Buddhism and Jainism
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BUDDHISM AND JAINISM truth (also called ‘Mahabhinishkramana’ or the Causes for the Growth of Buddhism Great renunciation) and wandered for 6 years. and Jainism • He fi rst meditated with Alara Kaiama. But he was • The Vedic rituals were expensive and the sacrifi ces not convinced that man could obtain liberation prescribed were very complicated and had lost from sorrow by mental discipline and knowledge. their meaning. His next teacher was Udraka Ramputra. He then • The caste system had become rigid. joined forces with fi ve ascetics – Kondana, Vappa, • Supremacy of the Brahmins created unrest. Bhadiya, Mahanama and Assagi, who were • All the religious texts were in Sanskrit, which was practicing the most rigorous self-mortification not understandable to the masses. Y in the hope of wearing away their karma and Buddhism obtaining fi nal bliss. • For six years he tortured himself until he was Buddhism is the middle way of wisdom and compassion. nothing but a walking skeleton. But after six years It stands for three pillars: he felt that his fasts and penance had been useless • Buddha – its founder so he abandoned these things and the fi ve disciples • Dhamma – his teachings also left him. • Sangha – order of Buddhist monks and nuns. • Attained Nirvana or Enlightenment at 35 at Five Great Events of Buddha’s Life and Uruvela, Gaya in Magadha (Bihar) under the Pipal their Symbols tree. • Birth – Lotus and bull • Delivered the fi rst sermon at Sarnath at Deer Park • Great renunciation – Horse where his fi ve disciples had settled. His fi rst sermon • Nirvana – Bodhi tree is called ‘Dharmachakrapravartan’ or ‘Turning of the Wheel of Law’. • First Sermon – Dharmachakra or wheel • Attained Mahaparinirvana at Kushinagar (identical • Parinirvana or death – Stupa with village Kasia in Deoria district of U.P.) in The Buddha 483 B.C. at the age of 80 in the Malla republic. His • Also known as Sakyamuni (the Sage of the Sakyas), death is said to have been caused by a meal of pork Jina (the Victorious) or Tathagata (one who has (sukramad-dava), which he had taken with his lay reached the truth). HRONICLEdisciple Chunda at Pavapuri. • Born in 563 B.C. on the Vaishakha Poornima Day • His last words were: “All composite things decay. at Lumbini (near Kapilavastu) in Nepal. Strive diligently!” This was his “fi nal blowing out” C (Parinirvana). His body was cremated and his ashes • His father Suddhodana was the Saka ruler. were divided among the representatives of various • His mother (Mahamaya, of Kosala dynasty) died tribal societies and King Ajatshatru of Magadha. after 7 days of his birth and he was brought up by his stepmother Gautami. The Dhamma • Buddha was married at 16 to Yashodhara and The Four Great Truths enjoyed married life for 13 years and had a son named Rahula. IAS ACADEM• Dukkha – The world is full of sorrow and misery. • After seeing an old man, a sick man, a corpse and • The cause of all pain and misery is desire and an ascetic, he decided to become a wanderer. attachment. • Left his palace at 29 (with Channa, the charioteer • Pain and misery can be ended by killing or and his favourite horse, Kanthaka) in search of controlling desire. © Chronicle IAS Academy ANCIENT 19 • Desire can be controlled by following the Eight Fold • Fourth Council – At Kashmir (Kundalvan) in Path. 72 A.D. under Vasumitra (king was Kanishka). Vice Chairman was Ashwagosha. Divided into The Eight Fold Path Mahayana and Hinayana sects. The central theme of Buddha’s teachings is the • In Mahayana, idol worship is there. It became eight-fold path (Astangamarga) prescribed by him popular in China, Japan, Korea, Afghanistan, which consist of: Turkey and other South East countries. • Wisdom – Right Faith, Right Thought, • Hinayana became popular in Magadha and Sri • Moral Discipline – Right Action, Right Livelihood, Lanka. It believed in individual salvation and not Right Speech, in idol worship. • Mental Discipline – Right Effort, Right • Apart from these two there is third vehicle called Remembrance and Right Concentration. Vajrayana, which appeared in the 8th century and grew rapidly in Bihar and Bengal. They did not Belief in Nirvana treat meat, fi sh, wine, etc. as a taboo in the dietary • When desire ceases, rebirth ceases and nirvana is habits and freely consumed them. attained i.e. freedom from the cycle of birth and • Fifth Council – In Mandalay, Burma (now death by following the eight-fold path. Myanmar) in 1871 and was presided over by • According to Buddha the soul is a myth. Theravada monks in the reign of KingY Mindon. • Sixth Council – In Kaba Aye in Yangoon in 1954, Belief in Ahimsa was sponsored by the Burmese Government. One should not cause injury to any living being, animal Buddhism after Buddha or man. • Of all the religious