Beginning of Essay
In explaining Buddhism, one must first understand Hinduism from which Buddhism grew. Buddhism is a reaction against Hinduism as protestant is against Catholicism. According to The World’s Religions by Houston Smith, there are six aspects of religion that a ....

Middle of Essay
.... makes decisions that must be obeyed. Buddha preached his religion with an absence of authority. He attacked this authority on two fronts. First he wanted to end “monopolistic” hold of the Hindu Brahmins on religious teaching by making the faith accessible to the average person taking away the secrecy of the Brahmins. Buddha said, “there is no such thing as closed-fistedness in the Buddha”. (The Worlds Religions pg. 94) In other words the religious leadership did not hold all control on spiritual enlightenment. This first attack on authority was directed at an institution of Hinduism, most directly at the Brahmin caste ....