of all living beings.

The greatest achievement is selflessness.The greatest worth is self-mastery.The greatest quality is seeking to serve others.The greatest precept is continual awareness.The greatest medicine is the emptiness of everything.The greatest action is not conforming with the worlds ways.The greatest magic is transmuting the passions.The greatest generosity is non-attachment.The greatest goodness is a peaceful mind.The greatest patience is humility.The greatest effort is not concerned with results.The greatest meditation is a mind that lets go.The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances. • Atisha (11th century Tibetan Buddhist master)

Basic Facts • Began in India • Based on the teachings of Buddha, which means “Awakened One.” • Siddhartha Guatama • Lived from 563-483 B.C.E. • Was a prince who walked away from all he had in a quest to find enlightenment which comes from knowledge of deep truth

Way of life based on simple teachings • Embraced all people regardless of Caste • Caste: social group limited to persons of the same rank, occupation, economic position, etc., and having mores distinguishing it from other such groups. A rigid system of social distinctions. • Taught people how to reach enlightenment • Believed if you reached enlightenment, you would no longer be born again and again

Siddhartha Guatama • Son of a powerful king and beautiful queen • While the queen was pregnant, she had a dream. When she had the dream interpreted by Brahmins (Hindu priests), they said her son would be a great man. • When Siddhartha was born, he looked like he was a couple years old. He could already walk and talk. He took a few steps and declared, “I am the leader of the world and the guide of the world.”

The king did not want Siddartha to see the world’s suffering and become a Buddha, but instead wanted him to become a powerful ruler. • King raised him to see a perfect world where servants took care of everything for him • Married at age 16, had a son at age 29

After the birth of his son, Siddhartha started to travel and came across 3 forms of suffering. • Saw an old man and learned the body weakens with age • Saw a sick man crying in pain • Saw a group of people carrying a dead person • Left the palace on a 4th visit where he encountered an ascetic: someone who gives up worldly pleasures

Ascetic explained that to be free of suffering, one must give up worldly desires and comforts • Siddhartha wanted to find this happiness and peace so he set off into the forest without his royal robes, jewels, and cut off his hair. • Like other ascetics, he believed he could reach enlightenment through meditation • Meditation: continued or extended thought; reflection; contemplation

Believed you could find spiritual truth through self denial • Stayed up all night without sleeping • Sat in hot sun with no shelter • Fasted • Held their breath for long periods of time • Continued these rituals to the extreme but still had not found the key to enlightenment

Decided a balance between being a prince and an ascetic was the path to enlightenment • Was left by himself as he continued to search for enlightenment • On his 35th birthday, believed he would become enlightened soon. Was given handfuls of soft grass which he took to a Bodhi (Enlightenment) tree • Sat beneath the tree to meditate

Through the night, a wicked god, Mara, tried to frighten him and tempt him with her 3 daughters (Discontent, Delight, and Desire) • Continued to search for nirvana • Began to see his past lives and the cycle of rebirth • Saw the importance of karma: principle according to which each person is rewarded or punished in one life according to that person's deeds in the previous life • Saw how to gain freedom from the endless cycle and end all suffering

By morning Siddhartha had become the Buddha, or Awakened One by reaching enlightenment • The truths discovered under the Bodhi tree are called the Four Noble Truths • 1. Life means suffering. • 2. The origin of suffering is attachment. • 3. The cessation of suffering is attainable. • 4. The path to the cessation of suffering is to follow the Eightfold Path

Buddhist Values: • Be loving, respectful, practice nonviolence, not get attached to worldly possessions • Act morally • General Welfare: • Intended to make sure people had good health, shelter, clean water, and food • Justice: • Fair laws and the way people should be treated in court and jail • Security: • Dealing with enemies of Mauryan Empire and those who were not citizens-issues of peace and conquest

Definition: Eightfold Path • way to achieve nirvana: in Buddhism, the means of achieving nirvana, emphasizing adherence to truth and moral values and comprising eight aspects..

DharmachakraThe wheel of the law. The eight spokes represent the eightfold path.

Resources • http://www.sanatansociety.org/hindu_gods_and_goddesses.htm • http://www.koausa.org/Gods/

Hinduism & Buddhism