Buddhism and Hinduism are two of the best-known religions in the world. Along with Christianity, Islam and Sikhism; Buddhism and Hinduism are among the top five religions in the world. Buddhism is based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha), born a Hindu. He achieved Nirvana at thirty-six and was no longer a Hindu follower. Hinduism is believed to have started around 4000 BC, a religion combined with a few other religions combined with many laws and ways of life. Although Buddhism and Hinduism teach similar principles, the path they use to teach them is different. The founder of Buddhism was Siddhartha Gautama. He lived from 565 to 483 BC. In 563 BC there were no gods worshiped in Buddhism. Gautama, having been raised as a Hindu, still believed in certain Hindu ideas. Because he rejected the caste system, he retained the ideas of meditation and doing good works to achieve enlightenment. Buddhism was formed as a result of the decline of Hinduism. Hinduism was complex in many different ways, including rituals and daily lifestyle. Gautama grew tired of all this and went his own way, starting a new lifestyle in the hope that others would follow him. All the ultimate and ultimate goals of Buddhism are to achieve Nirvana. Nirvana is a state of perfection, which ends the reincarnation process and begins rebirth. There is a significant difference in how Buddhists and Hindus view rebirth. Buddhists believe in rebirth, which means that neither the soul nor the person is transferred, while Hindus believe in reincarnation where the soul would travel from one body to another (the same person but in different bodies). However they both believe in Samsara along with their views on suffering and that each will also... middle of paper... govern different aspects of Hindu daily life. The three main gods in Hinduism are Vishnu who is the sustainer; Brahma is the creator and Shiva the destroyer. Hindus pray to natural sources such as the sun and trees, while Buddhists pray only to Buddha. Today it is estimated that there are six hundred million Buddhists and approximately eight hundred and twenty-eight million who practice Hinduism. Both believe in an ultimate spiritual reality beyond the physical world, both practice meditation and other forms of yoga, and both of these religions originated in India. Although there are many similarities between Buddhism and Hinduism, both have subtle differences. The small differences have a huge impact on the two religions, because they are overall two separate beliefs. They share a special history with each other, which is to be expected since they come from the same region.