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v•d•e
Buddhism (Pali/Sanskrit: बौद धमर Buddh Dharma) is a religion and philosophy encompassing
a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to
Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha (Pāli/Sanskrit "the awakened one").
The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the
6th and 4th centuries BCE.[2] He is recognized by adherents as an awakened teacher who
shared his insights to help sentient beings end suffering (or dukkha), achieve nirvana, and
escape what is seen as a cycle of suffering and rebirth.
Two major branches of Buddhism are recognized: Theravada ("The School of the Elders")
and Mahayana ("The Great Vehicle"). Theravada—the oldest surviving branch—has a
widespread following in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, and Mahayana is found throughout
East Asia and includes the traditions of Pure Land, Zen, Nichiren Buddhism, Tibetan
Buddhism, Shingon, Tendai and Shinnyo-en. In some classifications Vajrayana, a
subcategory of Mahayana, is recognized as a third branch. While Buddhism remains most
popular within Asia, both branches are now found throughout the world. Various sources put
the number of Buddhists in the world at between 230 million and 500 million,[3] making it the
world's fourth-largest religion.
Buddhist schools vary on the exact nature of the path to liberation, the importance and
canonicity of various teachings and scriptures, and especially their respective practices.[4] The
foundations of Buddhist tradition and practice are the Three Jewels: the Buddha, the Dharma
(the teachings), and the Sangha (the community).[5][6] Taking "refuge in the triple gem" has
traditionally been a declaration and commitment to being on the Buddhist path and in general
distinguishes a Buddhist from a non-Buddhist.[7] Other practices may include following
ethical precepts, support of the monastic community, renouncing conventional living and
becoming a monastic, meditation (this category includes mindfulness), cultivation of higher
wisdom and discernment, study of scriptures, devotional practices, ceremonies, and in the
Mahayana tradition, invocation of buddhas and bodhisattvas.
Contents
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• 1 Life
of the
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Extern
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Ascetic Gautama with his five companions, who later comprised the first Sangha. Wall
painting in a Laotian temple
Main article: Gautama Buddha
The evidence of the early texts suggests that the Buddha was born in a community that was
on the periphery, both geographically and culturally, of the northeastern Indian subcontinent
in the 5th century BCE.[8] It was either a small republic, in which case his father was an
elected chieftain, or an oligarchy, in which case his father was an oligarch.[8]
This community was not yet likely to have been absorbed into Brahmanical culture (the
tradition that would evolve into Hinduism),[9] and it is even possible that the Buddha's mother
tongue was not Indo-Aryan.[8]
According to the Theravada Tipitaka scriptures (from Pali, meaning "three baskets"), the
Buddha was born in Lumbini, around the year 563 BCE, and raised in Kapilavastu, both in
modern-day Nepal.[10][11]
According to this narrative, shortly after the birth of young prince Siddhartha Gautama, an
astrologer visited the young prince's father—King Śuddhodana—and prophesied that
Siddhartha would either become a great king or renounce the material world to become a
holy man, depending on whether he saw what life was like outside the palace walls.
Śuddhodana was determined to see his son become a king so he prevented him from leaving
the palace grounds. But at age 29, despite his father's efforts, Siddhartha ventured beyond the
palace several times. In a series of encounters—known in Buddhist literature as the four
sights he learned of the suffering of ordinary people, encountering an old man, a sick man, a
corpse and, finally, an ascetic holy man, apparently content and at peace with the world.
These experiences prompted Gautama to abandon royal life and take up a spiritual quest.
Gautama first went to study with famous religious teachers of the day, and mastered the
meditative attainments they taught. But he found that they did not provide a permanent end to
suffering, so he continued his quest. He next attempted an extreme asceticism, which was a
religious pursuit common among the Shramanas, a religious culture distinct from the Vedic
one. Gautama underwent prolonged fasting, breath-holding, and exposure to pain. He almost
starved himself to death in the process. He realized that he had taken this kind of practice to
its limit, and had not put an end to suffering. So in a pivotal moment he accepted milk and
rice from a village girl and changed his approach. He devoted himself to anapanasati
meditation, through which he discovered what Buddhists call the Middle Way ("madhyam
path"): a path of moderation between the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification.
Gautama was now determined to complete his spiritual quest. At the age of 35, he famously
sat in meditation under a sacred fig tree — known as the Bodhi tree — in the town of Bodh
Gaya, India, and vowed not to rise before achieving enlightenment. After many days, he
finally destroyed the fetters of his mind, thereby liberating himself from the cycle of suffering
and rebirth, and arose as a fully enlightened being. Soon thereafter, he attracted a band of
followers and instituted a monastic order. Now, as the Buddha, he spent the rest of his life
teaching the path of awakening he discovered, traveling throughout the northeastern part of
the Indian subcontinent,[12][13] and died at the age of 80 (483 BCE) in Kushinagar, India.
The above narrative draws on the early scriptures. However, later texts, such as the
Mahayana Lalitavistara Sutra, give different accounts.
Scholars are hesitant to make unqualified claims about the historical facts of the Buddha's
life. Most accept that he lived, taught and founded a monastic order but do not consistently
accept all of the details contained in his biographies.[14][15] According to author Michael
Carrithers, while there are good reasons to doubt the traditional account, "the outline of the
life must be true: birth, maturity, renunciation, search, awakening and liberation, teaching,
death."[16]
In writing her biography of Buddha, Karen Armstrong noted, "It is obviously difficult,
therefore, to write a biography of the Buddha that will meet modern criteria, because we have
very little information that can be considered historically sound... [but] we can be reasonably
confident Siddhatta Gotama did indeed exist and that his disciples preserved the memory of
his life and teachings as well as they could"[17]
Buddhist concepts
Main article: Buddhist terms and concepts
Life and the world
Traditional Tibetan Buddhist Thangka depicting the "Wheel of Life" with its six realms
Karma as the law of cause and effect
Main article: Karma in Buddhism
Karma (from Sanskrit: "action, work") in Buddhism is the force that drives saṃsāra—the
cycle of suffering and rebirth for each being. Good, skillful deeds (Pāli: "kusala") and bad,
unskillful (Pāli: "akusala") actions produce "seeds" in the mind which come to fruition either
in this life or in a subsequent rebirth.[18] The avoidance of unwholesome actions and the
cultivation of positive actions is called śīla (from Sanskrit: "ethical conduct").
In Buddhism, karma specifically refers to those actions (of body, speech, and mind) that
spring from mental intent ("cetana"),[19] and which bring about a consequence (or fruit,
"phala") or result ("vipāka"). Every time a person acts there is some quality of intention at the
base of the mind and it is that quality rather than the outward appearance of the action that
determines its effect[citation needed].
In Theravada Buddhism there can be no divine salvation or forgiveness for one's karma, since
it is a purely impersonal process that is a part of the makeup of the universe. Some Mahayana
traditions hold different views. For example, the texts of certain Mahayana sutras (such as the
Lotus Sutra, the Angulimaliya Sutra and the Nirvana Sutra) claim that reciting or merely
hearing their texts can expunge great swathes of negative karma. Some forms of Buddhism
(for example, Vajrayana) regard the recitation of mantras as a means for cutting off previous
negative karma.[20] The Japanese Pure Land teacher Genshin taught that Amida Buddha has
the power to destroy the karma that would otherwise bind one in saṃsāra.[21][22]
Rebirth
Two Buddhist monks in traditional clothing.
