In the world today, there are many indigenous religions that have phrases or very distinctive words, which are passed down from generation to generation and holds a specific meaning to how one should live. These phrases are incorporated directly into their teachings to show how they should be used in their everyday life. Two specific religions that use various phrases in their teachings are Hinduism and Buddhism. Both of these religions have incorporated the phrase to live is to suffer into its teachings. In this paper, I will explain how each of these two religions has come to develop this phrase for their teachings and have used this phrase for important lessons for their own followers. I will also give some real-life examples from my own personal experiences of how this phrase relates to the current western world. .
The Hindu belief system does not have an exact point of origin. The Hindu religion at first was only preserved in oral form until 2000BC and was later written down into four books. The collections of books became known as the Vedas (Molloy, 2013 p.78). In the Hindu religion, pain and suffering is caused by karma. Karma is believed to be either positive or negative based on a persons actions in their past life. If a person is born into wealth and has an overall good life it is said to be part of good karma from a past life. Likewise, the opposite can happen as well, and it is explained as a natural consequence of life. Many people who practice the Hindu religion accept this belief. This type of belief system can be seen in Indias caste system today. When a person is born into a lower caste system such as the dalit or shudra system, it is believed the persons karma was negative in their past life. In this life, they will only be able to stay within the caste system they are born into. If a person born into a lower caste system creates good karma by doing what is expected of them and maintaining a positive outlook on life, then in the next life they can be born into a higher caste (Molloy, 2013 p.
