The three religions, Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam may have some similarities but much more noticeably are the differences between them. The religions all have different beliefs, origins, and followers. These differences have caused problems in the past and too many battles were formed by these religions, but luckily over time these conflicts are resolved.
Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam all have many different beliefs, which is an important aspect in both cultures. Buddhism believes in no God or gods, it has the Buddha’s writings, the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, and last Buddhists are vegetarians (World Cultures/ Iftikhar Ahmad, Herbert Brodsky, Marylee Susan Crofts, and Elisabeth Gaynor Ellis, p.179-180.) Hinduism believes in thousands of gods, it has the Sacred Texts, most importantly the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, it has many beliefs like the caste system, and to Hindus cattle are sacred (World Cultures, p.178-179.) Last, Islam believes in one God, one book of writings called the Koran, one set of beliefs called the Rules of Allah, and to them cattle is food (World Cultures, p. 186-187.) These differences caused the Clash of Beliefs in about A.D. 1398.
Next each of the religions has different backgrounds and creatures. Buddhism was made by Siddhartha Gautama or “The Buddha,” it was created by him north east India (World Cultures, p.179.) Hinduism does not have a creator or a place of creation; it just was developed over many years (World Cultures, p.177.) Islam was created my Allah and developed in the ancient Middle East (World Cultures, p.186.) These differences show that depending on where you were in the world opinions on life changed.
Last the people that follow these beliefs are very different, different people from different areas follow different religions, and those beliefs mold into the other beliefs. Buddhism may have been created in Southern Asia, but China, Korea, and Japan are the countries that really took in the religion the most. That is when it was split up into two different sections; Theravada, which spread way south, all the way to Java, which supported that the Buddha was a teacher. There is also Mahayana, which spread to China, Korea, and Japan and that part said that the Buddha was a God (World Cultures, p. 181.) Hinduism never really left South Asia, so that is where it stayed, and it was influenced by many other religions (World Cultures, p.179.) Islam developed in the Middle East, and it spread into India, Mongols, Afghans, Turks, and Persians all followed it (World Cultures, p.186.) This difference shows that even though all the religions were, most likely, developed in the same general area, there views on how to believe are all different.
Overall the three religions are all different, which is the way they should be. Everyone should have there own views on how to live and it was unnecessary to fight over and tax. But people didn’t think the way that they think now, and too many people died in battles because of some differences in religion. Now everything religion wise seems to be at peace and I hope that it will stay that way.
Bibliography
Ahmad, Iftikhar; Brodsky, Herbert; Crofts, Marylee, Susan; Ellis, Elisabeth, Gaynor. World Cultures: A Global Mosaic. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice – Hall. 2001.