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Historically, the roots of Buddhism lie in the religious thought of Iron Age India around the middle of the first millennium BCE. [5] This was a period of great intellectual ferment and socio-cultural change known as the Second Urbanisation, marked by the growth of towns and trade, the composition of the Upanishads and the historical emergence of the Śramaṇa traditions.
Buddhism, which was supported by the ancient Indian urban civilisation lost influence to the traditional religions, which were rooted in the countryside. [164] In Bengal, Buddhism was even prosecuted. But at the same time, Buddhism was incorporated into Hinduism, when Gaudapada used Buddhist philosophy to reinterpret the Upanishads. [163]
The belief that there is an afterlife and not everything ends with death, that Buddha taught and followed a successful path to nirvana; [215] according to Peter Harvey, the right view is held in Buddhism as a belief in the Buddhist principles of karma and rebirth, and the importance of the Four Noble Truths and the True Realities.
Buddhism shares many philosophical views with other Indian systems, such as belief in karma – a cause-and-effect relationship, samsara – ideas about cyclic afterlife and rebirth, dharma – ideas about ethics, duties and values, impermanence of all material things and of body, and possibility of spiritual liberation (nirvana or moksha).
[3] [4] It took shape with the writings of Gauḍapāda in the 6th century CE. Buddhism is an Indian religion [5] and dhārma that encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs, and spiritual practices based on teachings attributed to Gautama Buddha (5th century BCE), but diversified since then in a wide variety of schools and traditions.
Hinduism (/ ˈ h ɪ n d u ˌ ɪ z əm /) [1] is an umbrella term [2] [3] [a] for a range of Indian religious and spiritual traditions (sampradayas) [4] [note 1] that are unified by adherence to the concept of dharma, a cosmic order maintained by its followers through rituals and righteous living, [5] [6] [7] [b] as first expounded in the Vedas.
The Buddhist concept of anattā or anātman is one of the fundamental differences between mainstream Buddhism and mainstream Hinduism, with the latter asserting that ātman ("self") exists. [note 2] In Hinduism, Atman refers to the essence of human beings, the observing pure awareness or witness-consciousness.
[6] [34] B. R. Ambedkar, an Indian scholar and the Dalit leader who in 1935 declared his intention to convert from Hinduism to Buddhism and converted about 20 years later, rejected the belief that Buddha was an incarnation of Vishnu. [35] [note 5] Ambedkar's 5th vow out of Twenty-two vows is :