Hinduism and Buddhism Today
Hindu and Buddhist Influences
Literature, Art, and Architecture
- Today four out of five people in India are Hindus
- Less than one percent are Buddhists
- 1000000 Hindus live in the United States
Hindu and Buddhist Influences
- Mohandas Gandhi- mid- 1900s leader- used ahimsa to fight against British rule
- His life inspire civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
- Hindu and Buddhist influences continue today- yoga, meditation are popular with people of many different religions
- Numerals we use-Hindu-Arabic numerals- came from India
- Numerals 1 to 9 are 2000 years old
- Indians developed decimal system, based on tens
- Each numeral is worth 10 times the numeral to the right
- Decimal system requires symbol for zero, to show empty places
- zero used in India for 1400 years
Literature, Art, and Architecture
- Indian arts have influenced the world
- Southeast Asians perform plays based on Sanskrit epic Mahabharata
- Bhagavad Gita has been translated and read around the world
- Ancient artists' visual symbols for Buddha's holiness still used
- Indian influences in design o Cambodia's Hindu temple, Angkor Wat