<p>Can anyone help me answer these questions:</p>
<p>1) What is the difference between Brahmanism and Hinduism? I only know that Brahmanism + asceticism ---> Hinduism.
2) We are often taught much about the spread of Buddhism to China, Southeast Asia and Eastern Asia, etc. I wonder why Hinduism was not spread as much or as far as Buddhism?</p>
<p>If you know about this, please help me. Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>Can anyone help me?</p>
<p>Probably the main reason why Hinduism did not spread as much as other religions did is that the concept of conversion is absent from Hindu literature. Although people who are willing to convert can do so, conversion is not an inherent part of Hinduism. People thought that they were born as Hindus and expected every other Hindu they met to be the same. These days, though, some people do consider anyone who follows Hindu doctrine to be a Hindu regardless of his/her religion of birth. </p>
<p>A Hindu living in Bangladesh, I have always been taught (by my parents) that the purpose of religion is to instill moral values into the society. Then again, my family is very liberal with regards to religion. And the form of Hinduism I follow is probably a very modern one. But Hinduism is very diverse. The Hinduism that Bangaldeshis follow is, to a certain extent, different from that which is followed in India. I am sorry but I do not have much idea about Brahmanism. All I can say is that Brahmins, or priests were considered the highest class of people in the hierarchial societies of India. And they followed more strict rules than did other Hindus. So in a sense they were/are more ascetic compared to others. But nowadays the caste system has lost its appeal. So obviously the difference between the different groups of Hindus has diminished too.</p>
<p>In my personal opinion I consider Hinduism to be more of a mythology than a religion, and I find many similarities between Hinduism and Greek Mythology…</p>
<p>About Buddhism. Hinduism and Buddhism are very similar in some aspects, but are different in many other areas. In my home, however, the ideologies and philosophies of Buddha are very revered because my family always stresses on the importance of scientific reasoning. And Buddhism is perhaps the religion most compatible with science. For more information regarding Hinduism and Buddhism you can search through [url=<a href=“http://www.wikipedia.org%5DWikipedia%5B/url”>http://www.wikipedia.org]Wikipedia[/url</a>]. I hope I have been able to help. But some of the opinions are strictly mine.</p>
<p>well BB012 is quite right…
brahmins were priests and they still exist today
buddhism was spread due to many reasons : primarily King Asoka
so as far as ur first question goes. ..
brahmins are actually hindus and were higher up in the social hierarchy in the olden times… and there wasnt any one or rather no king who popularised hinduism so it dint spread that much.</p>
<p>Hinduism, compared to Buddhism, is a lot more social-cultural and therefore more rigid as to how it spreads. Hinduism for the longest time instilled a caste system onto Indian society and upward mobility was a strict no no. It would have been hard for Hindus to spread this type of religion to different areas such as China because it would have been difficult to instill another caste system there.
Buddhism is much more of a free for all, for lack of a better term. It’s very personalized and doesn’t have any strong ties to any one society.
Hinduism was, and to a lesser extent still is, the cultural backbone of India. The religion itself evolved and grew as Indian society evolved and grew. The two are highly entwined and it is for this reason still that the majority of Hindus still live in India.
In the modern era, the caste system among other practices have dissolved and as a result Hindus have had more opportunity to branch out and travel to different areas around the globe.</p>
<p>Thank you very much, BB012, pals_26, Hippo724 for your post.
I understood more about Hinduism and Buddhism. Thank you.</p>