Budhism

Buddhism means ‘path of the Enlightened One’, was founded by Gautam Buddha (566 to 486 BCE), born as a prince to the parents, who were believed to have followed the Sramana tradition of Parsvanath (1997: personal communication with Dr L. M. Singhvi). At the age of 29, in order to find a path to alleviate of human suffering, Gautam left his wife Yashodhara, his son Rahul, his family and his possessions, cut off his hair, and renounced the worldly life. He went to live in the forest, learned meditation from two sages, but could not progress far enough spiritually; He went to another sage and fasted so severely that he could feel his backbone through his stomach, but this did not bring enlightenment. As neither the meditation, nor the austerities produced the enlightenment, he concluded that the ideal was a middle way between the extremes of self-denial and self-indulgence. Six years after renunciation he went to Bodha Gaya and resolved to meditate until he reached his goal. Right thinking and meditation gave him a new vision: he attained enlightenment and, thus, became the Buddha. He then travelled to Sarnath, near Varanasi, and gave his first sermon on the four noble truths and eightfold path to seekers of the truth, and gained his first five disciples. Gautam Buddha taught until the age of 80, and when he died, he achieved final Nirvana at Kushinagara.

The four noble truths and the eightfold path are the basis of Buddhist teachings, which are inscribed in their canon, the Tripitikas. The four noble truths are:
 
Ignorance is the root cause of suffering, which is in fact self-created.
Ignorance generates evil: desires, greed and hatred.
There can be a cessation or end to suffering.
There is an eightfold path to remove suffering and obtain happiness.

The eightfold path is ethical conduct: Right Views (or Knowledge), Right Thoughts, Right Speech, Right Conduct, Right Means of livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mental Control and Right meditation. Meditation plays a central role in Buddhism; it has two forms: samatha (tranquillity) and vipasyana (insight). Other Buddhist practices include mantras and the mandalas (sacred diagrams) and veneration for the Buddha and the Bodhisatvas, the enlightened persons who are active in helping unenlightened and suffering individuals for enlightenment.

Buddhism believes that nothing is permanent, everything is transitory; the world is a chain of interdependent momentary events; everything derives from an antecedent condition that ceases after producing its consequence. The soul is impermanent, it is a stream of consciousness, and attachment to the world produces suffering. Buddhism believes in karma, and that everyone has to suffer or enjoy the consequences of their actions, except detached ones, either in this life or in lives hereafter. Exhaustion of the fruits of karma is essential for nirvana, a state of perfection and bliss, and it can be achieved even in this life by the observance of the eightfold path.
Buddhism follows the middle way: in ethics, in metaphysics, in daily life and in every action, and avoids the extreme path of austerities. Buddhism teaches that it is just not sufficient to attain one’s own enlightenment, nirvana, but after achieving one’s own nirvana, one must work for the salvation of others. The three jewels of Buddhism are the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. Buddhism does not believe in God, the Supreme Being, but believes in a state of godliness, nirvana, which anyone can achieve; however, later Buddhists seem to interpret Buddha himself as God.

Buddhism argues that human beings are an aggregate of matter, feelings, perception, disposition and consciousness. What others call the soul, is nothing but a series of continuous unbroken conscious instants. All tendencies and dispositions of antecedent instants being transferred to succeeding ones, the final conscious instant of the human life transmigrates with all its tendencies and dispositions to its next incarnation and forms its  first instant consciousness. The ceasation of thought-instants or dispositions is nirvana, which is an eternal transcendental, spiritual state of perfect peace, equanimity and bliss and it can only be attained by the personal efforts to remove ignorance. Attachment to the world induces humans to perform actions for selfish ends, producing dispositions (sanskaaras) and binding them to suffering and rebirth.

The Buddhist sangha includes monks and nuns, who undergo an elaborate ceremony to enter the monastic order, involving acceptance of the three jewels and the ten precepts of commitment to the sangha. They are to refrain from: harming any living being; stealing; evil behaviour; wrong speech; intoxication, drugs or drink; eating after the mid-day meal; dancing, music, singing and indulging in unseemly shows; garlands, perfumes and personal adornments; using a broad and luxurious bed; and accepting gold and silver.

