Buddhism

Buddhism. This began historically (although, of course, in its own account it has always been the truth, with a long pre-history) in the 6th and 5th cents. BCE, in India, with the enlightenment of Gotama, who became thereby muni of the Śakya clan (i.e. Śākyamuni) and (in his own self-description) Tathāgata. As presented now in the texts, he taught in the context of the basic components of Hindu cosmology and psychology (long cycles of time, and equally long periods through which a self or soul, ātman, is reborn as it moves, controlled by karma as cause, toward freedom or salvation, mokṣa), but modified them drastically: he saw all appearance as characterized by dukkha (transience, anicca, accompanied by the suffering which arises if one seeks something permanent or eternal in its midst). It follows that there cannot be a soul, but only the sequence of one moment giving rise to the next, constituting appearances with characteristic possibilities (human, e.g., as opposed to animal, through the skandhas, aggregations). The no-soul doctrine is referred to as anātman.

The teaching of the Buddha is summarized in the Four Noble Truths (the truth of dukkha and how to escape it), the Eightfold Path (aṣṭangika-mārga) (the route to escape or enlightenment), and paticca-samuppāda (the analysis of the twelve-step chain of cause which gives rise to entanglement in saṃsāra, the continuing process of reappearance (punabhāva).

Buddhist commitment can be summarized in the Three Jewels or Refuges: I take refuge in the Buddha; I take refuge in the Dhamma (Pāli for Skt., dharma); I take refuge in the Saṅgha. The saṅgha is the communal organization of the bhikṣus (bhikkhus), or monks.

The Buddha's teaching was gathered, over a long period, into canonical collections, especially the Tripiṭaka and the Sūtras, though the status, particularly of the latter, may be disputed (see BUDDHIST SCRIPTURES). From about the end of the 4th cent. BCE, different interpretations of the teaching were leading to different schools, and especially to the major difference between Theravāda (‘teaching of the elders’), with its eighteen schools, and Mahāyāna (‘great vehicle’, hence their derogatory reference to Theravāda as Hīnayāna, ‘minor vehicle’), with its innumerable styles and divisions; for these, see BUDDHIST SCHOOLS. The spread of Buddhism was greatly accelerated during the reign of Aśoka (3rd cent. BCE).

Under this endorsement, popular Buddhism flourished, especially in pilgrimages, in the development of stūpas and the rituals and beliefs associated with them, and in the proliferation of art and image-making. But philosophy (abhidhamma) also began its quest for more exact analysis of Buddhist concepts: three major schools emerged in the 3rd cent. BCE): Puggalavāda (Skt., Pudgalavāda), Sarvastivāda (Pāli, Sabbatthivāda), and Vibhajjavāda (Skt., Vibhajyavāda). Later, and even more important, came the development of ‘the Great Vehicle’, Mahāyāna, between the 2nd cent. BCE and 1st CE. It was not a single school or movement, but a drawing out of elements of practice and belief which had been in Buddhism from the outset, but without formal elaboration. Nevertheless, as the implications of these elements were elaborated, a new style of Buddhism began to emerge. In particular, the emphasis was no longer on making one's own way as near to enlightenment as possible (arhat), but on attaining what the Buddha promised and then turning back from selfish attainment in order to help others (bodhisattva). This led to entirely new cosmologies, as the whole spectrum of buddhas and bodhisattvas was mapped into its place. But even more disjunctively, new philosophical realizations were achieved of what the true buddha-nature must be, and how there cannot be other than that nature which is empty of self and of all differentiation (buddhatā; bussho; śūnyatā). A key figure here was Nāgārjuna and the Mādhyamaka school.

The reasons for the decline and virtual disappearance of Buddhism in India remain a matter of academic dispute. Long before the decline, Buddhism had begun to expand, in three different geographical directions, which produced very different versions of Buddhism (for which see following articles and TIBETAN RELIGION): north into Tibet; east into China, Korea, and Japan; and south-east into Śri Lankā, Burma, and Thailand. For the development of Buddhism through schools/sects, see BUDDHIST SCHOOLS.