The cultural context
Buddha
Head of Buddha in gray schist, 1st?3rd century
ce
, showing Hellenistic influences, from Gandhara, northwestern Pakistan; in the Guimet Museum, Paris.
Buddhism arose in northeastern India sometime between the late 6th century and the early 4th century
bce
, a period of great
social change
and intense religious activity. There is disagreement among scholars about the dates of the Buddha’s birth and death. Many modern scholars believe that the historical Buddha lived from about 563 to about 483
bce
. Many others believe that he lived about 100 years later (from about 448 to 368
bce
). At this time in India, there was much discontent with
Brahmanic
(
Hindu
high-caste)
sacrifice
and
ritual
. In northwestern India there were
ascetics
who tried to create a more personal and spiritual religious experience than that found in the
Vedas
(Hindu sacred scriptures). In the literature that grew out of this movement, the
Upanishads
, a new emphasis on
renunciation
and transcendental knowledge can be found. Northeastern India, which was less influenced by Vedic tradition, became the breeding ground of many new sects. Society in this area was troubled by the breakdown of tribal unity and the expansion of several petty kingdoms. Religiously, this was a time of doubt, turmoil, and experimentation.
A proto-Samkhya group (i.e., one based on the
Samkhya
school of
Hinduism
founded by
Kapila
) was already well established in the area. New sects abounded, including various skeptics (e.g., Sanjaya Belatthiputta), atomists (e.g., Pakudha Kaccayana), materialists (e.g., Ajita Kesakambali), and antinomians (i.e., those against rules or laws?e.g., Purana Kassapa). The most important sects to arise at the time of the Buddha, however, were the
Ajivikas
(Ajivakas), who emphasized the rule of fate (
niyati
), and the
Jains
, who stressed the need to free the
soul
from matter. Although the Jains, like the Buddhists, have often been regarded as atheists, their beliefs are actually more complicated. Unlike early Buddhists, both the Ajivikas and the Jains believed in the permanence of the elements that
constitute
the universe, as well as in the existence of the soul.
Britannica Quiz
Buddha and Buddhism
Despite the bewildering variety of religious
communities
, many shared the same vocabulary?
nirvana
(transcendent freedom),
atman
(“self” or “soul”),
yoga
(“union”),
karma
(“causality”),
Tathagata
(“one who has come” or “one who has thus gone”),
buddha
(“enlightened one”),
samsara
(“eternal recurrence” or “becoming”), and
dhamma
(“rule” or “law”)?and most involved the practice of yoga. According to tradition, the Buddha himself was a yogi?that is, a miracle-working
ascetic
.
Buddhism, like many of the sects that developed in northeastern India at the time, was
constituted
by the presence of a
charismatic
teacher, by the teachings this leader
promulgated
, and by a
community
of adherents that was often made up of renunciant members and lay supporters. In the case of Buddhism, this pattern is reflected in the
Triratna
?i.e., the “Three Jewels” of
Buddha
(the teacher),
dharma
(the teaching), and
sangha
(the community).
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In the centuries following the founder’s death, Buddhism developed in two directions represented by two different groups. One was called the
Hinayana
(Sanskrit: “Lesser Vehicle”), a term given to it by its Buddhist opponents. This more
conservative
group, which included what is now called the
Theravada
(Pali: “Way of the Elders”) community, compiled versions of the Buddha’s teachings that had been preserved in collections called the
Sutta Pitaka
and the
Vinaya Pitaka
and retained them as normative. The other major group, which calls itself the
Mahayana
(Sanskrit: “Greater Vehicle”), recognized the authority of other teachings that, from the group’s point of view, made
salvation
available to a greater number of people. These supposedly more advanced teachings were expressed in
sutras
that the Buddha purportedly made available only to his more advanced
disciples
.
As Buddhism spread, it encountered new currents of thought and religion. In some Mahayana communities, for example, the strict law of
karma
(the
belief
that virtuous actions create pleasure in the future and nonvirtuous actions create pain) was modified to accommodate new emphases on the
efficacy
of ritual actions and devotional practices. During the second half of the 1st millennium
ce
, a third major Buddhist movement,
Vajrayana
(Sanskrit: “Diamond Vehicle”; also called Tantric, or
Esoteric
, Buddhism), developed in India. This movement was influenced by
gnostic
and
magical
currents
pervasive
at that time, and its aim was to obtain spiritual liberation and purity more speedily.
Despite these
vicissitudes
, Buddhism did not abandon its basic principles. Instead, they were reinterpreted, rethought, and reformulated in a process that led to the creation of a great body of literature. This literature includes the Pali
Tipitaka
(“Three Baskets”)?the
Sutta Pitaka
(“Basket of Discourse”), which contains the Buddha’s sermons; the
Vinaya Pitaka
(“Basket of Discipline”), which contains the rule governing the monastic order; and the
Abhidhamma Pitaka
(“Basket of Special [Further] Doctrine”), which contains doctrinal systematizations and summaries. These Pali texts have served as the basis for a long and very rich tradition of commentaries that were written and preserved by adherents of the Theravada community. The Mahayana and
Vajrayana
traditions have accepted as
Buddhavachana
(“the word of the Buddha”) many other
sutras
and
tantras
, along with extensive
treatises
and commentaries based on these texts. Consequently, from the first sermon of the Buddha at
Sarnath
to the most recent derivations, there is an indisputable continuity?a development or
metamorphosis
around a central nucleus?by virtue of which Buddhism is
differentiated
from other religions.
Giuseppe Tucci
Joseph M. Kitagawa
Frank E. Reynolds