Relations between Buddhism and Hinduism - Research Paper Example

?Buddhism Introduction: India is the place where the second grand religion of the country called Buddhism had its origin. The history of this grand religion starts with its founder called Gautama Buddha who was there in the sixth century BC. Buddha had his birth in the Shakya tribe which belonged to the Kshatriya caste. Gautama Buddha’s father name was Shudhodhana and mother name was Maya. Before the birth of Buddha, his mother Maya dreamt of a white elephant which came down from heaven and got into her womb. It was said that Lord Buddha had his birth in a orchard called Lumbini which is close to a very old town of Kapilavastu. After his birth, he was named as Gautama which was most likely because of some ancient Vedic prophet to whom few hymns in Rigveda were attributed. Lord Buddha was also called Siddhartha. The name Siddhartha was a title which Buddha’s disciples had given him, though, there were lots of issues that happened related to this. (Keown,pp. 23) Buddhism: In a basic sense, Buddhism is exceptional among all religions. Buddhism does not need to promote incantation of any kind of God. Deliverance can be obtained if one can have control over his desires, as it is said - desire roots to all kinds of sufferings. The original religion did not have any God nor any Devil. The highlighting point was not to pray but to have control on one's mind. In this regard, it was more regarded as world philosophy rather than as religion. But with passing time, it obtained the character of a religion inclusive of rituals and dogmas. (Keown, p. 23 ) The life history of Gautama Buddha was full of events. The most effective institution that Lord Buddha recognized during his life span was the monastic order called Sangha into which all men were permitted to go in irrespective of their social order. The members of this monastic order, Sangha, were called as Bhikkus which meant beggars, who had to have a very tough life, without having any kind of desires. The daily needs of the Bhikkus were very limited, they get only that much which is necessary for one to survive physically. Their only belongings were an entreating bowl, loin cloth of yellow color, one walking stick, when and wherever if necessary and one pair of beach sandals for the ones who need the most. They had to maintain themselves by the alms they received but were prohibited from explicitly pleading for alms. If the alms were given willingly then they need to get accepted and if not given willingly the Bhikkus need to shift their focus onto the next address. Thus it turned out to be a little clergy, but which was nothing like its Hindu matching part which was not based upon social group and was tilted towards the activities of the missionary rather than focusing on the presentation and maintenance of rituals. (Smith and Novak, pp. 40-45; Keown, pp. 23 ) During the lifetime of Lord Buddha, the beginning of Buddhism from other types of devotion which made up Hinduism was more or less complete. This took the outline of non-acknowledgment of any embodied Gods or Goddesses, spirits or evil spirits and the near lack of rites and rituals, denial of the class system and the powerful disciple act of monks which consisted representation of societal service with the aim of mitigation of human pain. Another noteworthy feature was that in initial stages, all supporters of Lord Buddha were enrolled as the members of Sangha and therefore it was entirely a religion of the disciples. (Smith and Novak, pp. 40-45; Keown, pp. 25-30 ) From its beginning, Buddhism has acknowledged royal benefaction. In the entire lifetime of Lord Buddha, Ajatashatru was the ruler of one of the most powerful kingdom of North India called Magadha where Buddhism was patronized and after few years where Lord Buddha attained Nirvana (the Salvation), the foremost religious committee of Buddhists was being held at Rajagriha, which was, at that point, the capital of Magadha, ruled by Ajatashatru. Such councils were the point to formulate and revise Buddhist religious policy which was hypothetically to be followed by all the disciples. This was kept to ensure the appearance of sub-sects, which is an inclination to be a trademark of Hinduism. The Second Council was held after about hundred years after the First Council was held, in the 5th Century BC, at Vaishali, also situated at Magadha. (Smith and Novak, pp. 40-45; Keown, pp. 25-30 ) Relations between Buddhism and Hinduism Buddhism sustained to develop progressively in the initial few centuries after the birth of Lord Buddha. The reasons for it were his universal demand, caring attitude, prominence on missionary and related community work and lastly his harmonious methods that restricted conflict with the recognized local religions to a very thoughtful level. Therefore, even the Kings who followed Hinduism do not felt it essential to craft any dissimilarity between Buddhism and Hinduism in strategic matters. Normally, Buddhism returned the kindness of the decisive power by offering it a decent authority amongst the people at the grass root level. (Smith and Novak, pp. 40-45) On the other hand, there was a swap of values and attitudes in between Hinduism and Buddhism. The Hindu persistence of vegetarianism and peacefulness (Ahimsa) were rented from Buddhism (and Jainism). In turn, Hinduism tried to soak up Buddhism within itself by making Lord Buddha one of the incarnations of Lord Vishnu. (Keown, pp. 70-85; Conze, pp. 12-22) Split into Two Sects - Mahayana (Greater Vehicle) and Hinayana (Lesser Vehicle) The religion, Buddhism, had already been vertically ripped into two schools, by the time the fourth religious committee was held. (Keown, pp. 70-85) One school had prominent Buddha, where the image (idol) of Lord Buddha gets worshipped, it also involved detailed rituals which resulted largely from Hinduism and gave up the meticulous austere life in monasteries and accepted Sanskrit as the medium of literacy. This school was known as the Mahayana {Greater Vehicle) school or the Northern School of Buddhism. (Keown, pp. 70-85) While, the Hinayana (Lesser Vehicle) school stuck to the unique quality of Buddhism with its focus on precise and easy living, even though, idol worship steadily made its path to Hinayana also. This school was called the Theravada (from Staieryavada l. e. principle of stability) which is mainly common in Sri Lanka, Burma and Thailand. In spite of the split, Buddhism sustained to develop progressively up to the supremacy of the Guptas. (Keown, 85) Conclusion: From the time when the Gupta kings were in power, (3rd and 4th centuries C.E.) the development of Buddhism became standstill and then slowly the turn down set in. The reasons for such decline were many but the major one was the lack of royal benefaction since the Gupta period, even though there was no harassment either. No noteworthy event happened thereafter in the record of Buddhism. But it was definite that till the commencement of the Gupta period the religion will be ascended and its relative subsequence in India will be noteworthy. References: 1. Smith, Huston and Philip Novak Buddhism: A Concise Introduction. HarperCollins, 2004. 2. Keown, Damien. Buddhism, A Brief Insight. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., 2009. 3. Conze, Edward . Buddhism: Its Essence and Development. Dover Publications, 2003. Read More