New Question And Ideas Class 6 History Notes | DailyHomeStudy

The story of the Buddha

1. Introduction

• Siddhartha, also known as Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, was born about 2500 years ago.
• This was a time of rapid change in the lives of people.
•  New cities were developing, and life was changing in the villages as well.
• Many thinkers were trying to understand these changes in society. They also wanted to try and find out the true meaning of life.

What Where, How and When?

2. Gana

• The Buddha belonged to a small gana known as the Sakya gana, and was a kshatriya.
• When he was a young man, he left the comforts of his home in search of knowledge.
• He wandered for several years, meeting and holding discussions with other thinkers.
• He finally decided to find his own path to realisation, and meditated for days on end under a peepal tree at Bodh Gaya in Bihar, where he attained enlightenment.
• After that, he was known as the Buddha or the Wise One.
• He then went to Sarnath, near Varanasi, where he taught for the first time.
• He spent the rest of his life travelling on foot, going from place to place, teaching people, till he passed away at Kusinara.

3. Thoughts

• The Buddha taught that life is full of suffering and unhappiness.
• This is caused because we have cravings and desires (which often cannot be fulfilled).
• Even if we get what we want, we are not satisfied, and want even more (or want other things).
• The Buddha described this as thirst or tanha.
• He taught that this constant craving could be removed by following moderation in everything.
•  He also taught people to be kind, and torespect the lives of others, including animals.
• He believed that the results of our actions (called karma), whether good or bad, affect us both in this life and
  the next.
• The Buddha taught in the language of the ordinary people, Prakrit, so that everybody could understand his
  message.

On the Trail of the Earliest People

What was the language used to compose the Vedas?

He also encouraged people to think for themselves rather than to simply accept what he said.

Upanishads

1. Intrduction

• When Buddha was preaching and perhaps a little earlier, other thinkers also tried to find answers to difficult questions.
• Some of them wanted to know about life after death, others wanted to know why sacrifices should be performed.
• Many thinkers felt that there was something permanent in the universe that would last even after death.
• They described this as the atman or the individual soul and the brahman or the universal soul.
• They believed that ultimately, both the atman and the brahman were one.
• Many of their ideas were recorded in the Upanishads.
• These were part of the later Vedic texts. .

2. Upanishad

• Upanishad literally means ‘approaching and sitting near’ and the texts contain conversations between teachers and students.
• Often, ideas were presented through simple dialogues.

From Gathering to Growing Food

3. People

• Most Upanishadic thinkers were men, especially brahmins and rajas.
• Women thinkers, such as Gargi, who was famous for her learning, and participated in debates held in royal courts.
• Poor people rarely  took part in these discussions.
• One famous exception was Satyakama Jabala, who was named after his mother, the slave woman Jabali.
• He had a deep desire to learn about reality, was accepted as a student by a brahmin teacher named Gautama, and became one of the best-known thinkers of the time. Many of the ideas of the Upanishads were later developed by the famous thinker Shankaracharya

Panini, the grammarian

• This was also the time when other scholars were at work.
• One of the most famous was Panini, who prepared a grammar for Sanskrit.
• He arranged the  vowels and the consonants in a special order, and then used these to create formulae like those found in Algebra.
• He used these to write down the rules of the language in short formulae (around 3000 of them!).

In the Earliest Cities

Jainism

1. Intoduction

• The most famous thinker of the Jainas, Vardhamana Mahavira, also spread his message around this time, i.e. 2500 years ago.
• He was a kshatriya prince of the Lichchhavis, a group that was part of the Vajji sangha. At the age of thirty, he left
• Home and went to live in a forest.
• For twelve years he led a hard and lonely life, at the end of which he attained enlightenment.

