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Buddhism |
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Buddhism is essentially a wisdom-religion in which the principal emphasis is on right understanding ripening into wisdom. Its real practice is the quest of wisdom and its embodiment is in Buddha. It can only be understood through understanding the quest, experience and achievement of Buddha. To become a Buddhist one is required to take refuge in the Tri-Ratna (Three Jewels), viz., Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. Considering the close association of Buddhism with Hinduism, the views of Hindu thinkers matter greatly in the understanding of Buddhist logic. For the Hindu thinkers do not refer to these schools as having emerged before the first century B.C.E. They assert that there are four chief Buddhist schools of thought. Of these, two belong to the Hinayana and two to Mahayana. Buddhistic logic is directly related to Buddha's instructions. Buddha's teachings of the Middle Way (madhyama) negated both excessive asceticism and the easy life. A balance between total acceptance or total rejection was what he called for. Buddhism exercised a reformatory influence on Hinduism. By breaking down the social barriers and clearing the spiritual atmosphere of superstition and obscurantism, it did useful service to humanity as a whole. Its contribution to Hinduism includes image worship, the monastic system, vegetarianism and the theory of ahimsa (non-violence). Buddhism has sometime been described as a child of Hinduism, ‘a daughter in many respects more beautiful than the mother’. The Buddha is regarded as the ninth incarnation of Lord Vishnu and is worshipped in temples. |
Rameshwar Parsad |
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