The Wonder That Was India: A Survey of the Culture of the Indian Sub-Continent Before the Coming of the Muslims by A. Basham

Author:A. Basham [Basham, A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Asia, India, Politics & Social Sciences, Anthropology, Cultural, Social Sciences
ISBN: 9781597408523
Amazon: B005ZIBSIK
Publisher: ACLS Humanities E-Book
Published: 2011-10-24T04:00:00+00:00

The Evolution of the Great Vehicle

It is never claimed in the Pali scriptures that the Buddha was in any way supernatural. His supreme insight was gained by his own efforts, after many ages of striving in many different births. But his birth, enlightenment and death were cosmic events of the highest importance, and his greatness was such that even the mighty gods Brahma and Śakra (an epithet of Indra commonly used by the Buddhists) did him reverence, not to speak of the myriads of lesser deities inhabiting earth and heaven. He is reported to have said that whoever had faith in him and love for him was assured of a rebirth in heaven,41 a prospect which, as we know from Asoka’s inscriptions, was much more intelligible and desirable to the ordinary man than that of the rarefied and indescribable Nirvāṇa.

When the Buddha died, according to orthodox theory, the chain of his existence was broken. He finally entered the Nirvana which he had realized at his enlightenment, and ceased to be an individual, or to affect the universe in any way. Just before his death he had told his disciples to rely on the Doctrine for leadership. But soon after his death his followers evolved the “Three Jewels”, which form the basic profession of faith of Buddhism, and which every Buddhist, both monastic and lay, repeats to this day: “I go for refuge to the Buddha; I go for refuge to the Doctrine (Dharma); I go for refuge to the Order (Sangha).” Though the theorists might explain away the first of the Three Jewels, on the obvious interpretation “going for refuge to the Buddha” implied that the Master, as distinct from his teaching, was in some way still present, and able to help his followers.

The Buddha himself probably taught that he was the last of a long succession of earlier Buddhas, who had lived before him. According to tradition these former Buddhas were revered even in the historical Buddha’s lifetime. By Mauryan times their cult was [Page 274] widespread, and was patronized by Asoka. In the end the orthodox Sthaviravadin school counted no less than twenty-five Buddhas, not to speak of a large number of pratyeka-buddhas, who had found the truth for themselves without guidance, but had not taught it to the world.

The carvings of the stśpas of Bhārhut and Sānchī, executed in the 2nd and 1st centuries B.C., depict crowds of adoring worshippers reverencing the symbols of the Buddha. A little later sculptors began to carve images of the Buddha himself, and within a few generations all Buddhist sects took to worshipping images. Buddhism kept up with the times, and by the Middle Ages, even in the shrines of the Lesser Vehicle, the Buddha was worshipped just as a Hindu god, with flowers, incense, waving lamps, and deep devotion.

Among the doctrines of Zoroastrianism, which has strongly influenced other religions both East and West, is that of the Saviour (Šaošyant), who, at the end of the world, will lead the forces of good and light against those of evil and darkness.

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