The Religions Book

132

I

n northern India, the 6th

century BCE was a time of

radical social and political

change. There was terrible

bloodshed as local rule by tribal

groups gave way to the rise of new

kingdoms. Cities were expanding,

drawing people away from the

simplicity of agricultural village life,

and trade was flourishing. At the

same time, people were starting to

ask fundamental questions about

life and the basis of religion.

On the one hand, there was the

established Vedic religion, based

on sacrifice and the authority of the

Vedic texts, to which few outside

the brahmin, or priestly class of

Indian society, had access. This was

a formal and conformist religion; it

required obedience to tradition and

maintained class differences. On

the other hand, many wandering

teachers were challenging formal

religion. Some of these withdrew

from society to practice asceticism

(the self-denial of material comforts),

opting for simplicity and deprivation

as a means of spiritual development.

They rejected both physical comfort

and social norms, and lived outside

the class system. Other wandering

teachers followed the Lokayata

materialist philosophy, rejecting

conventional spiritual teachings in

favor of a life based on pleasure,

in the belief that there is nothing

beyond the physical world.

Siddhartha seeks answers

One wealthy man, Siddhartha

Gautama, decided, on reaching

adulthood, that his comfortable

Siddhartha Gautama Born in 563 BCE into the ruling

family of the Shakya clan of

northeast India, Siddhartha

Gautama was expected to take

a prominent place in society.

Brought up in comfort and well

educated, he was married at 16

and had a son.

However, at the age of 29,

he became dissatisfied with his

life and left home, spending years

as a religious ascetic. Following

an experience he described as

enlightenment, he became a

wandering teacher and soon

attracted many followers, mainly

in the cities of the Ganges Plain.

Siddhartha set up communities

of monks and nuns, and also

gained a growing number of lay

followers. He also engaged in

discussions with princely rulers

and religious teachers of other

faiths. By the time he died, aged

80, Buddhism had become a

substantial religious movement.

Key work

29 BCE The Dhammapada, an

accessible summary of Buddha’s

early teachings, forms part of

the Pali Canon (p.140).

THE ENLIGHTENMENT OF BUDDHA

IN CONTEXT

KEY FIGURE

Siddhartha Gautama

WHEN AND WHERE

6th century BCE,

northern India

BEFORE

From 1700 BCE A multitude

of gods are ritually worshipped

in the Vedic religion of

northern India.

6th century BCE In China,

Daoism and Confucianism

present philosophies in

which personal spiritual

development is cultivated.

6th century BCE Mahavira

rejects his destiny as an

Indian prince and becomes an

extreme ascetic; his teachings

form the sacred texts of Jainism.

AFTER

1st century CE The first texts

containing Siddhartha

Gautama’s teachings appear,

soon followed by the spread of

Buddhism into China.

Enlightenment came to Siddhartha

after meditation beneath the Bodhi Tree.

A descendant of the original tree was

planted in Bodh Gaya in 288 BCE and is

now a site of pilgrimage for Buddhists.