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What Am I Living For?:
Attainment of Moksha and Nirvana in Hinduism and Buddhism
Most religions are clearly defined by the terms, duties, and morals that they each
represent, and more often than not, there are specific terms regarding certain aspects of that
religion. However, Buddhism and Hinduism are two religions that share many of the same terms,
which can be confusing to one who does not know much about either religion. It can be assumed
that the two exact terms can be representative of the same idea or moral, to the contrary, they
could not be more different. Yes, there are very few similarities in regards to some of the terms
and—vaguely—the overall goal of some type of liberation, but, overall, the two religions are just
as separate as any other two belief systems. Hinduism and Buddhism have two very different end
goals: moksha and nirvana, respectively. Both religions have very different means of attaining
each in regards to the paths that need to be taken, how must one live their life, as well as what
happens if neither moksha nor nirvana is reached.
In Hinduism, everyone has two souls: your jiva and your atman. The primary goal of
those who follow Hinduism is to rid your jiva of all karma—good and bad—in order to achieve
moksha (liberation from the cycle of samsara). Once moksha is achieved, the jiva and atman are
separated and the atman is reemerged with the Brahman, which is the world’s soul. Hindu people
believe that there are four paths that can be taken in order to achieve moksha: the path of deeds,
the path of knowledge, the path of devotion, or the path of meditation and yoga (Lecture, 2/10).
Each of these paths require different forms of commitment to either deities, meditative practices,
or daily duties, but all of them require that one “puts in effort to selflessly uphold your dharma,”
meaning to desire to achieve moksha without having the desire (Lecture 2/10). Hindu people’s
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religious duty—dharma—is dependent on their castes, social position, stage of life, and gender
(Voorst, 76). Depending on where one falls in the listed attributes, depends on what one must
uphold and do in terms of their religious duty. Being able to uphold one’s dharma is closely
correlated with how one can achieve moksha, as well. Now, looking deeper into the idea of
moksha, Hindu people believe that when does not attain moksha, they are submitted to cycle of
samsara—rebirth—and are reincarnated after death. The caste, social position or even gender in
the next life is heavily dependent on the amount of good and bad karma that was attained in their
previous life. Although moksha is the ultimate goal for Hindus, most of them “believe that they
little to zero chance to be liberated from samsara, so most Hindus focus on obtaining good
karma” and becoming part of a higher caste in the next life (Lecture 2/10). Lastly, although it is
not necessary, some Hindus choose to become renouncers and live a completely ascetic lifestyle,
free of all sensual desires; however, men may only do this once they have been a student, and a
householder. After these stages of life, men may become a forest dweller and then a full
renouncer. The listed four stages are known as the Four Stages of a Man’s Life in Hinduism
(Voorst, 81-82).
Buddhism, much like Hinduism, there is a common goal for Buddhists to want to freed
from the cycle of samsara; but, in contrast to Hinduism, samsara in the sense of Buddhism is
known as a type of “‘wandering’ through endless reincarnations,” it is known as the main cause
of all human suffering (Voorst, 123). Instead of being with content with entering a new life in a
higher caste like Hinduism, Buddhists want to reach nirvana, which is “‘extinction’ [from]
desire, attachment, and suffering (Voorst, 123). The biggest goal of every Buddhist is to rid
themselves of all suffering in their life: all suffering is caused by desire. However, even though
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both Hinduism and Buddhism have paths to reach ultimate liberation or extinction, Hinduism has
multiple, whereas Buddhism only has one: the Middle Path. The path to nirvana is very set and
can only be reached by certain Buddhists. In order to achieve nirvana one must be a monk or a
nun (the Middle Path). Once one becomes a monk or a nun, they must embrace the Four Noble
Truths, which leads them into following the Eightfold Path, then they can begin to reach
enlightenment. Among the listed Truths and paths, the monk or nun must also understand the
Three Characteristics of Existence, Dharma, as well as follow the Ten Precepts. In the Buddhist
sense, Dharma is the “‘law, teaching’ about the universe and release from it,” it has no
correlation to religious duty, instead it is more aligned with the teachings of the Buddha (Lecture,
2/19). Among all of the differences, there is common ground between Hinduism and Buddhism
in terms of karma. One can attain good and bad karma, and depending on the balance of each at
the end of one’s life results in the life that will be lived after rebirth. Those in Buddhism,
however, that become enlightened and choose to continue the cycle of rebirth are known as
bodhisattvas. Boddhisattvas stay to help others reach enlightenment—and eventually nirvana—
where in Hinduism, one is expected to reach moksha on their own. Also, unlike the Stages of a
Man’s life in Hinduism, Buddhists may leave at anytime to become a monk or nun, whether they
are barely thirteen or even if they have a family.
It is clear to see that even though both Hinduism and Buddhism share a lot of the same
terms, the overall beliefs and paths to ultimate liberation or extinction are extremely different:
from the number of options between the two in order to reach that ultimate liberation or
extinction, to what the Hindus and Buddhists are actually trying to escape from, the two religions
could not be more different. Moksha and nirvana are both different ideas on their own, and the
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means of how to attain each are extremely separate. It is important for one outside of the either
religion to understand that even though both religions share the same terms, they are coming
from different ideals and belief systems.