Eastern religions

The Eastern religions are the religions which originated in East, South and Southeast Asia and thus have dissimilarities with Western, African and Iranian religions. This includes the East Asian religions such as Confucianism, Taoism, Chinese folk religion, Shinto, and Korean Shamanism; Indian religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism; and Southeast Asian religions such as Vietnamese folk religion as well as animistic indigenous religions. This East-West religious distinction, just as with the East-West culture distinction, and the implications that arise from it, is broad and not precise. Furthermore, the geographical distinction has less meaning in the current context of global transculturation. While many Western observers attempt to distinguish between Eastern philosophies and religions, this is a distinction that does not exist in some Eastern traditions. Also known as Dharmic religions, these are the religious sects originating in the Indian subcontinent, which includes Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, etc. The theologies and philosophies of these religions have several concepts in common, such as dharma, karma, maya and samsara. Hinduism Hinduism originated on the Indian subcontinent and was related to many other religious traditions outside the subcontinent, in places like ancient Central Asia and ancient Iran. It is considered by some to be the world's oldest extant major religion. Some consider Hinduism to originate from the Indus Valley civilization along with animism of the pre-Harappan migrants as well as the Indo-Aryan migrants. Hinduism contains a vast body of scripture, divided as revealed and remembered, expounding on dharma, or religious living. Hindus consider the Vedas and the Upanishads as being among the foremost in authority, importance and antiquity. The , a treatise excerpted from the , is sometimes called a summary of the spiritual teachings of the Vedas. It is difficult to identify any universal belief or practice in Hinduism, although prominent themes include: Dharma, Samsara, Karma, and Moksha.