Mid-Term Exam ,

Shayra Medal Fall 2010

Panther ID: 2640403 REL 2011

Mid-term Exam Due Date: Monday, October 25, 11:45 P.M.

2. Describe the central elements of Vedic religion (i.e. the religion of the Vedic period,

prior to and excluding the Upanishads). In what crucial ways does Vedic religion differ

from the religion that emerges with the Upanishads and the Gita and in what ways are

some of the later developments (particularly beginning with the Gita) latent in or

continuous with Vedic religion?

To begin with, the Vedic age are part of the metaphysical and philosophical

origins. The Aryan theory of invasion was believed by western historians ,such as

German scholar Max Muller in 1848, that the culture itself was extensively organized in

the Indus Valley culture. The theory is still questioned and reject by Hindus that the

religion it self was foreign.

The religious for of scripture was the Sanatana Dharma. According the theory

previously stated it is believed that the Aryans had created the Vedas. Aryans in general

is someone who can read their Sanskrit and practices rituals of the Vedas. There are four

central elements to the Vedic religion. First are the Samhitas which are the earliest and

consist of hymns used to praise to the deities. Secondly, are the Brahmanas which give

direction to the rituals performance of sacrifices. They follow the symbolic procedure as

reality. Thirdly, are the Aranyakas which are thought to be the “forest treatises” it is

where people went in the forest to meditate. The writings of this element consisted a third

of the Veda scripture. The last element are the Upanishads which consisted of spiritual
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masters of the Vedas. They taught about the spiritual transition was composed of the

ritual procedure. It was the last to be organized around 600 and 400 BCE. To the Rishis

who try to encounter reality through meditation in the forest saw this as a mystical

insight. Upanishad basically encounters the idea of committing to learn and transform

accordingly to the higher principle teachings and leaving behind ignorance. What

Upanishads are based on are the Advaita Vedanta, and different aspects of Yoga. Now,

Upanishads have not avoided the concepts of the ancient Veda. Moreover, they have

proposed to clarify the notion of the Veda to the regular mind.

Furthermore, three basic roots that other philosophical systems follow are; all are

found elements that are in common to the scriptures and direct life through meditation, all

hold that their religion is the key to an ordered lifestyle and follow the concept of Karma,

and that all hold the concept of suffering a cause to humans ignorance.

These elements or scriptures are written by the central of the first millennium

BCE., some say that they appear to be older. What is to be recognized is that the Vedas

were not part of human works. It is said to be the breathe of the eternal or by the work of

ancient sages. These ancient sages are known to be the Rishis.

Now to the religions that follow the Vedas such as Buddhism and Jainism do not

recollect the Vedas rather they find more currency as Sanatana Dharma. Furthermore,

philosophical thinkers such as the author of the Gita are transcriptional to the Veda as to

attaining and commenting the Trigunas (are the elements that contain three gunnas as use

of motivation to reach power, pleasure, and entrance to heaven).

4. Compare and contrast the meanings of "salvation" (moksha, nirvana) and "the self"
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To begin with, Buddhism and Hinduism are similar in terminology due to that

their birth regions are equal. What must be taken into consideration is the significance

that meanings are different in truth and form of validity. Their practices and path that

they take for their religion including their goals are set differently. Theravada Buddhism

can be associated with being conservative. However, Hinduism and Buddhism teachings

are much more differentiated as recorded in the school of Buddhism of Pauli Canon.

While in the Buddhism religion “self” can be recorded as “I am”.

Furthermore in the Hinduism religion atman is mentioned to be the “self” of an

individual. The meaning of “salvation” and “the self” were always a problem between

Hinduism and Buddhism. Hinduism follows the idea of self as a part of the Super Soul

known as the Brahman. While Buddhism believes that the idea of self was an imaginary,

a false belief that didn’t exist nor had any correspondence to reality. Buddhists also

believed that “self “produces harmful thoughts of “me” and “mine”. The “self illusion”

also prevented that person from reaching enlightenment through the Eightfold Path and

the known Four Nobel Truths. They also believed that, Buddhism’s teaching toward self

is all cause of suffering which is one of the experiences.

One major difference between Buddhism and Hinduism is that there is no eternal

soul that is going to be reborn. Buddhism believes in reincarnation or Samsara, and also

Karma which, is a circle of actions of what you do will affect the circle of life. Theravada

signifies the only surviving Buddhist school which means “Way the Elders”. Buddhism

also believes in Nirvana which is the liberation of suffering. To them this is the goal to

life and following the four noble truths. They taught that the word “self” is only consisted

of feelings and in the moment impressions and ideas. The use of nirvana is used in
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Buddhism as a state of being. It is kept that the term is kept as to the meaning of salvation

and ‘moksha’ meaning liberation. While Hinduism ‘moksha’ is reincarnation.

Now the contrast is that Hinduism more than being a way of liberation it more

like an eternal law. Hinduism attempts to compile a variety way of thinking into one

complex view. In contrast to Buddhism it has no single founder. Hinduism thought of the

world is one big family and accepts all beliefs. Some themes in Hinduism include

Dharma (which has to do with ethnicities and duties, Samsara (which is the continuing of

life to rebirth) and Karma. Basically the main difference between both religions is that

the Buddha rejected the concept of “atman”. The terms like “anatman” (meaning not-self)

is a major part of the Buddhism religion.

5. The key concept of both Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism is perhaps the concept

of anatta or no-self, or sunyata or emptiness. By this Buddhists argue that the world is in-

substantial or devoid (lacking) in self (permanent soul or substance or a reality behind or

beneath the appearances, the phenomena). The instructor dwelt at length of this aspect of

Buddhism, considering the fundamental thesis of Buddhism. How do Buddhist defend or

argue for this understanding of reality? Do Buddhists do a good job of persuading that

reality is as they see it?

