Buddhism and Hinduism: Compare and Contrast |
Sacred Spaces
Buddhism
The Buddhist sacred space and place of worship is the temple or shrine. Buddhists visits the shrines and temples to pay respect to the Buddha and to meditate with the community. Buddhist shrines were first built as ten dome-shaped mounds, or studpas, built to hold the Buddha’s ashes and sacred items. The stupas can also be bell-shaped. Visitors walk around the stupas as a way of paying their respects to the Buddha.
Image 1: Guiyuan Buddhist Temple, the Temple of Original Purity. (n.d.). Retrieved March 13, 2015, from http://www.cits.net/china-guide/places/guiyuan-buddhist-temple.html
Image 2: Hoi Thanh Buddhist Temple Tim Stanley Photography. (n.d.). Retrieved March 13, 2015, from http://timstanleyphotography.com/2012/02/buddhist-temple/
Image 2: Hoi Thanh Buddhist Temple Tim Stanley Photography. (n.d.). Retrieved March 13, 2015, from http://timstanleyphotography.com/2012/02/buddhist-temple/
Hinduism
The Hindu place of worship is called a temple or mandir. Temples are normally dedicated to a Hindu deity. The temple is presumed to be the Hindu’s god's home on earth. The most sacred and holy part of the Hindu scared space is the garbhargriha where a statue of the temples dedicated deity is placed under the towering roof called the sikhara. Smaller shrines are also placed around the corners of the temple. The entrance to a Hindu temple is called an ardhamandapa and is often decorated with figures of Hindu deity’s.
Image 1: BBC Learning English | Talk about English webcast. (n.d.). Retrieved March 13, 2015, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/webcast/071025_diwali/
Image 2: Mandir Inside. (n.d.). Retrieved March 13, 2015, from http://pixgood.com/mandir-inside.html
Image 2: Mandir Inside. (n.d.). Retrieved March 13, 2015, from http://pixgood.com/mandir-inside.html
Compare and Contrast
Each of these religions have different places of worship. The Hindu place of the worship is called a Mandir and each is named after a certain god whereas the Buddhist scared space is called a Shrine and is dedicated only to the Buddha. Both of these forms of temples has one main scared space in the middle, which is considered the most holy, but is then also surrounded by smaller spaces. The Hinduism temple is highly decorated whist the Buddhist scared space is used only to house sacred items and for meditation.