The Buddha vis-à-vis Brahmins

 

 

The Buddha vis-à-vis Brahmins

Shrikant G. Talageri

 

The most strident and persistent theme in western discussions of Buddhism and the Buddha is that Buddhism represents a rebellion against Hinduism and against the excesses of Brahmins and Brahminism. That this is not so has been known to all Hindus since the days of the Buddha at least, and is attested by many sources in Hinduism, not the least of which is the fact that the Buddha is treated as one of the incarnations of Viṣṇu. But in this age of lies, black can be shown as white and white can be shown as black with the most recklessly brazen regularity, especially in the world of western academics and both the western and the secularist-cum-leftist controlled media. Buddhism is regularly portrayed as not just as a sect which branched out into a distinct religious entity from its Hindu origins, but somehow as a major revolution against the religion of the Brahmins. So, while the inclusion of the Buddha into the Hindu pantheon as an avatāra of Viṣṇu is treated as a sneaky trick by wily brahmins to somehow rope Buddhism into a subservient position within Hinduism, Buddhism itself, we are told, was an unashamedly anti-Brahminical entity which wanted to have nothing to do with brahmins and their Machiavellian creed.

It is not that this fake narrative has not been challenged by Hindu writers. Recently, for example (and I have referred to this in an earlier article) Koenraad Elst was for a long time (until he finally realized the futility and senselessness of the whole thing and put a firm stop to it) engaged in a twitter dispute with an anti-Hindu troll, pretending to be a Buddhist and writing under a pseudo-Chinese pseudonym, who kept shrilly screeching out this "Hinduism and Buddhism are enemies" line. Elsewhere, starting out with Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar — who, in his book "Thoughts on Pakistan" and in his interviews with Dhananjay Keer, spelt out in very clear terms the fact that it was not Brahmins or Hindus of any kind who attacked and wiped out Buddhism from India, but that it was the Islamic invaders who did this — there has been no shortage of Hindu and western scholars who have pointed out in detail that Buddhism was very much a sister sect within Hinduism and nowhere in any sense inimical to it. I will particularly recommend the articles by an erudite western scholar, Joseph Walser, Department of Religion, Medford, Massachussetts, USA, whose articles on this subject are available for downloading in academia-edu.

But the western propaganda machine is so powerful and so ubiquitously present everywhere that Truth always remains the only casualty: the overwhelming power of the western and western-and-leftist controlled academia and media propaganda machine can make the sun rise in the west, whether it is the question of whether or not the Babri Masjid was built on a demolished temple, whether or not the Ghaggar-Hakra is the Vedic Sarasvati, whether or not Muslims are being persecuted in India, or indeed whether or not the ex-President of the United States itself, Donald Trump (the only US President of recent times who did not wage destructive wars against any country), is or isn't a villain. The way in which a western attempt to encircle, weaken and destroy Russia and get Putin hanged (in the same way as was done in Iraq and to Saddam Hussain) is being successfully portrayed as a Russian attempt to destroy a Ukraine being heavily armed by the west to carry out its anti-Russian crusade, is the latest case in point.

 

In an earlier article, I showed how a book "THE AMṚTASIDDHI AND THE AMṚTASIDDHIMŪLA — The Earliest Texts of the Haṭhayoga Tradition", by James Mallinson and Péter-Dániel Szántó, which aims to show that Hatha-Yoga was a Buddhist rather than a Hindu development, actually only shows that Buddhist texts showed great reverence to Hindu Gods: one verse (7.15) in this Buddhist text, for example, tells us: "Bindu is Buddha, Bindu is Śiva, Bindu is Viṣṇu, [Bindu is] Brahmā, Bindu is the God in all [beings], Bindu is the mirror of the three worlds (trailokyadarpaṇaḥ)".

Contrast this attitude of genuine Buddhism with the west-promoted modern version of anti-Hinduism presented as "Buddhism": a report in the media today tells us that a mass-conversion ceremony from Hinduism to Buddhism was held in Delhi, in the presence and with the blessings of AAP minister Rajendra Pal Gautam, where the people being converted were told to chant "main brahma, vishnu, ram, krishna ko kabhi ishwar nahin manunga" and many similar specifically anti-Hindu sentiments were freely and collectively chanted (and Hinduism was described as a "narak" or hell). Needless to say, this public outpouring of anti-Hindu venom is actually being publicized by the leftist-controlled media as an expression of religious freedom granted by the constitution. But let us be fair: they are right. This freedom to insult Hinduism any way you can while making any (even perceived) insult to Islam or Christianity a condemnable and punishable offence is fully supported by the Constitution and also by the Government of India controlled by a party which comes to power in every election by stoking "Hindu" sentiments and communal clashes, and border skirmishes with Islamic Pakistan!

