Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
@0:56 For many centuries after the Buddha, he was represented not through the idols
that have now become familiar but through symbols.
The most important symbol of the Buddha was the footprint. (/1:08)
@1:28 However, in due course, Buddhism was subordinated
by what came to be known as Hinduism
and the symbolic footprint of the Buddha at Gaya was declared to be "Vishnu Paada",
the footprint of Vishnu, one of the Hindu trinity.
It is still worshiped as such in Gaya. (/1:45)
@2:13 The 6th century B.C. was a very exciting time
in India as well as in the rest of the world.
This was a time when Confucianism and Zoroastrianism was taking root in China and Iran respectively.
At the same time in India, Buddhism, Jainism,
Ajivikas, Charvaks, Lokayats, various types of religious and philosophical systems were coming up.
Those must have surely been exciting times for people who cared to think. (/2:40)
@2:42 This flowering of thought however had a material context.
This was the time when agriculture became the dominant mode of production.
Food-gathering and pastoralism became confined to tribal enclaves
and food production became much more important. (/2:58)
@3:01 By 1800 B.C., the Aryans had settled in the fertile region
which comprises today's Punjab and western Uttar Pradesh.
Their economy was essentially pastoral and society was organized on tribal lines.
Over the years, they developed an elaborate religious system
with great emphasis on rituals and animal sacrifice, of the type that is still performed
in the very shadow of the Buddhist caves at Karle in Maharashtra.
@3:54 This is the first society that has been documented
which has a very firstly, very intensive agriculture -
agriculture is the predominant form in which production is organized.
There has been a gradual transformation that's taken place from pastoralism to intensive agriculture.
The range of crops that they describe is also quite impressive.
There is the emergence of craft production and trade and urbanization are closely related. (/4:29)
The social organization of the Vedic tribes hinged on these rituals
with the Brahmins emerging at the top of the social hierarchy.(/4:46)
@4:59 The Rigvedic hymn of primeval man, the Purusha Sukta, outlines the Varna order
which later got elaborated into today's caste system.
(/5:08)
5:18 This recitation recorded at the
Center for History and Archaeology of the French Institute of the Far East at Pondichery
describes the first cosmic sacrifice from which ensued not only the Creation
but also the social order of 4 classes:
Brahmins (priests), Kshatriyas (warriors and rulers),
Vaishyas (peasants and traders) and Shudras (laborers). (/5:46)
@5:53 In due course, the Vedic people moved Eastwards.
With the discovery of Iron
it became possible for them to clear the Eastern forests
and cultivate newer lands with iron plows.
Production increased enormously, surpluses became immense,
and this led to an expansion in trade.(/6:12)
6:28 The importance of animals changed.
It became uneconomic to sacrifice them. They were now needed for harnessing draft power. There were
corresponding changes in social organization as well. When sacrifices became uneconomic,
those who organized them also lost their relative importance. (/6:47)
6:51 Warriors, cultivators and traders started
getting more importance in society and the Brahmins became mere priests surviving on
the basis of gifts given by their clients. (/7:03)
@7:04 This changing socio-economic situation called
for new philosophical systems and these did arise. (/7:11)
@7:17 Among the philosophical responses were the
Upanishads which were later recorded on manuscripts. These works had already started recording
simple ethics which were quite different from the ritualism of the Vedas. (/7:29)
7:34 The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad for instance,
tells the tale that when the three descendants of Prajapati - Gods, men and demons - asked
him for a message, from the sky where he dwelled, he only uttered the syllable "द" (the).
The Gods took "द" to mean daamyata (be self-controlled), the men understood it to be datta (to give),
the demons took the word "द" to mean dayatva (be merciful). And the blessed voice of the
thunder ever repeats, "द", "द", "द", a far cry from the ritualistic sounds of animal
sacrifice. (/8:13)
@8:16 While spiritualism has been taken to be a
characterizing feature of India, there were also strong materialistic schools of philosophy
like the Charvaka. (/8:27)
8:28 Seeing the elaborate funeral rituals performed
today, it is difficult to imagine that at the time of the Buddha, Mahavir and Ajivikas,
there existed a powerful Lokayat thought at the popular level. (/8:40)
8:43 The Charvaka philosophy which was thoroughly
materialist for instance, believed that man is formed of the four elements and returns
to them after his death whereas sacrifices end in ashes. They are fools who preach alms-giving.
As long as he lives, a man should live happily, and drink ghee even though he may run into
debt. (/9:05)
@9:10 Whatever we have of the Lokayats or the Charvaks
is refracted. we don't get it in the Brahminical texts. We don't have the authentic voice of
the Charvaks themselves which is obviously a distortion. Now they have trivialized this
structure of ideas as kind of eat, drink and be merry philosophy but it's not really that.
