Lord Vishnu Avatar Gautama Buddha
Question:
I read that Buddhism is just a type of Hinduism. Is this true?
Answer:
No, it is not. Buddhism and Hinduism share many ethical ideas, they use some common terminology like the words kamma, samadhi, and nirvana, and they both originated in India. This has led some people to think that they are the same or very similar. But when we look beyond the superficial similarities we see that the two religions are distinctly different. For example, Hindus believe in a supreme god while Buddhist do not. One of the central teachings of Hindu social philosophy is the idea of caste, which Buddhism firmly rejects. Ritual purification is an important practice in Hinduism but it has no place in Buddhism. In the Buddhist scriptures the Buddha is often portrayed as criticizing what the Brahmins, the Hindu priests, taught and they were very critical of some of his ideas. This would not have happened if Buddhism and Hinduism were the same.
---Good Question Good Answer, by S. Dhammika---
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