It can be shown in great detail, and has been shown by many scholars (including Koenraad Elst), that Buddhist philosophy is just one more variety of Hindu philosophy. Or rather different Buddhist philosophies are only more varieties of different varieties of Hindu philosophies found in the Upanishads and the texts of the Six Schools of Hindu philosophy. But it could still be argued that this was just because of the geographical origins of Buddhism, and that just as Christianity and Islam inherited the idea of a fanatical Monotheism and an "Us-versus-them" division of mankind from Judaism, even as the two religions represented sharp rebellions or antithetical entities compared to Judaism, in a similar manner Buddhism inherited certain philosophical concepts from Hinduism but represented a rebellion or an antithetical entity to Hinduism or at least to "Brahminism". But this, even as it is obviously a newly developed modern political tactic to destroy Hinduism, is wrong as is made clear by the most basic Buddhist texts.

In my above-referred previous article, I was referring to the reverence for Hinduism shown by an 11th century CE Buddhist text, but actually the same picture shows up when we examine the most basic Buddhist texts. As my particular area of study has been the Vedic period, I was not personally aware of the deep depth of Buddhist integrity with the Hindu, and even "Brahminical", identity. But the following tweet by someone on twitter, which was brought to my notice, shows that the Buddha himself not only revered Hinduism, but even held the much-maligned (by leftists and pseudo-Buddhists) Brahmins in reverence, to the extent that he even held that people who failed to show respect to Brahmins (who are classified in the verses as being in the same category as Buddhist monks) would suffer for it, even by the mere negative act of failing to give gifts of all kinds to Brahmins: a view which even I would find excessively pro-Brahmin.

 

The tweet which brought this Tripitaka reference to my notice was by a twitter handle named Onkara ♥ @sacredrain, and I am grateful to him for it.   

Examining the actual text of the above verses from the Tripitaka, I get the following translation from the following internet site:

https://suttacentral.net/mn135/en/sujato?layout=plain&reference=none&notes=asterisk&highlight=false&script=latin

 

"13. Here, student, some woman or man is not a giver of food, drink, cloth, sandals, garlands, perfumes, unguents, bed, roof and lighting to monks or brahmans. Due to having performed and completed such kamma, on the dissolution of the body, after death he reappears in a state of deprivation... If instead he comes to the human state, he is poor wherever he is reborn. This is the way that leads to poverty, that is to say, not to be a giver of food, drink, cloth, sandals, garlands, perfumes, unguents, bed, roof and lighting to monks and brahmans.

 

14. But here some woman or man is a giver of food, drink, cloth, sandals, perfumes, unguents, bed, roof and lighting to monks and brahmans. Due to having performed and completed such kamma, on the dissolution of the body, after death, he reappears in a happy destination... If instead he comes to the human state, he is rich wherever he is reborn. This is the way that leads to riches, that is to say, to be a giver of food, drink, cloth, sandals, garlands, perfumes, unguents, bed, roof and lighting to monks and brahmans."

 

A deeper study of all references to brahmins and Hindu deities in the most basic Buddhist texts will reveal much more on this point. This is not to say that there will be nothing against brahmins or different Hindu or Vedic concepts and practices in these same Buddhist texts: the beauty of ancient Indian texts was that every Hindu text was free to criticize every other Hindu text, concept and doctrine without in any way converting this criticism into hatred for that other text, sect or doctrine or followers of that text, sect or doctrine. Even in those contexts where certain texts did show hatred for other sects or doctrines, those expressions of hatred only show the personal prejudices of the particular writer of the text. After all there is no such thing as a divinely written text: all religious texts are conceived and written by human beings and contain expressions of the all-too-human failings of the writers: even the Rigveda contains sycophantic praises of donors, curses against other composers, and open display of personal prejudices, and the Valmiki Ramayana contains an insulting reference to the Buddha. Hindus are not bound to treat any text as sacrosanct and above criticism, and there is no such thing as "blasphemy" in Hinduism, especially where genuine and objective analysis and criticism is concerned. [The differing treatment of criticism of Hinduism as opposed to criticism of Christianity and Islam is purely a matter of dirty politics, and a separate subject].

