The Origins of Buddhism and their relationship to Indian thought are expected to study here.
Special attention is drawn to the following topics for this purpose.
Vedic thought on philosophical trends such as the path of Karma (Karmamārga) and the
path of Ñāna (Ñānamārga), Yogic meditation and the realization of truth, the concept of soul,
rebirth and liberation; a study of the independent concepts that sprang up in the Vedic tradition;
survey of the Brahmin and ascetic traditions; teachings and life stories of six religious teachers
contemporary to the Buddha; multiple theories of liberation; the pre-Buddhist awareness of Jhāna
and Samāpati; self-mortification and theory of soul; self-indulgence and materialism; view of
Pubbantākappikas and Aparantakappikas; the influence of pre-Buddhist thought and culture on the
emergence and nature of Buddhism; Buddhism criticism of views (Diṭṭhi); Buddhist interpretation
of traditional terms; the way in which the Buddha refuted the contemporary religious and
philosophical foundation; Buddhist criticism of traditional Indian religions and philosophies;
identity and uniqueness of Buddhist thought.
Recommended Reading:
1. Indian Buddhism S. Radhakrishnan, London, 1958
2. History of Indian Philosophy D. J. Kalupahana, Hawaii, 1965
3. History of Indian Thought E. J. Thomas, London, 1933
4. A History of Indian Philosophy, Vol. 1 S. Das Gupta, Cambridge; 1962
5. Indian Buddhism A. K. Warder, Delhi, 1980
6. Studies in Origins of Buddhism G. C. Pande, Alahabad, 1957
12
PRE-VEDIC RELIGION IN INDIA (LECTURED BY VEN. ANANDA VIJAYARATNA) (ORIGINAL BY VEN. SAMNANG
PHY) (2009)
Aryans came to the Sindhu Valley as shepherdess to feed their cattle but having seen the
well organized city belonged to the people of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa civilization. Āryans
decided to settle down there and continued the cultivation of the aborigines. Aborigines were farmer
who grew maize in their fields. Āryans who followed the path of aborigines without any knowledge
of the weather and climatic changes of the country, faced disasters, and their maize fields were
devoured by the forces of nature such as the rain floods and the drought fire. This happened due to
the lack of experience about the nature. Āryans were perplexed with the unexpected result they
experienced in their fields.
As a result of that Āryans understood that the forces of the nature could influence them and
they decided to understand the nature which they have experienced. They found that the forces of
the nature such as rain lightening and drought fire are active and they can speak; when rain falls
down it makes noise as the fire, water, and wind. So they understood that these forces are not only
actives but also can speak.
For example, when wind blows, it howls. Man also can speak and they also can work and
act. When they compared these qualities with themselves; they found some similarity between
themselves and the forces of nature. They inferred that these forces could think as human beings
think before they act and speak. So they considered that the forces of the nature are also like human
beings but more powerful than themselves. This stage is called anthropomorphism.
They decided to keep a close relationship with the nature to get their supports as a result of
that Aryans began to speak to them and pay their respect to them by offering a part of their
earnings. Aryans thought that by hearing their admiration and enjoyment those forces could help
them to have a better life. The close relationship that Āryans had with the forces of nature became
distant in the fullness of times.
As a result of that the forces of nature were promoted to the positions of Gods. They
considered every forces of nature as a God. So number of Gods increased rapidly. It is said that the
number increased up to 33, 0000 Gods (we normally called Viśva Devah). So this is called
polytheism. During this period the practices of rituals were increased as every person wanted to get
Blessing from gods. The increase of the number of Gods became a burden to the mind of the
Aryans. They confused when they pray to gods, it was so difficult to select a proper god as the
vocabularies of Aryans were very much limited. They wanted to speak, but some words were used
to invoke other gods. This factor led Aryans to select the most powerful god among the Vedic
pantheon.
The Indian of supreme god is called monotheism before monotheism there was transmittable
period during that period, Aryans were in search of a supreme god from the other gods. Max
Müller, German religious scholar, named this period as henotheism. During the henotheistic period
Aryans tried their best to select the most powerful god in the pantheon but failed because there was
no god who holds qualities or qualification to be the supreme god. The supreme god must be
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