BUDDHISM

The teachings of the Buddha were oral and were put down much later by his disciples. He was primarily a social reformer and an ethical teacher rather than a theoretical philosopher.  Whenever metaphysical questions were put to him he avoided them saying that philosophy purifies none and peace alone does.

A few weeks after Buddha’s death the first Buddhist council was held at the Magadha capital of Rajgriha to establish the canon of Vinaya, the discipline of the order. After about a century there arose controversy regarding certain points of the Vinaya which divided the Buddhists into Sthaviaravadins and Mahasanghikas.

The 2^nd Buddhist council was held at Vaishali to do away with the 10 controversial points of the Vinaya.

The 3^rd Buddhist council was summoned by Ashoka at Pataliputra to compile a canon of Sthaviravada Buddhism. The present Pali canon was probably compiled by this council.

Gradually Sthaviravada was divided into 11 and the Mahasanghika into 9 schools making a total of 20 schools for the Hinayana Buddhism.

The most important school of Hinayana Buddhism was Sarvastivada. The 4^th Buddhist council was held under King Kanishka to compile the tenets of this school.

Th Pali canon was called the Tripitakas or the 3 baskets.

The first is the Vinaya Pitaka which deals with the discipline of the order.

Th 2^nd is Sutta Pitaka 2which is supposed to be the collection of the sayings of the Buddha and consists of 5 collections called Nikaya, 1. Digha, 2. Majjima, 3. Anguttara, 4. Samyutta and 5. Khuddaka.

The 3^rd is Abhidamma Pitaka which deals with philosophical discussions.

All this literature is of the Hinayana sect. Some Buddhists felt that it did not present the real sayings of Buddha and had some horrible misinterpretations. They formed a separate sect called Mahayana and had their literature in Sanskrit.

TEACHINGS OF THE BUDDHA:

The 4 noble truths are

1.       There is suffering

2.       There is a cause of suffering

3.       There is a cessation of suffering

4.       There is a way leading to the cessation of this suffering

This is defeated by the noble 8 fold path.

1. Right faith,

2. Right resolve,

3. Right Speech,

4. Right action,

 5. Right living,

6. Right effort,

7. Right thought,

8. Right concentration.

Buddha said that there are two extremes from which a man of religion should abstain. One is a life of pleasure and the other is a life of mortification. The perfect person discovers the middle path between these 2 extremes.

DISTINCTION BETWEEN HINAYANA AND MAHAYANA:

HInayana, like Jainism is a religion without God, with Karma taking place of the lord.

Hinayana relies on the last words of Buddha which said “ Be a light unto thyself” and “ Now brethren I take my leave of you, all the constituents of the being are transitory , work out your Salvation with diligence”. Hinayana emphasizes liberation for and by the individual himself. Its goal is Arhathood or the state of ideal saint who obtains personal Salvation, Nibbhana which is regarded as the extinction of all misery.

Mahayana believes that Nirvana is not negative cessation of misery but a positive state of bliss. Its idea saint is Bodhisattva who defers his own salvation in order to work for the salvation of others. In Mahayana Buddha is transformed into a God and worshipped as such.   

The Sanskrit counterpart of Sthaviravada (Theravada in Pali) is known as Sarvastivada which maintains the existence of all things physical as well as mental. Sarvastvada is also known as Vaibhashika. Gradually from this school another school named Sautrantika has branched off.

This is the theoretical separation of the Buddhist schools and Buddhism in brief. I am not giving the Metaphysics of Hinayana with a view to not confuse the mind any further.