Life of the Buddha + Intellectual Context
Siddhartha Gautama => Born in 490-450 BCE in a time of social change and challenge in India
Opposition to Caste System from Brahminical Hinduism and Power struggle between Kshytriyas & Brahmins
Archaeological Evidence => Indus Valley Civilisation (2500 BCE), advanced civilisation with water systems and religious beliefs => Influenced religious practise, social structure and economy
J.L. Brockington - 'Some of the beliefs of these people lingered on... absorbed into Hinduism along side those inherited from the Vedas'
Aryan Invasion (2000 BCE) => Aryan people (from Iran) invaded India => Controlled every aspect of Indian life and brought religious beliefs, based around Vedas (Oldest = Rg Veda) => Brahminical Hinduism
Introduced Caste System (Varna), based on Hindu Dharma (Eternal Law from Veda + Social duty of class, overseen by 33 gods) => Listed in Rg Veda and Purusha Shukta).
Arya => 3 Castes. Brahmin (Teach and maintain Vedic tradition), Kshytria (Maintain order and punish) and Vaisyas (Generate £ via farming and trade) Non-Arya => Sudras (serve and protect other classes) and Dalits (Untouchables, outcast from society)
Arya = Dvija (Male members are born and pass through Sacred Thread Ceremony => Study Vedic Tradition under Brahmin)
Brahmin and Kshytrias => Complimentary and almost Symbiotic relationship. Brahmin => Religious order Kshytrias => Social order via rules and power. Brahmin legitimise Kshytria rule & Kshytria protect and support Brahmin.
Gombrich - 'Relations between Brahmin and Kshytria have always been ambiguous...pair of complimentary roles'
Varna => Generalised structure (expectations) of Ideal Indian life => Ashrama
What Buddha tried to follow until Middle Way was discovered
Student (learning) => Householder (creating family) => Forest Dweller (focus on spirituality on retirement) => (ASPIRATION) isolate from family, new spiritual birth and life of homelessness as religious seer (Muni or Rishi => Ascetics, Alara & Udduka)
RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES
Vedic (Religion of Arya) => Brahminical Hinduism (Main focus = Varna)=> officiated by Brahmins and based on Vedas and complicated ritual and temple worship
Brahmins carried out central rite of religion => animal sacrifices to appease 33 male Devas who were active in nature, the cosmos and human life.
Harvey - 'The Ritual...Coercing the Devas into sustaining the order of the cosmos and giving what was wanted'
Sacrifices + Prayers => Devas' demands are satisfied, Order in the universe is maintained and personal results for individual (health, cattle, securing life in the realm of the Devas after death)
Meditation => Ritual done prior to sacrifice => Developed into substitute for sacrifice itself for Brahmin who retired into forest
Sramana Movement - Hotbed of religious and social tension born out of 1) conflict between between Kshytrias Vs Brahmin, 2) syncretism due to expansion of larger empires (like Kosala) resulting in traditions of smaller community being lost and 3) Ideas of the Upanishad were being filtered down into the wider intellectual community and incorporated into religious debate.
Brahman (Universal spirit linked with Atman) + Samsara => Dominated Hindu belief ∴ goal of practising religion = Moksha
Harvey - Reincarnation developed from concern found in Brahmanas => Power of one's sacrificial action might not be sufficient to lead to an afterlife that did not end in another death
Teachings of Orthodox elements of Brahmin who became Muni + Ascetic techniques (Yoga, celibacy etc) => Upanishads.(Contains ideas on Karma relating to Reincarnation as before Karma only referred to sacrificial action but it was extended to refer to the totality of a person's actions.
Harvey - Buddha's central teachings = response to early Upanishads
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Harvey - Hindu Dharma = Divinely ordained order of universe and specific duties of each caste (how things are and how they should be) VS Buddhist Dharma = Nature and understanding of reality to help a person live a happier life that is closer to liberation (Same Dharma for all vs different between Caste)
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Jainism - Started by Vardhamana - No Atman but Jiva (Life-essence). Karma traps the Jiva, accumulating with every action & Karma is carried over lives via the Jiva . Aim = Free Jiva from Samsara by following Asceticism, wiping out new karma whilst waiting for previous karmic effects to die out => seen in Ahisma. => 6 ASCETICS BUDDHA SPENT TIME WITH.
