Hinduism/Buddhism Quiz
Buddha
"The enlightened one", Siddhartha Gautama after he achieved perfect understanding.
Caste System
Fixed social system 1st: Brahmins (priests and teachers) 2nd: Warriors 3rd: Merchants, farmers/landowners 4th: Peasants 5th: Untouchables (butchers, grave diggers, collectors of trash) The castes are the hereditary classes that divided Hindu society. The caste system determined your work, marriage, people you could dine with, and much more,
Hinduism in India
Hinduism was the most prominent religion in India. Most people were Hindu. Hinduism gave India the caste system.
Atman
An individual soul of living being.
Differences between the eastern religions (Buddhism, Hinduism) and the western religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.)
Eastern -polytheistic and nontheistic -Moksha/nirvana and reincarnation Western -monotheistic -heaven
Buddhism in India
India was the origin of Buddhism. During the centuries following the Buddha's death, missionaries were able to spread his faith over large parts of Asia. Buddhist missionaries went to Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia in the third century B.C. Buddhist ideas also traveled along Central Asian trade routes to China. However, Buddhism never gained a significant foothold in India, the country of its origin. Several theories exist about Buddhism's gradual disappearance in India. One theory states that Hinduism simply absorbed Buddhism. The two religions constantly influenced each other. Over time, the Buddha came to be identified by Hindus as one of the ten incarnations ( reappearances on Earth ) of the god Vishnu. Hindus, therefore, felt no need to convert to Buddhism. India has always been an important place of pilgrimages for Buddhists. Buddhist pilgrims flock to visit spots associated with the Buddha's life like his birthplace at Kapilavastu, the fig tree near Gaya, and the site of his first sermon near Varanasi.
Dharma
Individual spiritual duties in Hinduism that's part of reincarnation. The dharma is the center of Buddhism, the timeless importance of the teaching.
Sikhism
Punjab region of India, the founder is Guru Nanak, he attempted to combine Islam with Hinduism in order to create Sikhism. Monotheistic (like islam) but with Hindu traditions.
Jainism
Religion thats based off of the thought that everything in the universe has a soul and should not be harmed. This religion has very few followers because it teaches tolerence and shuns forced conversion. Mahavira is the founder.
Moksha
Salvation or liberation, perfect understanding, escape from worldly existence, liberation from mistakes and illusions of daily life. Hindus desire to achieve moksha, they must understand the relationship between Atman and Brahman. Moksha ends reincarnation. The goal in Hinduism.
Upanishads
Teachers interpretations of the Vedic hymns, tools/stories to help understand the Vedas, written as dialogues between student and teacher. The are a vehicle to attaining enlightenment (oneness with existence.)
Sangha
The Buddhist religious order, the five disciples who heard the Buddha's first sermon were the first monks admitted to the sangha, at first the sangha was only a community of monks and nuns but soon became the entire religious community.
4 noble truths
The basic philosophy of Buddhism. 1. Life is filled with suffering and sorrow. 2. The cause of all suffering is people's selfish desire for the temporary pleasures of this world. 3. The way to end all suffering is to end all desires. 4. The way to overcome such desires and attain enlightenment is to follow the Eightfold path, which is called the Middle Way between desires and self-denial. Siddhartha Guatama revealed these truths in his first sermon after achieving enlightenment.
Brahman
The world soul, contains all atmans, said to have the personalities of three gods: Brahma, the creator, Vishnu, the protector, and Shiva, the destroyer, and the mother goddess of several names. Brahman is the universal "god" , there are 300,000 incarnations of him, Hindus worshiping its many forms.
Siddhartha Gautama
The founder of Buddhsim. He was born into a noble family and grew up rich confined in his house in the Himalayas , age 29 ventured out of home, saw 4 things, old man, sick man, corpse, and holy man at peace. He developed a revelation: every living thing experiences old age, sickness, and death, only religious life offers refuge from sufferings. He sought enlightenment for 6 years, after 49 days of meditation, he achieved understanding of suffering, he became the buddha or the enlightened one.
Karma
The next incarnation depends of how the previous life was lived. A soul's karma, good or bad deeds, follows from one reincarnation to another. Karma influences specific life circumstances, such as the caste one is born into, one's state of health, wealth or poverty, and so on.
Samsara
The process where a soul passes through a cycle of successive lives.
The Three Jewels of Buddhism
The religious community, the Buddha, and the dharma.
Reincarnation
The soul passes through a cycle of successive lives. The next incarnation depends of how the previous life was lived (karma). A process of rebirth where an individual soul or spirit is born again and again until moksha is achieved.
Vedas
The true foundation of Hindu faith. Revealed to humans. A body of religious texts, the oldest scripture of Hinduism, composed in sanskrit. It's basic message is each person has an atman (soul) united with others in Brahman.
Nirvana
To achieve Nirvana, have a perfect state of understanding, release from selfishness and pain, and break from the chain of reincarnations. By following the Eightfold Path, anyone could reach nirvana, the Buddha's word for release from selfishness and pain.
8 fold path
To attain enlightenment, you must follow 8 paths and have the right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. The Eightfold path is a guide to behavior like a staircase. For the Buddha, those who were seeking enlightenment had to master one step at a time. Most often, this mastery would occur over many lifetimes.