Religions summary Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Religions summary - Assignment Example Hinduism is known as the most ancient religion of the world. And therefore the Hindu religious texts are perhaps the most ancient religious texts still surviving today. The primary sacred texts of the Hindus are the Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda, Atharva Veda. The Rig Veda is the oldest of the four. An important text in Hinduism is the Ramayana. It is a moving love story with moral and spiritual themes that has deep appeal in India. Ramayana was written by Valmiki. Another important text in Hinduism is the Mahabharata which is a group of books written by Vyasa. Hindus are normally viewed as Trinitarian because Brahma is considered as the god with three persons – Brahma (the creator), Vishnu (the preserver), and Shiva (the destroyer). The four main aims of Hinduism are called the ‘doctrine of the fourfold end of the life’ which are – dharma (righteousness in the religious life), artha (success in the economic life), kama (gratification of the senses, moksa (liberation from the world). Buddhism is the fourth largest religion in the world. It has nearly 365 million followers. Buddhism was founded in India (northern India) by Siddharta Gautama. Buddhism is not a monolithic religion. It is a combination of the teachings of the Buddha with local religious rituals, beliefs and customs. After the death of Buddha splits occurred in the religion. It was divided into three main systems of thoughts within Buddhism which are geographically and philosophically separated. The three groups are – Theravada Buddhism which is otherwise known are southern Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhism which is otherwise known as northern Buddhism, Vajrayana Buddhism which is otherwise known as Tantric Buddhism. Buddha preached the four noble truths of Buddhism which are – there is suffering, there is cause for suffering, there is cessation of suffering, and there is path leading to the