Emergence Of The Buddha Essay Example for Free

Emergence Of The Buddha EssayA). Outline the social, policy-making and religious tailground from which Buddhism emerged. (10)Buddhism is one of the major religious traditions of the human race today. Buddhism was influenced by numerous contrary cultures on the whole over the thousands of long time. This essay will placeline the social, political and religious issues surrounding the background and the egression of Buddhism in Indian Society.In the 1920s archaeological excavations of the ancient cities of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa in North West India revealed the existence of an urban civilisation. This is c on the wholeed the Indus Valley Civilisation. (Buddhism Dominique Side) The background from which the Buddha emerged from stretched as far back as C2700 in a place called the Indus Valley. This was the commencement ceremony sign of civilisation to live on the Indian subcontinent. People were attracted to the Indus Valley because of the of the River Indus. The River pro vided a estimable rootage of vegetation on that point was also flat land, stones and trees.The Indus Valley was an Egalitarian society, which meant that everybody living inside the society were all equal and they worshipped both Gods and Goddesses. They weighd and worshiped in Brahman, who they believed was the most looked up to and modest God. Archaeologists found statues with engraved scriptures of Gods and Goddesses on the finding of these pots is where it is believed that the Religion began, although there were never any findings of temples to prove this. Artefacts show its Religion to be related to the forces of nature the worship of a mother Goddess, sacred trees and fertility symbols. (Buddhism Dominique Side)The valley was believed to come been a grueling central government and to cook 2 main political centres, Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa. The Indus Valley civilisation began to move forth, many mess today sedate believe this was because of a inwrought migration. Aft er the civilisation of the Indus Valley had left, Aryans then began to set up home on their land.Aryans were nomadic they travelled around a lot, never staying in one place for very long. They brought animals with them and construct up a strong military. They were thought to be computable at building and carpentry. The official worship of the Aryan conquerors of India is referred to as the Vedic worship after their dedicated books or Vedas (k in a flashledge). The priests of this religion were kat oncen as Brahmans or Brahmins and are often mentioned in the Buddhist scriptures.The Aryans were emphatically tough people, military strong, and they were fierce and war like. Their culture was oriented around warfare, and they were very good at it. The Aryans were a new start in the Indian culture they adopted almost no subject of Harappan culture. They built no cities, no states, no granaries, and used no writing. They worshipped a pantheon of gods and were mostly connected with f orces of the natural world, especially those powers on which humans were dependent. (Buddhism Denise Cush)The Indian caste trunk began to develop and the civilisations were placed into the category that they belonged too. to distributively one mans duty was to follow the profession suitable for his social class. (Buddhism Dominique Side) Even today the values of the caste carcass are held strongly, it has kept a sense of order and peace among the people. The caste consists of six different levels, and as a pyramid starting from the highest and working down. The highest being the Brahman, then Kshatriya, Valishya, Shudra, Harijans and the Untouchables. Within each of these levels are the true castes within which people are born, married and die into. They all have their own place among each other and accept that it is the way to keep society from disintegrating to chaos. The system has worked closely for Indian people and hitherto has a major role in modern India.The Aryan soc iety was patrocol, which means it was all male. It was now no longer an egalitarian society.Indus Valley people and Aryans began to mix, which is how the Indo-Aryans were formed, this was the beginning of Hinduism, which was a mixture of Indo and Aryan beliefs and practices. From these two religions they made a relationship and formed the Indo- Aryan people. Like a mighty river, created from mainly tributaries that cater it, Hinduism is an amalgamation of the beliefs of the many people who settled in India in ancient times. (A beginners guide to Buddhism, Gillian Strokes) People now did not sacrifice animals for their religion but would now give gifts to their God called offerings these would consist of flowers and vegetables.The Indo Aryans did not have or worship a holy scripture, however they did have Vedic hymns that were sang and collected, and which were later pen down in the Veda. This means they have a cultural importance. They also worshipped a pantheon of gods. They beli eved in the highest form of God, the Brahman who was the highest level of the caste system. on that point was an amalgamation of Indo and Aryans that became the religion Hinduism. Women now did not have any power men now did everything, women were now considered inferior to men. As a belief in the caste system, you were only allowed to marry within your level of the caste system.The political organisation was hierarchical and centralised. Kingdoms varied in size and kings were no more than village leaders. Some people believe that Hinduism began with the Indo-Aryans, while others believe that it began with the Indus population. Hinduism has no founder and no single moment of beginning.The emergence of Buddhism was now falling into place. Hinduism is the largest religion