Part One
The Fundamentals of Buddhism
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Chapter Two
The Pre-Buddhist Background
Although
studies of Buddhism usually begin with the life of the Buddha, the
historical founder of the faith, I would like first to examine the
situation that prevailed in India before the time of the Buddha, that is
to say, the pre-Buddhist background of Buddhism. I personally believe
such an examination to be particularly helpful because it enables us to
understand the life and teaching of the Buddha in a broader historical
and cultural context. This sort of retrospective examination can help us
better understand the nature of Buddhism in particular, and perhaps,
too, the nature of Indian philosophy and religion in general.
I
would like to begin our examination of the origin and development of
Indian philosophy and religion with a geographical analogy. In the north
of the Indian subcontinent are two great rivers, the Ganges and the
Yamuna. These two great rivers have separate sources in the high
Himalayas, and their courses remain quite separate for the better part
of their great length. Gradually they draw nearer to each other and
eventually unite in the plains of northern India, near the city now
known as Allahabad. From their point of confluence they flow on together
until they empty into the Bay of Bengal.
The
geography of these two great rivers exemplifies the origin and
development of Indian philosophy and religion because in Indian culture,
as in Indian geography, there are two great currents of thought that
were originally quite different and distinct in character. For many
centuries the course of these two remained separate and distinct, but
eventually they drew closer together, merged, and continued to flow on
together, almost indistinguishable from each other, right up to the
present day. Perhaps as we proceed with our examination of the
pre-Buddhist culture of India, we can bear in mind the image of these
rivers whose origins were separate, but which at a certain point merged
and continued together to the sea.
When
we look into the very early history of India, we find that, in the third
millennium B.C.E., there was a very highly developed civilization on the
subcontinent. This civilization was easily as old as those which are
called the cradles of human culture, such as the civilizations of Egypt
and Babylon. It flourished from about 2800 to 1800 B.C.E. and was known
as the Indus Valley, or the Harappan, civilization. It extended from
what is now western Pakistan south to a point near present-day Bombay
and east to a point near Shimla, in the foothills of the Himalayas.
If
you look at a map of Asia, you will at once realize that the
geographical extent of the Indus Valley civilization was immense. And
not only was this civilization stable for a thousand years, it was also
very advanced, both materially and spiritually. Materially, the Indus
Valley civilization was agrarian and exhibited a great degree of skill
in irrigation and urban planning. There is evidence that the people of
this civilization had evolved a system of mathematics based on a binary
model--the same model employed in modern computing. The Indus Valley
civilization was literate and developed a script that remains largely
undeciphered to date. (The meaning of the Indus Valley script is one of
the great unsolved mysteries of linguistic archaeology.) In addition,
there is ample evidence that the civilization enjoyed a very highly
developed spiritual culture. Archaeological discoveries at two major
sites, Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, bear witness to this.
The
peaceful unfolding of the life of this great ancient civilization was
rather abruptly interrupted sometime between 1800 and 1500 B.C.E.,
either by some natural disaster or by an invasion. What is certain is
that, simultaneous with or very soon after the demise of the Indus
Valley civilization, the subcontinent was invaded from the
northwest--just as, centuries later, Muslim invaders were to come from
that direction. The invading people were known as Aryans. This term
designated a people who originally belonged to a region somewhere in
Eastern Europe, perhaps the steppes of modern Poland and the Ukraine.
The Aryans were very different from the people of the Indus Valley
civilization.
Whereas
the latter had been agrarian and sedentary, the Aryans were nomadic and
pastoral. They were unused to urban life. A warlike and expansionist
people, they lived in large part on the spoils of conquest won from the
peoples they subjugated in the course of their migrations. When the
Aryans arrived in India, they very soon became the dominant
civilization, and after the middle of the second millennium B.C.E.,
Indian society was largely dominated by Aryan values.
Let
us now look at the religious attitudes of the people of the Indus Valley
civilization and of the Aryan civilization. This is of particular
interest to us. As I have said, the Indus Valley civilization had a
written language which we have thus far been unable to decipher.
Nonetheless, our knowledge of the civilization is derived from two
reliable sources: the archaeological discoveries at Mohenjo-daro and
Harappa, and the written records of the Aryans, who described the
religious behavior and beliefs of the people they came to dominate.
Archaeological
excavations have revealed a number of symbols important to the people of
the Indus Valley civilization. These symbols have religious significance
and are also sacred to Buddhism. They include the pipal tree (later
known as the bodhi tree, or ficus religiosa), and animals such as the
elephant and deer. Perhaps most significant, the image of a human figure
has been found that is seated in a cross-legged posture, hands resting
on the knees and eyes narrowed--clearly suggestive of the attitude of
meditation. With the help of these archaeological discoveries and other
evidence, eminent scholars have concluded that the origins of the
practices of yoga and meditation can be traced to the Indus Valley
civilization. Moreover, when we study the descriptions of the religious
practices of the people of the Indus Valley civilization found in the
written records of the early Aryans, the Vedas, we find the figure of
the wandering ascetic frequently mentioned. These ascetics are said to
have practiced methods of mind training, to have been celibate, naked or
clothed in the most meager of garments, to have had no fixed abode, and
to have taught the way beyond birth and death.