Main article: Rebirth (Buddhism)
Rebirth refers to a process whereby beings go through a succession of lifetimes as one of
many possible forms of sentient life, each running from conception[23] to death. Buddhism
rejects the concepts of a permanent self or an unchanging, eternal soul, as it is called in
Hinduism and Christianity. According to Buddhism there ultimately is no such thing as a self
independent from the rest of the universe (the doctrine of anatta). Rebirth in subsequent
existences must be understood as the continuation of a dynamic, ever-changing process of
"dependent arising" ("pratītyasamutpāda") determined by the laws of cause and effect
(karma) rather than that of one being, transmigrating or incarnating from one existence to the
next.
Each rebirth takes place within one of five realms according to Theravadins, or six according
to other schools.[24][25] These are further subdivided into 31 planes of existence:[26]
1. Naraka beings: those who live in one of many Narakas (Hells)
2. Preta: sometimes sharing some space with humans, but invisible to most people; an
important variety is the hungry ghost[27]
3. Animals: sharing space with humans, but considered another type of life
4. Human beings: one of the realms of rebirth in which attaining Nirvana is possible
5. Asuras: variously translated as lowly deities, demons, titans, antigods; not recognized
by Theravāda (Mahavihara) tradition as a separate realm[28]
6. Devas including Brahmas: variously translated as gods, deities, spirits, angels, or left
untranslated
Rebirths in some of the higher heavens, known as the Śuddhāvāsa Worlds (Pure Abodes), can
be attained only by skilled Buddhist practitioners known as anāgāmis (non-returners).
Rebirths in the arupa-dhatu (formless realms) can be attained only by those who can meditate
on the arūpajhānas, the highest object of meditation.
According to East Asian and Tibetan Buddhism, there is an intermediate state (Tibetan
"Bardo") between one life and the next. The orthodox Theravada position rejects this;
however there are passages in the Samyutta Nikaya of the Pali Canon (the collection of texts
on which the Theravada tradition is based), that seem to lend support to the idea that the
Buddha taught of an intermediate stage between one life and the next.[29][30]
The cycle of saṃsāra
Main article: Saṃsāra (Buddhism)
Sentient beings crave pleasure and are averse to pain from birth to death. In being controlled
by these attitudes, they perpetuate the cycle of conditioned existence and suffering (saṃsāra),
and produce the causes and conditions of the next rebirth after death. Each rebirth repeats this
process in an involuntary cycle, which Buddhists strive to end by eradicating these causes
and conditions, applying the methods laid out by the Buddha and subsequent Buddhists.
Suffering's causes and solution
The Four Noble Truths
Polish Buddhists
Main article: Four Noble Truths
According to the Pali Tipitaka[31] and the Āgamas of other early Buddhist schools, the Four
Noble Truths were the first teaching of Gautama Buddha after attaining Nirvana. They are
sometimes considered to contain the essence of the Buddha's teachings:
1. Life as we know it ultimately is or leads to suffering/uneasiness (dukkha) in one way
or another.
2. Suffering is caused by craving. This is often expressed as a deluded clinging to a
certain sense of existence, to selfhood, or to the things or phenomena that we consider
the cause of happiness or unhappiness. Craving also has its negative aspect, i.e. one
craves that a certain state of affairs not exist.
3. Suffering ends when craving ends. This is achieved by eliminating delusion, thereby
reaching a liberated state of Enlightenment (bodhi);
4. Reaching this liberated state is achieved by following the path laid out by the Buddha.
This method is described by early Western scholars, and taught as an introduction to
Buddhism by some contemporary Mahayana teachers (for example, the Dalai Lama).[32]
According to other interpretations by Buddhist teachers and scholars, lately recognized by
some Western non-Buddhist scholars,[33] the "truths" do not represent mere statements, but are
categories or aspects that most worldly phenomena fall into, grouped in two:
1. Suffering and causes of suffering
2. Cessation and the paths towards liberation from suffering.
Thus, according to the Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism[34] they are
1. "The noble truth that is suffering"
2. "The noble truth that is the arising of suffering"
3. "The noble truth that is the end of suffering"
4. "The noble truth that is the way leading to the end of suffering"
The early teaching[35] and the traditional Theravada understanding[36] is that the Four Noble
Truths are an advanced teaching for those who are ready for them. The East Asian Mahayana
position is that they are a preliminary teaching for people not yet ready for the higher and
more expansive Mahayana teachings.[37] They are little known in the Far East.[38] Within the
Nalanda/Tibetan tradition of Mahayana Buddhism, the Four Noble Truths remain essential to
the path.[39]
The Noble Eightfold Path
Main article: Noble Eightfold Path
Mahabodhi temple in Bodhgaya, India, where Gautama Buddha attained Nirvana under the
Bodhi Tree (left)
Nirvana
Main article: Nirvana
Nirvana (Sanskrit; Pali: "Nibbana") means "cessation", "extinction" (of craving and
ignorance and therefore suffering and the cycle of involuntary rebirths (saṃsāra),
"extinguished", "quieted", "calmed"; it is also known as "Awakening" or "Enlightenment" in
the West. The term for anybody who has achieved nirvana, including the Buddha, is arahant.
Bodhi (Pāli and Sanskrit, in devanagari: बॊिध) is a term applied to the experience of
Awakening of arahants. Bodhi literally means "awakening", but it is more commonly
translated into English as "enlightenment". In Early Buddhism, bodhi carried a meaning
synonymous to nirvana, using only some different metaphors to describe the experience,
which implies the extinction of raga (greed, craving),[70] dosa (hate, aversion)[71] and moha
(delusion).[72] In the later school of Mahayana Buddhism, the status of nirvana was
downgraded in some scriptures, coming to refer only to the extinction of greed and hate,
implying that delusion was still present in one who attained nirvana, and that one needed to
attain bodhi to eradicate delusion:
An important development in the Mahayana [was] that it came to separate nirvana from bodhi
('awakening' to the truth, Enlightenment), and to put a lower value on the former (Gombrich,
1992d). Originally nirvana and bodhi refer to the same thing; they merely use different
metaphors for the experience. But the Mahayana tradition separated them and considered that
nirvana referred only to the extinction of craving (passion and hatred), with the resultant
escape from the cycle of rebirth. This interpretation ignores the third fire, delusion: the
extinction of delusion is of course in the early texts identical with what can be positively
expressed as gnosis, Enlightenment.
—Richard F. Gombrich, How Buddhism Began[73]
Therefore, according to Mahayana Buddhism, the arahant has attained only nirvana, thus
still being subject to delusion, while the bodhisattva not only achieves nirvana but full
liberation from delusion as well. He thus attains bodhi and becomes a buddha. In Theravada
Buddhism, bodhi and nirvana carry the same meaning as in the early texts, that of being freed
from greed, hate and delusion.
The term parinirvana is also encountered in Buddhism, and this generally refers to the
complete nirvana attained by the arhat at the moment of death, when the physical body
expires.
Buddhas
Footprint of the Buddha with Dharmachakra and triratna, 1st century CE, Gandhāra.
Main articles: Refuge (Buddhism) and Three Jewels
Traditionally, the first step in most Buddhist schools requires taking refuge in the Three
Jewels (Sanskrit: tri-ratna, Pāli: ti-ratana)[82] as the foundation of one's religious practice.
