Contrast and Compare: Hinduism and Confucianism
Professor Williams
World Religions 212
05/04/2014

Hinduism is dominant religion in some regions of India. It consists of many diverse traditions including Shaivism, Vaishnavism, and Shaktism. Hinduism also consists of a wide spectrum of laws of daily morality based on karma, dharma, and societal norms. Raja Rammohan Roy, an Indian social reformer, first used the work Hinduism in 1816 and 1817. It is and English word that he used to describe the religion of his ancestors who believed in the unity of God a “real Hinduism” (Bacus and Lahiri 2010: 313). It is believed that Hindu worship and belief are observable in South Asia in the second half of the first millennium BC and in Southeast Asia beginning in the early-mid first millennium AD. More than 76 percent of people in India and 85 percent of people in Nepal along with a small percentage of people in south-central Vietnam continue to describe themselves as Hindu. Unlike other religions, Hinduism does not have a historical founder or a codified canon that is accepted by believers (Bacus and Lahiri 2010: 314). Its roots are the Vedic religion of the late Vedic period and its emphasis on the status of Brahmans.
Hindu has several everyday religious practices that take place everyday. The worship of things inanimate, with are gifted with mysterious motion, the worship of mere stocks and stones and local configurations, which are unusual and grotesque in shape, size or position. The worship of a Deo, or spirit, a thing without form and void and the worship of persons who had a great reputation during life, or who dies in some strange or notorious way at shrines. There are other daily rituals such as puja and recitations, annual festivals and occasional pilgrimages. Mantras are invocations, through praise and prayers, worshippers chant and focus the mind on holy thoughts or express devotion to God/the deities. Many devotees perform morning ablutions at the bank of sacred river while chanting the Gayatri Mantra or Mahamrityunjaya mantras. The most visible arena of Hindu worship is the temple, which was located both inside and outside of settlements. Many temples were made of elaborate materials. Hindu also observes many festivals. The festivals are considered as symbolic rituals that weave individual and social life to dharma. Typically events from Hindu mythology are celebrated and often coincide with seasonal changes. The festivals are celebrated by specific sects or in certain regions of the Indian subcontinent. Some of the festivals include Holi (celebrated in the United States), Diwali (celebrated in Mysore) and Vasant Panchami (celebrated in Kolkata). Confucianism is the way of life propagated by Confucius in the 6th-5th century BCE and followed by the Chinese people for man than two millennia (Weiming, 2014). It is still the substance of learning, the source of values, and the social code of the Chinese. Confucianism has also influenced Japan, Korea and Vietnam. This religion differs from other religions because it is not organized. It spread to other East Asian countries under the influence of Chinese literature culture and has exerted a profound influence on spiritual and political life. It can be understood as an all-encompassing way of thinking and living that entails ancestor reverence and a profound human centered religiousness (Weiming, 2014). Even without deities and a vision of salvation, Confucianism plays much the same role as religion does in other cultures. Its tradition was instrumental in shaping the Chinese social relationships and moral thought. The founder was Kong Qiu, who was born around 552 BCE. 16th Century Jesuit missionaries in China created the title based on the honorific title Kong Fuzi. Confucian traditions were influenced by the belief in Tian as a moral force guiding the universe, the importance of virtuous