Chapter 3: Hindu and Buddhist Civilizations

Introduction

Hindu and Buddhist civilizations have some similarities; first, two civilizations are derived from the same area; second, their first dispersion was through East Asia; third, they share many of the same concepts; and fourth, as two of the major religions, they continue to influence other world civilizations. Hinduism and Buddhism are the longest existing systems among significant faiths. Hinduism is believed to have formed around 1500 BCE, while Buddhism appeared soon after 500 BCE. And, Hinduism grew out of a combination of Indus River Valley beliefs, but Buddhism combined traditional beliefs in their host countries with early Buddhism.

There are some differences between these civilizations; first, most of Hindus live in India with significantly smaller numbers in Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bali. In contrast, Buddhism is spread throughout East Asia (China, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Tibet, South Korea and Mongolia); second, Buddhism is more messianic, while Hinduism is a religion in which one must undergo a series of steps for conversion; third, Hinduism tends to be more polytheistic, but it maintains belief absolute monism. Buddhism was initially quite simple, with its precepts embodied in the Four Noble Truths; fourth, Hinduism has a caste system attached, Buddhism does not.

Hinduism as Civilizing Force in Society

Unlike other religions in the world, the Hindu religion does not claim any one prophet, does not worship any one god, does not believe in any one philosophical concept, does not follow any one act of religious rites or performances. Briefly, it is a way of life.

Hinduism: Origin, Geographical and Historical Background

Hinduism was probably born following the arrival of the Aryans before 1500 BCE, maybe even centuries earlier. The birthplace location is the Indus River Valley.

There is only an approximation for the composition of Hindu Vedas or sacred texts, historical epics, Puranas, Upanishads, and other bases for Hinduism which were not compiled and put in written form until centuries later. There is no single text in Hinduism and neither is there a hierarchy or a recognized head. There is a creator god. Many Hindus recognize that there is a universal divinity, even though Hindus worship many gods in various forms. Some scholars propose that Hindu self-identification is a response to India’s multitude of languages, races, and ethnicities.

Sanskrit is the language of sacred texts or Vedas, the Epics of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, the Puranas, and the Upanishads.

The Indian social structure is often considered rigid because the caste system still exists even if it is outlawed by the Indian Constitution and despite the set-asides for lower-level groups in recent years. The terms Varna and caste are different. Varna had its origin in the sacred texts of the Vedic Period and the Epic Period, dated from before 1000 BCE to 200 BCE. There was originally a simple three-caste structure: The Brahmins (the priests and scholars); the Kshatriya (politicians, soldiers, and administrators); Sudra (peasants); Scheduled Castes /Untouchables, (people who were excluded from the system). Following the late Vedic Period and the ensuing Epic Period (800-200 BCE), the sacred Varna system emerged. The Indian economy evolved and the social system became stratified socio-economically.

The Brahmins, however, received a setback during the Mauryan Era (322-184 BCE) when its most famous member, the Emperor Ashoka, who united almost all of India, became a Buddhist and attempted to make India a Buddhist state. The Brahmins, nonetheless, staged a comeback by the time of the Gupta period (ca. 320-550 CE), so that Brahmanism and the caste system returned in full force. Occasionally, a Sudra might become an artisan or trader, and thus move up the caste ladder. However, primary social mobility was within the caste. The Vaisya caste has had dozens of occupations under the jati or subcaste system.

External influence has played little part. The central Asian invaders such as the Rajputs were absorbed into the Kshatriya caste. In response to Muslim conquests between 1206 and 1757, Brahmins posed as the protector of Hinduism. During the British period (1857-1947), legal reforms meant that civil and criminal courts replaced caste courts. There have been some attempts at internal reform. The Brahmo Samaj movement rejected caste distinctions and stood for the brotherhood of man. The Arya Samaj also opposed the caste system and pressed for its abolition. Change also has occurred due to the processes of industrialization and urbanization. Developments in transportation and communication have drawn people from disparate backgrounds into urban areas.

Hinduism and Culture

We can divide culture into popular and formal culture. The former includes diet, dress, housing, mass entertainment, and sports. Formal culture would be literature, and the arts, philosophy, education and higher education.

Food varies according to a hierarchy related to caste and class. Diet in the Hindu civilization has often featured vegetables (and fruits). Veneration for cows among Hindus does not mean no strict prohibition everywhere.

Clothing follows a similar pattern. A dhoti kurta is an outfit that is often worn by married Hindu men. Many Hindu women wear a sari, a word of classical Sanskrit origin meaning “cloth.” Cotton was worn from earliest times, India being the first civilization that produced it.

