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Jainism has a well-organised fourfold order of male and female ascetics, laymen and laywomen, and there are substantial spiritual contacts between laity and the ascetics, but Hinduism lacks such an order.
Social rituals are sacred to Hinduism, while Jains do not attach great importance to such rituals, but both religions have influenced one another in devotional practices and in moral values.
Worship also differs, Jains worship the jinas as examplary and do not ask them for any favours, whereas Hindus pray for the realisation of the objects of desire; Hindu offerings in temple rituals are distributed as prasaada, while Jains disdain such offerings. Objects of worship differ,and festivals have dissimilar objectives and Jains do not believe in Hindu rituals such as sun worship, bathing during eclipses, or ceremonial bathing in rivers. Jain rituals follow the example and teachings of the jinas.
Buddhism Buddhism means 'path of the Enlightened One', was founded by Gautam Buddha (566 to 486 BCE), born as a prince to the parents, who were believed to have followed the Sramana tradition of Parsvanath (1997: personal communication with Dr L. M. Singhvi). At the age of 29, in order to find a path to alleviate of human suffering, Gautam left his wife Yashodhara, his son Rahul, his family and his possessions, cut off his hair, and renounced the worldly life. He went to live in the forest, learned meditation from two sages, but could not progress far enough spiritually; He went to another sage and fasted so severely that he could feel his backbone through his stomach, but this did not bring enlightenment. As neither the meditation, nor the austerities produced the enlightenment, he concluded that the ideal was a middle way between the extremes of self-denial and self-indulgence. Six years after renunciation he went to Bodha Gaya and resolved to meditate until he reached his goal. Right thinking and meditation gave him a new vision: he attained enlightenment and, thus, became the Buddha. He then travelled to Sarnath, near Varanasi, and gave his first sermon on the four noble truths and eightfold path to seekers of the truth, and gained his first five disciples. Gautam Buddha taught until the age of 80, and when he died, he achieved final Nirvana at Kushinagara. The four noble truths and the eightfold path are the basis of Buddhist teachings, which are inscribed in their canon, the Tripitikas. The four noble truths are: 1. Ignorance is the root cause of suffering, which is in fact self-created. 2. Ignorance generates evil: desires, greed and hatred. 3. There can be a cessation or end to suffering. 4. There is an eightfold path to remove suffering and obtain happiness. The eightfold path is ethical conduct: Right Views (or Knowledge), Right Thoughts, Right Speech, Right Conduct, Right Means of livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mental Control and Right meditation. Meditation plays a central role in Buddhism: it has two forms: samatha (tranquillity) and vipasyana (insight). Other Buddhist practices include mantras and the mandalas (sacred diagrams) and veneration for the Buddha and the Bodhisatvas, the enlightened persons who are active in helping unenlightened and suffering individuals for enlightenment.
Buddhism believes that nothing is permanent, everything is transitory; the world is a chain of interdependent momentary events; everything derives from an antecedent condition that ceases after producing its consequence. The soul is impermanent, it is a
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