Don’t Know Much About® Mythology (50 page)

In a religious coming-out ceremony near the holy city of Varansi, Buddha preaches his first sermon to five holy men. This sermon, which includes the “saving truth” of Buddha’s message, is one of the most sacred events in Buddhism.

As Buddha continues preaching throughout northern India, he attracts disciples and his fame increases. Soon stories begin to spread among his followers, describing his religious insight and compassion—along with tales of his magical powers. His followers believe that Buddha has lived many lives before being born as Siddhartha Gautama, and the stories describing the events of these lives, called
jatakas
, become the popular means of understanding Buddha’s message, which includes the concept of Nirvana. No, not Kurt Cobain’s band.

According to Buddhist belief, the perfect peace and blessedness is a state called Nirvana. Attaining Nirvana enables a person to escape from the continuous cycle of death and rebirth caused by an individual’s worldly desires, such as craving for fame, immortality, and wealth. In Buddhism, people attain Nirvana only when such desires are completely eliminated.

Buddha preached that Nirvana can be attained by following a Middle Way between the extremes of ascetic self-denial and sensuality, yet living in the world with compassion and by practicing the Noble Eightfold Path, which consists of:

Perfect understanding, or Knowledge of the truth


 


Perfect aspiration, the intention to resist evil


 


Perfect speech, or saying nothing to hurt others


 


Perfect conduct through respecting life, morality, and property


 


Perfect means of livelihood, or holding a job that does not injure others


 


Perfect endeavor, striving to free the mind of evil


 


Perfect mindfulness through controlling one’s feelings and thoughts


 


Perfect contemplation through the practice of proper forms of concentration


 

“Through observation and effort,” summarizes Jonathan Forty, author of
Mythology: A Visual Encyclopedia
, “a person can break out of the laws of karma…. The aim of Buddhists is to step outside this wheel of karmic rebirth and attain nirvana, or release from it and reunification with the One.”

At about the age of eighty, Buddha became ill and died. His disciples gave him an elaborate funeral, burned his body, and distributed his bones as sacred relics.

In Indian history, Buddhism reached a high mark of sorts when an Indian emperor named Ashoka converted in 262 BCE, renounced violence, and named Buddhism the state religion (Ashoka died in 232 BCE). In Buddhist tradition, Ashoka had become horrified at the cost of empire-building and embraced Buddhism. Today, Buddhism is one of the major religions of the world and it has been a dominant religious and social force in most of Asia for more than two thousand years. There are an estimated 364 million followers today.

Reacting to the growing popularity of Buddhism, the Brahmins later tried to absorb it by depicting the Buddha as the ninth avatar of Vishnu, which would be a little like traditional Judaism finding a way to absorb Jesus or Mohammed into its list of prophets. It was successful in many respects, because Buddhism gradually faded as a dynamic influence in India. When leaders of the Gupta Dynasty reunited northern India around 320 CE, they brought about a revival of Hindu religious thought, caste lines were reinforced, and Buddhism eventually disappeared as a force in India.

Emerging in about the same era as Buddhism did, the second major offshoot of Hinduism is Jainism. Like Buddhism, Jainism is traced to a man who is believed to be an actual historical individual. Mahavira is said to have been born to aristocratic parents in 540 BCE and was a contemporary of Buddha, though they may have never met. Nonetheless, as with Buddha, certain myths developed about Mahavira. At his birth, the gods were said to have descended from heaven and showered flowers, nectar, and fruit on his father’s palace. There are many legends about his extraordinary childhood, but as an adult, he is said to have lived an ordinary life until his parents died. Then, at the age of thirty-two, he gave away his possessions, left his wife and child, and became a wandering monk. The sky glowed like a lake covered in lotus flowers when this happened.

Mahavira’s teachings form the basis for Jainism, which is centered on the belief that every living thing consists of an eternal soul called the
jiva
and a temporary physical body. Attaining release from the world of sorrows can be achieved by renouncing sin and violence, engaging instead in strict penance and extreme, disciplined, nonviolent conduct. In Jainism, sadhus (holy men) and sadhvis (holy women) try to separate themselves from the everyday world through a vow of poverty and may not own any property except a broom, simple robes, bowls for food, and walking sticks. They may not live in buildings except for brief periods and must beg for all their food. They are not allowed to kill any living creature, and Jain monks wear a veil or mask over their mouths, so they don’t accidentally swallow any insects.

Small in number, with some 4 million adherents worldwide, Jainism has been influential, nonetheless. Laypeople, or followers who are not priests or holy men and women, observe a less rigorous code of conduct, and support the priesthood. Many of them are businesspeople who have flourished, in no small part, because Jainists enjoy a reputation for scrupulous honesty in commercial activity that does not directly involve killing any living thing.