Buddhism came
into existence in the 6th century B.C. in north India with the
enlightenment of Siddhārtha
Gautama, who is believed to be the Buddha. The enlightenment, or the realization
of Gautama through which he was entitled to be known as the Buddha, consisted
of the realization of the reality of the world and the final liberation of
beings. The reality of the world, which he has realized, is known as the theory
of dependent origination (Paticca-samuppāda) and the final liberation of
the being, which he has experienced, came to be known as the extinction of
cankers (Nibbāna or nirodha),
are the two main doctrines of Buddhism. All the other teachings of the Buddha seem to be centered on these two main
doctrines.
The nature of the reality and the way
how it comes into being are explained under the doctrine of Paticca-samuppāda. These two
aspects of the reality are known as Dukkha (suffering) and Dukkha samudaya
(emergence of suffering). The cessation of suffering (Dukkha-nirodha) and the
way of cessation of suffering (Dukkha-nirodha-gāmini-patipada)
are explained under the doctrine of Nibbāna. Apart from these doctrinal
aspects, Buddhism includes its own ethical, social, political and economic
teachings presented by the Buddha, in order to bring the followers on to the
path leading to the cessation of suffering. The distinctive characteristic of
all these Buddhist teachings is that they were presented by the Buddha quite
contrary to the teachings prevailing in the religious, social and philosophical
background that existed in India at that time.
When Buddhism arose in India, there were
plenty of religious and philosophical view points belonging to two main
religious movements, which were known as Brahmanical (also Brahamanical,
Bramanical) movement and Śramanic
movement. Both these religious movements, which came through a long history,
were equally popular among the people in India during the 6th
century B.C., when Buddhism came into existence. Therefore, these two religious
traditions provide the religious background from which Buddhism emerged.
Brahmanical
Movement
Brahmanical religious movement is mainly
based on the Vedic religion, which was introduced to India by the Indo-Āryan people, who
originally belonged to the Indo-European race. They were the people who invaded
India during the Vedic period, which is generally believed to fall between 15th to 20th
centuries B.C. It is believed that they have inherited a religious cult from
their ancestors and they further developed it into an organized system of
religion through the passage of time. The religion of Indo-Āryan people has
been recorded in the literature known as Vedās. Therefore, that religion came
to be known as Vedic religion. The stages of the development of that religion
can be seen respectively in the literature known as Āranyaka and Brāhmana. From the
time of the Vedās,
the people of the Brāhmana
caste of the Indo-Āryan
society were considered as the custodians of the religion. Religious practices
of the common people had to be performed with the participation of Brāhmana priests
under the rules and regulations of their own.
The religion, which was governed by the
Brahmin priests, originally consisted of the worship of gods by praising them
with the hymns recorded in the Vedas, and also performing very simple offerings
to the gods in order to invoke the blessing of the gods. The aim of religious
practice was to obtain worldly gains such as health, wealth, power, long life
and so on from the mercy of the gods. But later, when the religion became the
profession of the Brāhmin
priests, they have introduced a system of sacrifice to the people as the most
powerful religious activity, which was thought to be brought forth what they
expect from the religion. Ultimately, the ritualistic aspect became more
powerful than even the gods in the Vedic or Brahmana religion.
Under this new development in the
religion, the system of sacrifice gradually became a more and more complicated
and elaborated religious activity, which should be performed with the
collaboration of different kinds of Brāhmana priests, who were well
versed with sacrificial activities. The sacrifice was considered as something
which had mysterious miracle power and which gave the expected result when it
was done accurately. The efficacy of the sacrifice purely depended on the hand
of the Brāhmana priests as
they were the people who knew the methods how to perform it to give the good
results. In this way, Brāhmana
religion had been developed purely to ritualism at the time of the Buddha.
Almost all the important occasions of
life, such as the conception of a baby, birth, giving name, first hair cutting,
taking into the religion, starting point of education, marriage, and death
etc., were considered as the events on which religious activity, consisting of
a sacrifice, should necessarily be performed by the people with the
participation of Brahamin priests. The sacrifices, which were done on these
occasions, were named as Gṛhya Yāga, as they had to
be performed at the homes of the people concerned. In addition to that, there
was another type of sacrifice by the name of Srauta Yāga, which was aimed at achieving more
power, vigor, fame, and the extension of territory and the like. This type of
sacrifice was specially designed only for the powerful and rich people like
kings, ministers and millionaires. Sometimes, these sacrifices were conducted
for many months in the presence of the public and expending a lot of money.