Hindus believe that music is central to worship; it facilitates feelings of spirituality. Hindus often play the sitar, a stringed instrument roughly equivalent to the guitar in the Western civilization. The largest production of films in the world is found in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), known globally as “Bollywood.”

There is also Hindu high culture. This includes art and architecture, philosophy, literature, and learning. The Hindu temple was also a key part of the infrastructure, for it served the basic spiritual purpose. Despite the structural arrangements such as external walls, internal halls, inner chambers or reserved niches, architecture in the Hindu civilization is oriented to the deeds of the gods. Accordingly, all frescoes, sculpture, and murals reflect the works of a high god such as Shiva or Vishnu or their offspring such as Ganesh and Krishna, respectively.

Sanskrit, the ancient Indo-European language, dominated high culture between approximately 1,000 BCE and 1,000 CE. It is considered to this day a classical tongue along with classical Arabic, Persian, Greek, and Latin and is performed at various ceremonies. Sanskrit was the language that was used in classical literary, religious, and philosophical texts. The earliest of these works are the Vedic Scriptures, dating back to before 1000 BCE. They were accompanied by the Brahmanas, which are commentaries on the Vedas. Between 700 and 300 came the Upanishads. The classical period of Hinduism begins by 400 BCE and ends about 500 CE and is characterized by two great literary epics: the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. The Sutras are huge volumes, extensive collections of sayings and considerations of human actions. Probably the most famous sutra is the Kama Sutra, the study of love.

The Heritage, Infrastructure, Timeline and Future of Hinduism

Hinduism can be interpreted as the ideological center of Indian civilization and the caste system can be considered the sociological center of Indian civilization. There is also a technological center of the civilization, associated with Hinduism.

India applied scientific concepts to technology. During the Mauryan and Gupta eras between 300 BCE and 500 CE, the civilization developed iron, textile industries, astronomy, math (concept of zero, decimal system, rudiments of algebra). The most long-lasting achievement of India during this period was in the creation of ordinal numbers from 1 to 9.

Urban Planning, as a discipline, has long been associated with India. The Indus River Valley civilization had more than 1000 cities. Further, every major city has had a body of water connected to a system of tanks, canals, and dams essential to agricultural productivity, the prevention of flooding, and the alleviation of droughts. Also there were advanced drainage and sewage systems, public baths and perhaps granaries.

Hindu philosophy governed the spatial layout of cities throughout history. Cities were designed to reflect the divine power and related microcosm to macrocosm in the same way that individual souls were to be finally linked to the universal soul (atman to brahman).

The Timeline of Hinduism and Its Future in the World

Hinduism thrives in the world today. Although the great age of Hindu expansion between 1000 CE and 1200 CE is over, the world has seen, since that time, the Cholos of South India rule Sri Lanka and the Maldives and control much of the maritime provinces of South Asia from the Bay of Bengal to New Guinea. Hindu reach extended to the coastal regions of Burma, to Thailand, to Cambodia, to Vietnam, to Malaya, and to much of the Indonesian Archipelago. Hindu influence remains in this regions.

Hindu emigrants have brought their computer and physics skills to Europe and North America, where they are prominent in business and professional life. Among major cultural contributions of this diaspora have been the practices of meditation. The group of physical, mental, and spiritual exercises known as meditation has been popular around the globe since the days of the preacher Vivekananda at the end of the 19th century. One group associated with the spread of Hinduism is the Hare Krishna movement established in America in 1965.

Other aspects of the Hindu civilization are ather of Indian independence, Mohandas Gandhi, the Mahatma, vegetarianism as a gesture of respect to all life forms and as part of the process of being one with nature and is part of spirituality.

The identification of Hinduism with the Indian polity arose before independence, when there developed the concept of Hindutva, implying that the true citizens of India were Hindu or affiliates of Hinduism such as Buddhists, Sikhs, and Jains.

Buddhism

Buddhism is the religion named after Siddhartha Gautama, who, although born of a princely family on the borders of what is now India and Nepal, was moved by the poverty and suffering of people with whom he came into contact. he renounced his status and spent half a century wandering and teaching. He lived between 560 and 480 BCE and ecame known as the “Enlightened One,” or the Buddha, and his followers were called Buddhists. The religion spread after his death and reached a height in the third century BCE when the Emperor Ashoka declared it the state religion.

Buddhism had spread throughout Southeast Asia through East Asia to China, Korea, Japan, Tibet, and Mongolia. Buddhism also spread through the Indian Ocean system which connected Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.

