Buddhism and Hinduism
Hinduism has not totally rejected Buddhism. It has absorbed Buddhism while preserving their favourite dogmas. It was Shankaracharya who became a Buddhist monk to study Buddhism and then gave up robes to write commentaries to the Vedas using Buddhist concepts. This was how he obtained the name The Buddhist in disguise (Pracchanna Bhauddha) by the Brahmins themselves. The other Brahmin Patanjali who wrote the Patanjali Yoga Sasthra formulated his meditation system in imitation of the Supernormal Eightfold Path of the Buddha and called it the path taught by the Rishi Kapila who lived before the Buddha. Yet Kapila is believed to have taught the Sankya Yoga Sastra and not the Atthanga Yoga of Patanjali.
The interesting point, however, is the relationship between Buddhism and the Three Murthi: Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. These three names do not refer to three gods. These three words refer to the three forms of one God: Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer. These three forms of God are recognized even in Christianity. It is generally believed by Hindus that the Buddha is an incarnation of Vishnu, which means that the Buddha is a preserver. But the fact is, however, that it is more meaningful to consider the Buddha as an incarnation of Siva. This means that the Buddha is a destroyer rather than a preserver. It would even be more meaningful to think of Siva as a symbolic representation of the Buddha. Why?