2. Teaching

• He taught a simple doctrine: men and women who wished to know the truth must leave their homes.
• They must follow very strictly the rules of ahimsa, which means not hurting or killing living beings.
• “All beings,” said Mahavira “long to live.
• To all things life is dear.”
• Ordinary people could understand the teachings of Mahavira and his followers, because they used Prakrit.
• There were several forms of Prakrit, used in different parts of the country, and named after the regions in which they were used.
• The Prakrit spoken in Magadha was known as Magadhi.
• Followers of Mahavira, who were known as Jainas, had to lead very simple lives, begging for food.
• They had to be absolutely honest, and were especially asked not to steal. Also, they had to observe celibacy.

Traders, Kings and Pilgrims

3. Rule of Monks

• It was very difficult for most men and women to follow these strict rules.
• Thousands left their homes to learn and teach this new way of life. Many more remained behind and supported those who became monks and nuns, providing them with food.
• Jainism was supported mainly by traders.
• Farmers, who had to kill insects to protect their crops, found it more difficult to follow the rules.
• Over hundreds of years, Jainism spread to different parts of north India, and to Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
• The teachings of Mahavira and his followers were transmitted orally for several centuries.
• They were written down in the form in which they are presently available at a place called Valabhi, in Gujarat,
  about 1500 years ago .

Jaina

• The word Jaina comes from the term Jina, meaning conqueror.

The sangha

New Empires and Kingdoms

1. Intoduction

• Both the Mahavira and the Buddha felt that only those who left their homes could gain true knowledge.
• They arranged for them to stay together in the sangha, an association of those who left their homes.

2. Rules

• The rules made for the Buddhist sangha were written down in a book called the Vinaya Pitaka.
•  From this we know that there were separate branches for men and women.
• All men could join  the sangha.
• Children had to take the permission of their parents and slaves that of their masters.
• Those who worked for the king had to take his permission and debtors that of creditors.
• Women had to take their husbands’ permission.
• Men and women who joined the sangha led simple lives.

Buildings, Paintings and Books

3. Teaching

• They meditated for most of the time, and went to cities and villages to beg for food during fixed hours.
• That is why they were known as bhikkhus (the Prakrit word for beggar) and bhikkhunis.
• They taught others, and helped one another.
• They also held meetings to settle any  quarrels that took place within the sangha.
• Those who joined the sangha included brahmins, kshatriyas, merchants, labourers, barbers, courtesans and slaves.
• Many of them wrote down the teachings of the Buddha.
• Some of them also composed beautiful poems, describing their life in the sangha.

Monasteries

What Where, How and When?

• To begin with, both Jaina and Buddhist monks went from place to place throughout the year, teaching people.
• The only time they stayed in one place was during the rainy season, when it was very difficult to travel.
• Then, their supporters built temporary shelters for them in gardens, or they lived in natural caves in hilly areas.
• As time went on, many  supporters of the monks and nuns, and they themselves, felt the need for more permanent  shelters and so monasteries were built.
•  These were known as viharas.

2. Vihara

• The earliest were made of wood, and then of brick.
• Some were even in caves that were dug out in hills, especially in western India.
• Very often, the land on which the vihara was built was donated by a rich merchant or a landowner, or the king.
• The local people came with gifts of food, clothing and medicines for the monks and nuns.
• In return, they taught the people. Over the centuries, Buddhism spread to many parts of the subcontinent and beyond.

The system of ashramas

: On the Trail of the Earliest People

• Around the time when Jainism and Buddhism were becoming popular, brahmins developed the system of ashramas.
• The word ashrama does not mean a place where people live and meditate.
• It is used instead for a stage of life.
• Four ashramas were recognised: brahmacharya, grihastha, vanaprastha and samnyasa.
• Brahmin, kshatriya and vaishya men were expected to lead simple lives and study the Vedas during the early years of their life (brahmacharya).
• Then they had to marry and live as householders (grihastha).
• Then they had to live in the forest and meditate (vanaprastha).
• Finally, they had to give up everything and become samnyasins.
• The system of ashramas allowed men to spend some part of their lives in meditation. Generally, women were not allowed to study the Vedas, and they had to follow the ashramas chosen by their husbands.

DATES

• Upanishadic thinkers, the Jaina teacher Mahavira and the Buddha (about 2500 years ago)
• Writing down of the Jaina texts (about 1500 years ago)