Brāhmaṇa religion had
influenced not only on the religious life of the people but also on the social
life as well in many ways. Both religion and education were in the hands of
Brahmins. They introduced different kinds of social customs to the society in
the name of the religion. The religion was considered to be a responsible
institution for the introduction and the recognition of social ethics of Indo-Āryan society.
All the religious and social customs which they introduced to the society were
accepted as what the God had revealed to their ancestors. So, their religious
scriptures were known as Sṛti (what is
heard). Violation of religious and social norms taught by the Brahamins was
considered as sin.
Caste
system (Varna Dharma)
One of the social customs of Āryan society
introduced by the Brāhmaṇās
is the caste system. The whole society was categorized into four divisions or
classes namely:
Brahmins (the custodians of religion and
education);
Kshatriyās (warriors,
rulers of the country, and their dependents);
Vaisyās (common people or civilians);
Sudrās (laborers).
When the Āryan people
invaded India, they had to fight with the indigenous people of the country.
Because of the war going against the indigenous people, Āryans required
three classes of their society namely, a class of people who engaged in
religious activities, known as Brāhmanās, another class
of people who actively engaged in war activities, known as Kshastriyās, and the
civilian people who engaged in day to day activities, known as Vaisyās. Therefore, at
the beginning of the Vedic period, there were only three classes in the Āryan society. As
these three classes of people came into existence because of the requirement of
the society, there was no discrimination among the classes. After the indigenous
people were defeated by the Āryans,
they too became a part of the Āryan
society.
With the inclusion of the indigenous
people into the society, there had been discrimination between the Āryans, who were
comprised of the three classes, and the indigenous people, on the basis of
their colour. The Āryans
were fair or white in complexion, while the indigenous people were black or
dark. This difference in complexion of the two groups of people led to
emergence of colour-division, known as Varņa-bheda. Under this division, Āryans were
considered as higher, while other class as lower. Later on, with the teachings
of the Brahmins, colour division (Varņa-bheda) became the colour-duty (Varņa-Dharma),
which introduced duties of each class emphasizing on their status of
superiority and inferiority.
Brahmins had ascribed a religious
importance to this duty system to establish it in the society. So, they taught
that the Brāhmaṇs
were born from the mouth of the god, Kshatriyās from the
shoulders, Vaiśyās from the thigh
and the Śūdrās from the feet
of the god. Further, they insisted that people from each class inherit their duties from
birth as the four classes were created by the god. According to the teaching of the caste system, a profession of a person is
predetermined by the god. The worse aspect of this class system was to consider
the Śūdra class as
inferior to the other three classes and to keep them apart from social and
religious rights and privileges. Brahmanic teachings on the caste system try to
bring out the supremacy of the Brahmins and the inferiority of the Śūdrās.
Women’s
position
Under the Brāhmaņa
religion, the position of women kind also was not so far behind that of the Śūdrās. Women were treated as lower than men.
They were confined only to household activities. There was no religious
activity of any kind prescribed by the religion for the women. So they were deprived of religious rights. It was the belief of the Brahamins
that it was impossible for women to acquire higher religious achievements due
to the fact that they were unintelligent. Socially also they were ill-treated
without giving them freedom in the society, and there was an emphasis that the
women should live under the protection of some one during their entire life
period. So, a woman would have to live in her childhood under the protection of
the parents, in her youth under the protection of the husband and in her old
age under the protection of the children.
Upanishadic
philosophy
Religious ideas of the Brāhmaņa
tradition mentioned above have been recorded in a part of the Vedic literature.
Up to the time of the Buddha, the Vedic literature was developed through four
stages namely, Veda, Brāhmaņa,
Āraņyaka
and Upanishads. The whole field of literature covered by the Veda, Brāhmaņa
and Āranyaka is
mainly governed by the religious thinking of the Brāhmins. The
Upanishadic literature, which contains the philosophical thinking of the Āryans, seems to
be quite contrary to the earlier stages of the Vedic literature. Though the
Brahmins incorporated Upanishadic literature into their Vedic literature, it is
supposed that the philosophical teachings of the Upanishads were born in the
minds of the thinkers belonging to both classes of Brāhmaņa
and Kshatriya, who were disgusted with the ritualism of the Brāhmaņa
religious movement.
