History and Reflections of Buddhism - Research Paper Example

Buddhism Historically, Buddhism has its roots in the sixth century BCE, making it one of the most ancient religions that are still practiced in the modern world. It later developed from the religious notions of prehistoric India in the religious and social turmoil period of the first millennium’s BCE second half. Scholars have divided the history of Buddhism into five distinct periods which are Pre-sectarian (or Early Buddhism); Sectarian Buddhism (or Nikayas Buddhism); Early Buddhist Schools; Early Mahayana Buddhism; Late Mahayana Buddhism; and Esoteric Buddhism (or Vajrayana Buddhism) (Takakusu 169). Although its spread was initially slow, it was aided by Ashoka, who was the emperor of Maurya and the religion’s ardent supporter. He, together with his descendants, promoted the construction of religious memorials of Buddhism known as stupas, and their efforts spread the religion beyond the inflated Maurya Empire into adjacent territories. They brought Buddhism into Central Asia and Afghanistan’s regions that spoke Iranian, as well as Sri Lanka. This paper will research on the history of Buddhism and its reflection on the culture of Southern India including Arts, Epics and architecture such as temples and tombs. There is general consensus among most historians that the origins of Buddhism are in north India’s era of the fifth century BCE. Its traditions can be traced to the birth of Siddhartha Gautama, popularly known as Buddha and denoting the Enlightened or Awakened one, who was born in Nepal’s Lumbini area. Buddha observed the world’s suffering and committed himself to find its remedy. He achieved a state of enlightenment through analysis and mediation, which characterized the end of suffering caused by attachments and liberty from the sequence of rebirth upon death. Buddhism’s earliest phase, the Pre-sectarian Buddhism, had the Vinaya Pitaka as its main scriptures and Nakayas’ four principles, also known as the Agamas (Takakusu 134). The Early Buddhist Schools opine that the Buddhist council was conducted after the death of Buddha (or parinirvana), where teachings were orally transmitted. The council was primarily to recite teachings collectively so as to ensure there were no errors in the oral transmissions. The monastic code, also known as Vinaya, was recited by Upali, and Buddha’s favorite disciple and cousin Ananda recited his lessons known s the Sutras. The Early Mahayana Buddhism was formed around 100 BCE and fully established in 100 AD on the assumption that its existence was separate from the competition of the Hinayana schools. The Late Mahayana Buddhism saw the development of four key thoughts which were Madhyamaka, Tathagatagarba, Yogacara and the most recent Buddhist Logic (Takakusu 114). Hinduism greatly influenced Esoteric Buddhism. The era of Ashoka is greatly credited with the spread of the religion outside India as emissaries were deployed to other countries, especially the eastern provinces that neighbored the Seleucid Empire and further on to the Hellenistic kingdoms. That spread ensured that Buddhism interacted with other diverse ethnic groups, exposing it to various influences that came from the Greek and Persian civilization. Buddhism’s originality started fragmenting in subsequent centuries, with the most noticeable split occurring after conducting the second council which came a century after the first was held. Following debates between traditionalists and liberal groups, the liberal groups termed themselves s the Mahasangha and left, eventually evolving into North Asia’s Mahayana tradition. On their part, the traditionalists labeled themselves as Sthaviranda, which meant the way of the elders, came up with a set of complex philosophical concepts collectively known as Abhidharma, which went beyond the ones that Buddha had revealed. However, the Abhidharma soon gave rise to disagreements, encouraging more splinter groups to leave the fold, eventually developing 18 different schools that had different interpretations of underlying issues and spreading throughout India. It is believed that a young, poor boy had no gift to present to the Buddha, and he decided to offer him a handful of dust. The Buddha accepted it graciously, and the boy was later reborn as Ashoka the Emperor (Armstrong 69). Emperor Ashoka’s unplanned encounter with a monk named Nigrodha was a key event in Buddhism’s history. Ashoka had succeeded his father after a 268 BC devastating power struggle, and the carnage that he had caused disturbed hi deeply as he tried to suppress a revolt in the territory of the Kalingas. After he met Nigrodha, he was convinced to devote his life to the cause of peace. He gave orders to erect thousands of pillars in rock, each bearing Buddha’s name in Brahmin script, which was the first evidence of Buddhism ever written. After sending missionaries throughout India and as far as Greece, Palestine and Egypt, many people in those foreign lands adopted the