The Same But Completely Different

Dharma is a concept that is difficult to differentiate between Hinduism and Buddhism. By exactly defining the term of Dharma in each religion, classifying under Ninian Smarts six dimensions or religion, and the application of Dharma in each religion by explaining the liberation of Samsara will surely define the big differences between the two religions. In Hinduism, Dharma simply means duty. To explain more in depth, Dharma refers to ones duty with respect to the caste of the person and the stage of life the person is in right now. Everyone and all life forms are born with Dharma, meaning that they all have a purpose and duty to be living. An example of Dharma of Hinduism can be seen through the epic of The Ramayana. The Ramayana perfectly depicts the duty aspect of a son and a king and how their role in the social position is important for how they should act. On the other hand, Buddhism has a completely different meaning from Hinduism. In Buddhism, Dharma means the teaching of the Buddha after this awakening. Dharma, in the context of Buddhism, is part of the three jewels and it is considered as the ultimate refuge for those who seek release from the cycle of rebirth. But one aspect that we should consider is that Buddha did not create the concept Dharma but he perceived the idea and later to be taught to his disciples. Dharma can also be classified differently under Ninian Smarts six dimensions of religion. For Hinduism, Dharma can be classified under the ritual and ethical context of the six dimensions. Under the ethical context, because Dharma means duty, we can actually state that ones duty under a specific social position must follow an ethical context. Under the ritual context, the practices and actions that people perform has a religious function to it. On the other hand, because of the difference in the meaning of Dharma, Dharma of Buddhism can be classified under the doctrinal and social context of the six dimensions. Because Dharma of Buddhism specifically means the teachings of the Buddha, we can easily infer that these are official teachings of Buddhism to a person or a religious group of people. Also, even after the death of the original teachings of Siddhartha, his disciples continuously taught other people and religious groups of about Dharma. The social context comes into play because the original teachings of the Buddha were based upon spreading it under a group of disciples following the Buddha. These disciples are considered to be concrete believers of Buddhism; we can classify Dharma under the social dimension as well. Samsara means the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth, and both religions of Hinduism and Buddhism use the same meaning and term to describe this cycle; however, liberation of samsara is different for each of the religions. The term that describes the liberation from samsara is moksha in the Hinduism context. Moksha specifically means to let go or release the repeated cycle of reincarnation. In order to achieve Moksha, one must fulfill the three paths of discipline or yoga. The first kind of yoga is the Karma yoga, which means to have an action without desire for fruits of action. The second kind of yoga is the Jnana yoga, having the knowledge between the relationship between Atman and Brahman. The third type of yoga is the Bhakti yoga, which is to pick a personal god or Krishna and to worship them through the entire life period of one. These three types of yoga is interconnected with dharma because one is born with the duty and with this duty to perform and achieve Moksha. On the other hand, liberation from samsara, in the Buddhism context, is nirvana. In order to achieve Nirvana, one must extinguish anger and desire through the Four Noble Truths. The four noble truths explicitly describes how everyone has a presence of suffering and desire, and by removing these presences, one is able to achieve liberation from samsara. This is an important concept related to Dharma because Buddha

himself released all desire, ignorance, and anger in order to achieve the state of enlightenment and nirvana. By teaching what and the way of his enlightenment to his disciples, he is passing on the Dharma to other people continuously. All in all, we are able to clearly see the differences in Dharma in both Hinduism and Buddhism through comparing the meaning of Dharma, classifying the term under the six dimensions, and comparing the differences in achieving liberation from samsara.