The practice of taking refuge on behalf of young or even unborn children is mentioned[83] in
the Majjhima Nikaya, recognized by most scholars as an early text (cf. Infant baptism).
Tibetan Buddhism sometimes adds a fourth refuge, in the lama. In Mahayana, the person who
chooses the bodhisattva path makes a vow or pledge, considered the ultimate expression of
compassion. In Mahayana, too, the Three Jewels are perceived as possessed of an eternal and
unchanging essence and as having an irreversible effect: "The Three Jewels have the quality
of excellence. Just as real jewels never change their faculty and goodness, whether praised or
reviled, so are the Three Jewels (Refuges), because they have an eternal and immutable
essence. These Three Jewels bring a fruition that is changeless, for once one has reached
Buddhahood, there is no possibility of falling back to suffering."[84]
The Three Jewels are:
• The Buddha. This is a title for those who have attained Nirvana. See also the
Tathāgata and Gautama Buddha. The Buddha could also be represented as a concept
instead of a specific person: the perfect wisdom that understands Dharma and sees
reality in its true form. In Mahayana Buddhism, the Buddha can be viewed as the
supreme Refuge: "Buddha is the Unique Absolute Refuge. Buddha is the
Imperishable, Eternal, Indestructible and Absolute Refuge."[85]
• The Dharma. The teachings or law of nature as expounded by the Gautama Buddha. It
can also, especially in Mahayana, connote the ultimate and sustaining Reality which is
inseparable from the Buddha. Further, from some Mahayana perspectives, the
Dharma embodied in the form of a great sutra (Buddhic scripture) can replace the
need for a personal teacher and can be a direct and spontaneous gateway into Truth
(Dharma). This is especially said to be the case with the Lotus Sutra. Dr. Hiroshi
Kanno writes of this view of the Lotus Sutra: "it is a Dharma-gate of sudden
enlightenment proper to the Great Vehicle; it is a Dharma-gate whereby one awakens
spontaneously, without resorting to a teacher".[86]
• The Sangha. Those who have attained to any of the Four stages of enlightenment, or
simply the congregation of monastic practitioners.
According to the scriptures, Gautama Buddha presented himself as a model. The Dharma
offers a refuge by providing guidelines for the alleviation of suffering and the attainment of
Nirvana. The Sangha is considered to provide a refuge by preserving the authentic teachings
of the Buddha and providing further examples that the truth of the Buddha's teachings is
attainable.
Buddhist ethics
Buddhist tradition records in the Milinda Panha that the 2nd century BCE Indo-Greek king
Menander converted to the Buddhist faith and became an arhat.
Buddhism may have spread only slowly in India until the time of the Mauryan emperor
Ashoka, who was a public supporter of the religion. The support of Aśoka and his
descendants led to the construction of more stūpas (Buddhist religious memorials) and to
efforts to spread Buddhism throughout the enlarged Maurya empire and even into
neighboring lands—particularly to the Iranian-speaking regions of Afghanistan and Central
Asia, beyond the Mauryas' northwest border, and to the island of Sri Lanka south of India.
These two missions, in opposite directions, would ultimately lead, in the first case to the
spread of Buddhism into China, and in the second case, to the emergence of Theravāda
Buddhism and its spread from Sri Lanka to the coastal lands of Southeast Asia.
This period marks the first known spread of Buddhism beyond India. According to the edicts
of Aśoka, emissaries were sent to various countries west of India in order to spread Buddhism
(Dharma), particularly in eastern provinces of the neighboring Seleucid Empire, and even
farther to Hellenistic kingdoms of the Mediterranean. This led, a century later, to the
emergence of Greek-speaking Buddhist monarchs in the Indo-Greek Kingdom, and to the
development of the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhāra. During this period Buddhism was
exposed to a variety of influences, from Persian and Greek civilization, and from changing
trends in non-Buddhist Indian religions—themselves influenced by Buddhism. It is a matter
of disagreement among scholars whether or not these emissaries were accompanied by
Buddhist missionaries.[155]
The Theravada school spread south from India in the 3rd century BC, to Sri Lanka and
Thailand and Burma and later also Indonesia. The Dharmagupta school spread (also in 3rd
century BC) north to Kashmir, Gandhara and Bactria (Afghanistan). In the 2nd century AD,
Mahayana Sutras spread from that general area to China, and then to Korea and Japan, and
were translated into Chinese. During the Indian period of Esoteric Buddhism (from 8th
century onwards), Buddhism spread from India to Tibet and Mongolia.
Buddhism today
Main article: Timeline of Buddhism:Common Era
By the late Middle Ages, Buddhism had become virtually extinct in India, and although it
continued to exist in surrounding countries, its influence was no longer expanding. It is now
again gaining strength in India and elsewhere.[156][157] Estimates of the number of Buddhist
followers by scholars range from 230 million to 500 million, with most around 350 million.
Most scholars classify similar numbers of people under a category they call "Chinese folk" or
"traditional" religion, an amalgam of various traditions that includes Buddhism.
Timeline: Development and propagation of Buddhist traditions (ca. 450 BCE – ca. 1300 CE)
450 1200
[178] 250 BCE 100 CE 500 CE 700 CE 800 CE [179]
BCE CE
Mahayana Vajrayana
India
Early Early Buddhist schools
Sangha
Greco-Buddhism
East Asia
Chán, Tendai, Pure Land, Shingon
Zen, Nichiren
450 BCE 250 BCE 100 CE 500 CE 700 CE 800 CE 1200 CE
Pali Canon
Vinaya Pitaka
Sutta Pitaka
DN MN SN AN KN
Abhidhamma Pitaka
Dhk.
Dhs. Vbh. Kvu. Yam. Patthana
Pug.
The Pāli Tipitaka, which means "three baskets", refers to the Vinaya Pitaka, the Sutta Pitaka,
and the Abhidhamma Pitaka. The Vinaya Pitaka contains disciplinary rules for the Buddhist
monks and nuns, as well as explanations of why and how these rules were instituted,
supporting material, and doctrinal clarification. The Sutta Pitaka contains discourses ascribed
to Gautama Buddha. The Abhidhamma Pitaka contains material often described as systematic
expositions of the Gautama Buddha's teachings.
The Pāli Tipitaka is the only early Tipitaka (Sanskrit: Tripiṭaka) to survive intact in its
original language, but a number of early schools had their own recensions of the Tipitaka
featuring much of the same material. We have portions of the Tipitakas of the Sārvāstivāda,
Dharmaguptaka, Sammitya, Mahāsaṅghika, Kāśyapīya, and Mahīśāsaka schools, most of
which survive in Chinese translation only. According to some sources, some early schools of
Buddhism had five or seven pitakas.[188]
According to the scriptures, soon after the death of the Buddha, the first Buddhist council was
held; a monk named Mahākāśyapa (Pāli: Mahākassapa) presided. The goal of the council was
to record the Buddha's teachings. Upāli recited the vinaya. Ānanda, the Buddha's personal
attendant, was called upon to recite the dhamma. These became the basis of the Tripitaka.
However, this record was initially transmitted orally in form of chanting, and was committed
to text in the last century BCE. Both the sūtras and the vinaya of every Buddhist school
contain a wide variety of elements including discourses on the Dharma, commentaries on
other teachings, cosmological and cosmogonical texts, stories of the Gautama Buddha's
previous lives, and various other subjects.