It's essentially a statement that this world is important, the set of social relations
is important and this is the set of issues that we have to address. (/9:42)
@9:43 The two most popular and long lasting of the
thoughts of this period however, were Jainism and Buddhism. (/9:49)
@10:02 There are several parallels in the lives of
the Buddha and Mahavir. Both were born in tribal republics. Both gave up comfortable
lives and took to penance to discover the meaning of existence and both ended up founding
orders which suited the mood of the times. (/10:17)
10:19 Interestingly, even the sculptural representations
of the two are so similar that it is often difficult for the lay person to identify them
easily. (/10:28)
@10:30 Mahavir was born in 540 B.C. in the Licchavi
Republic at Vaishali where this plaque marks his birth-place. At the age of 30, he left
his home for a life of asceticism. (/10:43)
10:45 For over 12 years, Vardhamana wandered from
place to place subjecting his body to austerities of all kinds including renunciation of even
clothing. (/10:55)
10:56 In the 13th year of his asceticism, he found
full enlightenment and Nirvana. He became an Arhant (meaning worthy) and a Jina (meaning
conqueror). (/11:07)
11:11 For 30 years, he taught in the Gangetic kingdoms
patronized by the same kings who also patronized the Buddha. He died of self-starvation at
the age of 72 in the little town of Pawa, near the Magadhan capital of Rajgir (Rajagruha).
(/11:28)
11:32 It was almost 200 years after Mahavir that
the Jains broke up into two sects: Some Jains insisted on retaining the rule
of nudity (The Digambars) whereas others wore white garments (The Shvetambars).
Hence arose the 2 sects of Jainism: The Digambars and the Shvetambars. The division has persisted
to the present day(/11:52)
@11:57 Jainism preached a life of simplicity and
frugality in which acts of violence were particularly to be avoided. No lay Jain could take up the
profession of Agriculture since this involved not only the destruction of plant life but
also of many living beings in the soil itself. It was perhaps for this reason that the Jain
lay community took largely to trade. As a consequence, they also became relatively prosperous.
(/12:26)
@12:29 The splendid Jain temple at Mount Abu bears
testimony to the great wealth of medieval Jain laymen. (/12:36)
@12:45 Unlike Jainism which took Ahimsa to an extreme
form, Buddhism pointed to the middle path as the route to enlightenment. (/12:53)
@13:12 Siddharth Gautam, who became the Buddha, was
born at Lumbini in the tribe of the Sakyans. There is no firm evidence of kingship among
the Sakyans although their chief was elected by rotation. It was this that led to the later
fable of the Buddha being born a prince and living in royal luxury. (/13:31)
13:40 When Maya Devi, the mother of Siddhartha,
was going to Devdaha, to her natal place, in a cart. When she reached Lumbini, she saw
the beauty of the natural garden at Lumbini. And Lumbini was full of Sal trees. When she
got down and walked a few steps, she experienced labor pain. She caught the branches of a Sal
tree, and after a few minutes, she gave birth to a child whom people know as Siddhartha.
(/14:25)
@14:28 Today, there are no SAL trees in Lumbini sacred
to the mother goddess but an idol is still worshiped at the same spot under much the
same name Rummindei, by people who have forgotten about the Buddha altogether. (/14:41)
@14:44 At the age of 29, just after his son's birth,
Gautam left his house in Kapilavastu. (/14:49)
14:53 These are the archaeological remains of the
Sakyan town of Kapilavastu. (/14:57)
@15:02 Siddharth spent about 6 years seeking spiritual
guidance from various teachers without satisfaction. After practicing extreme penance, he realized
the futility of that too. It was at that point that five of his companions left him in disillusionment
when he gave up rigid austerities. (/15:21)
15:24 Finally, he attained enlightenment near Gaya
on the banks of the Niranjana river seated under a Peepal tree. This probably had been
a humble cult spot and which later became great center of pilgrimage with cuttings of
the tree planted in distant places like Srilanka and China. (/15:42)
@16:17 The MahaBodhi temple which stands there today
was built later. It is the oldest temple of the North Indian style and perhaps, the oldest
living structure in the entire Indian subcontinent. (/16:27)
@16:55 Just about two months after he had attained
enlightenment at Bodh Gaya, the Buddha traveled from there and reached Sarnath. Here, he met
his five companions who had forsaken him earlier when they thought that he had given up the
path of asceticism. He accepted a bowl full of Kheer from Sujaat. The Buddha explained
that there are two extremes: 1. one extreme is of self-indulgence and 2.
the other is of self-mortification. Neither of these gives a person enlightenment and
leads to Nirvana. He also explained to them the eight-fold path of reaching enlightenment.
These 8 are: 1.right view, 2.right resolve, 3.right speech,
4.right action, 5.right livelihood, 6.right effort, 7.right mindfulness, and 8.right concentration.