Buddhism has two main traditions – the Hinayana (Theravada) and the Mahayana. Theravada has remained loyal to the original teachings of the Buddha, while Mahayana has been modified to a very great extent to accommodate many elements that could appeal to and attract followers. The Theravadis are smaller in number, are sometimes called southern Buddhists because they have survived in the countries like Sri Lanka, Burma and Southeast Asia. Mahayana Buddhists are called northern Buddhists because they have spread to nothern countries like Tibet, China, Japan, Vietnam and Korea, and have developed seperate schools of thought such as the Tendai, Pure land, Shingon, Nichiren and Zen Buddhism.

Tibet has its own distinctive form of Buddhism, combining the pre-Buddhist Bon religion and Vajrayana (vehicle of the thunderbolt or diamond) form of Mahayana, based on mystic teachings. It believes in a Tibetan guru, the lama, as the fourth ‘jewel’ of Buddhism after the Buddha, the dharma and the sangha.

Some Japanese Buddhist groups such as Soka Gokkai have a lay orientation and others such as Rissho Kosei-Kai promotes interfaith dialogues; and some such as the Nipponzan Myohoji Order is well known for its pacifism and it has built the Peace Pagoda in Milton Keynes (1980) and Battersea in London (1985). Buddhists following these three groups and the Western Buddhist Order, started by the Venerable Sangharaksita, a monk for 18 years in India, have a following in the United Kingdom.

Although Buddhism emphasises the avoidance of intentional killing, Buddhists are not necessarily vegetarians. Some such as the Chinese Zen Buddhists are strict vegetarians and do not take onions and garlic, while others such as Tibetan monks do eat meat and in Theravada Buddhism monks and nuns are allowed to eat meat, provided animals are not killed especially for them.

Buddhists worship in domestic shrine as well in temples, which includes pujaa and meditation. Buddhists celebrate a variety of festivals, the major being Vaisakha or Buddha day (May), the dharmacakra, the anniversary of Buddha’s first sermon (July/August), the sangha (November), and enlightenment (December). The southern monks observe the Rains Retreat (June/July – September/October) and on Kathina day, the final day or a day within one month of the end of the retreat, the laity present monks and nuns with cloth for their robes.

Jainism and Buddhism
Buddhism has some superficial resemblance to Jainism such as non-belief in the creator God, non-belief in the authority of the Vedas or in animal sacrifices; and belief in some aspects of karma theory, the potentiality of a soul to obtain godliness; and the five vratas of ahimsaa, truthfulness, non-stealing, celibacy and non-attachment. Both stress amity, compassion, equanimity and non-attachment to the material world. Jainism believes in the equality of all souls and reverence for life in its totality, and accords significance to the minutest living organisms. Animal welfare, vegetarianism and care of the environment are much at the heart of Jain beliefs. Relative pluralism has made Jains tolerant towards other faiths and has kept Jainism as an ‘open’ religion. Whereas Buddhism has missionaries and seeks converts, Jainism has not followed the path of active conversion. Both belong to the sramana tradition, Buddha founded Buddhism in the sixth century BCE, while Jainism has existed in India far much longer.

Buddhism believes in the impermanence of the world and that everything is transitory, which is totally counter to Jain beliefs, which states that the universe and everything in it are real and permanent; the modes of the Reality change, but the Reality or the substance are permanent. Buddhism believes the soul as a series of continuous unbroken instants of consciousness: it is an illusion. Jainism believes the soul as an eternal Reality, which has consciousness as one of its attributes; the soul keeps its individuality even after liberation. Karma is very fine particles of matter according to Jains, while it is merely a force according to Buddhism.

Jainism prescribes a programme of spiritual training far more rigorous than the middle path of Buddhism and the fourfold order of Jainism does not exist in Buddhism.

The Jain daily practices of ascetics, the temples, rituals and the duties of the laity differ from those of Buddhism. The life of Jain ascetics is much more austere than that of Buddhist monks. Jains have remained strict vegetarians, Buddhists are also vegetarians, but in some Buddhist traditions meat-eating has become permissible, though Buddhists would not undertake the slaughter of animals themselves, nor accept meat from an animal slaughtered especially for them. Both religions have given importance to asceticism, but Buddhism accepts temporary asceticism, whereas in Jainism it is permanent.