remains of between 200 B.C. Law of Karma and 200 A.D. so far discovered in India, those Man reaps the fruits of his past deeds. of Buddhism far outnumber those of any other religion viz., Hinduism, Jainism etc together. The Sangha • Hieun Tsang (the Chinese traveler), in the 7th • Consists of monks (Bhikshus and Shramanas) and century A.D. found that the Lesser Vehicle or nuns. Hinayanism is almost extinct in most of India, and • Bhikshus acted as torch bearer of the Dhamma. only fl ourishing in a few parts of the west. • Apart from Sangha, the worshippers were called • From Nalanda, the missionary monk Upasakas. Padmasambhava went forth to convert Tibet to Buddhism in the 8th century A.D. Buddhist Councils • In the 6th century AD, the Huna King Mihirkula The monks gathered four times after the death of destroyed monasteries and killed monks. the Buddha and the effect of these events had their • A fanatical Shaivite king of Bengal, Sashanka, in the effect on Buddhism. course of an attack on Kannauj in the beginning of the 7th century A.D., almost destroyed the Tree of • First Council – At Rajgriha, in 483 B.C. under HRONICLEWisdom at Gaya. the Chairmanship of Mehakassaapa (king was • As late as the 5th century A.D., written scriptures Ajatshatru). Divided the teachings of Buddha into were rare and the pilgrim Fa-hien was hard put to two Pitakas – Vinaya Pitaka and Sutta Pitaka. Upali C fi nd a copy of the Vinay Pitaka. recited the Vinaya Pitaka and Ananda recited the Sutta Pitaka. Buddhist Literature • Second Council – At Vaishali, in 383 B.C. under Buddhist literature in Pali language is commonly Sabakami (king was Kalasoka of Shishunaga referred to as Tripitakas i.e. ‘Threefold Basket’. Dynasty). Followers were divided into • Vinaya Pitaka are the rules of discipline in Buddhist Sthavirmadins and Mahasanghikas. monasteries. • Third Council – At Pataliputra,IAS in 250 B.C. underACADEM • Sutta Pitaka is the largest and contains collection Mogaliputta Tissa (king was Ashoka). In this the of Buddha’s sermons. third part of the Tripitaka was coded in the Pali • Abhinandan Pitaka is the explanation of the language. philosophical principles of the Buddhist religion. © Chronicle IAS Academy ANCIENT 20 • Mahayana and Deepvamsa are other Buddhist • His father Siddhartha was the head of Jnatrika clan. texts. They provide information about the then His mother was Trishla, sister of Lichchhavi Prince Sri Lanka. Chetak of Vaishali. • Jatakas are the fables about the different births of • Mahavira was related to Bimbisara. Buddha. • Married to Yashoda and had a daughter named • The fundamentals of Buddhist teachings are Priyadarsena, whose husband Jamali became his contained in the “Dhammacakka-Pavattana Sutta fi rst discipline. (Sermon of the Turning of the Wheel of Law). • At 30, after the death of his parents he became an Buddha fi rst taught this to his fi rst disciples at ascetic. Benaras. This contains the Four noble truths and • In the 13th year of his asceticism, outside the town the Noble eight-fold path, which are accepted as of Jrimbhikgrama, he attained supreme knowledge basic categories by all Buddhist sects. (Kaivalya). • Among the chief Mahayana texts is the Lalitvistara, • From now on he was called Jaina or Jitendriya and a fl owery narrative of the life of Buddha. This test Mahavira and his followers were named Jains. He was utilized by Sir Edwin Arnold for The Light also got the title of Arihant i.e. worthy. of Asia, a lengthy poem on the life of Buddha, • At the age of 72, he attained death at Pava, near which enjoyed much popularity at the end of the Patna in 527 B.C. Mahavira survivedY the death of last century. his chief rival Gosala and probably also that of the Causes of Decline of Buddhism Buddha, and died of self-starvation at the age of 72 in the little town of Pava, near the Magadhan capital • It succumbed to the Brahmannical rituals and Rajagriha. It is said that at the time of Mahavir’s ceremonies such as idol worship, etc. which death at Pavapuri, the kings of the two clans viz., Buddhism had earlier denounced. the Mallas and the Lichchhavis, celebrated the lamp • Revival of reformed Hinduism with the preaching festival in his honour. of Shankaracharya from ninth century onwards. • After the death of Mahavira, during the reign of • Use of Sanskrit, the language of intellectuals in place King Chandragupta, a severe famine led to the great of Pali, the language of the common people. exodus of Jain monks from the Ganga valley to the • Deterioration in the moral standards among the Deccan, where they established important centres monks living in the Buddhist monasteries. of their faith. This migration led to a great schism • Attacks of Huna king Mihirkula in the sixth century in Jainism. Bhadrabahu who led the emigrants and the Turkish invaders in the 12th century A.D.