Buddhism & Upanishads

Life of Buddha

Siddhartha, also known as Gautama, the founder of Buddhism
Born as Siddhartha in the Sakya clan to its king Suddhodhana and his chief queen Mahamaya.
He married Yashodhara, son named Rahula
Attain enlightenment at age of 35.
Passed away in Kusinagara, (Called Parinirvana).

Origin

His discarded garments and jewellery to his father. This is known as Mahabhiraskramana or the Great Going Forth.
Meditated for 49 days on end under a peepal tree at Bodh Gaya in Bihar attained enlightenment.
Sarnath, near Varanasi, where he taught for the first time. He passed away at Kusinara.
Buddha described this as thirst or tanha.
Taught in the language of the ordinary people, prakrit.

Doctrines and Principles

Disciples of Buddha were Sariputta, Maha moggallana, Mahakaccayana and Ananda.

Four Noble Truth of Buddha

The Noble Truth of Suffering: Birth, age, death, unpleasantness, separation, unfulfilled wish.
The Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering: thirst for pleasure, power, long life, etc. are the causes for sorrow.
The Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering (Nirvana): complete stopping or release from sorrow.
The Noble Truth of the Path Leading to Cessation of Suffering: the Noble Eight fold Path or the Middle Path.
Believed in karma & Rebirth.

Eight Fold Path

Monastic establishments

Buddhist Councils

First Council at Rajgriha, headed by Upali & recited Vinaya Pitaka. Ananda recited Sutta Pitaka.
Second council at Vaishali. Buddhist order split into two – Sthaviravadins (Believers in the Teachings of the Elders) and Mahasanghikas (Members of the Great Community).
Third council at Pataliputra, convened by Ashoka.
The Sthaviravadins established themselves strongly and expelled the heretics. The last section called “Kathavatthu” was added to Abhidhamma Pitaka.
Fourth Council at Kashmir. Sarvastivadins were an important sect of Buddhism. Its doctrines were compiled in Mahavibhasa.
Brahmins, kshatriyas, merchants, labourers, barbers, courtesans and slaves can join in sangha.

Buddhist Sects

Sthaviravadins, Mahasanghikas & Sarvastivadins – Major sets.
Emergence of Mahayana (Great Vechile, popular and influential in India), Hinayana (Lesser vechile popular in Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand and other South-east Asian countries) & Vajrayana (Vechile of thunderbolt, popular in Bengal and Bihar. Emerge at end of the Gupta period)

Literature

Compiled in Pali. Pali canons called as tripitakas (Vinaya Pitaka (monastic rules and moral disciplines), Sutta Pitaka (Discourages & Teachings of Buddha) and Abhidhamma Pitaka(Expounded Buddhist philosophy))
Sutta Pitaka divided into five group or Nikayas. Contain works Theragath and Therigath ((Hymns of the Elder Monks and Nuns) & Jataka tales (Buddha’s deeds in previous births as Bodhisattva).
Other Works - Milinda Panha, Ceylonese chronicles Dipavamsa (Island Chronicles), Mahavamsa (Great Chronicle) and Culavamsa (Lesser Chronicle).

Buddhism in Tamilnadu

Southern parts of India.
Manimekalai by Sattanar epic of post sangam age in Buddhist literature.
Now extinct Kundalakesi is a Buddhist epic.
Dinnaga & Dhammapala who headed the famous Nalanda University were renowned Buddhist scholars from Kanchipuram.

Architecture

Buddhist temple in Nagapattinam called the Soolamani-varma-vihara.
Temple build during Pallava king, Narasimhavarman II on the request of Chinesh ruler.

Decline

Decline with the onset of the Bhakti movement.
Division into various splinter (Hinayana’, ‘Mahayana’, ‘Vajrayana’, ‘Tantrayana’ and ‘Sahajayana’ – lost its Originality).
Unintelligible to common people.
Invasion of Huns (Toramana & Mihirakula).
Rajput rulers not reconcile to Non-violence.
Finally, the invading Arabs and Turks.

System of ashramas

Around the time when Jainism and Buddhism were becoming popular, brahmins developed the system of ashramas.

Brahmacharya - lead simple lives and study the Vedas during the early years of their life.
Grihastha - marry and live as householders.
Vanaprastha - live in the forest and meditate.
Samnyasa - give up everything and become samnyasins.

Upanishads

Little earlier to Buddha. Some people wanted to know about life after death.
They described this as the atman or the individual soul and the brahman or the universal soul.
Upanishad literally means ‘approaching and sitting near’
Upanishadic thinkers were men, especially brahmins and rajas.
Mention of women thinkers, such as Gargi, Satyakama Jabala
Upanishads were later developed by the famous thinker Shankaracharya.

Panini, the grammarian

Prepare grammar for Sanskrit.
He arranged the vowels and the consonants in a special order. write down the rules of the language in short formulae (around 3000 of them).

Miscellaneous

UPSC Community Blog