Much of the material in the Canon is not specifically "Theravadin", but is instead the
collection of teachings that this school preserved from the early, non-sectarian body of
teachings. According to Peter Harvey, it contains material which is at odds with later
Theravadin orthodoxy. He states: "The Theravadins, then, may have added texts to the Canon
for some time, but they do not appear to have tampered with what they already had from an
earlier period."[189]
Mahayana Sutras
Main article: Mahayana Sutras
Buddhist monk Geshe Konchog Wangdu reads Mahayana sutras from an old woodblock copy
of the Tibetan Kanjur.
The Mahayana sutras are a very broad genre of Buddhist scriptures that the Mahayana
Buddhist tradition holds are original teachings of the Buddha. The adherents of Mahayana
accept both the early teachings (including in this the Sarvastivada Abhidharma, which was
criticized by Nagarjuna and is in fact opposed to early Buddhist thought[190]) and the
Mahayana sutras as authentic teachings of Gautama Buddha, and claim they were designed
for different types of persons and different levels of spiritual understanding.
The Mahayana sutras often claim to articulate the Buddha's deeper, more advanced doctrines,
reserved for those who follow the bodhisattva path. That path is explained as being built upon
the motivation to liberate all living beings from unhappiness. Hence the name Mahāyāna (lit.,
the Great Vehicle).
According to Mahayana tradition, the Mahayana sutras were transmitted in secret, came from
other Buddhas or Bodhisattvas, or were preserved in non-human worlds because human
beings at the time couldn't understand them:[191]
Some of our sources maintain the authenticity of certain other texts not found in the canons of
these schools (the early schools). These texts are those held genuine by the later school, not
one of the eighteen, which arrogated to itself the title of Mahayana, 'Great Vehicle'.
According to the Mahayana historians these texts were admittedly unknown to the early
schools of Buddhists. However, they had all been promulgated by the Buddha. [The
Buddha's] followers on earth, the sravakas ('pupils'), had not been sufficiently advanced to
understand them, and hence were not given them to remember, but they were taught to
various supernatural beings and then preserved in such places as the Dragon World.
Approximately six hundred Mahayana sutras have survived in Sanskrit or in Chinese or
Tibetan translations. In addition, East Asian Buddhism recognizes some sutras regarded by
scholars to be of Chinese rather than Indian origin.
Generally, scholars conclude that the Mahayana scriptures were composed from the 1st
century CE onwards: "Large numbers of Mahayana sutras were being composed in the period
between the beginning of the common era and the fifth century",[192] five centuries after the
historical Gautama Buddha. Some of these had their roots in other scriptures composed in the
1st century BCE. It was not until after the 5th century CE that the Mahayana sutras started to
influence the behavior of mainstream Buddhists in India: "But outside of texts, at least in
India, at exactly the same period, very different—in fact seemingly older—ideas and
aspirations appear to be motivating actual behavior, and old and established Hinnayana
groups appear to be the only ones that are patronized and supported."[192] These texts were
apparently not universally accepted among Indian Buddhists when they appeared; the
pejorative label hinayana was applied by Mahayana supporters to those who rejected the
Mahayana sutras.
Only the Theravada school does not include the Mahayana scriptures in its canon. As the
modern Theravada school is descended from a branch of Buddhism that diverged and
established itself in Sri Lanka prior to the emergence of the Mahayana texts, debate exists as
to whether the Theravada were historically included in the hinayana designation; in the
modern era, this label is seen as derogatory, and is generally avoided.
Comparative studies
Buddhism provides many opportunities for comparative study with a diverse range of
subjects. For example, dependent origination can be considered one of Buddhism's
contributions to metaphysics. Additionally, Buddhism's emphasis on the Middle way not only
provides a unique guideline for ethics but has also allowed Buddhism to peacefully coexist
with various differing beliefs, customs and institutions in countries in which it has resided
throughout its history. Also, Its moral and spiritual parallels with other systems of thought—
for example, with various tenets of Christianity—have been subjects of close study.
List of Buddhism related topics in comparative studies
• Buddhism and Jainism
• Buddhism and Hinduism
• Buddhism and Christianity
• God in Buddhism (Buddhism, mysticism, and monotheism)
• Buddhism and Eastern teaching (Buddhism and East Asian teaching)
• Buddhism and psychology
• Buddhism and science
• Buddhist ethics (Buddhism and ethics)
• Buddhist philosophy (Buddhism and Western philosophy)
• Buddhism and Thelema[193]
See also
Book:Buddhism
Buddhism portal
• Outline of Buddhism
• Index of Buddhism-related articles
• List of books related to Buddhism
• Theravada Buddhism
• Mahayana Buddhism
• Vajrayana Buddhism
• List of Buddhist temples
• Buddhism by country
• Buddhism by region
• Criticism of Buddhism
Footnotes
1. ^ "Info on Bodhgaya". Buddhanet.net. http://www.buddhanet.net/e-
learning/buddhistworld/bodgaya.htm. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
2. ^ "Buddhism". (2009). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved November 26, 2009, from
Encyclopædia Britannica Online Library Edition.
3. ^ Major Religions Ranked by Size; U.S. State Department's International Religious Freedom
Report 2004. http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2004/ Accessed 20 September 2008; Garfinkel,
Perry. "Buddha Rising", National Geographic Dec. 2005: 88–109.; CIA - The World
Factbook
4. ^ Robinson et al., Buddhist Religions, page xx; Philosophy East and West, vol 54, ps 269f;
Williams, Mahayana Buddhism, Routledge, 1st ed., 1989, pp. 275f (2nd ed., 2008, p. 266)
5. ^ Buddhist faith and sudden enlightenment - Google Books. Books.google.com. 1983.
ISBN 9780873956734. http://books.google.com/?
id=_A2QS03MP5EC&pg=PA85#v=onepage&q=. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
6. ^ "Principal Vipassana Teacher S N Goenka". Vridhamma.org.
http://www.vridhamma.org/Teachers-4.aspx. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
7. ^ Light of Wisdom - Google Books. Books.google.com. 2004-05-18. ISBN 9789627341376.
http://books.google.com/?id=qjbBKG06To0C&pg=PA111#v=onepage&q=. Retrieved 2010-
08-25.
8. ^ a b c Richard Gombrich, Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benares to
Modern Colombo. Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1988, page 49.
9. ^ Sue Hamilton, Early Buddhism: A New Approach: The I of the Beholder. Routledge 2000,
page 47.
10.^ UNESCO, Lumbini is the birthplace of the Lord Buddha, Gethin Foundations, p. 19, which
states that in the mid-3rd century BCE the Emperor Ashoka determined that Lumbini was the
Buddha's birthplace and thus installed a pillar there with the inscription: "... this is where the
Buddha, sage of the Śākyas (Śākyamuni), was born."
11.^ For instance, Gethin Foundations, p. 14, states: "The earliest Buddhist sources state that the
future Buddha was born Siddhārtha Gautama (Pali Siddhattha Gotama), the son of a local
chieftain—a rājan—in Kapilavastu (Pali Kapilavatthu) what is now the Indian–Nepalese
border." However, Professor Gombrich (Theravāda Buddhism, p. 1) and the old but
specialized study by Edward Thomas, The Life of the Buddha, ascribe the name Siattha/fitta
to later sources.
