As opposed to Christianity or Buddhism, Hinduism was not based on the teaching of one founder. Moreover, this religion is made up of a variety of traditions and has an extensive history of development (Eliot, 2019). Originally, Hindu was a term that referred to individuals that lived in the other side of the Indus River and became a name for these indigenous individuals. Later, this term was then used to define the Indic religion. On the other hand, Buddhism was a religion which developed in reaction to the establishment of Hinduism at the time (Schmidt-Leukel et al., 2007). Contrastingly, Buddhism has one founder and is structured by several texts which describe the writings of Buddha as the best example.
Buddhism had a significant influence on Hinduism. One of the aspects of this influence was the reduction of the emphasis that was placed on dogmatic rituals and the rigid caste system. Buddhism also introduced the approach in which one is not only expected to provide blind devotion and surrender. Hindus have stuck to the concepts of their writings which are known as the Sanskrit texts (Eliot, 2019). The origin of the caste system in Hindu religion is not known with certainty. However, Hindus maintain that the existence of the castes as a result of the intermarriage which resulted in the subdivision of four different classes. Generally, a caste to an endogamous hereditary group of families which have a common name. These group of families have the same hereditary calling, adhere to the same customs, particularly in regards to purity and marriages, and are usually further divided into smaller circles.
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The status of castes is different in varying locations. Traditional Hindus maintain that some castes are ritually impure and untouchable. This resulted in considerable discrimination of these groups based on these castes. Scheduled casts had to ensure several socio-religious disabilities until Buddhism shifted the view of the Hindu religion. The introduction of Buddhist beliefs to the Hindu religion had a considerable influence in limiting the effect of the caste system (Schmidt-Leukel et al., 2007). This resulted in the lower castes being subjected to a lower level of discrimination. From the Hindu religion, different families are viewed as having the same social level and are not exposed to discrimination based on their castes.
Before Buddhism, Hinduism seemed to be greatly concerned with the concept of duty, as shown in Bhagavad Gita. As there is no concept of duty in Buddhism, its influence had a considerable decrease in the blind faith that was needed from the followers of Hinduism. The concept of Dharma is an important concept in Hinduism. Dharma refers to duty or virtue which upholds society. There are ten main duties of Hinduism that individuals are expected to uphold. Some of these include duty towards self, towards existing gods, towards ancestors, towards progeny and fellow human beings.
Hinduism was significantly focused on the concept of duty, which affected the ability of individuals to celebrate their religion in freedom. However, Buddhism introduced the concept of responsibility which reduced the excessive focus on the concept of duty. Through the introduction of certain concepts of Buddhism, duty in Hinduism was now significantly influenced by the concept of Karma (Schmidt-Leukel et al., 2007). In this way, individuals are away that their moral actions had a considerable effect on the moral consequences that they will experience. Hence, Buddhism not only changed Hinduism by decreasing the level of focus on duty but also limited the level of social discrimination that was associated with the caste system.
References
Eliot, C. (2019). Hinduism and Buddhism (Vol. 3). BoD–Books on Demand.
Schmidt-Leukel, P., & Usarski, F. (2007). Facets of the relationship between Buddhism and Hinduism. Revista de estudos da religiao–REVER , 7 (4), 157-164.
