Tibetan Buddhism
Hinduism is defined as an animistic Basic Religion. The term Basic Religion is created and introduced by an American historian of religions, Lewis M. Hopfe. Indigenous peoples “original inhabitants” who are living in simple economics and people who are living in industrialized and information economies practice Basic Religion in their daily lives. There are many characteristics of Basic Religion. For example, as other religions, Basic Religion also has an ultimate concern that is whether the believers are in harmony with sacred beings and forces. Also, for the view of human nature, Basic Religion emphasizes on the relationship between the living and the dead. For instance, the spirits of the dead will continue to exist, and the living and their ancestors will affect one another. Moreover, Animism is a term that is used to describe the cosmology of Basic Religion. Personal gods, impersonal forces throughout nature, in natural objects, animals, and humans, and spirits in nature are three very important components of Animism. Therefore, Animism is absolutely polytheistic.
Monism is a philosophical term that asserts there’s only one ultimate reality that is considered to be the essence of all existing things in the world. As opposed to polytheism that believes in multiple gods, monotheism believes in only one god or the oneness of god. One of the evidence of Indian tradition’s oneness is Upanishads. These texts come at the end of Vedas, providing both monistic philosophy and monotheistic theology. Most of the Upanishads describe nirguna Brahman as mysterious power that is the ultimate reality and moksha as the ultimate goal. Some of the Upanishads describe saguna Brahman as a personal god that creates all things in the world. In reality, most Indians believe that there is no big difference between nirguna Brahman and saguna Brahman on the ultimate level because they are all ultimate reality, but expressed through nirguna Brahman and worshipped through the image of saguna Brahman. Also, Upanishads encourage people to connect their atman meaning “self” with God to reach self-enlightenment. The Bhagavad Gita is a monotheistic scripture of Hinduism. It contains a discussion between Krishna and Arjuna on