Gautam Buddha, Chapter – I

Gautam Buddha – Chapter – I

(Copy right protected by Dr. G.S. Tripathy)

In transforming existing social conditions, Buddhism as a force of humanist affected profoundly moral and religious ideas at that point of time as a powerful catalytic factor. It is a religion of humanity, equality & kindness.

To propitiate the Gods, Vedas allowed animal sacrifice while Buddhism set its face against such sacrifices. Against this practice, it urged a merciless campaign on the contrary. The services of Brahman who had specialized in that lore had the complicated nature of the sacrificial ritual required. In the social structure of the Indo Aryans, the Brahmans there fore came to hold a unique position. In the performance of the sacrifice, even the Kshatriya and the Vaisya who as dvijas (Twice- Born) enjoyed certain privileges in common with the Brahman, could not take prominent part as Brahmans. In the Buddhist texts such as the Kutadante-Sutta of the Digha-nikaya, the sudra was assigned menial tasks such as chopping of wood and cutting grass for the sacrifices.

The Sramanas lived a life of retirement in the forests and gave themselves up to the philosophical speculations.

They did not sympathize with sacrifices involving slaughter of animals.

Buddha preached the principle of Ahimsa and kindness to living animals. If he himself could eat meat and allow his followers to do so. In this matter, Buddhism scored a victory in certain cases.

Very simple is the explanation. In daily food, meat was commonly used at that time. Buddha and his followers had to depend on public alms. They would probably have starved to death if they had refused to eat meat; Buddha had to avoid extremes as a practical man. He followed a middle path. He imposed three restrictions in this case.

The monk was not to accept the meat, if he saw or heard or even suspected that an animal had been killed specially for him. This is the first one.

On the ground of birth the Brahmans claimed superiority, but Buddhism denounced all claims to superiority which is another special feature. All social distinctions between man and man had been denounced by Buddhism.

Another feature of great sociological significance in Buddhism is this. That is threw open the doors of organized religious life to women at men alike. Certain conditions had been laid at the same time which seems to imply the sub-servience of women to men.

That it should not be judged by the standards of the twenty first century nevertheless, it must be remembered. In religious life women enjoyed the same right of access to the highest position in his days also which was a great step forward. For instance, that of Arhatship women could also be as learned and as wise as men that was recognized at that point of time.

In this connection, the names of distinguished nuns like KHEMA, PATACARA and Dhammadina may be mentioned. In different spheres women like Sujata, Visakha and Samavati all achieved position of eminence outside the Sangha. To embrace the religious life, even courtesans like Amrapalli were not denied opportunities. Out of unhappiness with life in general women like Uppalvaranna, Subha, Kisa, Gautami and soma had renounced the world.

In order to overcome mundane suffering they accepted the life of devotion. That they made the best use of the opportunities and religion offered to them – it is said.

That the popularity of the Buddha and his religion largely depended on his method of approach to the masses – it is worth noting. People listened to the message of Buddha with the methodical appeal in a local dialect which struck a sympathetic chord in the hearts of the masses that came to them through a band of selfless preachers who had travelled long distances.

Buddha founded the Sanghas in order to carry out the mission of his life taking the order of the Buddhist fraternity of monks and nuns. The constitution and working of this organization was on democratic lines. Everyone could be a member of the Sangha who was ordained as a Buddhist monk in a particular locality. According to the democratic principles, all official business was transacted in a formal meeting of the Sangha. The decision of the Sangha was taken by a vote of majority, as every member had a vote. It was referred to a select committee when a complicated question came up before the Sangha. Far ratification the recommendation of the select committee had to be placed before the Sangha.

At a formal meeting of the Sangha, all members of the Sangha were required to be present in a parish. Decision was settled by the majority and the minority had to submit to its decision.

The leader of the Sangha was generally elected from among the Theras or senior monks. He was respected by all. The authority of the Sangha could not dare to be questioned by anybody as Sangha to be respected as one of the three jewels. Unless it was decided in a meeting, no official act of the Sangha was valid to put in short.

