The Buddhist attitude towards the origin and evaluation of society

Lectured by Prof.G.D.Sumanapala
The Buddha appeared in India in the 6
th
B.C. at the time of Buddha there had been
various types of religions and philosophical traditions mainly belonging to brahmanic and
Sramana culture. The Brahmajala emphasized 62 philosophies and vies and gives the
vies of si! famous teachers in the Samannaphala sutta of "ighanilaya. #t that time there
as main religion is $induism and another religion as %ainism& both ere older than
Buddhism. #ll religion attempts to e!plain the origin of things and ho it happens. The
most popular teaching of the time of the Buddha as $induism. This religion believed in
a Supreme creator 'od. #ccording to it everything is a creation of the supreme creator
god. In (ali this is called Issara)nimmanavada. Then there ere those ho believed in a
creation by the *self+ ,atta-. Some others believed that everything happens because of
some other e!ternal poer li.e luc.& fate etc. there ere others ho believed in creation
by the *self+. These to are referred to as (aram.atam ,e!ternal creation- and Sayam
.atam internal creation- then there ere still other ho said that everything happen due to
no cause or condition ,ahetu)appaccaya-. They maintained that everything happened by
chance.
The Buddha presented a ne theory& hich has been described as a continuous natural
process. This Buddhist vie is clearly presented in #gganna sutta of the "ighani.aya. In
this Sutta it shos ho the evolution of human beings too. place. #ccording to modern
thought the evolution of human being is a process of going upard but in the #gganna
Sutta it is mentioned that the human being is in a degrading process& the evolution of
human being is in to processes. The Buddha does not spea. about the first beginnings
of the origin of Samsara for he says first beginnings of are not .non ,anamataggo yan
samsaro pubba.oti na pannayati-. $e says that there is a continuous process of
contraction ,Samvatta- and e!pansion or evolution ,vivatta-. The orld gets destroyed
ith contraction and then again re)evolves ith vivatta.
The #gganna Sutta e!plains ho the orld after involution gets destroyed the hole
thing become covered ith a sort of dar. mass of gas& and everything is in a state of
boiling mass of ater. This cools don& and the earth forms. The crust of the earth is
fragrant and this attracts beings ,satta- from other orld called abhassara. They ere self
heinous beings that could fly. They come don and began to taste the tasty earth
,rasapathavi-. This eating of the crust of the earth ith greed brings about physical
changed. They lose their brightness ability to fly etc.
It is at this period that the sun moon day and night etc& come into being. /hen the earth
crust is over the beings begin to eat different .inds of plants that gre on their on on the
earth. The climate& food habits and the psychological factors brought about many more
changes is these beings. These being usually collected their food daily. But some became
lazy and they began to collect for a number of days at days at once. This is the beginning
of hoarding of food.
0ery soon due tom over e!ploitation of the products of the earth these plants stopped
groing. Then the beings had to gro their on food. This shos the beginning of
settled agricultural life. /hen they began to gro their on food they became concerned
about their groth land and cultivation became important. So they put up fences and
divided the land. This is the beginning of private property. Some greedy people began to
steal others property and this led to numerous other bad and corrupt practices such lying&
using harsh speech& violence etc. this led of conflicts in the society.
/hen there as no peace in society the people got together and discussed about this and
decided to appoint a suitable person from among themselves to catch the rong doers.
(unish them and protect their fields. #s this person as appointed by common consent
that is ith the agreement of the public he as first .non as 1ahasammata ,great elect-
properly. This person as he as protecting the paddy fields ,.hetta- as called 2hattiya.
#s he as ma.ing the people happy performing his duty righteous& he came to be called
3aja& this according to Buddhism is the origin of the Brahmana class.
The society continued in these omen. In spite of there being a ruler yet there ere
corruption in the society. Some being unhappy abandoned society and ent into forests
some os them meditated and they came to be called %haya.a) meditator other ho did not
meditate but engaged in performing rites and rituals came to be called #jjhaya.as)non)
meditator. This is given on the origin of the Brahmana class.
There as other ho did not very much orry about the corruption in the society. They
led settled married lives doing their fobs such as agriculture cattle greed& trends etc. They
came to be called the 0essa in Sans.rit is 0ais+ya. There ere other yet other ho ere
engaged or loly professions such as hunting and they came to be called the Suddas.
This e!planation complication rejects the "ivine creation theory& and the division of
beings into different species. Instead this presents a theory of continues graduals
evolution ta.ing place due to varied cause and condition this also shos that human
beings are of one .ind& the man.ind.
Therefore the Buddha does not e!plain the evolution of the orld or society in
metaphysical ay but according to the theory of "ependent origination.