Buddhism and Its Role in Society

The goal of Buddhism was to correct abuses by the Brahmins within Hinduism. Today, it is the fourth largest world religion. Buddha believes that life on earth is an illusion. To escape from this illusion, one must seek nirvana (nothingness). Human suffering is caused by desire which, in turn, is caused by materialism. To reach nirvana, individual must follow an eight-fold path: right activities, right concentration, right effort, right intentions, right livelihood, right mindfulness, right speech, and right views. Ultimate salvation and enlightenment could be worked out by everyone in society regardless of social status. Ethical code of Buddhism tells that humility was the key.

As Buddhism spread, it began to resemble the polytheistic applications of Hinduism. Today, Mahayana Buddhism, the “Greater Vehicle” and the largest of the three major branches.

Buddhism has, as its main contribution to society in civilization, the application of a code of ethics to the personal behavior of individuals rather than a structural model. There exist few differences between Buddhism and Confucianism in China or between Buddhism and Shintoism in Japan.

Most observers believe that Buddha’s teachings, even if not directly applicable to modern times and problems, are relevant today. His warnings of the dangers of materialism as a source of suffering as well as his prohibitions against alcohol can be applied to all categories of addictions— whether it is to consumer spending or shopping, watching inordinate amounts of television or the Internet, eating too much, using drugs, alcohol, tobacco, opiates, or even the over-reliance on pain-relieving prescription drugs.

The Influence of Buddhism upon Global and Regional Civilization through Culture and Infrastructure

Buddhist influence on Southeast and East Asia is most directly reflected today in its culture and infrastructure, but it is the faith’s spirituality and the figure of Buddha himself in the visual arts and literature that have special relevance today.

Buddhism is the majority religion in Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Japan, Laos, and Mongolia. There are significant numbers of adherents in Nepal, South Korea, Vietnam, China, and Malaysia.

Buddhism has continued to be a vibrant part of culture in East and Southeast Asia for two reasons: First, it did not arrive on the backs of the army, and although trade was relevant. Second, it has survived because it has amalgamated with local customs in a highly successful manner.

The original version of Buddhism, known as Theravada Buddhism prevails in Sri Lanka, Myanmar (Burma), Laos, and Cambodia. It tends to be more philosophical and monastic. Few people can reach the final stage of nirvana or release from the cycle of birth or rebirth. These individuals are known as arhats, or perfected saints, and they come from the class of monks or nuns.

In contrast, when the highly populated countries of Japan and China met Buddhism, they had existing spiritual systems such as Shintoism, Confucianism, and Taoism. Each of the two divisions of Buddhism has four branches which, in turn, are sub-divided into numerous units.

Unlike Buddhism in other lands, it has a head who is also a political head, the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama has been in exile since 1959, since the arrival of Han Chinese and the direct annexation of half of Tibet by China. Because of the previous political system, this religious practice is sometimes called Lamaism.

Ramifications of Buddhist Infrastructure

The fundamental contribution of Buddhism regarding the material heritage and infrastructure lies in its architecture and urban planning. Its architecture especially its stupas and temples are substantial.

Stupas re surrounded by four gates meant to symbolize points of the compass; gates and walls have carvings of Buddha and his teachings. The Great Stupa at Sanchi in central India is the most imposing. There are many impressive Buddhist temples and stupas outside of India. Japan alone has over 80,000 temples.

Urban planning has constituted a continuing aspect of Buddhist civilization, especially in India and Southeast Asia. It closely follows Hinduism in that a city represents heavenly perfection. A heavenly deity is found at the center of a city. As a result, today many Southeast Asian cities represent both a spiritual and a secular place in the cosmos as well as a location for international commerce.

Present and Future Place of Buddhism in the World

Due to its organic roots, it has exhibited enormous staying power. Outside of Southeast and East Asia, it has found a willing audience in both popular culture and meditation. The popular culture associated with Hinduism has spread globally to the West through such categories as vegetarianism, Bollywood films, the sitar, incense, and identification with Buddhism.

In the 1960s, thanks to author Herman Hesse’s books such as Siddhartha, Buddhism became popular at colleges in North America. Finally, the architecture associated with Buddhism today is supplemented by gardens, calligraphy, painting, and poetry available within the larger architectural complexes and through the script for the last three.

Various schools of Buddhism have found favor on a global level by emphasizing meditation, like Zen Buddhism. The survival of Buddhism today rests on two things; first, its ability to incorporate local belief systems; second, its division in three, so as to constitute almost three separate religions.

Mahayana or Greater Vehicle Buddhism is the majority branch of Buddhism because it promises the possibility of rebirth in one lifetime and accepts all religious scriptures,