Carrithers - 'The Shakya probably did not recognise the ceremonial precedence of Brahmins'
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'One who strives' - Group of thinkers who were linked by their renunciation of Brahmanism and the social elitism of the Brahmin with their ritual services. These people renounced their role in society and became Sadhu, living on the gifts of alms and loosely organised around a teacher (Alara and Udduka) after cutting off family ties.
Williams - 'The Buddha was a member of the sramanas'
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Focus = Ascetic Lifestyle, Meditative techniques to develop their understanding and knowledge of the world & developing philosophical views (Upanishad and Epistemology) that provided justifications for practices.
Harvey - Buddha says Jain concept on Karma is too mechanical and inflexible whilst Asceticism is too extreme (Vardhamana Method of starvation)
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Ajivakas - Started by Makkhali Gosala - Rejected Jain view of Karma as a force that can be regulated via self control - Believed in Niyati or 'impersonal destiny'. Existence = Journey of soul via pre-destined plan that included every reincarnation. Actions that generate Karma are dominated by Niyati and result in pre-determined reincarnations from primative animal to human to Ajivaka Ascetic.
Harvey - 'Buddha criticised Ajivaka fatalism as a denial of human potential and responsibility'
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Materialists - Led by Ajita Kesa-Kambali - Rejected any concept that was not provable via science (Karma, Reincarnation, Atman) - Self ends at death and actions are spontaneous and lack karmic impact. Aim = Live a balanced life. BUDDHA => Thought this view was Annihilationist
Skeptics - Avoided making commitments to any one point of view to preserve their peace of mind. True knowledge on issues of soul etc, for all practical purposes, was impossible and therefore, wouldn't comment that the beliefs of the other traditions were wrong. BUDDHA => Skeptics = 'Eel-wrigglers' (Inconsistent)
BUDDHA BELIEF - Ehipassiko (S), Nirvana (instead of Moksha - No unity with Brahman => Man makes his own destiny, not a god), Anatta (M), Devas = Higher level beings not supreme Deities, Rebirth and passing on of Karmic Energy (J)
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Gombrich - Buddha refines concept of Karma to include thoughts and all actions of a person, more refined and precise
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Williams - Life of Buddha = teaching aid to help people understand the central ideas of Buddhism
Cush - 'It is impossible to separate fact from fiction'
Life of the Buddha = Hagiography => Depicts Buddha as exemplification of Buddhist ideals
Vakkali Suta - 'Who sees the Dharma, sees me, and who sees me, sees the Dharma'
Jataka Tales - Recount the previous lives of the Buddha
Cush - 'function...impress extreme effort needed to be a Buddha...teach a specific virtue'
World systems live over and over again => In each new world system, there is a new Buddha to carry on teaching the Dharma
Buddhavamsa - Siddhartha lived as an Ascetic called Sumedha who found that life is characterised by suffering => Was taught by Dipankara Buddha (24th before Buddha) and decided to strive for Buddhahood. He met the other 23 Buddhas until he vowed to live penultimate life in Tusita Heaven, waiting to teach the Dharma again
Next Buddha = Maitreya
Williams - 'Buddhas...are not thought to be Eternal Gods
Siddhartha - Born into Shakya clan (Kshytriya) => Queen Maya had a dream => White elephant with 6 tusks and a lotus flower entered her side => Sumedha descended from Tusita Heaven into Maya due to her purity. At this moment, Earthquakes and 32 miraculous sights
Equamnity of Buddha w/ Nature and Cosmic Significance (CONCEPTION)
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Klostermaier - 'Son... World-ruler or World-renouncer'
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Buddhacarita - More normal contraception
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Maya, on the way to her family home, stops off in Lumbini Park to look at the flowering sala trees => Tree bends down a branch for Maya to hold while she gives birth out of her side.
