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Buddhism was founded by Siddhartha Gautama or Buddha, who was born in Nepal, and lived and taught in the northeastern region of Indian subcontinent. Buddhism originated from Bihar India during the reign of Maurya Empire.
Since Buddhism and Hinduism originated from Ancient India there are a lot of similarities between the two religions. Buddha is mentioned in several of the Puranas (Hindu religious book) and some Buddhist teachings appear to have been formulated from the ideas contained in the early Upanishads. It is believed in many Puranas that Buddha was an incarnation of Vishnu (Hindu God) to delude demons or mankind from the Vedic Dharma.
Some of the similarities between the two religions are given below:
Ahimsa: Ahimsa is a Sanskrit word meaning non-violence and respect to all life. Buddha’s dialog of Ahimsa in Culakammavibhanga Sutta was a definitive move against the traditional sacrificial Vedic rituals of the Hindu culture. However the Upanishads literature in Hinduism was often critical of the Vedic ritual and emphasized the internal meaning and symbolism of the sacrifice rather than its literal enactment. Ahimsa doctrine was later developed in the Yajurveda (Hindu literature) under the Brahmanical culture.
Karma: Karma means ones deeds or action or activity is a central part of Buddhist teachings and was believed to be derived from Hinduism. However there are apparent inconsistencies regarding this in the Buddhist doctrine of Karma.
Dharma: Dharma means religious duty and both Buddhism and Hinduism believe that living beings that live in harmony with Dharma precede more towards Moksha or Nirvana (personal liberation).
Despite the similarities between the two religions the major differences are
God: Gautama Buddha set an important trend of nontheism in Buddhism by denying the notion of an omnipotent God. According to Buddhism, Man has created God out of psychologically deep-rooted idea of self-protection. However Hinduism strongly believes in the existence of God and also believes that Gods were reborn as humans to save the earth from evils.
Vedas: Vedas are Holy Scriptures followed by Hinduism to know the divine three-knowledge of life. Unlike Hinduism the Buddhist believes that three-knowledge should be achieved through the process of enlightenment, which the Buddha had achieved in three watches of the night of his Enlightenment. The three-knowledge are memory of previous lives, seeing the rebirth of others according to their Karma, and the four noble truths and the destruction of spiritual faults which fester in the mind and keep it unenlightened (the third knowledge is a composite one).The four noble truths are
- Life ultimately is or leads to suffering/uneasiness (dukkha) in one way or another.
- Suffering is caused by craving or attachments to worldly pleasures of all kinds.
- Suffering ends when craving ends, when one is free from desire. This is achieved by reaching a liberated state of Enlightenment.
- Reaching this liberated state is achieved by following the path laid out by Buddha.
It was believed that the later Indian religious thoughts was in turn influenced by the new interpretations and novel ideas of the Buddhism since the religion gained prominence in the Indian subcontinent. However it was eclipsed by Hinduism and Islam in the 13th century but it still flourished outside India like Tibetan Buddhism in the Himalayan region, Theravada Buddhism in Sri Lanka and South East Asia, and Mahayana Buddhism in East Asia. Hinduism and Buddhism still exists in harmony in the world and are followed by millions. Buddhism is still practiced in India, the land from where it was originated especially in the Himalayan areas like Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim.
For more infor: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism_and_Hinduism
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