At the time when Gautama took Parivraja, there was a great intellectual ferment in the country.

Besides the Brahmanic Philosophy there were as many as sixty-two different schools of

philosophy, all opposed to the Brahmanic Philosophy? Of them at least six were worthy of

attention.

    2. Of these schools of philosophy there was one headed by Purana Kassappa. His doctrine

was known as Acariyavadd. He maintained that the soul was not affected in any way by Karma.

One may do, or one may get things done. One may do injury, or one may get someone to kill.

One may commit theft or dacoity [highway robbery], or one may get theft or dacoity committed;

one may commit adultery, or one may get adultery committed; one may tell a lie, or one may get

a lie told. Nothing affects the soul. An act, however licentious, does not affect the soul with sin.

An act, however good, does not bring merit to the soul. Nothing has any Kriya (result) on the

soul. When a person dies, all the elements of which he is made join in their originals. Nothing

survives after death, neither body nor soul.

    3. Another school of thought was known as Niyativada. Its chief propounder was Makhali

Ghosal. His doctrine was a kind of fatalism or determinism. He taught that no one can do

anything or undo anything. Things happen. No one can make them happen. No one can remove

unhappiness, increase it, or diminish it. One must undergo one's share of the experiences of the

world.

    4. The third school was known as Ucchedavada. Its chief profounder was Ajit Kesakambal.

His doctrine was a kind of Annihilism. He taught that there was nothing in Yajna, Haom; there is

no such thing as the fruits or effects of deeds to be enjoyed or suffered by the soul. There is

neither heaven nor hell. Man is made up of certain elements of unhappiness in the world. The
soul cannot escape it. Whatever sorrow or unhappiness there was in the world, the soul cannot

escape. This sorrow or unhappiness will come to an end automatically. The soul must undergo

rebirth during eighty-four lakhs [=hundred thousand] of cycles of Maha Kalpas. Then only the

sorrow and unhappiness of the soul will end, neither before nor by any other means.

5. The fourth school was known as Annyonyavad. The head of this school was Pakudha

Kacchyana. He preached that there are seven elements which go to make up a being, namely,

Prathvi, Apa, Tej, Vayu, Sukha, Dukha and the Soul. Each is independent of the other; one does

not affect the other. They are self-existent, and they are eternal. Nothing can destroy them.

If anyone chops off the head of man, he does not kill him. All that happens is that the weapon

has entered the seven elements.

6. Sanjaya Belaputta had his own school of philosophy. It was known as Vikshepavada, a kind of

skepticism.  He argued, "if anyone asked me is there heaven, if I feel there was I would say yes.

But if I feel there was no heaven I would say no. If I am asked whether human beings are

created, whether man has to suffer the fruits of his action whether good or bad, and whether the

soul lives after death, I say nay to all these because I don't think they exist. This is how Sanjaya

Belaputta summed up his doctrine.

7. The sixth school of philosophy was known as Chaturyamsamvarvad.   The head of this school

that was alive at the time when Gautama was searching for light was Mahavira, who was also

called Nigantha Nathaputta. Mahavira taught that the soul had to undergo rebirth because of the

bad karmas done in the past life and in the present life. One must therefore get over the bad, he
suggested, by tapascharya. For preventing the doing of bad karmas in this life Mahavira

prescribed the observance of chaturyama dharma, i.e., observance of four rules: (1) not to kill;

(2) not to steal; (3) not to tell a lie; and (4) not to have property, and to observe celibacy.

2. His Attitude to His Contemporaries

1. The Buddha did not accept the teachings of the new philosophers.

2. His rejection of their teaching was not without reasons. He said that:

3. If the doctrines of Purana Kassyappa or Pakudha Kaccayana were true, then one can do any

evil or any harm; one may even go to the length of killing another without involving any social

responsibility or social consequences.

4. If the doctrine of Makhali Ghosal is true, then man becomes the slave of destiny. He cannot

liberate himself.

5. If the doctrine of Ajith Kesakambal is true, then all that man has to do is to eat, drink and make

merry.

6. If the doctrine of Sanjaya Belaputta was true, then man must float about, and live without a

positive philosophy of life.

Asceticism and Tapascharya, a complete subjugation and uprooting of man's instincts and

desires.