12.^ Keown, Dictionary of Buddhism, p. 267
13.^ Skilton, Concise, p. 25
14.^ Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism Vol. 1, p. 352
15.^ Lopez (1995). Buddhism in Practice. Princeton University Press. p. 16. ISBN 0691044422.
16.^ Carrithers, Michael. "The Buddha", in the Oxford University paperback Founders of Faith,
1986, p. 10.
17.^ Armstrong, Karen (September 28, 2004). Buddha. Penguin Press. p. xii.
ISBN 0143034367.
18.^ Journal of Buddhist Ethics: "Zen as a Social Ethics of Responsiveness" (PDF), T. P.
Kasulis, Ohio State University
19.^ Harvey, Introduction to Buddhism, p. 40
20.^ Dr. Richard K. Payne (ed.), Tantric Buddhism in East Asia, Wisdom Publications, Boston,
2006, p. 74
21.^ Lopez, Story of Buddhism. p. 239
22.^ Lopez, Buddhism. p. 248
23.^ Keown, Buddhism, Oxford University Press, 1996, p. 107
24.^ Harvey, Introduction to Buddhism, p. 34
25.^ Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism (Volume Two), p. 711
26.^ The 31 Planes of Existence (PDF), Ven. Suvanno Mahathera
27.^ Harvey, Introduction to Buddhism, p. 33
28.^ André Bareau, Les Sectes bouddhiques du Petit Véhicule, École Française d'Extrême-
Orient, Saigon, 1955, pp. 212–223: the top of p. 212 says "Voici les thèses des Theravâdin du
Mahâvihâra:" ("Here are the theses of the Theravadins of the Mahavihara"); then begins a
numbered list of doctrines over the following pages, including on p. 223 "Il n'y a que cinq
(pañca) destinées (gati) ... les Asura Kâlakañjika ont même couleur (samânavanna), même
nourriture (samânabhoga), mêmes aliments (samânâhâra), même durée de vie (samânâyuka)
que les Peta avec lesquels ... ils se marient (âvâhavivâham gacchanti). Quant aux
Vepacittiparisa, ils ont même couleur, même nourriture, mêmes aliments, même durée de vie
que les Dieux, avec lesquels ils se marient." ("There are only five destinies ... the kalakanjika
asuras have the same colour, same nourishment, same foods, same lifespan as the petas, with
whom ... they marry. As for the Vepacittiparisa, they have the same colour, same
nourishment, same foods, same lifespan as the gods, with whom they marry.")
29.^ Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism. Vol. 1, p. 377
30.^ The Connected Discourses of the Buddha. A Translation of the Samyutta Nikaya, Bhikkhu
Bodhi, Translator. Wisdom Publications.
31.^ Thera, Piyadassi (1999). "Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta". The Book of Protection.
Buddhist Publication Society.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn56/sn56.011.piya.html. In what is said in
Theravāda to be the Buddha's first sermon, the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, which was
given to the five ascetics with whom he had practiced austerities. He talks about the Middle
Way, the noble eightfold path and the Four Noble Truths.
32.^ See for example: The Four Noble Truths
33.^ Gethin, Foundations, p. 60
34.^ (2004), Volume One, p. 296
35.^ Harvey, Introduction, p. 47
36.^ Hinnels, John R. (1998). The New Penguin Handbook of Living Religions. London: Penguin
Books. pp. 393f. ISBN 0140514805.
37.^ Harvey, Introduction to Buddhism, p. 92
38.^ Eliot, Japanese Buddhism, Edward Arnold, London, 1935, p. 60
39.^ "Once we reject the Four Noble Truths, the essential ingredients of Buddhist practice
becomes unintelligible." –Jay Garfield 1995, ISBN 0-19-509336-4 p294
40.^ Eliot, Japanese Buddhism, Edward Arnold, London, 1935, pages 59f
41.^ Kohn, Shambhala, pp. 131, 143
42.^ Jeffrey Po, "Is Buddhism a Pessimistic Way of Life?"
43.^ Rahula, Walpola (1959). "Chapter 2". What the Buddha Taught. Grove Press. ISBN 0-
8021-3031-3.
44.^ Prebish, Charles (1993). Historical Dictionary of Buddhism. The Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-
8108-2698-4.
45.^ Keown, Damien (2003). Dictionary of Buddhism. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-
860560-9.
46.^ Thanissaro Bhikkhu, The Not-Self Strategy, See Point 3 – The Canon quote Thanissaro
Bhikkhu draws attention to is the Sabbasava Sutta.
47.^ This twelve nidana scheme can be found, for instance, in multiple discourses in chapter 12
of the Samyutta Nikaya—Nidana Vagga (e.g., see SN 12.2, Thanissaro, 1997a). Other
"applications" of what might be termed "mundane dependent origination" include the nine-
nidana scheme of Digha Nikaya 15 (e.g., Thanissaro, 1997b) and the ten-nidana scheme of
Samyutta Nikaya 12.65 (e.g., Thanissaro, 1997c). So-called "transcendental dependent
origination" (also involving twelve nidanas) is described in Samyutta Nikaya 12.23 (e.g., see
Bodhi, 1995). In addition, Digha Nikaya 15 describes an eleven-nidana scheme (starting with
"feeling") that leads to interpersonal suffering ("the taking up of sticks and knives; conflicts,
quarrels, and disputes; accusations, divisive speech, and lies").
48.^ Harvey, Introduction to Buddhism, page 56
49.^ Harvey, Introduction to Buddhism, p. 57
50.^ Harvey, Introduction to Buddhism, p. 58
51.^ Harvey, Introduction to Buddhism, p. 59
52.^ Harvey, Introduction to Buddhism, p. 60
53.^ Christian Lindtner, Master of Wisdom. Dharma Publishing 1997, p. 324.
54.^ Dan Lusthaus, "What is and isn't Yogacara"
55.^ a b Welch, Practice of Chinese Buddhism, Harvard, 1967, p. 395
56.^ The Theravada commentary on the Nettipakarana, ascribed to Dhammapala, says (Pali "-
pamāṇa" is equivalent to Sanskrit "-pramāṇa"): "na hi pāḷito aññaṃ pamāṇataraṃ atthi"
(quoted in Pali Text Society edition of the Nettipakarana, 1902, p. xi) which Nanamoli
translates as: "for there is no other criterion beyond a text" (The Guide, Pali Text Society,
1962, p. xi
57.^ MN 72 (Thanissaro, 1997). For further discussion of the context in which these statements
was made, see Thanissaro (2004).
58.^ "Experience is ... the path most elaborated in early Buddhism. The doctrine on the other
hand was kept low. The Buddha avoided doctrinal formulations concerning the final reality as
much as possible in order to prevent his followers from resting content with minor
achievements on the path in which the absence of the final experience could be substituted by
conceptual understanding of the doctrine or by religious faith, a situation which sometimes
occurs, in both varieties, in the context of Hindu systems of doctrine", Karel Werner,
Mysticism and Indian Spirituality. In Karel Werner, ed., The Yogi and the Mystic. Curzon
Press, 1989: p. 27.
59.^ Thanissaro Bhikkhu, "Introduction to the Avyakata Samyutta"
60.^ a b Gadjin M. Nagao, Madhyamika and Yogachara. Leslie S. Kawamura, translator, SUNY
Press, Albany 1991, pp. 40–41.
