Comparisons between Hinduism and Buddhism

      We are leaving Nepal soon; I think I should do some comparisons between those two important religions before I leave.
     
      Let's talk about the differences of between them first. First, many beliefs of Hinduism are based on Caste system. Hindus think if they do their Dharma and take their responsibility, then their caste will ascend and finally they will reach moksha. However, Buddhism rejects caste system, and it offers salvation to everyone. Second, Hinduism does not have a specific founder, but Buddhism is founded by Siddhartha Gautama. But my guess about the origin of Hinduism is, when Aryans founded this religion after they invaded India. My assumption based on the fact that Aryans might had founded caste system first. Since Hinduism is largely based on caste system that is founded by Aryans, therefore Aryans might also be the founder of Hinduism. Thirdly, Hinduism is polytheistic and it has a lot of gods, such as Shiva and Vishnu. But Buddha, the founder of Buddhism rejects the existence of any gods.Also, Hinduism are most popular in India, while Buddhism spreads through China and southeast Asia.

   Castes in India

     There are also many similarities between them. They both believe in the existence of several hells and heavens. They both emphasize compassion and non violence towards all living beings. They both believe in certain spiritual practices like meditation, and concentration. Buddhism believes in the concept of Bodhisattvas. Hinduism does not believe in it. Bodhisattvas is someone that motivated by great compassion, and attains Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings.

Twenty-Five Bodhisattvas Descending from Heaven

   

The Origin of Buddhism

      We need to stay in Nepal for a few weeks. British also wants to expand the market in Nepal, so our goal is to collect data of Nepal.
      To be honest, I am not interested in that anymore. I think the culture and religion are more attractive and interesting than money.

Map of India and Nepal

      I have seen a Buddhism monk before in India a few weeks ago, and he looks totally different with Hindu priest. I decided to do some research about Buddhism while my colleges are collecting data of Nepal for our company. 

     So Buddhism is founded by Siddhartha Gautama in India. He was born in 560 BCE in Nepal which is the country at the South north of India. He is also called as Buddha, which literally means The Enlightened one. 

A Statue of Buddha

     Buddha rejects the caste system, the need for priest, and the existence of any gods. He even rejects to be treated as a god.

     The Tenets of Buddha is very interesting. Buddha thinks that the suffering is universal which means everyone suffers in their lives. And the cause of suffering is desire. You suffer because of your pursue of material wealth or long life. The only way to end suffering is to crush your desire. And the only way to crush your desire is to follow Noble Eightfold Path, which means you need to embrace the tenets of Buddha. 

    

An Ancient Painting of Noble Eightfold Path

      Here is a painting of the Noble Eightfold Path. Each part in the circle represents right understanding, awareness, speech, action, likelihood, effort, thought, and concentration. 

      I like Buddhism because it seems to offer salvation to everyone regardless of their birth and wealth. It doesn't have any priest or caste system, so it is really egalitarian. Most important thing is, the Noble Eightfold Path, Buddhism's guide, leaves us a space to figure out the understanding and rules of life by ourselves. It doesn't state what you can't do, it just suggest you that you might want to have good understanding or good speech which will lead you to a good life. 

A Lama with a prayer wheel

      Theocratically, if you follows the Noble Eightfold Path, you will be able to achieve nirvana. Nirvana refers to the imperturbable stillness of mind after the fires of desire, aversion, and delusion have been finally extinguished.  

A Book that explains Nirvana

Ganges River and Vedas

   
     Background Indian Music

     We arrived in Bhagalpur, a city near Ganges River, 2 days ago. I heard that Ganges River is the largest river in India, and it is the embodiment of sacredness for Indians. So I was super excited to visit Ganges River, and I expected Ganges river to be clean and nice.

People Are Taking Shower in Ganges River

      But I was very disappointed when I actually saw Ganges River by myself. It is so crowded! People are ubiquitous. Also, the water in Ganges River is so dirty! A lot of people were taking shower in the river! Taking shower in public! Oh my god! I can't believe it! I have seen their drainage system and bathrooms in Mohenjo-Daro. They had very well-developed bathroom in 2000 years ago! Then why do they take shower in Ganges River!
      Also, some people were sprinkling some gray powder into the river. I am so curious about this river! I asked Dilijan if she can explain this to me. She agreed. And this is what she said.
      Ganges River is sacred to every Indians, and that is why they bath in the river. They want to bath in the sacred water and get closer to the moksha which means the relief from life and death cycle. Indians also believe that this sacred water can bring redemption to dead, so they sprinkle the ashes of their relatives into the water to help the dead get closer to moksha.
      However, Ganges river is still very pretty.
   