To begin with the Buddha taught about suffering and its cure. Buddhism instructs

that to free our selves from suffering it all depends on our selves and, our efforts. The

religion itself is non-theistic. Instead of, concrete thinking it is more abstract and, is

composed of wisdom, enlightenment, and compassion. He taught that if we comprehend

how we create suffering we can understand how to liberate ourselves.

To further understand the way people think we must understand their religion. It
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is believed that the Buddha was born at the border between Nepal and India the original

name was Siddharta Gautam. It is said that the Buddha has relived on earth undertaking

reincarnation for the salvation of the suffering. Out of compassion he comes back through

the ritual of reincarnation. So their goal for Buddhists is liberation and the spiritual effort.

Furthermore, Buddhist does not clarify if concrete objects exist. But more over,

Buddhist does have traditions and beliefs of the Mahayana and Theravada to clarify the

characteristics of all that exist. These characteristics include, “All things are impermanent

and in a state of constant flux, all things lack any essential nature (Anatta), and all things

are inherently unsatisfactory”. As you can see none of these statements are strong

enough to argue or conflict with the substantial world. However, in respect for Buddhism

this view is quite different from the world that we view it and experience it. But with

their views just like a scientist they investigate and then discover for their own

knowledge.

Now to understand the thinking about life and reality to them we fall back to “The

Four Noble Truths”, which consist of four factors that is held to be true to them. First

that, “Life inevitably involves suffering, is imperfect, and unsatisfactory. They taught that

the word “self” is only consisted of feelings and in the moment impressions and ideas.

Like you can recall earlier I mentioned that life to the Buddhist must be understood by

what is suffering or “dukkah”. Now the second noble truth is “Suffering originates in our

desires”, they stated that the origin of dukkha is desire. This is basically materialism or

wanting the fame, fortune, and pleasure of it all. An attachment to objects or idea is

inconsistent with the path of Buddhism. The teachings of Buddhism recalled that,

“Unhappiness is understood as the inevitable companion of happiness”. The remedy to

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this suffering is to be aware of anatman, dukkha, and anitya. According to the doctrine,

“There is no separate, permanent, or immortal self. Instead a human being is an

impermanent composite of interdependent physical, emotional, and cognitive

components. The third noble is that, the Buddha also states that, all suffering can stop if

all desires can stop. When this is attained then Nirvana can come forward and be

achieved. And finally the fourth noble truth is the following a path of wisdom.

The path taken for salvation is the Noble Eightfold Path which is that desire and

suffering can cease to exist if achieved. The first step to the Noble Eightfold path

understands and that understands the four noble truths. The second aspect is to find a

nature to attain the right motives and brain thinking. And of course to find the nature of

this is to uncover all the imperfections and avoid contact with these people. The third

aspect is the right of speech and finds it as a way of truth and harmony. The fourth is the

right of action which

is moral conduct and that is to not destroy life, avoid stealing, sexual favors, lying, and

drugs or intoxicants. The fifth aspect was livelihood. This basically states that we should

have our living violating the five precepts. The sixth aspect is right of effort which, you

must cut down on unwholesome state of being. The seventh is aspect is right mindfulness

which, basically is stating that the liberation is within our minds to uncover through this

path. To be aware of the moment, and Dhammapada which are sayings of the Dharma.

The eighth aspect is the right of meditation. Which is states to quiet the mind and be in

tune with nature. It is to discipline the mind. Then we can discover our liberation.

In Conclusion, I respect the Buddhism as being part of our world but I do not

believe that they do a good job in persuading the way they view life. And what I mean is
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Life itself is composed of negativity, struggles, and hardships with living everyday. It’s

all around us especially now in this Era with such population. How can you just try to cut

yourself out of society to encounter something that is non-existing of reality? Many of

their teachings can be put into questioning.

Reference:

▪ Bowes, Pratima (1976), The Hindu Religious Tradition: A Philosophical Approach,

Allied Pub, ISBN 0710086687
▪ Flood, Gavin (Ed) (2003), Blackwell companion to Hinduism, Blackwell Publishing,
ISBN 0-631-21535-2
▪ Klostermaier, K (1994), A Survey of Hinduism (3rd (2007) ed.), State University of New
York Press;, ISBN 0791470822
▪ Lipner, Julius (1998), Hindus: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices, Routledge,
ISBN 0415051819, retrieved 2007-07-12
▪ Michaels, A (2004), Hinduism: Past and Present (5th ed.), Princeton University Press,
ISBN 0-691-08953-1
Monier-Williams, Monier (1974), Brahmanism and Hinduism: Or, Religious Thought

and Life in India, as Based on the Veda and Other Sacred Books of the Hindus, Elibron

Classics, Adamant Media Corporation, ISBN 1421265311, retrieved 2007-07-08

• Gombrich, Richard (1997). How Buddhism Began: The Conditioned Genesis of

the Early Teachings. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd..

ISBN 8121508126

• Robinson, Richard; Johnson, Willard; Thanissaro, Bhikkhu (Geoffrey DeGraff)

(2005). Buddhist Religions: A Historical Introduction. Belmont, California:

Wadsworth/Thomson Learning. ISBN 0534558585

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• Zaehner, R. C. (1969). The Bhagavad Gītā. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-

501666-1.

• Chidbhavananda, Swami (1997), The Bhagavad Gita, Sri Ramakrishna

Tapovanam

• Easwaran, Eknath (2007), The Bhagavad Gita, Nilgiri Press,

ISBN 9781586380199

• Easwaran, Eknath (1975), The Bhagavad Gita for Daily Living Volume 1,

Berkeley, California: The Blue Mountain Center of Meditation,

ISBN 9780915132171