Debates and discussions

The sixth century BCE was a time of intense intellectual ferment in India. Buddhist texts mention as many as 64 different sects or schools of thought, giving us a glimpse of the lively debates and discussions that were taking place. Teachers travelled from place to place, trying to convince one another — and ordinary laypersons — about the validity of their philosophy or their understanding of the world.

These debates were held in specific settings. One common venue was the kutagarashala — literally, a hut with a pointed roof. Another was the groves where travelling mendicants would halt. The stakes were high: if a philosopher succeeded in convincing one of his rivals, the followers of that rival would also become his disciples. This meant that support for any particular sect could grow or shrink over time, depending on the outcome of these debates.

Many of these teachers, including Mahavira and the Buddha, questioned the authority of the Vedas. They also emphasised individual agency — the idea that men and women could strive on their own to attain liberation from the trials and tribulations of worldly existence. This was a marked contrast to the Brahmanical position, where an individual’s life was thought to be determined by birth in a specific caste or gender.

The Upanishadic view of the self

Verses from the Chhandogya Upanishad, a Sanskrit text composed around the sixth century BCE, offer a different perspective. They describe the self (atman) in paradoxical terms:

This self of mine within the heart, is smaller than paddy or barley or mustard or millet or the kernel of a seed of millet. This self of mine within the heart is greater than the earth, greater than the intermediate space, greater than heaven, greater than these worlds.

Another verse from the same text reinterprets sacrifice in a new way:

This one (the wind) that blows, this is surely a sacrifice … While moving, it sanctifies all this; therefore it is indeed a sacrifice.

How Buddhist texts were prepared and preserved

The Buddha, like other teachers, taught orally — through discussion and debate. Men, women, and perhaps even children attended these discourses and discussed what they heard. None of the Buddha’s speeches were written down during his lifetime.

After his death (around the fifth–fourth century BCE), his teachings were compiled by his disciples at a council of “elders” or senior monks held at Vesali (Pali for Vaishali, in present-day Bihar). These compilations were known as the Tipitaka — literally, “three baskets” to hold different types of texts. They were first transmitted orally and then written down, classified according to length and subject matter.

The three baskets are:

Each pitaka comprised a number of individual texts. Later, commentaries were written on these texts by Buddhist scholars. As Buddhism travelled to new regions such as Sri Lanka, other texts were composed — for example, the Dipavamsa (chronicle of the island) and the Mahavamsa (the great chronicle) — which contained regional histories of Buddhism. Many of these works also included biographies of the Buddha.

Some of the oldest texts are in Pali, while later compositions are in Sanskrit. When Buddhism spread to East Asia, pilgrims such as Fa Xian and Xuan Zang travelled all the way from China to India in search of texts. They took these texts back to China, where scholars translated them. Indian Buddhist teachers also travelled to faraway places, carrying texts to disseminate the Buddha’s teachings. Buddhist texts were preserved in manuscripts for several centuries in monasteries across different parts of Asia. Modern translations have been prepared from Pali, Sanskrit, Chinese, and Tibetan texts.

Fatalists and materialists

The Sutta Pitaka records a conversation between King Ajatasattu of Magadha and the Buddha. The king described what two other teachers had taught him.

The first was Makkhali Gosala, who belonged to the tradition of the Ajivikas. He taught:

Though the wise should hope, by this virtue … by this penance I will gain karma … and the fool should by the same means hope to gradually rid himself of his karma, neither of them can do it. Pleasure and pain, measured out as it were, cannot be altered in the course of samsara (transmigration). It can neither be lessened nor increased … just as a ball of string will when thrown unwind to its full length, so fool and wise alike will take their course and make an end of sorrow.

The Ajivikas have often been described as fatalists — those who believe that everything is predetermined.

The second teacher was Ajita Kesakambalin, who belonged to the tradition of the Lokayatas, usually described as materialists. He taught:

There is no such thing, O king, as alms or sacrifice, or offerings … there is no such thing as this world or the next … A human being is made up of the four elements. When he dies the earthy in him returns to the earth, the fluid to water, the heat to fire, the windy to air, and his senses pass into space … The talk of gifts is a doctrine of fools, an empty lie … fools and wise alike are cut off and perish. They do not survive after death.

The message of Mahavira

The basic philosophy of the Jainas was already in existence in north India before the birth of Vardhamana, who came to be known as Mahavira, in the sixth century BCE. According to Jaina tradition, Mahavira was preceded by 23 other teachers or tirthankaras — literally, those who guide men and women across the river of existence.

The most important idea in Jainism is that the entire world is animated: even stones, rocks, and water have life. Non-injury to living beings — especially to humans, animals, plants, and insects — is central to Jaina philosophy. The principle of ahimsa, emphasised within Jainism, has left its mark on Indian thinking as a whole.

According to Jaina teachings, the cycle of birth and rebirth is shaped through karma. Asceticism and penance are required to free oneself from the cycle of karma. This can be achieved only by renouncing the world; therefore, monastic existence is a necessary condition of salvation. …