It is believed that the philosophical
teachings contained in the earlier stage of the Upanishads, which covers the
literature belonging to the books known as Chāndogya, Brhadāraņyaka,
Aitareya, Kaushītaki, and Taittiriya,
are supposed to be contemporaries of the Buddha. At the time of the Buddha, the
philosophical thinking presented by Upanishads was gaining popularity,
specially among the intellectual class of the society.
The main subjects of the Upanishadic
philosophical thinking were the reality of the world and the final liberation
of the Samsāric life. The
seers of the upanishads claim that they discovered what they taught, by the
insight knowledge gained through spiritual development. They did not expect
worldly happiness, which was the aim of Brāhmaņa religious
movement. They were interested in spiritual perfection through which, as they
believed, the ultimate happiness can be achieved. Their aspiration was
illustrated in the following way:
Asato
mā
sad gamaya:
Lead me from the unreal to the real;
Tamaso
mā
jyotir gamaya:
Lead me from darkness to light;
Mṛtyor mām amṛtam gamaya: Lead me from
the mortality of death to immortality.
Upanishadic
sages claimed that they have realized the reality of the world. According to
them, the reality is a permanent entity, which is variously known as Sat, Tat,
Bhahman and Ātman. This
reality, which cannot be described as it is the ultimate or transcendental
reality, should be realized through meditation. Reality pervades everywhere in the world. It is the truth of the world. Chāndogya Upanishad maintains that
the whole world evolved out of Sat, which is known as the universal truth. In that Upanishad, Uddālaka, a famous
Upanishadic sage, explained to his son Svetaketu, how the universe evolved out
of the universal reality in the following way: “In the beginning Sat was alone,
without a second. It thought ‘may I be many’”. This explanation reminds us that
each and every individual is a manifestation of the reality and therefore, each
has a part of universal reality. The universal truth is known as Jagadātman (cosmic or
universal soul) and the truth inherited by the individual is known as Pratyagātman (individual
soul). Describing the nature of Brahman, the sole reality of the universe which
gave birth to individual reality, Taittiriya
Upanishad says: “That from which these beings are born, that in which when born
they live, and that into which they enter at their death, that is Brahman”.
Beings are unable to understand that the
individual reality is nothing but the universal reality due to their ignorance.
As long as beings are unaware of the sameness of individual soul and cosmic
soul, they are in Samsāra
or bondage. Whenever they realize that both are the same, their soul gets
united with the universal soul. The realization of truth is itself the Moksha
or liberation. It is the ultimate happiness, where the individual soul
remains forever being united with the universal reality. Union between
individual soul and the cosmic soul is considered as the everlasting happiness
or the immortality. Therefore, it is the advice of the Upanishads that one must
see oneself with identification of the Brahman.
Individual soul in the Samsāric life has no
permanent happiness as it is in bondage. It has to suffer with birth, decay and
death. There is no end of suffering as it has to transmigrate from one life to
another leaving out the old body and receiving the new body. Therefore, the
Upanishads prescribe a way how to realize the reality and to become liberated
from the Samsāric existence.
The path leading to the realization of
truth or to experience the unity with the Brahman, mainly consisted of two
stages namely, (i) cultivation of detachment (vairāgya) and
acquisition of knowledge (jhāna). At the preliminary stage of the
realization of truth, one has to get rid of selfish individuality which is the
source of all evil and suffering. Detachment means the removal of Ahamkāra or in other
words, prevention from selfish individuality. The detachment should be
cultivated for a long period of time to get its perfection. This stage is a
prerequisite for obtaining knowledge of the reality.
The second stage which is known as jhāna is considered
to be threefold, namely, śravana, manana
and nididhyasana. Śravana stands for the
study of Upanishads under a suitable teacher. One has to learn from a teacher
the secret teachings of Upanishads, which reveal the knowledge of Brahman. The
second step is the continual reflection (Manana)
upon what is known from the teacher. This leads to the third step, Nididhyasana, which means the
meditation. This is the final stage through which one can realize the Brahman
within oneself. Knowing the Brahman is to become oneness with the Brahman.
Śramanic religious movement
There are different opinions regarding
the origin of the Śramana movement. Some scholars try to trace it
back to the Indus valley civilization while some others point to an Aryan
origin. But, it should be mentioned that we do not have concrete evidence to
point out the continual relation between the Śramana movement at the
time of the Buddha and its presumed origin by the scholars.