   
      I feel like get better understanding of the Indian culture after staying in india for a few months.
      I was very curious about the origin of caste system. So I started reading Vedas a few weeks ago. Vedas is Hinduism's oldest and most sacred text that collects many hymns and ritual instructions that are used to perform religious ceremonies. It is composed between 1600 BCE and 600 BCE. For most Indians, the Vedas is the book that they must read. And the job of priest is to interpret Vedas and other sacred text.
      So here is the story about the origin of caste system.

A copy of Vedas

      Thousand-headed is Purusa, thousand-eyed, thousand-footed. Having covered the earth on all sides, he stood above it the width of ten fingers.

Only Purusa is all this, that which has been and that which is to be. He is the lord of the immortals, who grow by means of [ritual] food.

      Such is his greatness, yet more than this is Purusa. One-quarter of him is all beings; three- quarters of him is the immortal in heaven.

      Three-quarters of Purusa went upward, one-quarter of him remained here. From this [one-quarter] he spread in all directions into what eats and what does not eat.

      From him the shining one was born, from the shining one was born Purusa. When born he extended beyond the earth, behind as well as in front.

When the gods performed a sacrifice with the offering Purusa, spring was its clarified butter, summer the kindling, autumn the oblation.

      It was Purusa, born in the beginning, which they sprinkled on the sacred grass as a sacrifice. With him the gods sacrificed, the demi-gods, and the seers.

From that sacrifice completely offered, the clotted butter was brought together. It made the beasts of the air, the forest and the village.

      From that sacrifice completely offered, the mantras [Rig Veda] and the songs [Samaveda] were born. The meters were born from it. The sacrificial formulae [Yajurveda] were born from it.

From it the horses were born and all that have cutting teeth in both jaws. The cows were born from it, also. From it were born goats and sheep.

      When they divided Purusa, how many ways did they apportion him? What was his mouth? What were his arms? What were his thighs, his feet declared to be?

      His mouth was the Brahman [caste], his arms were the Rajanaya [Ksatriya caste], his thighs the     Vaisya [caste]; from his feet the Sudra [caste] was born.

      The moon was born from his mind; from his eye the sun was born; from his mouth both Indra and Agni [fire]; from his breath Vayu [wind] was born.

      From his navel arose the air; from his head the heaven evolved; from his feet the earth; the [four] directions from his ear. Thus, they fashioned the worlds.

      Seven were his altar sticks, three times seven were the kindling bundles, when the gods, performing the sacrifice, bound the beast Purusa.

     The gods sacrificed with the sacrifice to the sacrifice. These were the first rites. These powers reached the firmament, where the ancient demi-gods and the gods are.

Purusa, the Cosmetic Man

     As you can see, this is a creation myth. Purusa is the giant man who creates everything. This story explained how does caste come and how each caste is different from another caste. Castes grow from a part of his body, and which part do they grow from determines what is their job . For instance, Brahman grows from his mouth. So they are at the highest social rank and their job is to interpret and teach people the sacred texts. 

     Thus, I think the beliefs and tenets of Hinduism is largely based on Caste System. And that is the important key to understand Indian Culture.
   

   

Some Thoughts about Dawali,Caste System, and common things between India and Western Culture

      Ramayana

      I found a story about Dawali in Ramayana today. This story explains that why Indians have Dawali. Before I wrote down the the story, let me just give you some background information of Ramayana.
   
      Ramayana is a very important Hindu epics, it tells the story of hero Rama. It depicts the duties of relationships, portraying ideal characters like the ideal father, ideal son, ideal wife and the ideal king.  The hero, Rama, lived his whole life by the rules of dharma; in fact, that was why Indian consider him heroic. When Rama was a young boy, he was the perfect son. Later he was an ideal husband to his faithful wife, Sita, and a responsible ruler of Aydohya. "Be as Rama," Dilijan told me that she has been taught in this way for her whole life; "Be as Sita."

An Old Copy of Ramayana

      The story of Prince Rama

      So here is the story of Rama:

   

      Prince Rama was the eldest of four sons and was to become king when his father retired from ruling. His stepmother, however, wanted to see her son Bharata, Rama's younger brother, become king. Remembering that the king had once promised to grant her any two wishes she desired, she demanded that Rama be banished and Bharata be crowned. The king had to keep his word to his wife and ordered Rama's banishment. Rama accepted the decree unquestioningly. "I gladly obey father's command," he said to his stepmother. "Why, I would go even if you ordered it."