61.^ Sue Hamilton, Early Buddhism. Routledge, 2000, page 135.
62.^ Philosophy East and West. Vol. 26, p. 138
63.^ The Sovereign All-Creating Mind tr. by E. K. Neumaier-Dargyay, pp. 111–112.
64.^ Professor C. D. Sebastian, Metaphysics and Mysticism in Mahayana Buddhism, Sri Satguru
Publications, Delhi, 2005, p. 274)
65.^ A. K. Warder, Indian Buddhism. Third edition published by Motilal Banarsidass Publ.,
2000, pages 132-133.
66.^ David J. Kalupahana, A History of Buddhist Philosophy: Continuities and Discontinuities.
University of Hawaii Press, 1992, page 43: [1].
67.^ Alexander Wynne, The Origin of Buddhist Meditation. 2007, page 109.
68.^ Williams, Mahayana Buddhism, Routledge, 1989, p. 2
69.^ Kalama Sutta, Anguttara Nikaya III.65
70.^ raga, Pali-English Dictionary, The Pali Text Society
71.^ dosa, Pali-English Dictionary, The Pali Text Society
72.^ moha, Pali-English Dictionary, The Pali Text Society
73.^ a b Richard F. Gombrich, How Buddhism Began, Munshiram Manoharlal, 1997, p. 67
74.^ "''Access to Insight'', a Theravada Buddhist website, discusses Buddha Eras".
Accesstoinsight.org. 2010-06-05.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/bullitt/bfaq.html#maitreya. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
75.^ "Gautama Buddha discusses tne Maitreya Buddha in the Tipitaka". Accesstoinsight.org.
2010-06-08. http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.26.0.than.html. Retrieved 2010-
08-25.
76.^ Kogen Mizuno, Essentials of Buddhism, Shunju-sha, 1972, English translation, Kosei,
Tokyo, 1996, p. 57
77.^ Dispeller of Delusion. Vol. II. Pali Text Society, p. 184
78.^ Coomaraswamy, Ananda (1975). Buddha and the Gospel of Buddhism. Boston: University
Books, Inc.. p. 225. ISBN 080651101X.
79.^ Cook, Hua-yen Buddhism, Pennsylvania State University Press, 1977, p. 110f
80.^ Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism. Vol. 1, page 351
81.^ Harvey, p. 170
82.^ Bhikku, Thanissaro (2001). "Refuge". An Introduction to the Buddha, Dhamma, & Sangha.
Access to Insight. http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/refuge.html#goi.
83.^ Middle-Length Discourses of the Buddha, tr. Nanamoli, rev. Bodhi, Wisdom Publications,
1995, pp. 708f
84.^ Professor C.D. Sebastian, Metaphysics and Mysticism in Mahayana Buddhism, Sri Satguru
Publications, Bibliotheca Indo-Buddhica Series No. 238, Delhi, 2005, p. 83
85.^ Professor C.D. Sebastian, Metaphysics and Mysticism in Mahayana Buddhism, Delhi, 2005,
p. 82
86.^ Hiroshi Kanno, Huisi's Perspective on the Lotus Sutra as Seen Through the Meaning of the
Course of Ease and Bliss in the Lotus Sutra, p. 147, http://www.iop.or.jp/0414/kanno2.pdf,
consulted 5 February 2010
87.^ Stewart McFarlane in Peter Harvey, ed., Buddhism. Continuum, 2001, page 187.
88.^ Stewart McFarlane in Peter Harvey, ed., Buddhism. Continuum, 2001, pages 195-196.
89.^ Morgan, Peggy; Lawton, Clive A., eds (2007). Ethical Issues in Six Religious Traditions
(2nd ed.). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. pp. 62–63. ISBN 9780748623303.
90.^ Richard Gombrich, Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benares to
Modern Colombo. Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1988, page 89. He is quoting Carrithers.
91.^ B. Alan Wallace, Contemplative Science. Columbia University Press, 2007, p. 81.
92.^ Welch, Practice of Chinese Buddhism, Harvard, 1967, p. 396
93.^ Peter Harvey, An Introduction to Buddhism. Cambridge University Press, 1990, page 144.
94.^ Damien Keown, Charles S Prebish, editors, Encyclopedia of Buddhism. Routledge, 2007. p.
502
95.^ Sarah Shaw, Buddhist Meditation: An Anthology of Texts from the Pāli Canon. Routledge,
2006, page 13. Shaw also notes that discourses on meditation are addressed to "bhikkhave",
but that in this context the terms is more generic than simply (male) "monks" and refers to all
practitioners, and that this is confirmed by Buddhaghosa.
96.^ According to Charles S. Prebish (in his Historical Dictionary of Buddhism, Sri Satguru
Publications, Delhi, 1993, p. 287): "Although a variety of Zen 'schools' developed in Japan,
they all emphasize Zen as a teaching that does not depend on sacred texts, that provides the
potential for direct realization, that the realization attained is none other than the Buddha
nature possessed by each sentient being ...".
97.^ Prebish comments (op. cit., p. 244): "It presumes that sitting in meditation itself (i.e. zazen)
is an expression of Buddha nature." The method is to detach the mind from conceptual modes
of thinking and perceive Reality directly. Speaking of Zen in general, Buddhist scholar
Stephen Hodge writes (Zen Masterclass, Godsfield Press, 2002, pp. 12–13): "... practitioners
of Zen believe that Enlightenment, the awakening of the Buddha-mind or Buddha-nature, is
our natural state, but has been covered over by layers of negative emotions and distorted
thoughts. According to this view, Enlightenment is not something that we must acquire a bit
at a time, but a state that can occur instantly when we cut through the dense veil of mental and
emotional obscurations."
98.^ (Critical Sermons on the Zen Tradition, Hisamatsu Shin'ichi, Palgrave Macmillan, New
York, 2002, passim) Commenting on Rinzai Zen and its Chinese founder, Linji, Hisamatsu
states: "Linji indicates our true way of being in such direct expressions as 'True Person' and
'True Self'. It is independent of words or letters and transmitted apart from scriptural teaching.
Buddhism doesn't really need scriptures. It is just our direct awakening to Self ..." (Hisamatsu,
op. cit., p. 46).
99.^ Kosho Uchiyama, Opening the Hand of Thought: Approach to Zen, Penguin Books, New
York, 1993, p. 98
100.^ Harvey, Introduction, pp. 165f
101.^ Williams, Mahayana Buddhism, Routledge, 1st ed., 1989, p. 185
102.^ Routledge Encyclopedia of Buddhism, p. 781 .
103.^ Gethin, Sayings of the Buddha, Oxford University Press, 2008, p. xv
104.^ a b c Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Buddhism: The foundations of Buddhism: The
cultural context. Retrieved 19-07-2009.
105.^ a b Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Hinduism: History of Hinduism: The Vedic period
(2nd millennium - 7th century BCE; Challenges to Brahmanism (6th - 2nd century BCE;
Early Hinduism (2nd century BCE - 4th century CE). Retrieved 19-07-2009.
106.^ Warder, A.K. 2000. Indian Buddhism. P.32
107.^ Y. Masih (2000) In : A Comparative Study of Religions, Motilal Banarsidass Publ : Delhi,
ISBN 81-208-0815-0 Page 18. "There is no evidence to show that Jainism and Buddhism ever
subscribed to vedic sacrifices, vedic deities or caste. They are parallel or native religions of
India and have contributed to much to the growth of even classical Hinduism of the present
times."