Peter Harvey - 'Important events of Buddha under a tree... Harmony with all forms of life'
Birth from side and cleaniness - Karmic Purity
7 days later, Maya dies and is reborn in Tusita Heaven. Asita - Cries when he sees Buddha as he recognises 32 signs of a Buddha & says Buddha will be a Cakravartin or Buddha (Dependent on if he experiences suffering)
Ashvaghosa - Shone as if he had come down from heaven'
Father did not want Siddhartha to become the Buddha ∴ Buddha lived a Hedonistic life - 'Lotus pools solely for my use' & Married Yasodhara (companion over many previous lives) & had a son Rahula (Ball and chain)
Cush - Siddhartha naturally recognises suffering over beauty - Agriculture festival, notices hardness of peasant's lives vs beauty of the countryside
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Gautama leaves palace with chariot driver Channa after becoming disenchanted with his Hedonistic life. 4 Sights 1) Old man - 'Vanity of youth left me' Anguttara 2) Ill man - 'Vanity of health left me' 3) Corpse - Buddha understood transient nature of human existence and how palace walls cannot keep death and suffering away.. 4) Sadhu - Decides to follow a spiritual path to try find a solution to suffering & death
Palace = complacency and self-delusion
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Realisation of nature of human life
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Williams - 'Siddhartha has been brought up to radically perceive things... story portrays the situation that all unenlightened people are in'
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Buddha sought guidance from two sages. Alara -Sphere of nothingness - Mind goes beyond any apparent object to focus on nothingness. 2) Udduka - Sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception - Lowering consciousness to a level where it hardly exists. - All Refused by Gautama as did not eradicate Upadana, Lobha nor Tanha
ASCETIC PERIOD
Buddha joins 5 Ascetics- Aims to achieve enlightenment by destroying attachment to transient experience. Buddha hears man talking about tuning an instrument. Too loose = won't play & too tight = snap - Accepts bowl of rice from lady and bathes - Middle Way
Buddha remembers time he accidentally slipped into 1st Jhana under a tree - Sits under Bodhi to achieve enlightenment
Mara - Ability of desire to distract the mind from enlightenment
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Ashvaghosa - Buddha and Mara have a battle 1) Urges Buddha to abandon his quest and to take up life of sacrifice and good karma - Buddha refuses due to lack of need to generate karma
2) Mara summons 10 Squadrons which are defeated by Buddha's 10 Paramis 3) Creatures fire arrows at Gautama but these turn into flowers before they hit Buddha 4) Mara sends daughters Arati, Raga and Tanha to seduce Buddha - Buddha doesn't move. 5) Mara taunts Buddha saying that he has no one to bear witness for him. Mara tries to use all his good karma to move Buddha - doesn't work. Buddha touches earth Bhumisparsha mudra - Earth Goddess appears, bears witness to Buddha and Mara's army flees.
Power of peace vs violence - Ahimsa
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'The earth is my witness'
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Buddha then moves through the 4 Jhanas and reaches enlightenment at sunrise
Buddha sits under Bodhi Tree, unsure of what to do with his knowledge. Brahman appears and tells Buddha to teach. Buddha goes out to teach Alarma and Udduka but they died
Buddha does Deer Park Sermon/ Dharma-Caka-Pavattana to 5 ascetic companions who at first turn away but then listen. Buddha teaches 4 Noble Truths - Kondanna achieves enlightenment right there and other 4 become Arhats after more detailed sermon - first Sangha
Gombrich - First Sangha contained a mix of all Castes - Buddha addressed people as individuals with responsibility over their own spiritual destiny rather than members of the Varna
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Harvey - Buddha adapts to audience. Helps them move towards understanding his views whilst adapting old terns to give a new meaning to these known words in his own viewpoint (Arhat = True Brahmin)
Buddha approached different beliefs with an open mind - Kalarma Sutra - Buddha told people to accept teachings that encouraged good deeds and reject those that harmed others
Buddha believed in Ehipassiko - Blind faith = negative so people should try and test everything. A follower should not just grasp the Buddha's teachings but only use them if they are useful to them and for their intended use.
Mahaparinibbana Sutta - Buddha is killed by poisoned meal from his cousin Devadatta. Buddha forgives him and passed through the 4 Jhanas again between 2 sal trees, dying and achieving Paranirvana. His body was cremated, divided up and placed in 84 stupas around India
Shows how Buddha and his teachings are always present with the Sangha