Asian philosophy

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nIntroduction

nBuddhism and Hinduism are two most profound and greatest religions across the globe. The two religions originated in India and thus have similar beliefs and roots on the concept of self. Hinduism is a religion with majority people in India and Nepal and it have more than 900 million believers worldwide (Kupperman, 5). It is the oldest religion in the world and has variety of beliefs and practices found within it. Unlike various other religions, Hinduism has no founder, no common set of teaching and no single holy book. Over the years, many people have written different single books and philosophies (Kuznetsova, Ganeri and Ram-Prasad, 12). The term Hindu is derived from a river located in northwest Sindhu. Hindu believes in existence of supreme God, whose forms and qualities are represented by the assembly of divinities, which originate from him. In addition, they believe that cycles of death, rebirth and birth are performed by Karma (Kuznetsova, Ganeri and Ram-Prasad, 13). The main scripture of Hindu is Veda although there are other Hindu texts.

nOn the other hand, Buddhism is a nontheistic religion that follows the teachings, beliefs, traditions and practices of Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama). Buddhism does not belief in personal god. Therefore, Buddhists believe that everything changes with time hence nothing is permanent or fixed (Kupperman, 7). They believe in path of enlightenment through development and practices of meditation, morality and wisdom. Buddha was a Hindu who decided to become a monk and he lived a life without luxury but also without poverty through the path of enlightenment. Buddhists can worship both at a temple and at home (Kuznetsova, Ganeri and Ram-Prasad, 21). They also believe in the concept of karma, which states that human past actions affect their present and future life. The two contrasting religious groups in India who for many years lived together like brothers and sisters.

nSimilarities

nThe two religions share certain elements but they are different in some aspects. Buddhism and Hinduism share some similarities on concept of self. Both religions emphasize the illusory nature of the world. In addition, they believe that karma has a responsibility to bind men to this world and the cycle of deaths and death (Kupperman, 9). Therefore, peoples desire is the fundamental cause of human suffering hence removal of desire leads to cessation of suffering. In this regard, according to the two religions, doing actions influenced by desire leads to suffering, bondage, and doing actions without desires leads to liberation (Kuznetsova, Ganeri and Ram-Prasad, 23).

nAdditionally, both Buddhism and Hinduism acknowledge the concept of karma, which include transmigration of souls and cycles of deaths and births. Therefore, they believe in existence of heaven and hell. Further, the two religions believe the in presence of deities and gods on different planes (Kupperman, 11). Buddhism and Hinduism believe in some spiritual practices such as concentration, meditation and cultivation on certain states of mind or bhavas. The advaita philosophy of Buddhism is similar to Hinduism in several aspects. Furthermore, Hinduism and Buddhism have their own concepts of self, such as tantraboth that evolved and originated on Indian soil (Kuznetsova, Ganeri and Ram-Prasad, 24). They have several similarities because the founder of Buddhism was a Hindu who began the Buddhism religion then become a Buddha. The two religions believe in samsara, the continuous cycle of birth, death, life and reincarnation.

nDifferences

nHowever, both Buddhism and Hinduism, contrast greatly in their concepts of self. According to Buddhism teachings, self is one way to define the enlightenment (Kuznetsova, Ganeri and Ram-Prasad, 33). Therefore, the concept of self in Buddhism comprises five heaps or skandhas (Kupperman, 13). These include consciousness, form, perception, sensation and mental formation. Form refers to physical fitness of human being. Secondly, sensation is made up of emotions, feelings and physical wellbeing as well as the human senses i.e. hearing, smelling, tasting, seeing and touching. Thirdly, self is made of perception skandhas that include thinking such as cognition, conceptualization and reasoning. In addition, it includes the realization that happens when an object meets an organ (Kuznetsova, Ganeri and Ram-Prasad, 39). Therefore, perception is that which identifies. The object can be mental such as an idea or physical.

nFourthly, mental formation skandhas includes predispositions, habits and prejudices. In addition, mental formations include willfulness, volition, faith, attention, pride, vindictiveness and desire. Besides, it includes other mental states such as virtuous and non-virtuous. Therefore, karmas effects and causes are specifically crucial to the mental formation skandhas (Kupperman, 19). Fifth, the consciousness skandhas acknowledges the sensitivity or awareness of an object.

nHowever, it does not acknowledge conceptualization. Since in human self, there is awareness, the perception realizes the object and develops the concept-value to it. Consequently, the mental formation reacts with revulsion or desire (Kuznetsova, Ganeri and Ram-Prasad, 64). Therefore, according to the Buddhism teachings of self, consciousness is the foundation that binds the experience of life together. Most notably, the concepts of skandhas are not qualities that a human being possesses since there is no-self possesses them. This concept of no self in Buddhism is referred to as anatta. Buddhism taught that human being is not autonomous and an integral entity. Therefore, human self or ego is a product of the five skandhas (Kuznetsova, Ganeri and Ram-Prasad, 68).

nContrary, Hinduism believes in the concept of eternal self, which means atman. Atman means real self beyond false self or ego. It refers to soul or spirit and it reveals human true essence or self that motivates their existence. According to Hinduism, self is the spirit that is called atman (Kupperman, 29). Atman means inner-self or soul. There is nothing such as my Atman or our atman because there is only The Atman that is One Universal Self of all human beings. The Self (atman) is same as supreme Self (Para atman) which is referred to as Brahman.

nTherefore, according to Hinduism, knowing Self is knowing God because God is Self – the spirit. A Hindu cannot know God until he/she know self – as God. Similar, a Hindu should know real Self to be God – Brahman (Kupperman, 40). A Brahman is the One Absolute Infinite Omnipresent divine Principle. Therefore, Brahman is the Supreme Pure Divine Consciousness that occurs in everything and is everything (Kuznetsova, Ganeri and Ram-Prasad, 78). Hindu believes that Atman is Brahman i.e. human spirit is the supreme spirit hence the Self is the Supreme Self.

nIn addition, manifestation of universe and everything in it results from self and returns to the self in every cycle of universal manifestation. Things that are unchangeable, permanent, immutable and changeless can be considered as truly real. In this regard, Hinduism refers self as the Divine Allness, the Infinite Abstract Existence (Kupperman, 45). The Upanishads are the scriptures in the Hindu religion that expound on the primary teachings of self. The Upanishards notes that “tar tvam asi”, which means, “thou art That”. This means that self is the Atman, and Brahman (Kuznetsova, Ganeri and Ram-Prasad, 93). Therefore, God is atman, the Brahman and God is ALL. Finally, Atman is ALL, Brahman is ALL and self is ALL.

nWorks cited

nKupperman, Joel. Classic Asian Philosophy. 1st ed. Oxford [England]: Oxford University Press, 2007. Print.

nKuznetsova, Irina, Jonardon Ganeri, and Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad. Hindu And Buddhist Ideas In Dialogue: Self and non-self. 1st ed. Farnham: Ashgate Pub., 2012. Print.