Hinduism
Hinduism is one of the oldest religions in the world. With more than 900 million followers, it is currently the third most widespread religion in the world. A polytheistic religion, it has a complex pantheon that is often abstract in the eyes of the uninitiated. The starting postulate is close to that of Buddhism: man goes through a series of reincarnations to reach deliverance(Moksa) which puts an end to this cycle. Karma integrates the idea of causes and consequences: a bad action will generate bad karma and reincarnation in an inferior being. Hinduism was born around 1600 B.C., from the contact of the Arya, nomadic tribes from Central Asia with indigenous populations living on the Indian subcontinent. These invaders provided a first definition of the Hindu pantheon and instituted the caste system. Their beliefs, transmitted orally and later codified in the Vedas (first Hindu religious texts), form the basis of Hinduism. Thirty-three gods populate a universe consisting of four worlds. As far as the castes are concerned, the Brahmins, at the top of the hierarchy, have the function of knowing and teaching the rites, the kshatriyas are kings or warriors, the vahyas are breeders, peasants or traders... One is born into a caste, one stays there, that's definitive. The pure castes cannot receive water from untouchables, who carry out so-called impure trades such as butchery, shoemaking or garbage disposal... One can also be outside the caste system, by renouncing the world and social life: this is the fate of the sannyasis, hermits close to Buddhist sadhus, who devote (in principle) their lives to the search for the sacred.
Principles of Hinduism
Vishnu appears at crucial moments to save the world. According to the times, it takes successively different forms. In the future, Vishnu will take the aspect of Kalki, the divine man on earth, and become one with the infinite divinity. With Shiva, Hinduism recovers a belief dating back to prehistory. Symbolized by an erect phallus, he is the god of fertility and desire. Genitor, he allows to escape from time through a cycle of reproduction; master of death, he allows to escape from the cycle of reincarnations, one of the fundamental aspirations of Hinduism, and from this illusory world. All creation can only be obtained by the union of a male principle with a female principle. To each god and its multiple aspects corresponds a companion, a parhedron. Nothing then stands in the way of the exponential multiplication of the number of deities. To the couples formed by the gods and goddesses are added their children, the most famous of whom is Ganesh, the elephant god, son of Shiva and Pārvatī. In addition, a whole bestiary of deified animals serves as a mount for the gods. To Vishnu is associated Garuda, the bird-man; Shiva is preceded by the bull Nandi; and the messenger of Yama, the god of Death, is a raven.
Buddhism
Appearing in northern India between the 6th and5th centuries BC under the influence of the teachings of Siddharta Gautama, better known as Buddha (Shākyamuni), Buddhism brings a particular extension to Hindu thought. Present in Nepal as early as the 3rd century BC, under the impetus of the Indian Buddhist Emperor Ashoka, it was not really until the 8th century that Buddhism began to take root, in its Tantric form originating in Tibet. Today it is practised by nearly a quarter of the Nepalese population, including the peoples of the Himalayan highlands and Tibetan refugees.
Buddha the Awakened
Born in Nepal in 623 B.C.-C, in Lumbini, Prince Siddharta Gautama decided to give up his palace life after witnessing human suffering through four people: an old man made him aware of the suffering of the passing of time and the decay of the aging body; a sick man taught him that the body also suffers regardless of time; a corpse that was being burned at the stake revealed death in all its sordid character; finally, a hermit showed him what wisdom could be. He then began a very strict life as an ascetic, renouncing his privileges in order to find the truth that governs human nature. Six years later, with his body almost reduced to the state of a skeleton, he realized that he had taken the wrong path, and that neither strict asceticism nor material comfort would allow him to reach Enlightenment. The best way would therefore be to follow the Way of the Just Middle (moderation), to avoid the extremes of pleasure or austerity. While in Bodh-Gaya in the Indian state of Bihar, he accepts a bowl of rice pudding from the hands of a young village girl, thus putting an end to his exhaustion. He then decides to concentrate on meditation, settles down under a bo(Ficus religiosa), and declares that he will only get up once he has reached Awakening. After three nights of meditation, Siddhartha Gautama becomes Buddha, an "awakened" being, freed from all his sufferings.
The Four Noble Truths
From there, Buddha begins to spread his thought, gathering a growing number of disciples in a community of followers who gather in monasteries. It was in the deer park at Sarnath that he delivered his first sermon. From this first teaching comes what is called the first turn of the Wheel of Dharma. This middle path can be followed by applying the Four Noble Truths which are the expression of the deep understanding of reality that Buddha had at the moment of his Awakening: According to the first Noble Truth, existence is marked by suffering (Dhuka
) related to aging, illness, death and our inability to achieve what we desire. The origin of this suffering lies in the second Noble Truth, namely the desire to see things differently than they really are, this dissatisfaction is translated by actions that go against our karma and thus prolong indefinitely the cycle of our rebirths, our actions in one life determining what we will have to endure in the next. The Third Noble Truth teaches us that we can stop suffering by acting on these causes, once freed from desire and attachment, we are able to break the cycle of rebirths so that it is no longer necessary to be reborn into the world of suffering to reach Nirvāna. The Fourth Noble Truth describes the path that leads to Enlightenment, the Eightfold Path.For Buddha, greed, anger and ignorance are the three roots of evil and human suffering. These three poisons are materialized in the Wheel of Life, which is visible at the entrance of Buddhist temples and monasteries and which features three creatures: a rooster greedily pecking at the ground, a snake with eyes shining with anger, and a pig wallowing in the mud, full of ignorance. These three creatures form a circle, and each of them bites the tail of the one in front of it.
Thus, greed, anger and ignorance subjugate men to Samsāra, the cycle of reincarnations, and the world in which they will be reborn after their death will depend on their past actions: karma. Buddhist philosophy thus proposes to invert the order of cyclic existence, and break the karmanic cycle in order to attain Enlightenment.A lesson in tolerance
By applying and teaching these precepts, Siddharta Gautama reached Nirvāna at the age of 80, a state of freedom from all suffering and the cycle of reincarnations. He died in Kushinagar, North India, after atoning in meditation, lying on his right side and smiling. After his death, Siddharta Gautama is presented as a divine emanation. An adaptation of his doctrine is necessary in ancient India and the Himalayas. By becoming a popular practice, Buddhism is being transformed in the same way as Hinduism has been doing since Vedic times. As time went by, different schools appeared and today's Buddhism is divided into three main currents: Theravāda, Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna. Mahāyāna, the "Buddhism of the Great Vehicle", teaches that man is not armed to escape the cycle of reincarnations alone. He has to call upon divine mercy in the form of bodhisattvas, the incarnations of Buddha who appeared on earth to show the Way at different times. Let us mention Manjushri, the founder of Nepal, who freed the waters of a lake to create the Kathmandu Valley, venerated in Tibet as well as in China; Avalokitesvara, the god of compassion and the equivalent of Shiva; or Vajrapāni, the bearer of thunder, the great magician corresponding to Indra. Hinduism and Buddhism have thus created gods to infinity, a polytheism that has enabled integration and tolerance towards peoples who were opposed to each other. Since no one can claim to understand the divine in its entirety, it becomes natural to respect the point of view of one's neighbour, or even to assimilate his recipes.