108.^ S. Cromwell Crawford, review of L. M. Joshi, Brahmanism, Buddhism and Hinduism,
Philosophy East and West (1972): "Alongside Brahmanism was the non-Aryan Shramanic
culture with its roots going back to prehistoric times."
109.^ "This confirms that the doctrine of transmigration is non-aryan and was accepted by non-
vedics like Ajivikism, Jainism and Buddhism. The Indo-aryans have borrowed the theory of
re-birth after coming in contact with the aboriginal inhabitants of India. Certainly Jainism and
non-vedics [..] accepted the doctrine of rebirth as supreme postulate or article of faith."
Masih, page 37.
110.^ Karel Werner, The Longhaired Sage in The Yogi and the Mystic. Karel Werner, ed.,
Curzon Press, 1989, page 34. "Rahurkar speaks of them as belonging to two distinct 'cultural
strands' ... Wayman also found evidence for two distinct approaches to the spiritual dimension
in ancient India and calls them the traditions of 'truth and silence.' He traces them particularly
in the older Upanishads, in early Buddhism, and in some later literature."
111.^ Gavin D. Flood (1996), An Introduction to Hinduism, Cambridge University — Press :
UK ISBN 0-521-43878-0 - "The origin and doctrine of Karma and Samsara are obscure.
These concepts were certainly circulating amongst sramanas, and Jainism and Buddhism
developed specific and sophisticated ideas about the process of transmigration. It is very
possible that the karmas and reincarnation entered the mainstream brahaminical thought from
the sramana or the renouncer traditions." Page 86.
112.^ Padmanabh S. Jaini 2001 "Collected Paper on Buddhist Studies" Motilal Banarsidass Publ
576 pages ISBN 81-208-1776-1: "Yajnavalkya's reluctance and manner in expounding the
doctrine of karma in the assembly of Janaka (a reluctance not shown on any other occasion)
can perhaps be explained by the assumption that it was, like that of the transmigration of soul,
of non-brahmanical origin. In view of the fact that this doctrine is emblazoned on almost
every page of sramana scriptures, it is highly probable that it was derived from them." Page
51.
113.^ Govind Chandra Pande, (1994) Life and Thought of Sankaracarya, Motilal Banarsidass
ISBN 81-208-1104-6 : Early Upanishad thinkers like Yajnavalkya were acquainted with the
sramanic thinking and tried to incorporate these ideals of Karma, Samsara and Moksa into the
vedic thought implying a disparagement of the vedic ritualism and recognising the
mendicancy as an ideal. Page 135.
114.^ "The sudden appearance of this theory [of karma] in a full-fledged form is likely to be
due, as already pointed out, to an impact of the wandering muni-and-shramana-cult, coming
down from the pre-Vedic non-Aryan time." Kashi Nath Upadhyaya, Early Buddhism and the
Bhagavadgita. Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 1998, page 76.
115.^ Warder, A.K. 2000. Indian Buddhism. P.30-32
116.^ Warder, A.K. 2000. Indian Buddhism. P.39
117.^ Warder, A.K. Indian Buddhism. P.33
118.^ Dharmacarini Manishini, Western Buddhist Review. Accessed at
http://www.westernbuddhistreview.com/vol4/kamma_in_context.html
119.^ Warder, A.K. 2000. Indian Buddhism. P.33
120.^ Walpola Rahula, What the Buddha Taught, pages 9-10.
121.^ "The brahmin by caste alone, the teacher of the Veda, is (jokingly) etymologized as the
'non-meditator' (ajhāyaka). Brahmins who have memorized the three Vedas (tevijja) really
know nothing: it is the process of achieving Enlightenment — what the Buddha is said to
have achieved in the three watches of that night — which constitutes the true 'three
knowledges.'" R.F. Gombrich in Paul Williams, ed., "Buddhism: Critical Concepts in
Religious Studies." Taylor and Francis 2006, page 120.
122.^ Richard Gombrich, Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benares to
Modern Colombo. Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1988, page 85.
123.^ Richard Francis Gombrich, How Buddhism began: the conditioned genesis of the early
teachings Continuum International Publishing Group, 1996, pages 38-39
124.^ Michael Carrithers, The Buddha, 1983, pages 41-42. Found in Founders of Faith, Oxford
University Press, 1986.
125.^ Alexander Wynne, The Origin of Buddhist Meditation. Routledge 2007, page 21.
126.^ Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Vedic religion. Retrieved 19-07-2009.
127.^ Warder, A.K. 2000. Indian Buddhism. P.35
128.^ A History of Indian Buddhism — Hirakawa Akira (translated and edited by Paul Groner) -
Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi, 1993, p. 7
129.^ Mitchell, Buddhism, Oxford University Press, 2002, p. 34 & table of contents
130.^ Skorupski, Buddhist Forum, vol I, Heritage, Delhi/SOAS, London, 1990, p. 5; Journal of
the International Association of Buddhist Studies, vol 21 (1998), part 1, pp. 4, 11
131.^ see also the book Bones, Stones, and Buddhist Monks, University of Hawai'i Press, by Dr
Gregory Schopen
132.^ Encyclopedia of Religion, Macmillan, New York, sv Councils, Buddhist
133.^ Journal of the Pāli Text Society, volume XVI, p. 105)
134.^ Janice J. Nattier and Charles S. Prebish, 1977. Mahāsāṅghika Origins: the beginnings of
Buddhist sectarianism in History of Religions, Vol. 16, pp. 237–272
135.^ Harvey, Introduction to Buddhism, p. 74
136.^ a b "Abhidhamma Pitaka." Encyclopædia Britannica. Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago:
Encyclopædia Britannica, 2008.
137.^ Encyclopedia of Buddhism. Routledge. p. 485.
138.^ Akira, Hirakawa (translated and edited by Paul Groner) (1993. A History of Indian
Buddhism. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass: p. 260
139.^ Akira, Hirakawa (1993), A History of Indian Buddhism: From Sakyamuni to Early
Mahayana: p. 271
140.^ e.g. Williams, Mahayana Buddhism
141.^ "One of the most frequent assertions about the Mahayana ... is that it was a lay-influenced,
or even lay-inspired and dominated, movement that arose in response to the increasingly
closed, cold, and scholastic character of monastic Buddhism. This, however, now appears to
be wrong on all counts." Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism (2004): p. 494
142.^ Nattier, Jan (2003), A few good men: the Bodhisattva path according to the Inquiry of
Ugra: p. 193-194
143.^ Williams, Paul (2008) Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations: p. 4-5
144.^ Williams, Paul (2000) Buddhist Thought: A Complete Introduction to the Indian
Tradition: p. 97
145.^ Williams, Paul (2008) Mahāyāna Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations: p. 5
146.^ "The most important evidence — in fact the only evidence — for situating the emergence
of the Mahayana around the beginning of the common era was not Indian evidence at all, but
came from China. Already by the last quarter of the 2nd century CE, there was a small,
seemingly idiosyncratic collection of substantial Mahayana sutras translated into what Erik
Zürcher calls 'broken Chinese' by an Indoscythian, whose Indian name has been reconstructed
as Lokaksema." Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism (2004): p. 492
147.^ Akira, Hirakawa (translated and edited by Paul Groner) (1993. A History of Indian
Buddhism. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass: p. 263, 268
148.^ "The south (of India) was then vigorously creative in producing Mahayana Sutras" –
Warder, A.K. (3rd edn. 1999). Indian Buddhism: p. 335.