Putting
together the evidence gathered from the archaeological findings at the
major sites of the Indus Valley civilization and that found in the early
records of the Aryans, the picture that emerges of the religious
attitudes and practices of the people of the Indus Valley civilization,
while sketchy, is clear enough in its essentials. The religion of the
Indus Valley civilization evidently contained several important
elements. First of all, meditation, or the practice of training the
mind, was clearly present. Second, the practice of renunciation--that is
to say, abandoning household life and living the life of a homeless
ascetic, or mendicant--was also common. Third, it is clear that there
was some conception of rebirth or reincarnation occurring over the
course of a countless number of lives, and, fourth, a sense of moral
responsibility extending beyond this life--that is to say, some form of
the conception of karma. Last, there was a paramount goal of religious
life--namely, the goal of liberation, of freedom from the endless cycle
of birth and death.
These
were the outstanding features of the religion of the earliest
civilization of India.
Next,
let us look at the religion of the early Aryan people, which contrasted
sharply with that of the Indus Valley civilization. Indeed, it would be
difficult to find two religious cultures more radically different.
Constructing a complete picture of the religious attitudes and practices
of the early Aryans is much simpler than doing so for the Indus Valley
people. When the Aryans arrived in India, they brought with them a
religion that was completely secular in nature. As I have said, they
were an expansionist society--a pioneer society, if you like. Their
origins lay in Eastern Europe, and their religion in many ways resembled
that of the ancient Greeks. If you look at descriptions of the gods who
composed the Greek pantheon, you will not fail to notice striking
parallels between the two. The Aryans revered a number of gods who were
personifications of natural phenomena, including Indra (not unlike
Zeus), the god of thunder and lightning; Agni, the god of fire, and
Varuna, the god of water--to name just a few.
Whereas
in the religion of the Indus Valley civilization the ascetic was the
preeminent religious figure, in the Aryan religious establishment the
priest was by far the most important. Whereas in the religious value
system of the Indus Valley civilization renunciation was paramount, in
the value system of the early Aryans the most worthy state was that of
the family man, or householder. Whereas in the religious culture of the
Indus Valley civilization the value of progeny was not emphasized, for
the early Aryans progeny, particularly sons, was the highest priority.
The religion of the Indus Valley civilization emphasized the practice of
meditation, while the Aryan faith relied on the practice of sacrifice,
which was its primary means of communicating with the gods, securing
victory in war, obtaining sons and wealth, and finally reaching
heaven. While the religion of the Indus Valley civilization
included the conceptions of rebirth and karma, the early Aryans had no
such conceptions. The notion of moral responsibility extending beyond
the present life appears to have been unknown to the Aryans, for whom
the highest social value was loyalty to the group, a virtue calculated
to contribute to the power and cohesion of the tribe. Finally, the
ultimate goal of religious life for the people of the Indus Valley
civilization was liberation, a state that transcended birth and death,
whereas for the early Aryans the goal was simply heaven--and a heaven
that looked very much like a perfected version of this world, in
fact.
In
brief, while the religion of the Indus Valley civilization stressed
renunciation, meditation, rebirth, karma, and the final goal of
liberation, the Aryan religion stressed this life, ritual sacrifice,
loyalty, wealth, progeny, power, and heaven. Thus it is clear that the
sets of religious attitudes, practices, and values professed by these
two ancient civilizations of India were almost diametrically opposed to
each other. And yet, over the course of centuries of cohabitation, these
two religious traditions did manage to merge and become, in many
instances, practically indistinguishable.
Before
concluding our review of the salient features of the Indus Valley and
early Aryan religions, it should be mentioned that the religious culture
of the Aryans was characterized by two further elements unknown and
foreign to the religion of the Indus Valley people. The two elements I
have in mind are caste--that is to say, the division of society into
social strata--and belief in the authority and infallibility of
revelation, in this case the ancient scriptures known as the Vedas. The
religious culture of the Indus Valley civilization did not accept these
conceptions, and they remained constant points of contention dividing
the two major religious traditions of India.
The
history of Indian religion from 1500 B.C.E. to the sixth century B.C.E.
(i.e., the time of the Buddha) is the history of the interaction between
these two originally opposed traditions. As the Aryan people gradually
moved eastward and southward, settling and spreading their influence
over most of the Indian subcontinent, they adopted a more sedentary
pattern of life. Little by little, the opposing religious cultures of
the two peoples began to interact, influence, and even merge with each
other. This is precisely the phenomenon I had in mind earlier when I
referred to the merging of the two great rivers of India, the Ganges and
the Yamuna.