The people who have given up their
household life for a religious life are said to be Śramanās. In that
sense, even the Buddha and his monastic followers came to be known as Śramanās. The Buddha
was known to the people as Gotama,
the Śamana (Samano
bho gotamo). When we talk about the Indian religious background on which
Buddhism came into existence, we have to discuss about the Śramana movement
excluding the Buddhist. During the time of the Buddha, other than the Buddhist Śramanās, there were
different groups of Śramanās representing
their own systems of religious or philosophical thinking. Therefore, unlike the
Brāhmaņa
movement, Śramana movement does
not necessarily refer to one and the same religious practice. In comparison to Brāhmaņa
movement, the special characteristic of Śramana movement was
that it consisted of different types of wandering ascetics, who did not have
permanent residence and they did not appear for religious activities of others,
rather than their own. They were differently known as Paribbajaka, Acelaka,
Jatila, Muni, Ājivaka, Niganţha, and so on.
According to the available evidences in
the Buddhist scriptures, there appeared mainly six groups of Śramanās, out of which
each had the leadership of a teacher or a master at the time of the Buddha.
Sāmaññaphala-sutta of Dīghanikāya mentions their
teachings in brief while it gives their names as follows:
1. Pūraņa
Kassapa;
2. Makkhali Gosāla;
3. Pakudha Kaccāyana;
4. Ajita Kesakambali;
5. Niganṭha Nāţhaputta;
6. Sanjaya Belaţţhaputta.
Teaching
of Purana Kassapa
Pūrana Kassapa was a non-actionist
(Akiriyavādi), who
rejected the consequences of good or bad action. He did not accept the ethical
value of any action done by a man. For him there was no good or bad or
wholesome or unwholesome actions, as both activities do not give rise to any
result. He is reported to have said that if one were to go along the south bank
of the Ganges killing, slaying, cutting or causing to be cut, burning or
causing to be burnt, there would be no evil and as a result of that, no evil
would accrue. Or if one were to go along the north bank of the Ganges giving
and causing to be given, sacrificing and causing to be sacrificed, there would
be no merit and as a result of that, no merit would accrue. As Pūrana Kassapa
rejected the results of good or bad Kammās, he was against the moral
causation.
Teaching
of Makkhali Gosāla
Makkhali Gosāla is considered
to be the leader of Ājivaka
School, which maintained the strict determinism or fatalism. According to him,
man has no free will and effort of his own. Every thing happens in accordance
with fate (Niyati). Like Pūrana
Kassapa, Makkhali Gosāla
also rejected moral causation. For both, there is no discrimination between
good and bad. In addition to this, Makkhali Gosaāla was of the
opinion that the individual soul of the being has to be transmigrated for a
certain period of time until it gets the freedom from suffering. There is no
way, other than living in Samsara, to get the purification. Therefore, “just as
a ball of string when thrown runs till it is all unraveled, so fools and wise
run on and circle round till they make an end of suffering”.
Teaching
of Pakudha Kaccāyana
Pakudha Kaccayana presented a doctrine
of substances which are considered as the ultimate constituents of the
universe. According to him, the universe is made up of seven elements known as
earth, water, fire, air, pleasure and pain and the life principle. These seven
elements are substances which are not made, not created, immovable and self
existent. Pakudha Kaccāyana
also did not accept the efficacy of moral causation. He is reported to have
said that whoever cuts off a man’s head with a sharp sword does not deprive
anyone of life; he just inserts the blade in the intervening space between
these seven elements (Kaya).[
According to some scholars of the
history of Indian Buddhism, aforesaid teachings of the three Sramanic masters
together constitute the Ājivaka
School of Sramanās.
Teaching
of Ajita Kesakambali
Ajita Kesakambali represented
materialistic school of Sramanās.
According to him, the universe is composed of the four great elements namely,
earth, water, fire and air. Human being is nothing more than a specific
combination of those elements. There is no existence of being after his death.
Ajita Kesakambali proclaimed the complete eradication of the being, which
occurs with the death of the being. Just like Ājivakās, Ajita
Kesakambali did not accept the moral causation. He completely rejected not only
the efficacy of the action either good or bad but also the spiritual perfection
claimed by the religions.
