Adam Heater

Religions of Des Moines

Professor Tim Knepper
Dec 15, 2016

Mysticism & Mythology

Hinduism and Buddhism, when juxtaposed with the Abrahamic
religions in the Sikhism, can be more precisely classified as philosophies
than as religions. This claim is discernable by the mysticism exhibited in the
lives of each of the Abrahamic religions prophets and additionally, their
texts and practices. Hinduism and Buddhism are of course subject to the
same criteria of prophets, texts, and practices. But with Hinduism and
Buddhism, these principle religious components which cannot be
understood as reality are interpreted as mythical, allegorical, and
metaphorical.
The experiences of the prophets of these religions form the basis for
whether they would develop into mystical religions like Christianity and
Islam, or whether they would form into a philosophy as we see with
Buddhism. The lives of Jesus and Muhammed both contain many
experiences that assert these prophets were created by, or chosen by God,
and their actions were claimed to be either the actions of God, or that God
had instructed them to do said works, either instance resembling some sort
of obvious interaction and relationship with an intervening God. In the life

of Jesus, the gospels recount many miracles as proof of his divinity. Jesus
was said to be born of a virgin, to turn water into wine, heal the sick, bring
the dead to life, including his own resurrection. (Fischer 291) Through the
performing of these miracles, Jesuss followers came to believe that Jesus
had been God present in a human life, walking among them. (Fischer 302)
The life of the Muslim prophet Muhammed was not as fixated on the
performing of miraculous acts as was the accounts of the Christian Gospels.
Instead, Muhammed was a man chosen, and through his mystical
experiences of the divine, (Fischer 365) was revealed the words of the
Quran. Now turning to the life of the Buddha, we see instantly that the
Buddha was not a divine figure. As Yan Shi writes, The Buddha did not
claim that he was a god, or the child of a god, or the messenger of a god. He
is simply a person who has achieved complete understanding of the reality
of life and the universe. We also can see that the Buddhas life was not
lived in the way that most prophets of recognized religions were lived. He
lived his life in the beginning to learn about the ways of the universe,
whereas Jesus and Muhammed were teachers and leaders from their
earliest days. And only after he had attained his state of Nirvana did he
teach, and leave his Dharma as a guide. (Fischer 151)
The second way in which we can understand the difference of religion
and philosophy is to understand the formation and the interpretations of the
texts that are associated with each of these institutions. It is impossible to
assume that Buddhist and Hindu texts are historical texts, because in the

context of the time that they were written, they were not intended to be.
Buddhist texts were written by storytellers and poets, not historians. These
texts, considering the authors were not interested in historical accuracy, are
understood to be best used as metaphors for Buddha Nature. (Fischer 129)
And similar are Hindu texts such as the Mahabharata and the Ramayana,
which are stories of war, class struggle, and family loyalty. These texts are
understood in the Hindu school of thought as poems and epics, the same
way that the Greeks would understand Homers The Odyssey, not as
historical documentation, but as stories with morals, meant to the teach the
masses in forms of literature. And even texts that are understood to be more
central to Hinduism than these epics, the Upanishads, which many people
believe hold spiritual or mystic power, are understood by scholars as
teaching Hindu practitioners to turn their attention inward and thus
discover a transcendent reality within. (Fischer 74) The texts that are
crucial to the Abrahamic religions on the other hand, do not aim to be
allegorical or metaphorical, but instead act as truths. Not as suggestions,
and as guides to look inward as we see with our philosophical texts, but as
the law of the land, often revealed and understood today as an act of God
himself. Describing the Orthodox Christian view, the Gospel is not just a
Holy Scripture, but also a symbol of Divine Wisdom and an image of Christ
Himself. (Fischer 284) This view reiterates that even though the Gospels
were written not by Jesus, that they still hold mystical properties. But with
Judaism and Islam, their sacred texts are not only mystical for what is

included within them, but also how they originated. In Judaism, the
Pentateuch were divinely revealed to Moses and written down by him as a
single document. (Fischer 253) And the Torah scrolls, the most central
Jewish text, are used as a physical mystical element in the services. In a
similar divine revelation, Muhammed received the words of the Quran
directly from Allah. The Abrahamic religions base their foundations amongst
these religious texts, looking to them for guidance, and using them as laws
and words directly from the mind of the divine, compared to Hinduism and
Buddhism, where the texts that do exist are not essential to the practice,
and are instead used as literature, allegories, and epics.
Finally, we must look at how the mystical practices of the Abrahamic
religions contribute to the line that must be drawn between them and the
mythical ideologies, and the inward looking practices of Hinduism and
Buddhism. The two major themes of the differences in these practices are
the religious practices of Christianity, Judaism and Islam that are aimed to
create an active relationship with God. And the philosophical practices of
Hinduism and Buddhism that focus on internal understanding of how you
perceive the world, and how your actions effect the physical world around
you. Christian practice is structured to be a devotional religion of divine
intervention. The Christian school of thought is solid in its teachings that
God, the spirit of Jesus, or the Holy Spirit are in the world actively guiding
and sustaining the faithful. (Fischer 308) With many churches, including
the Orthodox church insisting that any human can approach God directly

through prayer. (Fischer 317) The most central teaching of the Jewish faith
is that of the covenant that must be kept between God and the Jewish
people. Jewish people live this covenant every day, following a Kosher diet,
and giving continual thanks to God, (Fischer 268) in the interest of
upholding their end of the covenant. But in Judaism, God is also holding his
end of the covenant, giving special favors to those who are most faithful.
(Fischer 232) Muslims practice with similar reason as Christians. They are
in a relationship with Allah, where they aim to please their God. This is done
through their Five Daily Prayers, which aim to polish the rust from the
heart. (Fischer 382) The major wrong that a Muslim practitioner can do is
to forget God, and not do everything to please God. (Fischer 376) As we see
with these religions, the actions and practices are aimed to please an
outside source, and to form, or to maintain a relationship with God. But with
the philosophical beliefs illustrated in Hinduism and Buddhism, the
practitioners are not concerned with the mystical relationship that occurs
with God, and only the reality of themselves and their minds perspective.
With Hinduism, the idea of Karma is at the center of all of the Hindus
actions in the words of a Hindu priest, every act we make, and even every
thought and desire we have, shape our future experiences. The Hindu goal
is to earn good karma, in whatever form that may be from the individual,
because Hindu practice is based around personal perspectives of worship
towards mythical deities. (Fischer 86-87) Buddhism is practiced as an
institution for self-betterment, and eventually as a way to help other people

achieve the insight of Nirvana. While like Hinduism, Buddhism subscribes to

the idea of Karma, Buddhists overarching goal is to reach Nirvana, which is
done individually through meditation. Once reached Nirvana, the world
does not change, around you, but your perception of the world changes. As
one Zen master stated The moons the same old moon, the flowers exactly
as they were, yet Ive become the thingness of all the things I see. The view
that through your own actions, and not the actions of a divine being, and
that there is no divine being that is intervening within a persons life, proves
that Hinduism and Buddhism are properly classified as philosophical
perspectives on the world, and not as religions.
Works Cited
Yan Shi. Mind Is Reality: Buddhism In Not a Pessimistic Religion. Open
Journal of Social Sciences. Vol. 4. Pages 28-38, 2016
Fisher, Mary Pat. Living Religions. Sixth Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ:
PRENTICE-HALL, 2005. Print.
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