Sambodhi

Author(s): Dalsukh Malvania, H C Bhayani, Nagin J Shah
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 42

THE BUDDHIST AND JAINA CONCEPTS OF MAN AND SOCIETY AS REVEALED IN THEIR RELIGIOUS
LITERATURE
Padmanabh s. Jaini
Buddhism and Jainism are the two heterodox religions of ancient India which have survived to the present day. Their heterodoxy lies in the fact that they both have claimed to be, and have been recognized as being, anti-Vedic systems The term Śramaņa, although it is originally found in the Upanişads, has come to be applied almost exclusively to the mendicants and teachers of these two religions, and it thus represents a complex of attitudes and ideas which are opposed to those referred to by the term brahmana.2 Although there have been many anti-Vedic or anti-Brahmanical movements throughout the course of Indian history which, bad they survived, could be labelled Sramana, all of the others for the most part have been assimilated into the Indian orthodox tradition and have ceased to maintain their existence as separate entities.
Three major departures from the Vedic and Brabmanical systems characterize Buddhism and Jainism. They reject the scriptural authority of the Vedas, Brāhmaṇas, Upanişads, Mahābhāruta (including the Bhagavadgita), Rāmāyana, and Dharmaśāstras; this body of literature has effectively governed Indian society throughout the ages. They deny the efficacy of sacrifice. And they refuse to acknowledge the divine status of either the Vedic gods or the Hindu trinity of Brahmā, Vişņu, and Siva as well as their great avatāras, which are depicted in the eighteen traditional Purāņas.
As the result of these departures the two heterodoxies developed as atheistic religions having only one thing in common with other Indian religions, their concern for the individual's salvation (mokşa). Salvation among the Indian religions is seen as total freedom from the cycle of birth and death, from the passions, desires, and the rest of the human condition. Unlike other Indian religions and, indeed, unlike other religions thr out the course of world history, Buddhism and Jainism consider such a salvation to be obtainable by the efforts of the individual alone, without the need for an external agency, such as God's grace. In ihis respect the two heterodoxies are very different from the Vedic tradition, in that the latter presupposes an ett rnally free God, who can save the world preciSely because of his freedom. Accoding to Jaina and Buddhist doctrines