Rama and Cita that I Painted on a Old Stamp Paper

      When Sita, Rama's wife, heard Rama was to be banished, she begged to accompany him to his forest retreat. "As shadow to substance, so wife to husband," she reminded Rama. "Is not the wife's dharma to be at her husband's side? Let me walk ahead of you so that I may smooth the path for your feet," she pleaded. Rama agreed, and Rama, Sita and his brother Lakshmana all went to the forest.

When Bharata learned what his mother had done, he sought Rama in the forest. "The eldest must rule," he reminded Rama. "Please come back and claim your rightful place as king." Rama refused to go against his father's command, so Bharata took his brother's sandals and said, "I shall place these sandals on the throne as symbols of your authority. I shall rule only as regent in your place, and each day I shall put my offerings at the feet of my Lord. When the fourteen years of banishment are over, I shall joyously return the kingdom to you." Rama was very impressed with Bharata's selflessness. As Bharata left, Rama said to him, "I should have known that you would renounce gladly what most men work lifetimes to learn to give up."

      The parallel between cultures

      I started thinking about the same features that India culture and Western culture share yesterday. Even though these civilizations exist in different period of time and have different locations, we have a lot of things in common.

   

      We both have a festival that we can celebrate our happiness with our family. Indians have Dawali, which also signifies the victory of overcome the darkness. And we have Christmas and Thanksgiving.

      We both use epic poems to demonstrate what kind of personalities do we value, and to teach people a lesson of what they should do. Indians use Ramayana to teach people that performing your Dharma is your sacred duty. Being a good person means to take up your responsibility. And we use The Iliad and The Odyssey to demonstrate our values such as: sports and military skills are important, civic virtue is what you should have, and fighting for your polis is honorable. 

      Isn't is amazing that two different cultures both camp up with the idea of using epic poems to provide a moral code for their citizens? 

     
      And, I am super homesick now, so I wrote a postcard to my family.

My postcard

      

            

Celebrating Diwali

               
      We will stay in Ambala for a few days, since the Diwali festival is coming up. I have no idea what Diwali is, so I asked Dilijan. She has taught me Indian culture and Hinduism for 2 weeks, but to be honest, I am so confused by all the gods and myths. So she used the simplest word to explain what is Diwali.
      Diwali is a Hindu festival of lights. It is celebrated in autumn every year. People will clean their houses and light up diyas(candles) inside and outside of their houses.  People also buy gifts for family members. There will be fireworks and firecrackers. Dancers will dress up and perform stick dance. The diyas will light up the whole city.
   

Diyas

      We took some photos of Diwali, as you can see, it is a delightful and fantastic festival. I was so amazed when I saw that the whole city was lighted up by diyas. I think this brightness signifies the victory that light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance, good over evil, and hope over despair. It is such an amazing festival because everyone can enjoy the brightness and joy.   

       

Dancers Dressed in Cowrie Shells for Stick Dance

People Are Lighting up Diyas

An Ancient Painting of Fireworks at Diwali

      For me, this festival is a little bit similar to Christmas. We both celebrate with our family, we buy gifts to family members, and we celebrate the brightness and goodness of our lives. But we have many stories about Christmas, for example, the story of Santa and Grinch. I wonder if there is any stories for Diwali.

      Also, I got a letter from John Watson. He told us that they got the results back from the Cambridge Lab. The seeds that they found in the granaries of Mohenjo-Daro are cotton, wheat, and barley seeds.
      This means that Indian civilization is the first civilization to cultivate cottons! This is such an amazing finding!
   

A Cotton Merchant

       

Caste System and Hinduism

We are on our way to Madras which is an administrative subdivision of our company. I noticed some interesting things during the trip, for example, our Indian guide who is a priest yells at his daughter for talking to the son of a peasant.

 An Indian Priest, Kamura                Priest's daughter, Diljan 

       

       I asked Lakshmana who is another Indian guide on the train. His answer to my question really surprised me. He said that people from different caste can neither talk nor eat together. 

       I heard about caste system before, but I thought it is just another term for social hierarchy. I mean, in England, we also have social hierarchy. But at least we can talk to a person who is from a higher or lower social rank. 

       However, caste system is a extremely strict religious and social order. People can only talk to, eat with, and marry to people who are in the same caste with them. And, there is NO social mobility, you belong to the same caste for your whole life and past your caste to your descendants. If your are a priest or a teacher , then you are in the highest caste, brahmans. Warriors are in the Kshatriyas, landowners and workers are in Vaisya system, peasants and servants are in sudra caste. 

       I will be in Sudra caste if I am an Indian because my parents are both workers in the factory. Caste system is based on blood, which means I am in the same caste that my parents are in. 

