Dr Saheb Sahu
Indian Philosophy Around the time of Buddha
That there were doubters (of God), even in the days of Upanishads, appears from the Upanishads themselves. The Swasanved Upnishad announces that there is no god; no heaven, no hell, no reincarnation, and no world; the Vedas and Upanishads are the work of conceited fools.
The Charvakas laughed at the notion that the Vedas were divinely revealed truth. They argued that truth can never be known except through senses. Even reason is not to be trusted, as it depends upon the assumption that future will behave like the past. They believed that the soul is a delusion, and Atman is humbug. Matter is one reality; the body is a combination of atoms, the mind is merely matter of thinking; the body, and not the soul, feels, sees, hears, thinks. There is no immortality, no rebirth. Religion is an aberration, a disease. Virtue is a mistake; the purpose of life is living, and the only wisdom is happiness.
The revolutionary philosophy of Charvakas put an end to the age of the Vedas and the Upanishads (Durant).
Before the birth of Buddha, we find a variety of persons who despised all priests, doubted all gods, and bore without trepidation the name of Nastiks, No –sayer and Nihilist. When Buddha grew to manhood he found the halls, the streets, the very woods of northern India ringing with philosophical disputation, mostly an atheistic (non-believer in god) and materialistic trend. The later Upanishad’s and the oldest Buddhists books are full of heretic (a person who holds religious opinion contrary to accepted beliefs). It was an amazing age of free thought in Indian philosophy.
The Legend of Buddha
Indian tradition describes Buddha’s father, Shudhodhana, member of the Gautama clan of the Shakya tribe, and the king of Kapilavastu, at the foot of the Himalayan range (present Nepal). In truth, however we know nothing certain about Buddha. Scholars assign his birth to approximately 563BC. As a member of the Kshatriya caste, he received careful training in the military arts. He also sat at the feet of sages, and made himself master of all the philosophical theories current at his time. He married, became a father and lived in wealth.
One day, says the pious tradition, he went forth from his palace into the streets among the people, and saw an old man; and on another day went forth and saw a sick man; and on a third day he went forth and saw a dead man.
To Buddha these sights were the beginning of “enlightenment”. He suddenly resolved to leave his father (his mother had died in giving him birth), his wife and his newborn son and became an ascetic. During the night he stole into his wife’s room, and looked for the last time upon his son Rahula. In the dark of the morning he rode out of the city. He stopped at a beautiful place called Uruvela, in the forest. Here he devoted himself to the severest forms of asceticism. For six years he tried the ways of the Yogis. He lived on seeds and grass.
But one day thought came to him that self-mortification was not the way. He abandoned his asceticism, went to sit under a shade giving tree (the Buddhi- tree later Buddhist worshipped at Buddha Gaya). He remained there steadfast and motionless, resolving never to leave that seat until enlightenment came to him. What, he asked himself, was the source of human sorrow, suffering, sickness, old age, and death? Soddenly a vision came to him of the infinite succession of death and births in the stream of life. Birth, he told himself, is the origin of all evil. If birth could be stopped… Why is Birth not stopped? Because of the law of karma demands new incarnation in which the soul may atone for evil done in past existences. Happiness is possible neither here, nor hereafter as many people think. Only peace is possible, only the cool quietude of craving ended, only Nirvana.
And so, after seven years of meditation, the Enlightened One (the Buddha), having learned the cause of human suffering went forth to the Holy City of Banaras, and there, in the deer-park at Saranath, preached Nirvana to men (Durant).
The Teaching of Buddha
Like the teachers of his time, Buddha taught through conversation, lectures, and parables. He claimed “enlightenment” but not inspiration. He never pretended that a god was speaking through him. He walked from town to town, accompanied by his disciples, and followed by as many as twelve hundred devotees.
His favorite sutra was the “Four Noble Truths” in which he expounded his view that life is suffering, that suffering is due to desire, and wisdom lies in stilling all desires. The suffering can be alleviated by the Eightfold Way (Paths) namely: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right living, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. When his disciples asked him to define clearly his conception of right living, he formulated for their guidance “Five Moral Rules”, simple and brief, perhaps more comprehensive than the Ten Commandments.
1. Let no one kill any living being.
2. Let no one take what is not given to him.
3. Let no one speak falsely.
4. Let no one drink intoxicating drink.
5. Let no one be unchaste.
Buddha’s conception of religion was purely ethical; he cared everything about conduct, nothing about ritual or worship or theology. He refused to be drawn into any discussion about eternity, immortality, or God. He scorns the assumption of the priests that the Vedas were inspired by the gods. He denounces the notion of sacrificing to the gods, and looks with horror upon the slaughter of animals for these rites. He rejects all cults and worship of supernatural beings, all mantras and incantations, prayers and all ascetics. Quietly, and without controversy he offers a religion absolutely free of dogma and priest craft (Durant).
The Last Days of Buddha
Towards the end of his life his followers bean to deify him, despite his challenge to them to doubt him and think for themselves.
And to Ananda (his main disciple) he taught his greatest and noblest lesson: “And whosoever, Ananda, either now or after I am dead, shall be a lamp unto themselves, and refuge unto themselves, shall be take themselves to no external refuge, but, holding fast to the truth as their lamps,…shall not look for refuge to any one besides themselves, it is they … who shall reach the very top most height! But they must be anxious to learn” (Durant).
He died in 483B.C, at the age of eighty. “Now then, O monks”, he said to them as his last words, “I address you. Subject to decay are compound things. Strive with earnestness” (Durant).
Mahavira
Mahavira (c599-527or 425B.C, the 24th Tirthankara of Jainism) was an older contemporary of Buddha, and like Buddha, he abandoned worldly possessions at the age of 30 and left home in pursuit of spiritual awakening, becoming an ascetic. He taught that observance of the vows of ahimsa (non-violence), satya (truth), asteya (non-stealing), bramacharya (chastity), and aparigraha (non-attachment) are necessary for spiritual liberation. Mahavira is best remembered in the Indian traditions for his teaching that ahimsa is the supreme moral virtue, and it covers all living beings. He believed in the existence of the soul but not in a creator God. Enlightments for Mahavira, is the consequence of self -cultivation and self-restraint.
Sources
1- Will Durant. The Story of Civilization; part -1, Our Oriental Heritage. Simon and Schuster, New York: 1954
2- Wikipedia .org