Many aspects of Buddhism consist of at least a little bit of Hindu influence. Some of these influences are very obvious, others very subtle. One main Hindu element that can still be seen in Buddhism today is the idea of ahimsa, or no harm. We see this in the movie when the Tibetans do not want to harm the worms they find while digging the soil to build the movie house. This shows two aspects of Hindu culture. The first being their belief in reincarnation. Both Hindus and Buddhists believe that when a p

Now, after reading this chapter and doing a bit of in-depth research on Buddhism I can say that now I understand what Buddhism really is. No one can say that they fully understand it, because religions can be so big. I have yet to this day, to meet a religious scholar who "fully" understands their religion. But to be able to make a judgment on it, one needs to understand the basic teachings of that religion.

Of the three sects of Buddhism, Theravada, the way of the elders, has stayed the most closely related to what the Buddha preached. Because it was based in Sri Lanka, it was isolated from dramatic changes happening in mainland India and Asia. This has allowed it to remain as pure to the original as possible. The Theravada sect teaches that to achieve nirvana, one must become a monk. They also, like the Buddha, opposed rituals from Vedic priests. They most closely resembled the Buddha's way of life. This sect on its own looks like its own religion, free of most Hindu influences found in the other two sects.

erson dies, they keep coming back in this life until they reach the ultimate human goal. In Hinduism it is called, Moksha, and in Buddhism it is called Nirvana. This scene also shows us that the Hindus and Buddhist do not promote violence against living creatures because they may have been loved ones in past lives. This is another great similarity between the two religions because, although the Buddha did not believe in a person having a soul, he did believe that until a person reached nirvana, they kept coming back to this earth. These people could come back as animals and out of respect to them, no living creatures should be harmed.

Unlike the other two sects, Vajrayana Buddhism has a physical and present religious leader. They call him the Dalai Lama, or great ocean superior one. Each Dalai Lama is considered to be an emanation of the heavenly bodhisattva of compassion, Avalokiteshvara. Unfortunately, they way this leader is sought out is not a very effective way of choosing a religious leader. When a major lama dies, his reincarnation is sought, found and trained. They method used to find the next Dalai Lama is a very ancient technique. Monks, who were around the previous Dalai Lama, take objects that were used by the previous Lama and mix them with similar objects. They then place them in front of a young man, and the boy who recognizes the objects used by the previous Lama is selected.

The third of the major sects of Buddhism is even more different. Vajrayana Buddhism, located mainly in Tibet opposed the Buddhist severance from the world. They believed that all energies of the body could be used to reach enlightenment. We see this in the movie when the young Dalai Lama asks Heinrich to build him a movie house. Although he is the spiritual leader of Buddhist Tibet, he wants to experiment with a worldly item such as movies.

Before I

Some common words found in the essay are:
Dalai Lama, Personal Reflection, Encarta Dictionary, India Asia, Mahayana Buddhism, Buddhism Theravada, India Buddha, Buddhism It's, Hindus Buddhist, Lutherans Anglican, dalai lama, sects buddhism, buddhism religion, closely related, believe person, sects buddhism theravada, sect hinduism, buddhism understand, objects previous, religion life, religion buddhist, objects previous lama, ultimate human goal, major sects buddhism, closely related hinduism,
Approximate Word count = 1956
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)