Question: The Buddha grew up in a society where most people believed in some form of Hinduism. Most importantly, they believed in castes and samsara, and they had select people who followed ascetic lives. What are these ideas of castes and samsara and asceticism? How do you think Hindu religious practices and beliefs informed the Buddha's new dhamma?
Hinduism believed in castes which are like social orders, for the most part they are hereditary. The castes are divided into four sections Brahmin being the highest following Kshatriya, Vaishya, and then the Shudra. The Brahmin were the priest, the Kshatriya were the warriors, the Vaishya were the artisans, and the Shudra were the laborers. Hinduism believed they were all born with a problem called samsara. Samsara was the ceaseless cycle of death and rebirth. Their solution to release them from samsara was moksha. Moksha was liberation from reincarnation and a way to find God. However, they needed a technique to get from samsara to moksha. Yoga was the way. It led three different paths for Hindus to reach moksha. One form of yoga was karma yoga. Karma is the idea of good action, usually done morally or ritually, by the priests. Another form of yoga is jnana yoga which is the way of knowledge or wisdom. People who followed the way of jnana yoga were called ascetics and were renounce to their families to live lives of spiritual contemplation. The only goal for ascetics was to find their God within, Atman, and to also avoid maya, the illusion of what might be real. Bhakti yoga is a path that everyday Hindu people could follow. Bhakti yoga was a way of devotion, involving a lot of praying. It was a way to form a personel relationship with a god(s).
Buddhism started with a man named Siddhartha Gautama of the Sakyas. His father was a king and Gautama lived a luxurious life. He married at the age of sixteen and had a son named Rahula. Guatama's father insisted that Gautama never seen any form of ugliness in the world. When Gautama was in his twenties he had four events showing him of old age, disease, death, and the withdrawal he had on the world. He wanted to know more of a place where there was no death or age. Gautama escaped and ventured off into the world he knew nothing of. Learning of wisdom and yoga. He joined the ascetics but found no enlightenment from it, however it did provided a starting path for his own way. Hinduism had every effect of the Buddhism religion. Gautama believed in a rational life where the body is given what it is needed no more. He was on a quest of rigorous thought and mystic concentration and found his awakening underneath the Bo Tree. It is here is where the Buddha emerged. Buddha had no care for castes. He saw everybody as human. Buddha wanted to find a way for people to be awakened. Hinduism had religion qualities of authority, ritual , speculation, tradition, grace, and mystery, but Buddha believed that in Hinduism all these qualities were all lost in touch and very misleading. He first announced for everyone to start their own religious seeking and pay no mind to the Brahmin. Buddha believed that not all the answers were there and to maintain a noble silence. He preached for people to break free from their tradition because it was no good for them, Hinduism believed in reincarnation the endless cycle of death and rebirth but Buddha thought it was ridiculous. He led people to understand that they could all reach enlightenment not only the brahmins! Buddha stood away from the ideas of mystery and the supernatural. All these ideas which were complete opposite to the Hinduism way. Buddhism was empirical, scientific, pragmatic, therapeutic, psychological, egalitarian, and directed directly to individuals.
No comments:
Post a Comment