Buddha allowed things to be done democratically during his life time by the Sangha. He did not want to restrict the freedom of the Sangha by opposing his successor after his death. Dhamma and Vinaya were the two guides of Sangha. Anything which was not authorized by the Dhamma & Vinaya was to be rejected by the Sangha.

The liberal attitude of Buddha is throwing the doors wide open to all who wished to participate in religious life seems to have found general acceptance.

Buddhism was absorbed by the reformed religion of Hinduism in course of time.

Mahayana form of Buddhism came to assume a darker and debased form of Tantrism under the influence of non-Aryans. Into later Buddhism, magic sorcery and secret rites & rituals introduced. Particularly in respect of female deities. That the people were antagonized by some of the corrupt preaches of the tantries was therefore not surprising. To the decline of Buddhism, this unhealthy development must have contributed considerably.

To follow the spirit of Buddhism, India has taken a firm stand in the cause of world peace. In no small measure it must be conceded that Buddhism was reawakened in Mahatma Gandhi who preached Ahinsa through out his life.

On the minds of early Aryans in the then India, the cult of sacrifice which developed out of the prayers in the Vedic samhitas had a very powerful hold. The elaborate rituals of the cult are said to be responsible for doctrines which challenged the very existence of the cult as there were inevitable discussions that took place during the performance. For settling knotty prints connected with the ritual, the discussions were undoubtedly valuable. The cult of sacrifice, according to a passage in the Mundaka was itself shaky and unsafe although looked upon as a ship to take one across to the other shore of existence.

Unconnected with the present life, Vedic literature is replete with references to many problems. As contrasted with the misery of the present life, it related to the problems concerning the origin of the world and the imaginary happiness.

On the famous “Nasadiya - Sukta” incorporated in the tenth and concluding book of Rig-Veda the foundation of Indian philosophy are thus to be sought in these free discussions particularly. With the performance of the rituals the discussions at the long sacrificial session were primarily concerned. The question of thinking on different problems would not have arisen if the performance of the sacrifice could give ever lasting results. Man’s mind naturally turned to things eternal, when these results were efficacious only for a short period of time.

The origin of the world or the universe and its constituents were originally discussed by early thinkers. They agreed fully that a sacrificial performance could bring only temporary happiness as the life is short. Sometimes it may be a source of much unhappiness. Hence it was necessary to discover the source of eternal peace. If not what is the alternative?

This was the next question. Some were in favour of new mode of life. There should be a life of renunciation as opposed to the life of plenty led by a householder. The four stages of life in the system of Ashrams were evolved subsequently.

Not only to Brahmans but also to the other cultivated classes of the age ascetic life was open. There must have been others outside this narrow group, although Vedic literature records the names of some thinkers belonging to the ascetic class.

There is no ground for disbelieving that the non-Aryan influenced the Aryan mind though it is not easy to ascertain whether there were non-Aryan elements within its told.

Turning to non-Vedic literature one comes across terms like sramans as opposed to Brahmans. “Nigantha”, “Uaina”, AJIVA, AJIVAKA are different types of sramans. It is likely that somes of them were brought up on Brahmanic lore, but later broke away from it. The literature of Jains and Buddhists frequently refer to these sects. It is quite clear that these sramans inherited several ideas from Vedics literature as they were often inspired by it.

To Vedic literature the tenets of these different wandering sects can be traced back. Particularly to the literature of the Upanishad. The quest for the final cause goes back to the famous Nasadiya-Sukta of the Rigveda. The concept of the transmigration of souls is as old as the Yama Sukta. In Upanishadic literature, speculations on the ultimate cause of the universe are frequently met with.

The result of these speculations was the doctrine of the chain of causation as conceived by Buddha. Philosophical ideas and doctrines do not spring up unexpectedly but grow out of old ideas which are represented in almost identical terms in the last paragraph of the Mandukya Upanishad.

A sect and an Upanisadic text bear the same name, Mundaka. That the members of the sect shaved their heads which is a special feature of this sect. From a reference in the “Suttanipata”, the shaving of the head instead of wearing long hair seems to have been common to both Vedic and non-Vedic sects as it appears.