Buddhism arose at a time of significant social and political change. The founder of this religion is Buddha Shakyamuni. When he was 29 years old he retired to the forest where he followed his spiritual life of meditation. After six years he attained his enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree in Bodh Gaya, India. After being requested to teach, Buddha rose from meditation and taught the three wheels of Dharma. He explains how to attain liberation from suffering for oneself while being alone. In the Mahayana teachings, he explains how to attain full enlightenment. Buddha gave over eighty four thousand teachings. His sole intention for founding the Buddhism religion was to lead living beings to permanent liberation from suffering. The teachings of the Buddha created hope and aspiration for those who had otherwise no hope. His motivation was love and compassion, and his aim was to help people find lasting peace, or …show more content…
The beginning of Hinduism can be found in the teachings of ancient sages. Hinduism is the oldest and one of the most heterogenic religious systems. The oldest evidence of religious practice in India date back to 5500 BCE. Veda, which is the oldest form of Hindu scriptures, means knowledge, and contains hymns, prayers and ritual texts. The Upanishads, are a collection of secret teachings including mystical ideas about man and the universe. Hinduism does not have a founder, a single book, or a single point in time. It consists of many different beliefs, philosophies, and viewpoints, which do not always align with each other. Hinduism is more than just a religion. It is vast and complex which reflects the intricacy of the Indian society. An embellished geography, many different languages and dialects, and racial diversity. All of which have shaped Hinduism to make it so much different from many other languages. Hinduism was developed when light-skinned nomadic Aryan Indo-European tribes invaded Northern India BC attacking the Harappan people who lived there in 1500. The name itself comes from the word, Indus, which is the name of an Indian River that existed about 5000 years ago. Both of these groups adopted the beliefs of the other so they were similar in their religious doctrines. At the time, the Aryans believed in multiple gods to worship and the Harappans believed in the sanctity of fertility.