Hinduism is the idea of sacrifice come full circle from early (iron-age say, and following) stages when animal sacrifice was a close part of the ritualism, but later, certain animals - cows, elephants, mostly domesticated - became sacred. The idea of sacrifice inverts in the Hindu (read: "Vedic tradition" here, folks) symbology from killing an animal to revering it (as godly) and sacrificing something else, which is the idea of service or selflessness, of activity and thought that are not directed inward but outward, or with no consideration for personal gain or recompense, i.e. holiness or "purity".
The symbology returns from the external "behaviour" of the world, to the internal behaviour of the self - an inner space now describes the external symbology and mythology. The "gods" resolve into external beings and internal beings - God is everywhere and all gods are God - the same in animals (and particularly those that were previously sacrificed), as in humans, except humans have the "extra grace" of human existence, the chance to achieve a truly selfless state of being, or Buddhahood. The fact Buddhism became a splinter following in its own right does not detract in the least from the encompassing Hindu pantheism, which can rightly lay claim to Buddha's asceticism and the "path" he travelled in any case.
Buddha was born into Hinduism, and became a religious hero, like the mythical Lord Krsna who saved Arjuna and his clan, Buddha saved himself then set about teaching others how to do it too. The sacrifice here is of one's actions and 'self-ness'; the idea of nirvana or samadhi is of a state of merging, which is what Buddha was meant to have achieved after years of struggle with his own mind and "worldliness", of surrendering all sense of self, of seeing your individualness as a mere drop in a much bigger ocean, which as a drop will merge with a larger body of water - you also merge with, or lose your ego in.
Except we all like to look before we jump in, as it were.
The symbology returns from the external "behaviour" of the world, to the internal behaviour of the self - an inner space now describes the external symbology and mythology. The "gods" resolve into external beings and internal beings - God is everywhere and all gods are God - the same in animals (and particularly those that were previously sacrificed), as in humans, except humans have the "extra grace" of human existence, the chance to achieve a truly selfless state of being, or Buddhahood. The fact Buddhism became a splinter following in its own right does not detract in the least from the encompassing Hindu pantheism, which can rightly lay claim to Buddha's asceticism and the "path" he travelled in any case.
Buddha was born into Hinduism, and became a religious hero, like the mythical Lord Krsna who saved Arjuna and his clan, Buddha saved himself then set about teaching others how to do it too. The sacrifice here is of one's actions and 'self-ness'; the idea of nirvana or samadhi is of a state of merging, which is what Buddha was meant to have achieved after years of struggle with his own mind and "worldliness", of surrendering all sense of self, of seeing your individualness as a mere drop in a much bigger ocean, which as a drop will merge with a larger body of water - you also merge with, or lose your ego in.
Except we all like to look before we jump in, as it were.
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