(/17:41)
17:42 This sermon which he preached to his disciples
for the first time is called "Dharma Chakra Pravartanya" sermon, the sermon by which he
restarted the wheel of Dhamma. It was delivered at the Dhammek Stupa. (/17:57)
@17:58 These disciples formed the core of the Sangha
which the Buddha founded. The Sangha thus originated at Sarnath where today foreign
Buddhists and traditional Hindus pray cheek-by-jowl. (/18:11)
@18:33 The remaining 45 years of the Buddha's life was
spent wandering on foot, preaching the doctrine of the middle path. The Buddha's travels range
from Gaya and Rajgir in the East to perhaps as far as Mathura in the West. He spent a
lot of time in Sravasthi, which was the capital of Kosala. It was at Sravasti that the Buddha
is said to have performed the one and only miracle of his life - by appearing in thousand
forms in front of his disciples. (/19:05)
19:17 He generally managed to get his message across
merely by logical argument and discourses in the language of the common people.(/19:24)
@19:28 The Buddha doesn't consider that inequality
can be completely eroded. What he does is to create a classless society but he restricts
that in the field of the Sangha. It's for the Bhikshus that he creates a classless and
status-less society. So, at one level he is trying to humanize and reduce the level of
inequality in the lay world and also suggest a set of fairly radical alternative in the
world of the Sangha. (/20:06)
@20:12 The Buddha prescribed regulations for the
monks and nuns of the Sangha. A life of simplicity. A dress-code was also prescribed for the Sangha.
(/20:21)
20:24 A few poles, stuck to the ground at both ends,
and joined by roof-poles formed the skeleton of the original monk's hut. Later, lay followers
built and donated to the Sangha, larger huts made from the same material that permitted
the monks to stand upright. (/20:42)
20:56 In this way, was created, the typical Buddhist
building style with a gabled entrance, vaulted roof and round ? (/21:04)
@21:13 Finally, at the age of 80, the great master
attained MahaPariNirvana at the obscure village of Kushinagar. (/21:21)
@21:23 The Buddha obviously knew that his time on
Earth was over. He came towards Kushinagar. About 16 kilometers south-east of Kushinagar,
the Buddha and his group were invited to a meal by the smith, ChanDa. ChanDa was a poor
man and he put together whatever he could to offer a meal to the Buddha. We do not know
what the contents of the meal were but they were not something which were particularly
good. However, while the Buddha asked ChanDa not to serve that meal to the other monks,
he himself partook of the meal lest he should disappoint the well meaning smith. Next day,
the Buddha took ill and started suffering from an acute bout of dysentery. It was in
the SAL forests of Kushinagar that the Buddha attained Parinirvana and it was at this site,
1 and a half kilometers from there, that the body was cremated. (/22:17)
@22:24 After the Buddha, the Sangha was organized
by Sariputta and Moggallāna who were the leading disciples of the Sakyamuni. They led
the Sangha in central India in Sanchi and SatDhara, sites which archaeologists are still
excavating. (/22:39)
@22:45 The big boost to the order came with state patronage,
the high point being under Ashok who spread the Dhamma through his edicts carved on pillars
and rocks. (/22:55)
22:56 The doctrine of the Buddha continued to grow because
it was eminently fitted to the needs of a rapidly evolving society in India.
Indeed, its intellectual and social appeal also took it to distant lands.
It lives on among the Tibetans as Llamaism. (/23:12)
@23:28 The religion spread as far as Japan, south-East Asia and China.
In the land of its birth however,
the Buddhist Sangha soon saw degeneration and schism. (/23:38)
@23:39 Kosambi was located at the junction of the Uttar-Path and the Dakshin-Path,
the two major trade routes.
As such, it developed into a major trading center and became very prosperous.
Quite naturally, its lifestyle was different from the austerities which the Buddha prescribed for his monks.
In fact, when the Buddha came here once,
he found a monk lying drunk outside the city walls.
The first signs of schism within the Buddhist order also took place in Kosambi.
The result was that there were many disputes
which were not solved either by the Buddha himself or in subsequent times. (/24:17)
@24:18 Despite these, as Buddhism spread and grew however,
the Sangha also underwent a transformation and splintered into sects as many as 18.
The two broad sects were the Hinayana and the Mahayana.
The former retained a semblance of the practices of austerity and asceticism preached by the Buddha.
The latter, however, openly attracted several outside influences.
The Buddha was given a representational image
and began being worshiped as an idol. (/24:50)
@25:11 Its incorporation into the Vaishnav tradition
(essentially the Bhagvat tradition)
is also a way in which the characteristics of Buddhism get appropriated into Hinduism
and also enrich Hinduism to that extent.
There is an appeal that the Buddha has,
or the Buddhist vision has,
and the incorporation which is one-sided, which the Hinduism organizes,
does actually in a sense blunt the distinctiveness of Buddhism from Hinduism. (/25:45)
@25:48 Over time, both Buddhism and Jainism were enveloped by Hindu rituals,
the very rituals the early doctrines had decried.
From the early Christian era, Jain Tirthankars began to be worshiped in temples
just as the Buddha began being picturized in idols. (/26:07)
26:08 By the middle ages, this worship was embellished
with offerings of flowers, incense, lamps and so on. (/26:15)
26:21 The Jains slowly formed distinct castes in the Hindu social order
and the Buddha himself was appropriated into the Hindu pantheon as the 9th avatar of Vishnu
and even as a God of the little tradition.(/26:35)
@26:41 In the very shadow of the once great Buddhist monastery at Nalanda,
an image of the Buddha is worshiped as "Teliya Baba",
a God over whom Tel (or oil) is poured. (/26:52)
26:57 The ritualized worship marks the closing of
one phase of the age of enlightenment.(/27:03)
27:08 And yet, the intellectual power of the age of enlightenment
continues even today among Indians and others. (/27:15)