CHAPTER 6

SECTION 3 Hinduism
Hinduism is one of the oldest religions in the world. It began in India during the Vedic age in the
form of Brahmanism. Then it slowly grew and changed into Hinduism.
Hinduism means ‘the religion of the people of India’.

The Vedas are India's oldest religious texts. The Vedas contain hymns to many gods. They also
describe rituals to please the gods. These rituals often involved sacrifices, or offerings, of animals or
food to specific gods.
Scholars call the religion of the Vedic Age Brahmanism. Brahmanism was a religion based on
priests and rituals, particularly sacrifices to the gods. Brahmins studied the Vedas and were the only
ones who were allowed to perform the rituals.

Beginning about 500BC, as Indians adapted to town and village life, Indian beliefs began to change.
The old gods became less important. People began asking questions such as: Why are we born?
How should we live? What happens to us when we die?
To find those answers, thinkers and teachers known as gurus left their homes to live in the forest,
to think and talk about religious ideas. These gurus and their students were founders of Hinduism.
Their ideas survived in writings known as the Upanishads, which became Hindu holy scriptures.
Only Brahmins were supposed to interpret the Vedas. But Indians of all castes could study the
Upanishads.

Everyone could also learn and study two very important epic poems. An epic poem is a long story of
heroes told in verse. These epic poems are the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.
The Ramayana is the story of a king named Rama and his beautiful wife, Sita. This epic offers
moral lessons about right and wrong.
The Mahabharata may be the world`s longest poem. It is 200,000 lines long. It tells the story of two
families at war for control of a kingdom.

The Upanishads contain two beliefs that lie at the heart of Hinduism. The first is that there is one
supreme cosmic consciousness, spiritual force, or God known as Brahman.
Many Hindus worship individual gods or goddesses as forms of Brahman, as Vishnu, Shiva, Shakti,
or Krishna.
The second core Hindu belief is that every person is born with a soul. This soul is also is a form of
Brahman.

Hinduism teaches that when people die, most will undergo reincarnation. Reincarnation is the
rebirth of a soul in a new body. The law of karma determines how a person is reborn. Karma is the
effect of a person`s actions in this and in previous lives. Hindus believe that bad karma - evil deeds
- will bring rebirth into a lower caste or even as a lower animal. Good karma brings rebirth into a
higher caste.

Hindus believe that people have four basic goals in life:

 1. Dharma - is a person`s duty or what is right for him or her. Dharma includes the rule of
ahimsa, or avoiding doing harm to any living thing. Following dharma brings good karma.
Violating dharma brings bad karma.
2. Striving for well-being - earning a livelihood with dignity, making a good living and raising a
family.
3. Pleasure - eating good food or taking a hot bath.
4. Moksha - liberation from reincarnation. When this happens, a person`s soul becomes one
with Brahman.

More than a billion people live in India today. About 80 percent of them follow Hinduism. The rest
follow other religions. Several things helped the growth of Hinduism in India. One was Hinduism`s
flexibility. Because Hinduism views all gods as forms of a single, supreme God, it can accept the
worship of new gods.
Hinduism also did not require regular attendance at religious services. Hindus could pray and make
offerings at shrines in their homes.
Over time, Hinduism spread to other lands. Indian traders and priests carried Hinduism to
Southeast Asia, Thailand and Indonesia. Indians also took Hinduism with them when they migrated
to Great Britain, United States and Canada..
Today Hindus live in some 150 countries. But most Hindus still live in India.

SECTION 4 Buddhism

Buddhism, like Hinduism, arose in Ancient India. Buddhism is a religion based on the teachings of
Siddhartha Gautama, an Indian spiritual leader. Siddhartha became known as Buddha. We call his
followers Budhists.
Siddhartha Gautama was probably born during the 400BC in what is now Nepal. A Hindu prince, he
was raised in wealth and luxury. According to legend, a prophet predicted that the child would grow
up to be a wandering holy man. This disturbed Siddhartha`s father. He wanted his son to grow up to
be a ruler.
To keep Siddhartha from becoming a holy man, his father shielded him from everything unpleasant
or disturbing. The prince never saw anyone who was poor, sad, or sick. When he rode out of the
palace in his chariot, guards traveled ahead of him to clear beggars and sick people from the
streets.
Legends say that one day when Siddhartha rode out of the palace without any guards, he saw an
old, bent, toothless man leaning on a stick. On a second ride, he saw a man shrunken by disease.
On a third, he saw a dead man. Siddhartha was shocked, he faced old age, sickness, and death. A
few days later he saw a wandering holy man. The holy man was homeless and owned nothing. Still
he seemed content. Siddhartha decided to search for the same sense of peace that the holy man
showed.
He set out to find the truth about life, suffering, and death. Siddhartha began his search by studying
with Hindu gurus. They taught him that life was a cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. Then he joined a
band of religious ascetics.
For five years, wore scratchy clothes and fasted, or went without food, for long periods. After six
years he realized going to such extremes was not the path to truth.
One day Siddhartha sat down under a big fig tree to meditate. He meditated for 49 days and nights.
Finally he reached an awareness that freed him from his ties to the world. He entered a new life free
of suffering. He had achieved enlightenment - a state of perfect wisdom. Siddhartha had become
the Buddha, which means ‘The Enlightened One’.
For the next 45 years, the Buddha traveled across India sharing his message. The Buddha died at
about age of 80.
Buddha understood why people suffer. He accepted the Hindun idea of karma - the idea that a
person`s actions have consequences in this or in future lives. Buddha did not believe in the
existence of any god. He also did not accept the caste system. The Buddha believed in following
what he called the Middle Way. That way of life called for accepting four truths.
● The First Noble Truth is that all of life involves suffering. Birth, sickness, old age, and death
brings suffering.
● The Second Noble Truth is that wanting or desiring things for oneself causes suffering. Not
all desires are bad. It is not wrong to desire the happiness of others. However, selfish
desires lead to suffering.
● The Third Noble Truth is that people can end their suffering. The way to do this is to give up
all selfish desires.
● The Fourth Noble truth is that there is a way to overcome selfish desires. The way to
overcome those desires is to follow the Eightfold Path.
1. Right Belief
2. Right Purpose
3. Right Speech
4. Right Conduct (not killing, stealing, lying, or hurting others)
5. Right Livelihood
6. Right Effort (making an effort to avoid bad thoughts)
7. Right Mindfulness (becoming aware of what one thinks and feels)
8. Right Meditation

The goal of a person who follows the Eightfold Path is to reach nirvana. Nirvana is a state of blissful
peace without desire or suffering. Those who reach nirvana at peace with themselves.

As the Buddha preached, he gained many followers. At first they followed him from place to place.
After a while, the Buddha found places for them to stay during the rainy seasons. These became
Buddhist monasteries, or religious communities. The most devoted lived in monasteries.
The Buddha urged his followers to carry his teachings to all corners of Earth. A person who spreads
religious ideas is a missionary. Missionaries carried his teachings throughout Asia - India, Sri
Lanka, Central Asia, China, Korea, Japan, and Tibet.

Today, there are about 400 million Buddhists. Most live in Asia - Sri Lanka, Myanmar (or Burma),
Thailand, Cambodia, Bhutan, Vietnam, China, Taiwan, Mongolia, the Koreas, and Japan.