By
the time of the Buddha, a very heterogeneous religious culture
flourished in India.
This
is clear even from a superficial look at some of the prominent facts
about the Buddha's life. For example, after his birth, two distinct
types of people made predictions about his future greatness. The first
prophesy was pronounced by Asita, who was a hermit and ascetic living in
the mountains, although the biographies of the Buddha insist that Asita
was a Brahmin, a member of the priestly caste of Aryan society. This in
itself is clear evidence of the interaction of the two ancient religious
traditions, for it indicates that, by the sixth century B.C.E., even
Brahmins had begun to abandon household life and adopt the life of
homeless ascetics, something unheard of a thousand years before. A
little later, we are told that 108 Brahmins were invited to the ceremony
for bestowing a name on the young Buddha. There, they also prophesied
the future greatness of the child.
These
men were evidently priests who had not renounced household life and who
thus represented the original, orthodox practice accepted in the Aryan
fold. How is it that two traditions initially so different were able to
merge? I think the answer may be found in the dramatic changes that
occurred in the life of the Indian people between the middle of the
second millennium B.C.E. and the time of the Buddha. Aryan expansion
came to an end when the Aryans had spread across the plains of India.
The end of this expansion brought about many social, economic, and
political changes. First of all, the tribal, nomadic, and pastoral way
of life of the early Aryans gradually changed into a more sedentary,
agrarian, and eventually urban pattern of existence. Before long, the
majority of the population was living in urban settlements where the
people were somewhat removed from the natural forces which had been
personified in the gods of the early Aryans. Second, commerce became
increasingly important. Whereas priests and warriors had been the
dominant figures in early Aryan society--priests because they
communicated with the gods, and warriors because they waged war against
the enemies of the tribe and brought home the spoils of battle--now
merchants became ascendant. In the time of the Buddha,
this trend is evident in the famous disciples who belonged to the
merchant class--Anathapindika, to name just one example. Last, the
organization of society along tribal lines gradually became obsolete,
and the territorial state began to evolve. No longer was society
organized into tribes within which there were very close sets of
personal loyalties. The tribal pattern of social organization was
replaced by the territorial state, in which many people of different
tribes existed together. The kingdom of Magadha, ruled by King
Bimbisara, the famous patron and disciple of the Buddha, is an example
of such an emerging territorial state. These social, economic, and
political changes contributed to a growing willingness on the part of
the Aryan people to accept and adopt the religious ideas of the Indus
Valley civilization. Although the Aryans had materially dominated the
earlier, indigenous civilization of the subcontinent, the next thousand
to two thousand years saw them come increasingly under the influence of
religious attitudes, practices, and values adopted from the religion of
the Indus Valley civilization. Consequently, by the beginning of the
common era, the distinction between the Aryan tradition and that of the
Indus Valley civilization was more and more difficult to draw. In fact,
this historical reality is responsible for the misconception expressed
in the claim that Buddhism was a protest against, or an offshoot of,
Hinduism.
Buddhism
is a religion that draws most of its inspiration from the religious
culture of the Indus Valley civilization. The elements of renunciation,
meditation, rebirth, karma, and liberation, which were important
components of the religious culture of the Indus Valley people, are also
important in Buddhism. The Buddha himself very probably meant to
indicate that the origins of the religion he proclaimed lay in the Indus
Valley civilization when he said that the path he taught was an ancient
path, and that the goal to which he pointed was an ancient goal.
Buddhism also maintains a tradition of six prehistoric Buddhas who are
believed to have flourished before the Buddha Shakyamuni. All this, I
believe, points to a certain continuity between the religious culture
and traditions of the Indus Valley civilization and the teaching of the
Buddha. When we examine the two religious phenomena we call Buddhism and
Hinduism, we find a greater or smaller proportion or preponderance of
elements inherited from each of the two great religious traditions of
ancient India. In Buddhism the greater proportion of significant
elements is clearly inherited from the religion of the Indus Valley
civilization, while a far smaller proportion may be traced to the
religion of the early Aryans. There are undoubtedly elements in Buddhism
inherited from the religion of the Aryans, such as the presence of the
gods of the Vedas, but their role is peripheral.
Conversely,
many schools of Hinduism retain a greater proportion of elements of
religious culture inherited from the Aryan tradition and a much smaller
proportion that can be traced back to the religion of the Indus Valley.
Many schools of Hinduism still emphasize caste, the authority of
revelation in the shape of the Vedas, and the efficacy of the practice
of sacrifice. Notwithstanding these clearly Aryan elements, a place is
also made in Hinduism for important elements of the culture of the Indus
Valley civilization, such as renunciation, meditation, rebirth, karma,
and liberation.
