Mahatma Buddha
Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, was a Kshatriya and belonged to the Sakya clan. Their territory is now represented by that part of Nepal terai that lies immediately to the north of the Basti district in Uttar Pradesh.
Famous legends of a later date represented him as the son of a mighty king, born and brought up amidst the luxuries of a place. The fact, however, is that the Sakya had a republican constitution, and the father of Gautama was probably elected to the chief position in the state for the time being. His birth date is a matter of dispute, but we may reasonably place it about 566 BC. As he grew into manhood, he was caught by the prevailing spirit of the time, which was a sort of pessimism leading to spiritual aspirations.
Popular tradition has dramatically represented how Gautama was horrified at the sight of an older man, a diseased person, and a dead body, and then being attracted by the saintly appearance of an ascetic, left his home, wife and child in a sudden fit of renunciation. The fact seems to be that the problem of getting rid of evils of the world, among which old age, disease and death are the most prominent, had been agitating the better minds of the youth, who realised the worthlessness of the material luxury that surrounded them.
Gautama shared the growing pessimism of the day and left his home in quest for a higher truth. He studied for some time in the philosophical schools of two renowned teachers of Rajagriha and then proceeded to Uruvilva near Gaya. Six years of concentration and profound meditation led to the discovery of truths that, he claimed, would cure the ills of the world, and thus, Gautama became the Buddha or the enlightened.
Fundamental Principles
The fundamental principles of Buddha’s teachings are represented by the four Noble Truths (Arya-Satyani) viz.:
That the world is a whole of suffering.
That thirst, desire, attachment, etc., are the causes of worldly existence.
Which can be stopped by the destruction of thirst, etc.
To do this, one must know the right way.
The chain of causes that tend to suffer is described in detail, and the means of deliverance from these sufferings are fully explained. This is the celebrated Eightfold Path (Ashtangika-marga), viz. right speech, right action, and suitable means of livelihood; proper exertion, right mindfulness, right meditation; and suitable resolution and right view. The ultimate end of life is to attain nirvana, the eternal state of peace and bliss, free from sorrow and desire, decay or disease, and, of course, further birth and death.
The moral doctrines preached by the Buddha were quite simple: man is the arbiter of his destiny, not any god or gods. If he does good deeds in this life, he will be reborn in a higher life until he attains salvation or the final emancipation from the evils of birth. On the other hand, evil deeds are sure to be punished, and not only will salvation be retarded thereby, but man will be reborn into lower and lower life. A man should avoid both the extremes, viz a life of luxury and severe asceticism – the middle path was the best in addition to the ordinary moral code, such as truthfulness, charity, purity, and control over passions. Buddhism stresses love, compassion, equanimity, and non-injury in living creatures through thought, word, or deed.
Travel and Teachings
Gautama Buddha adopted the life of a religious teacher at thirty-five and wandered in different places in Magadha, Kosala, and the adjoining territories, preaching his gospel. The disciples, whom he thus recruited, fell into two categories: the Upasaka or lay disciple, who lived with the family, and the Bhikshu or monk, who renounced the world and led the life of an ascetic. The Buddha was endowed with a great organising capacity, and the community of Buddhist monks called Sangha, founded by him, became one of the most significant religious corporations the world has ever seen.
A few striking characteristics of Buddhism may be noticed here. One was the admission of the female members into his Temple as bhikshuni & nuns. Buddha was initially opposed to this but was finally persuaded by his favourite disciple, Ananda, to consent (though not without much misgivings) about his Temple’s future. Secondly, the members enjoyed equal rights in his Temple, irrespective of the classes or castes they belonged to. Thirdly, Buddha introduced the practice of holding religious discourses in the Language of the ordinary people, in preference to the highly elaborate Sanskrit tongue, which was unintelligible to the people at large.
All these factors contributed to making Buddha’s religion highly popular. When he died at Kushinagar at the advanced age of eighty (486 B.C.), a wide circle of monks and lay disciples mourn his loss.
Buddhism as Religion
Shortly after Gautama Buddha’s death, his disciples met in a general council at Rajagriha. They made as complete and authentic a collection of the master’s teachings as possible. This was all the more important since Buddha did not nominate anybody to succeed him in the headship of the Temple but expressly said to his disciples: “The truths and the rules of the Order which I have set forth and laid down for you, let them, after I am gone, be the Teacher to you.”
