Important Notes on Buddhism,Jainism for WBCS/WBPSC/SSC/RAIL Exam

Important Notes on Buddhism,Jainism for WBCS/WBPSC/SSC/RAIL Exam

Hello Guys, 

                  We have brough to you some important Notes on Buddhism & Jainism. This topic is very important for any kind of Competitive Exams like WBCS/WBPSC/SSC/RAIL etc. So Just go down and read the notes. You can note down also.

Buddhism

• Gautam Buddha was the founder of Buddhism. Also known as Sakyamuni or tathagath. He was born in 563 BC on the Vaishakha Poornima Day at Lumbini ( Near Kapilavastu ) in Nepal. His father Suddhodana was the Saka ruler and his mother Mahamaya of kosala dynasty.
• He left his place at the age of 29 in search of truth (also called Mahabhinishkramana) and wandered for 6 years
• He discovered enlightment under the Pipal tree in Gaya, Bihar at the age of 35.
• He gave his first sermon at Sarnath where his five disciples had settled. His first sermon is called 'Dharmachakrapravartan'.
• He attained Mahaparinirvana at Kushinagar in 483 BC at the age of 80 in the Malla republic.

The Four Noble Truths :

• The world is full of sorrow and misery.
• The cause of all pain and misery is desire.
• pain and misery can be ended by killing or controlling desire.
• Desire can be controlled by following the eight fold path.

The Eight Fold Path :

• Right faith,Right thought, Right action,Right livelihood, Right Efforts,Right mindfulness,Right Speech,Right Remembrance and Right Concentration
• Buddhist literature was in Pali language.
• Buddhist scriptures in pali are commonly are commonly referred to as 'Tripitakas'.
• VINAYA PITAKA - Rules of discipline
• SUITTA PITAKA - Largest, Contains collection of Buddha's sermons 
• ABHIDHAMMA PITAKA - Explaination of the philosophical principles of the Buddhist religion jatak Kathas are the pre-birth stories of Buddha.  

BUDDHIST COUNCILS :

(i) First Buddhist Council (Rajgir 483 BC, During Ajatshatru's reign)

(ii) Second Buddhist Council ( Vaishali 383 BC ) During the region of Kalasoka.

(iii) Third Buddhist Council of heretics (250 BC during the reign of Asoka in Pataliputra)

(iv) Fourth Buddhist Council ( Kundalvan 72 AD during the reign of Kanishka )

FEATURES : 

• It was presided by Mahakassapa. Upali recited the Vinaya Pitaka ( rules of the order ) , Ananda recited the Sutta Pitaka ( doctrines and ethics ) . Religious doctrines were compiled and embodied in Pali cannon. 
• Presided by Sabakami. It condemned the ten heresies. Schism over monastic order. Buddhism divided into Sthavivadin and Mahasanghika.
• Presided by Moggaliputra Tissa. Expulsion of heretics and establishment of Sthavirvadin doctrines addition of third pitaka, the Abidhamma Pitaka to the Buddhist cannonical text.
• Presided by Vasumitra and Asvaghosha. Division of Buddhism into two broad sects - Mahayana and Hinayana. 

JAINISM 

• Jainism was founded by Rishabhadeva. Mahariva was the last of the 24 trithankara.
• He was born in Kundagram, Bihar in 540 BC . His father Siddhartha was the head of Inatrika  clan and his mother was 'Trishala, sister of Lichchavi Prince Chetak of Vaishali.
• In the 13th year of his asceticism outside the town of jrimbhikgrama, he attained Kaivalya.
• At the age of 72, he attained death of Pava, neer Patna, in 486 BC
• Jainism believed in the theory of Syadavada Which states that no final affirmation or denial is possible because knowledge is a relative quality.
• The three jewels or ratnins of Jainism are right belief ( faith ) ,right knowledge, and right conduct.
• First Jaina Council : Held at Pataliputra in about 300 BC under Sthalabahu.
• Jainism was divided into Swetambars and Digambars.
• Second Jaina Council : Held at vallabhi in 512 AD under Devardhi Kshamasramana.
• Religious doctrines were finally compiledand written down in Ardh Magadhi.
• Jaina Sects : Svetambars , Digambar, Therapanthis and Samaiyas.

AJIVIKAS

Buddhism and Jainism were not religions, which challenged Brahmanical dominance. According to the Buddhist sources, more than 62 sects and philosophies flourished in this period. One of these sects, known as the Ajivikas or 'Followers of the way of life' were an ascetic order that started at the time of Buddha and Mahavira and lasted untill the 14th century.

              Ajivika was founded by Makkhali Gosala. Ajivikas were very popular in Magadha in the third century BCE and Mauryan kings donated several caves in the honour of Ajivika monks. According to tradition, it is believed that for some six years, Mahavira's hardship was shared by Gosala, but ultimately the two quarreled and Gosala left Mahavira to found the sect of the Ajivikas ( pre-determinism or 'niyati'). His doctrines and those of his followers are known only from Buddhist and Jaina sources, which state that he was lowborn and died after a quarrel with Mahavira shortly before the Buddha died.

                  The Ajivikas, who were rigid fatalists and determinists, supportedly held that the affairs of the entire universe were ordered by a cosmic force called niyati (meaning 'rule' or 'destiny' in Sanskrit) that determined all events, including an individual's fate, to that last detail and that barred personal efforts to change or accelerate improvement toward one's spiritual destiny. No human effort could have any effect against niyati and therefore Karma is a fallacy. Nirvana was only reached after living through an immense number of lives, which proceeded automatically like the unwinding of a ball of thread, the last life being as an Ajivika monk. As a result of this static and melancholy view of the human condition, the Ajivikas practiced austerities rather than pursue any purposeful goal. Some later Ajivikas worshipped Gosala as a divinity, and the tenet of niyati developed into the doctrine that all change was illusory and that everything was eternally immobile.