Hindu

The sixth century B.C., the Hindu religion and the caste system had become a

way of life in India. They believed that the only way to gain salvation was by

obeying caste rules and following complex ritual. The people taught these ritual

were to strict, and did not meet the needs of the common people. So they started to

listen to other religions.

Buddhism is a religion founded in India, that share some comparison with

Hinduism. Buddhism was founded by an Indian prince born about 563 B.C. His

father, a wealthy noble, wanted to protect his son from the harsh realites of the

world. But his father couldn’t protect him forever, and when he was about 29 years

old he saw a dying man, a sick man in pain and a religious beggar. After seeing

these things the prince worried, why was so much sorrow in the world. Then when

he was about 35, Siddhartha Guatama decided to sit under a fig until he found

answers. He was there for forty-nine days, and that day he saw the reason for life

suffering and a way to overcome them.

Gautama started to speak of Four Noble Truths. The first was, sorrow and

suffering are part of life. Second, people suffer because they try to get things they

can’t have. Next, you had to reach a state of “not wanting”. The fourth they should

have neither too much nor too little pleasure.

Both Hinduism and Buddhism shared some of their beliefs. But there are

some differences. Buddhism placed most importance on one’s life, than one caste

and they saw little value in complex rituals. He taught that a person could get

enlightenment in one lifetime. As Buddhism spread, disagreements grew up about

some of its teachings and beliefs. At first Buddha was saw as a guideline for