 

 

Appendix: Neo-Buddhism as an anti-Hindu entity.

 

Dr. Ambedkar had decided to convert dalits to Buddhism rather than to Christianity or Islam because he felt that "If the depressed classes join Islam or Christianity, they not only go out of the Hindu religion, but they also go out of the Hindu culture…What the consequences of conversion will do to the country as a whole is well worth bearing in mind. Conversion to Islam or Christianity will denationalize the depressed classes" (Dhanajay Keer: "Dr Ambedkar: Life and Mission", p.279).

 

However, today, the anti-Hindu forces have managed to convert this neo-Buddhism also into a denationalized and denationalizing force aligning with the two forces characterized by Dr. Ambedkar as denationalizing forces: Islam and Christianity. This was again made evident in the conversion ceremony which took place in Delhi yesterday.

 

But let me again repeat what I have been saying again and again in my books and articles: that the biggest and most dangerous enemy of Hinduism is not the coalition of openly anti-Hindu forces which are brilliantly characterized by Rajiv Malhotra as the "Breaking India Forces". The main enemy of Hinduism is the BJP Parivar (erroneously referred to as the Sangh Parivar) which comes to power on Hindu issues and by stoking communal issues and border issues and then spends its entire tenure in destroying India's natural heritage and in destroying Hindu culture itself and in getting most of the vocal Hindu voices and voters to defend and support its anti-Hindu activities. Even as far back as the preface to the 2003 reprint of my 1993 book "The Aryan Invasion Theory and Indian Nationalism", I wrote, among other things, that the BJP rule was proving that "more foreign agency, anti-nationalism and injustice are possible in India in the name of Hinduism and Hindutva than in the name of Islam and Christianity or Secularism and Leftism. And more dangerous since it is cloaked in the garb of Nationalism." I was apprehensive Sita Ram Goel would disapprove; but, in a phone conversation soon after, he expressed his full agreement with, and approval of, everything I had written in this preface.

 

Yesterday, the BJP government provided one more instance of the multiple ways in which it has been attacking and destroying Hinduism much more effectively than any openly anti-Hindu force could do. In my article "Are Indian Tribals Hindus?", I had referred to the laws which all anti-Hindu forces are trying to repeal, which prevent converts to Christianity and Islam from getting the benefits of scheduled-caste reservation. What no secular government could do, the BJP is going to do. As per a notification issued by the  Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment yesterday (6 October 2022, the same day the conversion ceremony was taking place in Delhi), it has appointed a commission to consider the inclusion of scheduled-caste converts to Christianity and Islam in the list of beneficiaries of scheduled-caste reservations.

 

 

Cleverly, the commission is to submit its report after the next Lok Sabha elections in 2024, so that no "Hindu" voters are tempted to cast their votes anywhere else but on the BJP symbol by this official opening of the floodgates of conversions from Hinduism to Christianity and Islam. It will all come out in the open only after the election results are announced and the new BJP government has completely tightened its stranglehold on the country for a long, long time to come.

 

Not being a believer in Divine Interventions, I cannot ask the Gods to save India and Hinduism from the BJP and its bhakts. Hinduism is now beyond salvation.

 

Post-script added 24 hours later:

 

The apologist-brigade of the BJP Parivar has swiftly swung into action on its whitewashing operations to soften the effect of the above notification on Hindus. They know that it is easy to convince Hindus who are already in their pocket and that it is therfore enough to just concentrate only on getting new vote-banks from among the "minorities". So:

 

https://swarajyamag.com/analysis/a-calculated-gambit-to-dodge-judicial-bullet-modi-govt-sets-up-inquiry-commission-to-re-examine-sc-status

 

Strangely, the notification is being painted as a ploy by a fiercely Hindutvavadi government to "dodge judicial bullets" which may force it to extend the reservations to minorities converted from the SCs. Hindus are gullible and will swallow anything if their bhakti leads them to do so.

 

But then recently, when a few Hindus petitioned the SC against the massive (over 70000 crores) minorities-only schemes of the Central Government and protested that this was unjust to Hindus, the Central Government (this same BJP government) told the SC that the minorities were suffering from several disadvantages which made these minority-only schemes necessary for bringing them up to the level of the majority community (Hindus), and that the schemes did not do any injustice to Hindus. On that occasion, the BJP government did not apprehend any "judicial bullets" which would make them extend those minorities-only schemes to Hindus also: in fact they firmly stood their ground against extending the minorities-only schemes to Hindus!