Question

why were Buddha's main ideas so revolutionary compared to the ideas about life that existed in India? What are the differences between Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism? How did Buddha's ideas impact India and the world?

Answer 1

Mauryan empire was influenced due to the teachings of Buddhism. It appealed to people of lower castes because it lead to salvation and moksha with complete peace of mind, body and soul.Emperor Asoka also adopted the religion of Buddhism. It took place in 260BC. The founder of Buddhism religion was emperor Siddharth Gautum born in 563BC in a wealthy family. He rejected the richness and diversity of his life and led a life of total ascetism. He attained enlightenment and moksha after 49 days of meditation in peace. He was supported by a group of people who became monks and traveled all over India to spread awareness about this religion. There were four Noble truths preached by Gautum Buddha. These main ideas are:

• There is suffering in life.
• The cause of suffering is the desire in a person.
• The ending of desire leads to an end to all forms of suffering in life of a person.
• a controlled lifestyle leads to an end of extreme suffering.

There is a eight fold path advocated by the Buddhism religion, which is as follows:

• right and true belief
• correct soul.
• right resolve.
• right speech.
• right conduct.
• right occupation.
• right truthfulness
• right salvation and samadhi in life.

It led to a belief in Monasticism which means leaving all the wordly pleasures in life and dedicating towards the attainment od moksha and peace in life. He believed in the attainment of enlightenment in life through meditation and that caste was not responsible for the deeds performed in the previous lives. King Asoka obtained salvation after fighting a feudal war against the kingdom of Kalinga.

There are various differences among the different religions of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism like as follows:

The preaching of Hinduism are as follows:

• God is the creator, preserver and destroyer of the life of different people.
• There is a merger of soul and God after death during the process of liberation of mankind.
• There are different Vedas and scriptures which represent the symbolic importance present in this religion.
• There are different caste systems like the Brahmins, Shudras, Vaishnavas, and the Kshatriya.
• There is practicing of Raj Yoga or meditation to attain peace and tranquility in life.

The preachings of the Jainism and Buddhism are as follows namely as given below:

• God is not a universal creator.
• Through meditations humans can achieve the highest spiritual state in life.
• There is path of attaining knowledge.
• The attainment of self-realization in life.

The preaching of Buddhism are as follows:

• There is a state of nirvana with a being in a state of zero or non-entity in life.
• The desire to attain something in life leads to a state of rebirth after death and suffering.
• Meditation leads to the attainment of enlightenment.
• There is a middle path of moderate life without any extremities.

These views impacted the life of people due to the teaching of Buddha.

The preaching of Jainism are as follows:

• God is a pure soul with consciousness and true state.
• After liberation, there is freedom of the soul.
• There should be right conduct, right perception and right knowledge in life.