Sudra Caste

       Also, Kamura told me that caste system is strongly related with Hinduism. Hindu believes that your soul will never die with your body, it will reborn. And if you take your Dharma which means your duty to your caste, you will get good Karma which means your caste will ascend when you reborn. 

       I think this belief keeps people and everything in order. People take their responsibility because they believe in reincarnation and caste system, so they can still function together very well even though they don't have a very strong government now. 

       Then I get very interested in Hinduism, so I asked him if he can teach me something about this religion. 

       As we mentioned before, Hinduism is largely based on caste system. Hindu also believes in reincarnation which means that your soul will reborn when your body dead. Their final goal is to achieve Moksha, which is the state that your soul is released from body and life cycle. 

     Hinduism is polytheistic, in fact, they have thousands of gods. The most important three gods are Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu. We call them the Holy Trinity of Hinduism.

     Brahma is the Creator, he creates everything includes Shiva and Vishnu. He has 4 heads, and each one represents one from Vedas. He is also the God of sacrifice. Compare to other gods, he seems very peaceful because he doesn't hold any weapons.

Brahma

     Shiva is the Destroyer, and she also represents the regeneration. He appears as naked. He is encircles with serpents and demons, and he also wears a necklace that made of skulls. He is depicted as white, with a dark blue throat, with several arms and three eyes. In myths, his third eye provides him perception beyond ordinary sight. 

      The fact that he represents both death and regeneration suggests that Hinduism believe in the life cycle. They treats death as a new beginning rather than the end.

The Shiva that I painted

      Vishnu is also a major god in Hinduism. He is the preserver of the universe. He has thousands of names and appearances. 

First Incarnation of Vishnu

Third Incarnation of Vishnu

      In Hinduism, may gods are depicted as blue. Vishnu is depicted as blue because he is associated with water. In Hinduism, gods who have depth of character and the capacity to fight evil are depicted as blue skinned.

Continuing My Exploration in Mohenjo-Daro

      This morning, John showed me the houses that they just excavated. To be honest, I am really surprised by their engineering skill. I can't believe that they could build such nice houses in 2000 years ago.
      Most of the houses are two-story, and they are also made of standardized bricks. The houses are believed to have flat roofs that made of timber. The windows locate on the second floor, and the interesting thing is, they never face the main street. Windows only face to the narrow streets and alleyways that branch off of the major streets.
This is an interesting fact to me. Because in London and many other cities, all the buildings have windows that face to the main streets. My assumption is, their main streets are really busy and noisy so that they only have windows that face to narrow streets. Or, they want to have more privacy.

Houses in Mohenjo-Daro

   Most of the houses have the same lay-outs, which probably suggests that this society is relatively egalitarian. But some houses are bigger than others and they have own wells, which suggests that the social status still exist. The house in this picture was planned as a series of rooms opening onto a central courtyard providing an open space inside for community activities. 

     
      As for agriculture, they excavated some granaries which means they had already developed agriculture and they know how to store them. They found some seed in the granaries, but they don't know which type of crops they are. So they sent them back to a lab in Cambridge to test them.

Granary

     However, this amazing civilization disappeared in 1500 BCE. There are several reasons that might cause this. First, they might overused the environment. Since they need to burn woods, so they might overkilled the forest. Then the soil just cannot support the crops anymore. Second, Aryans might had invaded them about 3500 years ago. Aryans are people from modern day middle east and Europe. Their skin color is lighter than native Indians, and Aryans speak Indo-Aryan language. Historians had found some evidences from Rig Veda, the sacred text of Hinduism, that suggests that Aryans might invaded Harrapa and Mohenjo-Daro.

In aid of Abhyavartin Cayamana,
Indra destroyed the seed of Varasikha.

At Hariyupiyah he smote the vanguard of the Vrcivans, and the rear fled frighted.    

An Excerpt from Rig Veda 

      They also found some seals that are carved from soft stone. Indians might wear them as amulets. There are some patterns and writing on those steals, but John says that they haven't deciphered it yet. This is Sanskrit. Sanskrit is the primary language of India, and it also belongs to Indo-Aryan family. Most sacred text of Hinduism and Buddhism are wrote in Sanskrit. So far, nobody can really decipher this language. Our guess is, Aryans brought in this language when they invaded Ancient Indian because Sanskrit is very similar to Latin and Greek.

       Nowadays, many Indians also speak a little a little bit of English since British Empire has many colonial centers in India. 

   

Seals

      We are going to leave Sindh and head to Madras tomorrow. Bye Mohenjo-Daro, it's such a pleasure to visit this ancient city!