Early Buddhism and Later Centuries

Nalin Swaris

Siddhartha Gotama Buddha insisted that he was a human being who had broken free from the shackles of craving "by human energy, by human effort and by human striving." This unambiguous statement excludes the possibility for insinuating that the Buddha's Path to Human Liberation was based on a divine revelation or was enabled by divine grace. Within the first century after his death, however, the historical Buddha was transformed into a wondrous person, superior to all beings, even the gods. Some Buddhist traditions maintain that the Buddha reincarnates himself from time to time solely out of compassion. Such views are quite foreign to the earliest texts and must have developed gradually. Good historical reasons can be advanced for this elevation of the Buddha to quasi-divine status. Popular enthusiasm for the Buddha's message of liberation attracted the attention of social elites, and the community of renouncers received lavish donations of land and goods from kings and wealthy entrepreneurs. Early texts are critical of disciples who readily accepted donations of entire villages and ruled over them like kings. The Book of Discipline records the first donation of an entire village, together with its inhabitants, to a member of the male mendicant order. This "renouncer" began a successful business enterprise in the village. Monastic landlordism structurally integrated the order of mendicants into the system of production. The radical edge of the original message was blunted as monastics sought to justify the social system rather than criticise it. The Buddha was projected as a superhuman being whose life ordinary men and women could not emulate.

While passages in the Book of Discipline convey an impression that the Buddha's monastic order enjoyed the patronage of kings and social elites from the beginning, the scriptures provide no evidence that the Buddha resided in the type of well-appointed monastery described. The picture emerging from the scriptures is of a teacher who for 45 years went from place to place propagating his Teaching, instructing and training his disciples so that they would realise the goal of his Path: Liberation from Suffering. The Buddha died as he had lived, "on the way." He passed away by an obscure village attended by only one disciple, his devoted aide, companion and kinsman Ananda. His message of liberation, however, captured the people's imagination, and many embraced the new teaching. Without the backing of empire or force of arms, the Buddha's Dhamma spread far beyond northeastern India.

Asoka's Buddhist Renaissance

The scriptures provide few details about what was taking place at the societal level. We know little about the lives of ordinary men and women in the period that elapsed between the death of the Buddha (486 BCE) and the conversion of Emperor Asoka to Buddhism (+ 260 BCE). Asoka's conversion is generally portrayed as a dramatic change of heart by an ambitious and ruthless king. His conversion to the Dhamma (the Buddha's Teaching) is explained as the outcome of personal remorse after a bloody campaign that cost tens of thousands of lives. This is only a partial explanation of the factors that may have led to his conversion. Asoka was no religious dotard; he was an effective and astute ruler who kept a tight rein on his empire. His conversion may have been precipitated by personal as well as sociological reasons. The bloody campaign that he himself admitted cost many lives must have shocked the moral sensibilities of his subjects.

Throughout the Magadhan Empire, mendicant teachers sensitised people to new values and taught them that military might, violence and cruelty are not necessary accoutrements of state power. This universal ethic captured the imagination of the masses, creating a moral force that broke down local isolation and united them in solidarity through a shared Teaching. The Buddhist teachers educated them to judge the greatness of others by their moral conduct, not by birth, wealth or power. People may have had no option but to submit to a tyrant's might; however, they no longer perceived this as the will of a god or as an inevitable fate. A simple peasant living a good life was persuaded that he was morally superior to those who oppressed him because they claimed a right to do so as a result of their noble birth. Conditions were ripe for change to the amoral policies of statecraft. Kings could no longer rule with the active consent of their people if the moral standards of their subjects were nobler than their own.

Among all the rulers of premodern times, Asoka shines like a brilliant star in a dark firmament of despotic kings, pharaohs and caesars. Asoka tried not only to infuse moral values into politics but endeavoured to make sure his subjects were informed about the principles by which he resolved to rule his vast kingdom. These principles were engraved on rock pillars and placed throughout the empire (see the following article). His provincial governors and judicial officers were ordered to assemble the people at regular intervals and educate them about their rights. The discovery of Asoka's rock edicts is tangible proof that the Buddha's teachings on statecraft did not remain a utopian ideal. An attempt had been made to implement them by perhaps the most enlightened ruler in world history.

After Asoka

It can be said with justification that, beginning with the Buddha - through Asoka and Akbar the Great to Jawaharlal Nehru and Ambedkar - there has been an unbroken stream of consciousness in India demonstrating profound respect for the ever-changing physiological and cultural pluriformity through which the singular human species manifests itself. The respect for pluriformity inculcated by the Buddha did not imply, as the discourses discussed in this study amply demonstrate, condoning cultural traditions that violate civilised norms of equity and non-injuriousness towards living beings. The first Buddhists revolted against Brahminism because it was, and is, fundamentally inhumane. The ethical values advocated by the Buddha can be considered "secular": they are based not on a divine transcendental law, nor a priori ethical categories, but on empirically verifiable truths. As the Buddha himself stated (in the Digha Niyaka 165), his Way is neither esoteric nor mystical:

"It is a Way in the following of which one will by oneself know, and by oneself see, that the Teacher Gotama speaks opportunely, speaks of that which is beneficial, speaks of that which is in accordance with actuality, speaks of leading out."

Popular enthusiasm for the Buddha's teaching was due in part to its propagation in simple and popular language. The Buddha ruled that his Teaching should be propagated everywhere in the language of the people. This was a striking departure from the practice of the Brahmins. They had reified the (Hindu) Vedic traditions and their ritual incantations in an elegant language, Sanskrit, which ordinary people could not understand. Fetishisation of Sanskrit as a sacred language followed. Buddha's words have been preserved in one of the Magadhan languages, Pali. Today monks chant the words in this language on ritual occasions. Simple devotees no longer understand the chanting and have come to believe that the mere sound of the Buddha's words in Pali have a propitious effect that can turn ordinary water and reels of thread into things vested with supernatural power. This notwithstanding, the Buddha condemned fetishism and other superstitious practices, like astrology, palmistry and divination, as "base arts and a wrong means of livelihood" and the products of "animal-like consciousness."

In Sri Lanka today, the president of the National Astrological Association is a Buddhist monk. Buddhist politicians consult monk-astrologers and Hindu swamis alike before fixing the date for important events, such as the calling of elections. The Buddha explicitly forbade his mendicant disciples to engage in such activities. There is a direct relationship between the quasi-divinisation of the human Gotama and the seepage of "Brahmanic" ideas and practices into folk Buddhism. As the Buddha was made to recede further and further from ordinary mortals, the mediators of Buddha's words and blessings became more important than the Buddha himself.

Within a country like Sri Lanka, Buddhist institutions and popular practices seem "orthodox" because in external features they are similar to the type of institutions and practices described in the canonical works. But the same scriptures contain traces of more radical ideas and practices, which suggest that in the beginning Buddhism was a social movement of dissent and protest against social abuses of the time. The communities of mendicant men and women tried to embody the values of Buddha's Teaching and offer people a model for egalitarian and harmonious living. The radical elements of early Buddhism have now been submerged by traditions that have come to terms with the dominant social values. A glaring example is justification of the caste system or gender and social inequalities through appeals to the Buddhist theory of rebirth. Yet canonical works clearly indicate that the first Buddhists raised a banner of revolt against caste, priestcraft, tyranny and social injustice. This submerged tradition can be recovered and revivified. It can provide inspiration for Buddhists who are committed to social renewal and the creation of a just and humane society.

(This is the last in a series of 10 articles extracted from the text Buddhism, Human Rights and Social Renewal by Dr. Nalin Swaris and published by AHRC. Copies are available by contacting AHRC.)