Buddhism

The Tian Tan Buddha on Lantau Island, Hong Kong, China.

Buddhism or Buddhadharma is a religion that originated in Northern India over 2,500 years ago as a reaction to Brahmanism with its own religious ideology and philosophy. It is in essence the goal of personal self development and attainment of enlightenment. It is based on the teachings of Siddharta Gautama or Buddha, with it being estimated that there are 320 million followers of Buddhism, though it’s in a decline as between 2010 and 2020 the number of Buddhists dropped by 20 million.

Buddhism has three major sects or branches: Theravada Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhism and Vajrayana Buddhism, with the Theravada being mainly practiced in South-East Asia i.e (Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia), Mahayana in East Asia (China, Japan, Korea) and Vajrayana in the Himalayas (Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan).

There’s also a modern sect of Buddhism called Navayana or Neo-Buddhism. It's a version of Buddhism that emphasizes social equality, justice and morality and this was created mainly by the Dalit caste (Untouchables) in India as an escape from the Hindu caste system. They reject traditional Buddhist concepts like karma, rebirth, and monasticism. Navayana reinterprets Buddhist principles to focus on social struggle and the eradication of inequality.

Origin of Buddhism

Buddhism can be understood as a reaction to the early feudal transition with its patriarchal elements and economic basis within India, primarily the accumulation of wealth in the hands of the Brahmin feudal lords, who lived a luxurious lifestyle and were spoiled by this wealth and aristocratic status, all of which was linked to their priestly role in the traditions of Brahmanism. In India during the 5th century BCE, there was a transition from rural feudal rule to the Mahajapadas (vast kingdoms) and to monetary systems during the Second Urbanization of India due to urbanization and new trade routes.

As the feudal lords accumulated wealth under the Mahajapadas, they intensified the exploitation of the peasantry and began to gain agricultural and trade surpluses, which they used to move to the cities and become urban aristocrats who tied their new wealth to the trade within these urban hubs. It is around this period of time that Siddhartha Gautama lived, and it is said in the Four Sights that Prince Siddhartha lived a luxurious life and was sheltered by his father, King Suddhodana of the Shakya clan, to prevent his son from experiencing suffering. But around the age of 29, Siddhartha, for the first time, walked outside the palace gates, where he saw four individuals: a sick person, which made him recognize the reality of disease, an old man, which made him realize the inevitability of aging, a corpse, which revealed the inevitability of death and a wandering ascetic, who showed him the possibility of detachment from worldly suffering.

Buddha holding the first sermon at Deer Park.

Siddharta was driven to utter despair by the suffering of working people, though he depicted it as an eternal and essential feature of life, and so he renounced his princely life and left the palace at night. Due to the widespread transition in Northern India and the great suffering of the people, multiple movements that rejected the worldly and emphasized detachment from the material emerged. These movements of Siddharta’s time are called the Sramana movements and included the religions of Jainism, Ajivika, and Carvaka.

Siddharta joined these nomadic ascetic monks, embodying their lifestyles under several teachers of the Sramana movements, though after years of commitment to these ascetic traditions, Siddharta felt that neither self-harm nor indulgence was the path to liberation and rejected these ascetic movements. Rejecting both extremes, Siddharta established Mahayana, or the Middle Way, with a focus on deep meditation and mindfulness, and through this process of deep meditation under the Bodhi tree he made the promise to himself that he would not rise until he attained understanding. After 49 days of sitting underneath the fig tree, Siddharta, not having eaten anything since the milk-rice pudding from Sujata, after nights of profound insights into the nature of suffering, impermanence, karma, and rebirth, attained “nirvana” and became the Buddha (the awakened one).

After the awakening, the Buddha began teaching the nature of suffering and impermanence, with his first sermon at the Deer Park in Sarnath near Varanasi, where he presented the Dukkha (truth of suffering), Samudaya (origin of suffering), Nirodha (cessation of suffering), and the Magga (path to end suffering), along with the Eight-Fold Path. These teachings attracted people around the country, and as the influence of Buddhism grew, so did the communities of the sangha (monks) and their monasteries.

Core of Buddhism

Dukkha - दुक्ख

Dukkha or suffering is the foundation of Buddhadharma, suffering is viewed as an inescapable and unavoidable fact of life with the pain of birth, aging, sickness, death, sorrow, grief and despair all being an unchanging feature and as a result it is taught that one should have complete contempt for life and its joys, as it is written in the Dhammapada - Chapter 16 - Verse 216: ‘’From affection springs forth sorrow, from affection springs forth fear. For him who is wholly free from affection there is no sorrow, much less fear.’’

Pessimism of this degree emerged as a reaction to the constant warfare between the Mahajanapadas and the wealth accumulation of the feudal lords. The landless peasants, who were impoverished and had lost their old way of life due to urbanization and wealth concentration, rejected any struggle to resist the structure and abandoned labor to beg. This loss created a cycle of poverty and inequality for the working people, which made the renunciation of the world and of all life an appealing idea. Acceptance of the suffering was very beneficial to the nobility, as it resulted in the oppressed never resisting or challenging the root of the suffering, the exploiters but rather accepting it and them.

The nobility saw this as a tool to pacify the masses, resolving class conflict through the idea that the material or external has no meaning or value, which then means there is no injustice, conflict, or inequality, in essence giving the oppressed an escape from the violent and exploitative times of 5th-century India.

Samudaya - समुदय

Samudaya means “origin.” It is the second noble truth of the Four, which identifies craving or desire as the origin and cause of suffering. The craving for pleasure, existence, and joy leads to a cycle of suffering and dissatisfaction.

So any craving whether it be for better conditions, to live and even happiness is something that causes suffering, this line of doctrine was very useful as it becomes an instrument for non-resistance and pacification to strengthen the class oppression and exploitation. Sensuality, delusion by life, ignorance and blindness are all taught to be fought against and to reject. Consciousness is seen as the indifference to one's cravings and it is said that the only means of overcoming the entire world of illusion is only the clarity of consciousness.

Taṇhā (craving) is in essence the obstacle to nirvana (liberation).

Nirodha - निरोध

Nirodha translates to extinction, which is the extinction of cravings. It is the third of the four noble truths which states that suffering ends when craving is killed. It is only through the killing of cravings one can escape the suffering that is embodied in life, Nirodha doesn’t just demand the suppression of one's cravings but scouring and understanding the roots so one can completely extinguish one's desires and passions.

Mārga - मार्ग

Mārga translates to path and is a process that can only be cultivated through the ariya aṭṭhaṅgika magga (Noble Eight-Fold Path) which is the practical guide of the Four Noble Truths, it consist of eight practices: Right View, Right Resolve, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration and all eight are meant to be cultivated simultaneously in order to end suffering.

Only by practicing and committing to these eight practices for one's lifetime can one potentially achieve Sa-upādisesa-nibbāna or Nirvana with residue in other words the individual has extinguished desire, aversion and delusion except for the physical body and the five aggregates: form, sensation, perception, mental formations and consciousness still exist.

As one can only truly achieve true nirvana upon death.