What are the differences between Buddhism Daoism and Judaism?

Hinduism is composed of many religions from the Indian subcontinent including Vedanta, Vaishnavism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Bhakti, Vedic Brahmanism, Jainism. They all share the concepts of Karma, Dharma, Samsara (rebirth), Moksha ( Nirvana), meditation, and various forms of yoga. The are either pantheistic, polytheistic, or monotheistic.

Vedic Brahmanism, the oldest form of hinduism, was in existence when Budda was born and was a Hindu. At that time, Hindus were encouraged to 'wander' in order to 'see' God or to experience Him through 'sacrifice' or 'suffering' and the Budda saw many Hindus going to extremely painful lengths to 'see' God and would do extreme acts to try to get this experience. In Hinduism the Caste System defines one's lot in this life as a payback for actions in past lives (karma) which meant that if you were born into a poor, landless labourer family, it was because of your karma (and therefore deserved it).


Budda rejected the caste system and said that one's lot in this life was defined by one's actions in this life. He also didn't see any benefit in people going through painful experiences (walking on fire, nails and other extreme examples of self-suffering) in order to see God and in fact, didn't think there was any benefit in anyone suffering a great deal of hardship (being poor, hungry) and advocated the 'middle path' where no-one should be too rich or too poor. He came from a rich family and saw that some people had alot (too much) whilst others were suffering from hunger.

He also rejected the Hindu notion of God with all the deities and rituals and felt that these were dark elements in the religion which made people very superstitious. He advocated the '8-fold path' (a simple set of instructions on morality and how to live life). Buddhism is as an atheistic religion whereas Hinduism is not. He also introducted the concept of 'ahimsa' which means non-violence (to all living beings) and advocated a vegetarian diet.

Taoism is a Chinese philosophy which requires individuals to live life in tune with nature and therefore balance with the environment and with each other. It is a cross between Hinduism (it has many deities and offerings are made to these deities; it has many festivals which are celebrated throughout the year; fasting on a regular basis) and Buddhism (ethics emplasising compassion, moderation and humility).

As all three of these religions are ancient they have modified and borrowed from each other (e.g. Hinduism and Taoism adopted vegetarianism), some Buddhists now pray in front of a Buddhist statue (although this very heavily discouraged by theBuddhahimself). Hinduism has manyvariantswhich may seem contradictory but all are nevertheless accepted as being part of the 'unity in diversity' philosophy which has been adopted in the West.