plan for Buddhism questions a & b

Page 1

(a) Examine the social and religious background of the Buddha.

Intro

Northern India around 411BCE

India was separated by a 5 tier caste system:

Hindu county

1st Paragraph

Hindu based county:

Belief in the God Brahman = God is the universe and there for in everyone/thing

belief in the cycle of samsara but your spirt goes on as well as karma

2nd paragraph

caste system - varnas

Priests

warrior caste - Khysatrias the caste Sidd was born into

land owners & merchants

servants, subordinates to the higher castes

the untouchables

the Buddha complete disregarded the caste system

3rd Paragraph

everyone on earth has to for fill their duty - everyone is here for a purpose

duty is decided by role & dharma is decides their caste

there are stages of life e.g child, married, provide for your family, then renunciation

4th paragraph

Renunciation

leaving to get closer to god

(b) 'There was nothing new in the teachings of the Buddha' Asses this view

1st paragraph

Many people think this because....

hinduism has karma as does Buddhism

explain karma + how it is used in samsara

other would disagree with this because...

2nd paragraph

Other would disagree and say many things were new in the...

no god - NI at the time was hindu and believed in Brahman

therefore no soul like in Hinduism

+ how samsara is different because of it

3rd paragraph

Many agree that the B taught no new ideas because...

samsara was already being taught in Hinduism

only it was call reincarnation

bron > die > re born

only difference is B said there is no soul

karam controls it just as in hinduism

4th paragraph

The B taught about suffering, dukka, anicca and annata - new

B said there was a way to escape samara - new

B taught about the middle way - new

Conclusion

although there are many similarities between Hinduism which was the religion at the time, the B taught many new ideas such as Dukkha, the middle way, the eightfold path, no attman. Therefore in conclusion the there were new things in the teachings of the buddha.