Hinduism and its foundation for Buddhism

The idea that all was created from the body parts of Purusha or “The One”, who was believed to be the greatest of all divine powers, influenced the belief that all living things were born into a specific rank. This ranking system is known as castes, in which the feet of Purusha created all living things that are considered servants or Shudras, its thighs created the householder population or the Vaishya. Following, came the sacrifice of Purusha’s arms which in turn created the Kshatriya or the warrior rank, and finally the Brahmins which were considered the highest of all the ranks and were created from Purusga’s mouth. These ranks were said to be determined depending on your previous life and if one lived there previous life properly or as the Hindu religion saw life to be lived, than one would rise in rank until ultimately reaching the goal. Hinduism’s belief in samsara or the endless cycle of life, death, and reincarnation is the problem that the Hindu religion seeks to solve. Its goal is to reach ones inner spiritual being and reuniting once again with Purusha, never again to deal the tediousness of samsara’s clench of the spirit within. This is known as moksha.

Ascetic (pic info)

            Reaching moksha being the ultimate goal, has lead to the belief of three primary paths that one can take in order to achieve such liberation. Given your circumstances you may choose to either go with Karma Yoga, which through good actions will spring you from samsara. You may also choose the way of devotion known as Bhakti Yoga. Finally u may choose the path of knowledge known to be Jnana Yoga. This particular path required intense seclusion from society and all that is dear to the common man including family. Those who chose the path of Jnana yoga would be known as ascetics. Their practice aside from withdrawal from society was to achieve a deeper level of knowledge and wisdom, and to realize that what we see is an illusion of the mind or maya.  This new level of knowledge would lead towards the compilation of the Upanishads and guide these ascetics towards moksha. The rigorousness of Asceticism for many is nearly impossible, it requires complete lose of all senses leave no room what so ever for distractions. This in turn would allow one to reach full concentration and begin to ponder upon unanswerable questions and seek what is truly real.

            Hinduism is the foundation upon which Buddhism was built. For this reason Buddhism has many characteristics of its mother religion, Hinduism which influenced its structure. According to Huston Smith’s book “The World’s Religion” the way of Buddha or dhamma was formed as a change in what was thought to be unnatural or abnormal about Hinduism. That many of the Hindu religion’s rituals, authorities, and other attributes where being taken advantage of by those few who felt were in power. For example, Buddha’s site of the exclusion that the Brahmins, from the Hindu religion, had invoked upon those who were ranked lower than their own caste provoked Buddha to preach about how the way of Buddha was open to all. He made sure that there was no exception to his religion that all may come and be received with open arms. Opposite of what the Hindu religion was becoming during his time. He also pushed forth the idea that there is no need to force oneself to a life of religious rites and ceremonies. That such acts actually further constricted the human spirit. These are only a couple of the attributes from the Hindu religion that Buddha used to inform his religion of dhamma.