8. Thus, none of the paths of life suggested by the philosophers appealed to the Buddha. He

thought they were the thoughts of men who had become hopeless, helpless, and reckless. He

therefore decided to seek light elsewhere.

Tradition has it that the Buddha gave 84,000 teachings during his 80 year life (he died around

410 BCE).  Although perhaps not literally true, this very large number illustrates the idea that the

Buddha’s teachings are so extensive that people in all kinds of different situations can find

within them something that meets their particular need. Some people understand what the

Buddha taught as philosophy. Others see within it all the elements we expect to find in a religion

- practices and rituals; ideas about salvation; otherworldly beings and so on. More recently some

have understood the Buddha’s teaching as therapy for stress and other similar problems.

Whichever way we characterize the Buddha’s teachings, it is clear that he intended them to be

used.

The Buddha’s time was one of particular creativity and change. Trade was developing,

administrative borders were changing and people were moving from the countryside into the

towns. The Buddha seems to have made certain assumptions about the world and about the place

of men and women within the world that would have been familiar to the people among whom

he lived. For example, his teachings are based on the idea that all beings experience life as a

cycle of birth, death and rebirth. He taught that the aim is to escape from this cycle of suffering.

But the Buddha also turned many of the ideas circulating at that time on their heads. Unlike those
around him, he taught that there is nothing about us or about what we experience that is eternal

and unchanging. Flux is pervasive.

When he was a young man, the Buddha set out from his privileged family home with the

intention of gaining understanding about life, the universe and everything. He sought out the

most revered teachers and tried their methods of accessing knowledge and understanding,

including nearly starving himself to death. When none of these methods worked he sat down

under a tree and resolved to stay there until his quest for truth reached its goal.  We are told that

in the night he realised the truth he had been looking for.  

The Buddha’s experience was so powerful that he felt compelled to pass on what he had learned.

As he travelled around the countryside and towns he was questioned by individuals who knew of

his reputation. Many of his teachings represent his answers to their questions. They are therefore

responses to real life situations. His followers remembered these answers and, shortly before he

died, the Buddha told them that what he had explained - the truth and the practices that lead to

that truth - would meet all their needs.  

In the years after his death, the Buddha’s followers, who lived as monks, gathered the teachings

together and organized and presented them in a systematic way so that they formed a coherent

whole. We can summarize the Buddha’s ideas very briefly as: life is experienced as

unsatisfactory or colored by suffering but it is possible, by following a defined path, to end the

causes of this suffering and end the anger, greed and delusion that prevent people from knowing

and understanding the truth and keep them in the death and rebirth cycle.

In addition to his explanation about why we experience life as we do, the Buddha proposed a

path of practical remedies for the human predicament. He laid down a set of ethical principles or
precepts by which people should live, either as monks and nuns inside the monasteries or in

everyday working lives within families. These include detailed rules, such as proper ways to

dress and behave for monks, but also guidance for all to follow. He taught that the benefits of

ethical actions are self-evident; those who live in ethical ways, avoiding killing, stealing, sexual

misconduct, lying and intoxication, travel towards happiness whereas those who don’t travel

away from happiness.

The Buddha also taught meditation practices. These practices provide space in people’s busy

lives, and in their busy minds, to develop understanding and help them to live well. Meditation

calms the mind. A person who sits quietly has the opportunity to see why it is better to live

ethically, why attachment to things, people and ideas leads to pain, and eventually to understand

what the Buddha understood. Buddhist meditation practices are many and varied, silent and

chanted. Some have been taken up as therapy outside the context of Buddhist doctrine.  

Billions of people across the globe live in areas where the Buddha’s legacy has been, remains, or

is newly influential. Among his followers wise and compassionate people have inspired and

nurtured others, helping them to understand what the Buddha taught. Over the centuries there

have been different interpretations of the Buddha’s path. This has led at times to tensions

between groups. There have also been Buddhist teachers and leaders who have acted unlawfully

and unethically. Like the followers of other influential teachers, Buddhists have been implicated

in wars and other conflicts.  His teachings, however, are said to remain ‘stainless’.

The Buddha’s 84,000 teachings have shown a remarkable ability to adapt and to resonate with

people at different times and in contrasting cultures. In all ages teachers in the varied parts of the

world where Buddhism has spread from Japan to Sri Lanka; Tibet to Australia have inspired
their followers and refreshed aspects of the Buddha’s teachings to make them relevant for new

circumstances.