Buddhism and Jainism

New schools of thought

In the 1st millennium BCE, some schools of thought grew out of the Vedas, while others did not accept the authority of the Vedas and built their own systems. The two most influential were Buddhism and Jainism.

The Buddha

About two and a half millenniums ago, a prince named Siddhārtha Gautama was born in Lumbini, today in Nepal. Scholars disagree on the exact year; Chapter 4 took about 560 BCE. He grew up in a protected palace life. At 29, riding through the city, he saw for the first time an old man, a sick man and a dead body, and also an ascetic who seemed happy and at peace. He gave up palace life and travelled on foot, searching for the root cause of suffering. After meditating for many days under a pipal tree at Bodh Gaya (Bihar), he attained enlightenment: avidyā, ignorance, and attachment are the source of human suffering, and he worked out a way to remove them. He became the Buddha, the ‘awakened’ one.

He taught ahimsa, usually translated ‘non-violence’ but originally ‘non-hurting’, and a sincere inner discipline. In one saying, he explains that bathing in sacred rivers does not make anyone pure; purity lies in truth and dharma, and conquering oneself is greater than conquering thousands in battle. He founded the Sangha, a community of bhikṣhus (monks) and later bhikṣhuṇīs (nuns), and his influence spread across Asia.

The Jātaka tales tell of the Buddha’s former births. In one, a monkey-king makes his own body a bridge so his troop can escape the king’s soldiers; he dies of his injuries, and the watching king learns what a ruler owes his people.

Mahāvīra

Jainism became widespread at the same time, though its roots are said to be much older. Vardhamāna was born into a royal family near Vaiśhālī (Bihar) in the early 6th century BCE. At 30 he left home to seek spiritual knowledge, and after 12 years of ascetic discipline he reached ‘infinite knowledge’. He became Mahāvīra, the ‘great hero’. The word ‘Jain’ comes from jina, ‘conqueror’: not of lands or enemies, but of ignorance and attachments.

Jain teachings include:

• Ahimsa: no living, breathing creature should be killed, hurt, abused or driven away.
• Anekāntavāda: ‘not just one’ view; the truth has many sides and no single statement captures it fully.
• Aparigraha: ‘non-possession’; keep only what is truly necessary.

Jainism also stresses that all creatures, from humans to invisible organisms, depend on one another. In a Jain story, Rohineya, a clever burglar, overhears a few words of Mahāvīra’s sermon, uses them to escape a minister’s trap, then feels remorse, confesses, returns the stolen goods and becomes a monk: right thinking matters, and everyone deserves a second chance.

Ahimsa in thought

In both schools, ahimsa means more than not hurting a person or an animal. It also means avoiding violence in thought, such as ill feelings towards anyone, even towards ourselves. Noticing such thoughts is the first step to turning them into positive ones.

Spreading the teachings

Buddhist and Jain monks, and sometimes nuns, travelled across the land. Some built monasteries far away; others lived in caves cut into rock, where names of monks have been found beside stone beds. At Ellora (Maharashtra), caves cut between the 6th and 10th centuries CE are Hindu, Buddhist and Jain.

Though different, the Vedic, Buddhist and Jain schools shared ideas such as dharma, karma, rebirth and the search for an end to suffering and ignorance. Read about the Vedic schools in what are the Vedas. Answers to the textbook questions are in the NCERT solutions for Chapter 7; see all of Chapter 7 notes.