Buddhism
“By oneself is evil left undone; by oneself is one made pure. Purity and impurity depend on oneself; no one can purify another.” (Radhakrishnan, 1950) This quote comes from the Dhammapada, a collection of Buddhist teachings directly from the Buddha himself, Gautama. It is through ideas like this, that he came to create a very egalitarian religion, in a nation that functioned on an unfair system of feudalism. This unsurprisingly brought many followers into this nubile, and ever changing set of ideals. In essence, Buddhism is a religion focused on achieving Nirvana through not self-discipline, but self discovery, and it is because of this, that Buddhism continues to be unlike the majority of many other ideologies in both its birth, and
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Gautama’s father was a Kshatriya raja, a king, named Suddhodana, this allowed Gautama to be born into a very privileged lifestyle;. Although Gautama was privileged, he was still given many limitations, as it was predicted he would be a great king, unless he saw the hardships of the world, then he would become a religious teacher. Wishing for his son to become a king, Suddhodana sheltered his son from the world, and filled his life with worldly pleasantries. Soon enough though, around the time of his thirteenth birthday, Gautama began to see the ugliness he was hidden away from, four things in particular that his father tried to keep from him: an aged person, disease, a corpse, and finally an ascetic monk. It was after these hardships had been observed by Gautama, that he began to perceive the world differently, starting with picturing the women of his harem as elderly women, hidden pains and pains soon to come, filled Gautama’s mind, and he realized that a worldly life was not a life to pursue. It’s at this point that he rode away from his home, traded possessions with a beggar, and started …show more content…
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One of the major Hindu beliefs that Buddhism rejects is the Caste System, or “jati” in Sanskrit (Esposito, Fasching, and Lewis 317). The caste system is the social structure of Hinduism. It starts with the Brahmins, who are the priests and scholars, followed by the Kshatriya or warrior class. Next is the Vaishya, merchant class, and lastly the Shudras, the lowest caste designated to perform the impure and foul jobs the upper castes would never do. (Esposito, Fasching, and Lewis 317) The rules of the caste system are specific. Inter-marriages between castes are heavily discouraged and one can never change their caste during their current lifetime. Each caste has its own cosmic duties to fulfill, and not doing so could be detrimental to the world or an individuals karma. These distinct duties are referred to as one’s Dharma. (Esposito, Fasching, and Lewis 317) The Laws of Manu state “Better to do one’s own dharma badly than another caste’s dharma well” (Esposito, Fasching, and Lewis 317). Through saṃsāra, the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth, hopefully every soul will eventua...
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Buddhism, like most other religions, originated in a particular place at a particular time, and its roots are in forms and ideas that were part of the environment in which it developed. The most important of these areas at the time of the Buddha was the valley of the Ganges river which flows from west to east across most of northern India. It was here that the great religions of India first arose and flourished. Only later did they spread to the south. In the time of the Buddha, about 500 B.C.E., this area was undergoing a period of vigorous religious development.
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