Teaching
of Niganṭṭha Nāthaputta
Niganṭṭha Nāthaputta or Wardhamāna Mahāvira was the leader of Jaina school of Śramanās,
which was more popular than the other groups of Śramanās, when Buddhism
arose in India. Jaina school presented both theoretical aspect and practical
aspect as its religion. In its theoretical aspect, it asserted a doctrine of
transmigrating eternal soul, which is known as Jīva. Every being
acquires a jīva or soul which
is covered by the Karmic particles. So long as soul is in bondage of Karmās, there is no
complete freedom for the being. The freedom of the soul can be achieved through
the eradication of Karmas. Therefore, the practical aspect of Jainas consisted
of a threefold discipline recommended for the eradication Karmās, namely (1) destruction of past Kammās through the
ascetic practices (purānānam kammānam tapasā vyantībhāvā,
(2) stoppage of present Karmās (navānam kammānam akaranā), and (3)
avoidance of future Kammās
(āyatim
anavassavo). According to Niganṭṭha Nāthaputta, all
the experiences of the man, whether they are pleasant, unpleasant or
indifferent, are due to the results of the past Kammās.Therefore, the Kamma theory presented by him
can be considered as Karmic determinism. He recommended extremely rigorous
ascetic practices for the annihilation of past kammas to which, Buddhism
opposed as saying self mortification (Attakilamathānuyoga), which should
be avoided by the people who had gone forth. The doctrine of nonviolence was
highly recommended in the discipline of Jainās.
Teaching
of Sanjaya Belaṭṭhaputta
Sanjaya is believed to have represented the Agnostic or the
Skeptic school of Śramanās during the
time of the Buddha. Sanjaya did not present any conclusive or decisive answer
to any of the speculative doctrines, which came under the debate of the day.
The concepts like soul, next world, Kamma, and the results of the Kamma and
position of the perfected man after his death, were more popular in the
philosophical debates during that time. When Sanjaya was asked a question about
a doctrinal concept mentioned above, he did not have his own conclusive answer.
Instead, he used to answer in order to please the questioner. According to the
circumstances, he answered the questions affirmatively or negatively or both or
neither. It seems that agnostic thinkers thought that no conclusive answer to
any speculative or metaphysical doctrine is possible.
Some scholars of Indian philosophy
prefer to describe the method used by Sanjaya as the method of evasion.
According to them, agonistic thinkers developed this method for the purpose of
debate but, in the real sense, they appeared to have deprecated arguments, as
leading to bad tempers and loss of peace in the mind.
We have so far discussed specially, the
religious background constituted by the two main religious movements that
existed in India when Buddhism came into existence. It is the opinion of many
of the modern Buddhist scholars that the Buddha presented his teachings as a
direct response to the existing religious and philosophical teachings of the
day. It is quite evident that the main doctrine of Buddhism, the theory of
Dependent Origination, clearly rejects the eternalism of Brāhmaņās
as well as the nihilism of Śramanās.The religious practice, the Middle path formulated by the Buddha, also goes
against the practice of self indulgence (Kāmaskhallikānuyoga) of the
materialistic school and the practice of self mortification (Attakilamathānuyoga) of the Jaina school.
When we take all these religious and
philosophical views into account, it is quite clear that there was no one
single system of thought recognized by all in the society where Buddhism was
born. On the one hand, there was a religion which sought every thing, both
material prosperity and spiritual immortality, for the people by the mercy of
the unseen supernatural almighty power (God or Sacrifice). On the other hand,
there were conflicting metaphysical theories and views regarding the world and
the self. The Buddha was struck, as Prof. Radhakrishnan pointed out, “by the
clashing enthusiasms, the discordant systems, the ebb and flow of belief, and
drew from it all his own lesson of the futility of metaphysical thinking”.
Religion for the Buddha necessarily
depends on the ethical perfection. The Buddha proclaimed that there is no one
either god or any other power that could bring forth the salvation of the man
except himself by his own effort for the ethical perfection. The Buddha raised
his eloquent voice in favor of man’s almighty power over his physical as well
as spiritual progress. For the Buddha, there is no metaphysical world or God as
the underlying entity of the world of experience. This world of experience is
the man’s realm where the man plays the role of lord.
Recommended Reference
From:
Prof.
Kapila Abhayawansa
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As Buddhist , we must help each other to propagating the Buddha's teaching . Do
As Buddhist , we must help each other to propagating the Buddha's teaching . Do
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