Vardhamana Mahavira Summary

807 Words2 Pages

1. Vardhamana Mahavira was in kshatriya caste in Norther India in 540 BCE. At age of 39, he left his house and decided to travel in order to find salvation. He spent twelve years of his life detached from the possession of the material good. After twelve years of this ascetic lifestyle, he gained enlightenment. Vardhamana Mahavira decided to spread his knowledge, he united all of the doctrines into Jani.

Vardhamana Mahavira believed that everything in this world has a soul. Therefore people should adopt the principle of ahimsa, nonviolence to all the things. Most of the Jani 's were vegetarians. Also, jaunts believe all people are equal, therefore there should be no castes. Jai appealed to a lot of people from lower castes because of it. …show more content…

Siddhartha Gautama came from kshatriya caste in 563 BCE. One day, while riding his horse, he met three men, that presented to him all of the misery, sickness, and sufferings that exist in this world. The last man he saw was a monk, traveling by foot. This aspired him to live his house and follow the same ascetic lifestyle and look for enlightenment.

After 49 days of meditating, he received enlightenment and became «Buddha». As Vardhamana Mahavira, he decided to spread his teaching in a form of dharma, the basic doctrine. Some of his dedicated followers became monks.

The main ideas behind Buddhas doctrine were presented as Four Noble Truths: life is suffering desire causes suffering by eliminating desire, people can avoid suffering decent life and following Noble Eightfold Path will help to eliminate …show more content…

Living by Buddhism principles demanded a lot of devotion. Mahayana Buddhism evolved as a step towards more suitable religion for the people 's lives.

Between about 3 and 1 centuries BCE Buddhism developments made practicing this religion easier.
People started worship Budda as a God. This united people towards one endorsing specific religious figure. The second reason was Bodhisattvas. Bodhisattvas were individuals that were able to rich «niravvanna» through their spiritual dedication to Buddhism, but they stay on Earth to help people, that are still struggling. Bodhisattvas also organized the monasteries, where they were able to accept various of gifts from wealthy people in exchange for the salvation.
Development of education institutions contributed for the religion to spread. Nalanda becomes one of the first university in India with more that thousand of a student.

Mahayana Buddhism became «the greater vehicle». It promised the salvation in much easier way, then Buddhism. Therefore attracted a large number of

More about Vardhamana Mahavira Summary

Open Document