The sacred literature of the Buddhists, which probably took final shape one or two centuries later, is known as the Tripitaka or the three baskets. The first is the Vinaya Pitaka, which laid down rules and regulations for the Buddhist monks’ guidance and the Temple’s general management. The second, the Sutta – (Sutra) Pitaka, was a collection of the Buddha’s religious discourses; the third, the Abhidhiamma-Pitaka, contained an exposition of the philosophical principles underlying the religion.
Besides Buddha and his doctrines as embodied in the Tripitaka, there was yet a third factor which was of equal importance. This was the Samgha or the Buddhist Temple. Even today, millions of Buddhists daily express their faith in the holy Trinity by uttering the sacred formula, “I take refuge in the Buddha, I take refuge in the Dharma, I take refuge in the Samgha.”
The idea of a Temple, or a corporate body of men following a particular religious faith, was familiar, and there were many organisations of this type during and before Gautama Buddha’s time. His credit, however, lies in the thorough and systematic character he gave to these organisations.
Membership in the Buddhist Temple was open to all persons, male or female, above fifteen years of age, irrespective of any class or caste distinctions, except certain specified categories, such as those affected by leprosy and other diseases, criminals, slaves, etc.
Conversion into Buddhism
The new convert had to choose a preceptor who led him before an assembly of monks and formally proposed admitting him to the Temple. The consent having been obtained, the convert was formally ordained, and the life of poverty and stem morality, which he was expected to lead, was fully explained to him.
Special training was necessary to accustom him to the new ideas and habits, and he had to live for the first ten years in absolute dependence upon his preceptor. After this disciplinary period, he became part and parcel of the excellent religious corporation. Henceforth, his conduct, down to the minutest details, was regulated by specific ordinances; even the slightest violation would surely bring down the appropriate punishment upon him. The cardinal principle of the Buddhist church was that none of the sect’s founders could make laws for the fraternity. Others might explain and expound them but needed help to formulate new laws.
Structure of Buddhist Temples
Buddhist Temples consisted of the various local Samghas or communities of monks. No central organisation was coordinating the different local communities, and this defect was sought to be remedied by the gathering of general Councils whenever any occasion arose. In theory, all these local bodies were merely parts of one Universal Temple. Thus, any local body member was ipso facto a member of any other regional community he might visit.
These local bodies were governed strictly by democratic principles; the general assembly of all the monk’s resident in a locality constituted the supreme authority, and votes decided matters. Each assembly meeting was legal if all the members were either present or, being absent, formally declared their consent. The assembly, whose constitution and procedure would have satisfied the ultra-democrats of the present day, had complete authority over the individual monks and could visit their offences with various degrees of punishment. They carried on the necessary secular business of the monastery through the agency of several officers appointed by them in due form.
The nuns formed a distinct community practically subordinate to the community of monks. The general tendency of the Buddhist canon law was to assign a distinctly inferior position to the nuns {bhikshunis), as the great Buddha was of the opinion that their admission into the Buddhist church was calculated to destroy its purity. Many safeguards were devised to avert this evil, but the essential principles guiding the corporation of monks were equally applicable to the ease of the nuns.
Essential Practices of the Buddhist Sanga
Particular reference may be made to two essential practices of the Buddhist Sanga; the first was the regular assembly of the local Bhikshus on the eighth, fourteenth, and fifteenth day of each fortnight to recite the Dharma. On one of the last two days, a learned monk recited Patimokkha, a short treatise containing a list of the crimes and offences that the Buddhist monks should avoid. As the recitation proceeded, and at the end of the description of each class of offences, the question was put to the assembled monks and nuns, whether they were pure about it. Anyone guilty of any of these offences had to confess his guilt, and his case was treated according to rules and regulations.
Another characteristic institution is the Vasia, or Retreat, during the rainy season. It was ordained that for three months during the rainy season every year, the monks should live in a settled residence and must not leave it except in an emergency. The rest of the year, the monks used to wander all over the country.
New Sects within Buddhism
The organisation of the Temple sketched above, must have taken centuries to develop, but its groundwork was laid by Buddha himself. Its chief defect was the absence of any coordinating central authority, which resulted in repeated schisms within the church. About 100 years after the death of Buddha, the monks of Vaisali observed certain practices which some monks held to be Council unlawful. A general Council of the Buddhists was held, and monks from different parts of Northern India attended. This Council’s account needs to be clarified, but a great schism followed, and a new sect was established.