religion. A king in one of the kingdoms of Alexandria was convinced to convert by Nagasena, a monk, and his conversion was commemorated in the Milinda Panha. Another king named Kanishka, a Kushan from the northern region of India, also adopted Buddhism and another council followed in Kashmir. Later in the year 240 BC, Emperor Ashoka dispatched his daughter and son, a nun and monk respectively, to Ceylon in Sri Lanka to King Devanampiyatissa, whom they converted. This paved the way for the fourth council, which was hosted by Sri Lanka in a cave called Aloka in the first century BC (Foltz 86). It is at that time that set of Sutras were documented in their entirety on palm leaves in the language of Pali. They became the Pali Canon of Theravada, which forms the basis of today’s knowledge of Buddhism, which is also known as the Tripitaka as well as three baskets. The canon had three sections known as the Abhidharma Pitaka or philosophical commentaries; the Sutta Pitaka or the Buddha’s words; and Vinaya Pitaka or monastic laws. Sri Lankan monks may be given the full credit of saving the traditions of Theravada, which had almost been eliminated by harsh competition from Islam and Hinduism as well as colonialism and war. The monks of Theravada widened their practice from Sri Lanka to Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Burma and further on to Europe and the general West. There was a renewed interest in Buddhism with the advent of the Second World War, with Asian Buddhists like Suzuki, the Zen author, coming to the United States and England. Gradually, Americans and Europeans who had studies in Asia brought back their knowledge and established monasteries. Asian immigrants from Vietnam, Japan and China carried on with their Buddhist practices. Currently, there are over 300 million Buddhists worldwide, with 250,000 in Europe and 500,000 each in South and North America. Buddhism enjoyed a flourishing patronage from numerous kings for a period spanning over one thousand years following the fourth council. Monastic universities were built, for example, the one of Nalanda, teaching generations of scholars. Buddhist teachers from south India contributed to literature that spread beyond the region. Their most noticeable works are in the subjects of medicine, astronomy, etymology, grammar, religion, history and philosophy (Armstrong 94). Magnificent monuments, sculptures and paintings with Buddhist themes were created, and some are still in exhibition today in places like Ajanta. As the faith was propagated in the region’s local languages, the monks who arrived in the area learned the dialects so as to write books as well as preach and educate the natives. A strange fact has been noted by scholars who point out that none of the five Epics found in the literature of Tamil is the work of Hindu Tamils. Instead, three of them were written by Buddhist poets, with the remaining two written by Jain poets. The literary works on the teachings of emptiness written by a Buddhist monk, Nagarjuna, are today among the world’s most profound philosophical works man has ever produced. Modern day worship of Hinduism also reflects greatly on Buddhism, from their temples and even naming of gods. Buddha himself is worshipped by the Hindus as their god Vishnu’s ninth reincarnation. An animal sacrifice, which was a culture of Hinduism, was abandoned under the influence of Buddha’s teachings, helping reform Hinduism. The earliest evidence of the influence of Buddhism in south Indian architecture was in the religious monuments of the third century BC known as stupas, which were later elaborated and expanded to magnificent complexes over the centuries (Foltz 109). This is seen from the ruins of Buddhist structures that stand mainly in the south India kingdom known as the Cola country. It was common for the structural Buddhist architects of south India to add extensions onto core sacred sites over periods of time, eventually coming up with centrally-themed monuments and complexes. For example, Ashoka built a monastery in the city of Nagapattanam and named it Badarotirtha, from where the Buddhist commentary called Nettippakarana was written in the eighth century BC. Later, in 720 AD, a center was by extending the monastery to be used by visiting Chinese mariners who came into south India for trade. More monasteries were built in reigns that followed upto the ninth century AD, including lighthouses used by mariners. In more recent years, as Christian missionaries were allowed by the Indian government to replace the Buddhist structures with their own, statues inscribed with Buddhist concepts were uncovered during demolitions. Works Cited Armstrong, Karen. Buddha. New York: Penguin Books, 2001. Print. Foltz, Richard. Religions of the Silk Road: Premodern Patterns of Globalization. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. Print. Takakusu, J. A Record of the Buddhist Religion As Practiced in India and the Malay Archipelago New Delhi: AES, 2005. Print. Read More