How Buddhism and Hinduism Are Alike and Are Also Different

Buddhism

When Buddha discusses suffering or pain (dukkha), the First Noble Truth, he is referring not only to pain as though someone had burned a hand on a stove, or had stumbled and bruised knee. Dukkha-dukkha is in reference to negative things, painful emotional moments, mental agony and the suffering that goes along with mental disturbances. According to sources used for this paper, some scholars suggest that dukkha alludes to something closer to "dissatisfaction" or "stress" (about.com). And viparinama-dukkha also refers to change or a lack of permanence. For example, when a person is very happy but the success that produced that happiness fades away, that is dukkha (about.com).

The cause of suffering (samkhara-dukkha) (the Second Noble Truth) can be attributed to a "craving," and to "desire" and "ignorance"; desire means craving for material things and pleasure, along with immortality (pbs.org). Buddha believed these wants and desires could never be obtained, and hence, desiring them only brings suffering. The Third Noble Truth (nirhodha) relates to the end of suffering. And how does an individual reach a point where there is no suffering? This could mean the end of suffering on earth, and it could mean the end of suffering in the spiritual life. When one reaches nirvana, a "transcendent state" that is free from any suffering, it is the purest spiritual place of enlightenment. Buddha referred to this Truth as the possibility of liberation from attachment (attachment, related to in the Second Noble Truth) (BBC). The Fourth Noble Truth is Buddha's path to help the person avoid "indulgence and severe asceticism"; this involves the Noble Eightfold Path (using correct speech, action, thought, understanding, livelihood, effort, mindfulness and concentration) to achieve the Noble Eightfold Path (BBC)

My own experience which relates to the First Noble Truth happened when my wife died of a massive heart attack a few years ago. The suffering from that shock was not based on anything material, but rather -- in addition to my grief and sorrow -- my happiness with my wife was taken away. The permanence I felt when we discussed our future together, the sense of a bright future, vanished in a moment, and my suffering was very real and very deep.

TWO: The "Self" in Buddhism: Understanding the self, according to Buddhism, cries out for careful understanding. When we humans think of our self, our ego and our personality, we think we are permanent. In Buddhism there is no "self" in the sense of a "permanent, integral, autonomous being within an individual existence" (this is anatman) (about.com). The five groups ("heaps" or "Skandhas") in Buddhism relate to the self: a) physical form; b) sensation (feelings and emotions); c) perception (how we think and conceptualize); d) mental formations (habits, biases, willfulness); and e) consciousness (the awareness of the world) (about.com).

The "Self" in Hinduism: The Hindu faith uses the word Self with a capital "S" to mean not the individual, nor the soul of the human which deals with incarnation and reincarnation. The Self with a capital "S" alludes to the spirit of the person, the Atman, which no individual can possess. When used with a lower case "s," self refers to the "not-self" because the human self cannot compare with the higher Self, the Devine Self (bliss of Hinduism).