of India. The religion is based on prayers and believes in many gods and goddesses. However, one God named Brahman was more significant than the others. There were special priests known as Brahmin who were used to help you worship this special God, they helped to channel peoples faith. nonindulgence defined as the practice of self-disciple, voluntary undertaken, in order to achieve a higher or uncanny ideal began. People didnt agree with Brahman priests, they cherished to live a simple spiritedness in the forest.Hinduism also believes in reincarnation, this is rebirth the bike of life. It consists of Birth, Life, Death and Rebirth you undergo the cycle over and over again. It is thought that if you live a good life you will be born into a better caste in your next life. You will achieve good karma if you do your duty well which is determined by the caste you are born into. Good karma means a good next life and bad karma means a bad next life. The only way to get out of the cycle is to have continuous good rebirths, which means you will enter Nirvana.All these backgrounds lead to the emergence of Buddhism in some way. Ascetics would move away to the forests and leave all their family and objects behind, even the idea of the caste system. They cherished peace of mind and to achieve enlightenment. The best way to do this was to meditate. They also requiremented to get out of the life cycle and achieve Nirvana.Siddhartha Gautama was an ascetic, he was born a Hindu but wanted to lam the life cycle. He emerged as the Buddha after achieving enlightenment and people began to follow his way of life. Political aspects were that people did not use the caste system and also rejected social and political values. They wanted an egalitarian society where everyone was equal and treated with the same amount of respect. One of the effects of these changes was the creation of new professions, such(prenominal) as state officials and traders, which had no place in ancient caste system. (Buddhism Dominique Side)Therefore in completion I can recognize how Buddhism has emerged over thousands of years and that Buddhism now does not have any thing in common with the earliest religion found. Buddhism needed the other religions to be in place in order for it to exist and without the other religions it might not have existed today. I think Buddhism has become the fairest religion, as it believes in equality. Therefore it has adapted out of the many religions that came before it.B). The Buddha turned his back on all the Religious teaching of his age. Assess this view (10)Buddhism is an Eastern Religion that is over two thousand years old. Buddhism as a religion was influenced by this historical context. The origins of Buddhism are closely connected with the origins of Hinduism. Buddhists dont believe in a God they just worship the highest in the caste system, the Brahmin. The Buddha is a highly respected somebody in the Buddhists Society. Buddhism is an amalgamation, an adaptation of Religions over time.This part of the essay requires assessing the view of how the Buddha turned or didnt turn his back on the religious teachings of his age. The Buddha lived and taught in the Northeast India about 2,500 years ago and the development of the Religion was influenced by this historical context. He lived for around eighty years, somewhere between the 4th and 6th centuries BCE. Siddhartha Gautama developed most of his ideas for Buddhism from Hinduism. He changed and developed them to suit his new religion. He took some but changed them. He was born a Hindu and born into the Kshatriya Caste. He became an ascetic.I believe that the Buddha turned his back on his religious teachings for an important reason therefore I believe this is because he wanted to get himself out of the life cycle. The Buddha wanted to go to the forests to meditate and reach Nirvana. The Buddha did not want his teachings to be taken as something sacred in itself, but as a means to an end. He made it clear that any teachings, including his own were not to be accepted without noticing but with faith and reverence, but should not be tested out in experience.The Buddhism religion was n ot just something to believe in or discuss, but something to try out to see if it worked. When you have tried it out it could make you a better person or takes you nearer to your spiritual goal. Siddhartha Gautama did turn his back on the previous teachings are the Caste system the Caste system was a very important part of the social and religious life within India and Hinduism. When Prince Siddhartha went to find enlightenment he forgot all about the ideas of the caste system even though he was born into a good Varna.The Buddhas invitation was to come and see for yourself, join him in his meditation to reach Nirvana. The Buddha wanted to get out of the cycle of life, death and rebirth and be enlightened to discover a new life. He didnt completely want to get rid of rebirth he wanted to incorporate it into Buddhism. He believed in renunciation, which is what the ascetics believed in. They renounced with the Buddha to the forest. They gave up there existence. The Buddha did not want to pray to Brahman anymore, he wanted to break away from the priestly religion and become personal.Men and women both did this. Personal is being spiritual instead of Religious. The Buddha also incorporated Karma into Buddhism because its still the action needed for rebirth. He couldnt change that. He did turn his back on the caste system though as it was seen as a social class factor and not needed for the religion, as everyone was equal for him. The economic developments destabilised the Brahminical order. Prince Siddhartha still believed in the ideas of rebirth and the cycle of life, but came up with a way of escaping the circle.