Patronised by Emperor Asoka
We know very little about the history of Buddhism until we come to the reign of the Maurya emperor Asoka, who, as mentioned, transformed the comparatively insignificant sect into a world religion. It was during his reign that the third General Council of the Buddhists was held at Pataliputra.
The grand personality of Asoka and the steadfastness of his purpose, backed by the resources of a mighty empire, gave unparalleled impetus to the religion he patronised. Men thirsted for knowledge that would relieve them from the woes and miseries of the world. That knowledge was vouchsafed to the noble son of the Sakyas, and the torch that would dispel the gloom of misery and ignorance was lighted at Gaya under the Holy Tree.
More than two hundred years later, the torch-bearer appeared and led the holy light from village to village, city to city, province to province, country to country, and continent to continent. Three continents now drank the nectar of bliss, thanks to the superhuman energy and undying zeal of the Maurya emperor, and the time was not far distant when the name of Buddha would be uttered daily in nearly one-third of the households of the entire world. It is not every age, not every nation that can produce a king of this type, and the emperor Asoka remains without a parallel in the history of the world.
Crossed Indian Territory
Buddhism, which was thus raised to the status of a world religion, became, of course, the heading religion in India. Its catholicity attracted the bands of foreign invaders that appeared on Indian soil and must have been converted in large numbers. One of these is that the Greek king Menander still lives in the Buddhist tradition as Raja Milinda, and exciting work on Buddhist doctrines is associated with his name. But, by far, the most excellent name among the foreign patrons of Buddhism is that of Kanishka. His fame in the Buddhist world is only second to that of Asoka.
Like the Maurya Emperor Asoka, he convened a Buddhist Council—the fourth of its kind—to settle the text of the holy scriptures, and his political relation with the Central Asiatic Council states probably helped the propagation of Buddhism in Central and Northern Asia. Buddhism had already reached China on the one hand and Burma, Siam, the Malaya Peninsula, and islands in the Indian Archipelago on the other. Thus, towards the end of the Kushana dynasty, it was the leading religion in the whole of Asia.
Dissensions within Buddhism
However, the period that saw the most significant expansion of Buddhism also witnessed the most severe clashes within the Temple. In describing the constitution of the Buddhist Temple, we have already emphasised the absence of central coordinating authority, which must have favoured the growth of splits and disagreements.
We have also seen how, about 100 years after Buddha’s death, a great schism followed the Council of Vaishali. These schisms became more frequent in subsequent periods, and no less than eighteen different sects had grown up by the time of Kanishka. But the greatest split was yet to come. This was the growth of Mahayanism, which permanently divided the Buddhist Temple into two hostile camps.
A detailed treatment of this new development cannot be attempted here, but some of its essential features may be briefly referred to. In the first place, the Mahayinits introduced a belief in the Bodhisattvas beings – who were in the process of obtaining but had not yet received, Buddhahood. Several such Bodhisattvas soon claimed the faith and allegiance of the devotees. In contrast, the deification of the Buddha and image Worship with its usual accompaniments, such as elaborate rituals, formulae and charms, took the place of the simple faith in Buddha of the primitive times.
Secondly, whereas the old school regarded the individual’s salvation as the goal, the new school had the salvation of all beings as its objective.
Thirdly, whereas the Hinayanists – an old sect was now called by way of contrast to the Mahayanists – practised self-culture and good deeds as the only way to salvation, the latter began to place more and more reliance on faith in and devotion to the various Buddhas and Bodhisattvas as leading to the goal. Fourthly, Sanskrit was adopted as the Language of religious literature, and a new canon was developed, differing from the old in many essential respects. Besides the points mentioned above, there were fundamental differences between the two sects in terms of metaphysical conceptions, the final goal of religious life, the true nature of Buddha, and other matters.
The development of this sect is ascribed to Nagarjuna, a contemporary of Kanishka, although it is clear that it was already in an embryonic state before the Kushana period. In any case, from this time onward, the growing rivalry between the Mahayana and the Hinayana sects was the leading feature in the history of the Buddhist Temple. The Buddha is said to have prophesied that his religion would remain pure for only five hundred years within that time limit. Buddhism had attained the greatest glory and reached the highest pinnacle of power. But now the tide was turned, and it was visibly going down.
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