149.^ Akira, Hirakawa (translated and edited by Paul Groner) (1993. A History of Indian
Buddhism. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass: p. 253
150.^ A History of Indian Buddhism — Hirakawa Akira (translated and edited by Paul Groner) -
Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi, 1993, p. 8,9
151.^ Peter Harvey, "An Introduction to Buddhism." Cambridge University Press, 1993, page
95.
152.^ Dan Lusthaus, Buddhist Phenomenology. Routledge, 2002, pages 236-237.
153.^ Peter Harvey, "An Introduction to Buddhism." Cambridge University Press, 1993, page
113. "There were no great Indian teachers associated with this strand of thought."
154.^ A History of Indian Buddhism — Hirakawa Akira (translated and edited by Paul Groner) -
Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi, 1993, p. 9
155.^ Gombrich, Theravada Buddhism, Routledge, 2nd ed, 2006, page 135
156.^ Carol E. Henderson, Culture and Customs of India. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002,
page 42.
157.^ Joseph B. Tamney in William H. Swatos, editor, Encyclopedia of Religion and Society.
Rowman Altamira, 1998, page 68.
158.^ "Chinese Cultural Studies: The Spirits of Chinese Religion".
Academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu.
http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/core9/phalsall/texts/lopez.html. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
159.^ Windows on Asia - Chinese Religions[dead link]
160.^ "Religions and Beliefs in China". Travelchinaguide.com.
http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/religion. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
161.^ "SACU Religion in China". Sacu.org. http://www.sacu.org/religion.html. Retrieved 2010-
08-25.
162.^ "Index-China Chinese Philosophies and religions". Index-china.com. http://www.index-
china.com/index-english/people-religions-s.html. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
163.^ "Buddhism in China". AskAsia. http://www.askasia.org/teachers/essays/essay.php?no=16.
Retrieved 2010-08-25.
164.^ "Buddhism And Its Spread Along The Silk Road". Globaled.org.
http://www.globaled.org/curriculum/china/bessay1.htm. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
165.^ "U.S. Department of States - International Religious Freedom Report 2006: China
(includes Tibet, Hong Kong, and Macau)". State.gov.
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2006/71338.htm. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
166.^ State Attitudes to Religion (PDF), The Atlas of Religion, Joanne O'Brien & Martin
Palmer, openDemocracy.net
167.^ "Center for Religious Freedom - Survey Files". Crf.hudson.org.
http://crf.hudson.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=survey_files. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
168.^ "The Range of Religious Freedom".
http://crf.hudson.org/articledocs/TheRangeofReligiousFreedom.doc. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
169.^ Garfinkel, Perry (December 2005). "Buddha Rising". National Geographic: 88–109.
170.^ a b c Major Branches of Buddhism, Adherents.com, retrieved on 2008-01-15
171.^ Philosophy East and West, volume 54, page 270
172.^ Keown, Buddhism, Oxford University Press, 1996, page 12
173.^ Smith, Buddhism; Juergensmeyer, Oxford Handbook.
174.^ "Tibetan Buddhism". American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. Houghton
Mifflin Company. 2004. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/tibetan%20buddhism.
Retrieved 2007-07-07.
175.^ (Harvey, 1990); (Gombrich,1984); Gethin (1998), pp. 1–2, identifies "three broad
traditions" as: (1) "The Theravāda tradition of Sri Lanka and South-East Asia, also sometimes
referred to as 'southern' Buddhism"; (2) "The East Asian tradition of China, Korea, Japan, and
Vietnam, also sometimes referred to as 'eastern' Buddhism"; and, (3) "The Tibetan tradition,
also sometimes referred to as 'northern' Buddhism."; Robinson & Johnson (1982) divide their
book into two parts: Part One is entitled "The Buddhism of South Asia" (which pertains to
Early Buddhism in India); and, Part Two is entitled "The Development of Buddhism Outside
of India" with chapters on "The Buddhism of Southeast Asia", "Buddhism in the Tibetan
Culture Area", "East Asian Buddhism" and "Buddhism Comes West; Penguin handbook of
Living Religions, 1984, page 279; Prebish & Keown, Introducing Buddhism, ebook, Journal
of Buddhist Ethics, 2005, printed ed, Harper, 2006
176.^ See e.g. the multi-dimensional classification in Encyclopedia of Religion, Macmillan, New
York, 1987, volume 2, pages 440ff
177.^ A Comparative Study of the Schools, Tan Swee Eng
178.^ Cousins, L.S. (1996); Buswell (2003), Vol. I, p. 82; and, Keown & Prebish (2004), p. 107.
See also, Gombrich (1988/2002), p. 32: “…[T]he best we can say is that [the Buddha] was
probably Enlightened between 550 and 450, more likely later rather than earlier."
179.^ Williams (2000, pp. 6-7) writes: "As a matter of fact Buddhism in mainland India itself
had all but ceased to exist by the thirteenth century CE, although by that time it had spread to
Tibet, China, Japan, and Southeast Asia." Embree et al. (1958/1988), "Chronology," p. xxix:
"c. 1000-1200: Buddhism disappears as [an] organized religious force in India." See also,
Robinson & Johnson (1970/1982), pp. 100-1, 108 Fig. 1; and, Harvey (1990/2007), pp. 139-
40.
180.^ Gethin, Foundations, page 1
181.^ Clarke & Beyer, The World's Religions, Routledge, 2009, page 86
182.^ Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism (Volume One), pages 430, 435
183.^ Davidson, Ronald M. (2003). Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of the Tantric
Movement. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0231126190.
184.^ Prebish & Keown, Introducing Buddhism, page 89
185.^ A.K. Warder, Indian Buddhism, 3rd edition (2000)
186.^ Eliot, Japanese Buddhism, Edward Arnold, London, 1935, page 16
187.^ Gethin, Sayings of the Buddha, Oxford University Press, 2008, page xiv
188.^ Journal of the Pali Text Society, volume XVI, page 114
189.^ Peter Harvey, The Selfless Mind. Curzon Press, 1995, page 9.
190.^ David Kalupahana, "Sarvastivada and its theory of sarvam asti." University of Ceylon
Review 24 1966, 94-105.
191.^ Indian Buddhism, 3rd edition, page 4
192.^ a b MacMillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004, page 494
193.^ Thelema & Buddhism (PDF) in Journal of Thelemic Studies, Vol. 1, No. 1, Autumn 2007,
pp. 18-32
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kaijo. The Edwin Mellen Press. ISBN 0-7734-5985-5.
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Society of Malaysia. http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/whatbelieve.pdf.
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Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Führer of Germany
In office
2 August 1934 – 30 April 1945
Karl Dönitz
Succeeded by
(as President)
In office
30 January 1933 – 30 April 1945
Other political
German Workers' Party (1920–1921)
affiliations
Eva Braun
Spouse(s)
(29–30 April 1945)
Signature
Military service
Allegiance
German Empire
Service/branch Reichsheer
Rank Gefreiter
Adolf Hitler (German pronunciation: [ˈadɔlf ˈhɪtlɐ]; 20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an
Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers
Party (German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, abbreviated NSDAP),
commonly known as the Nazi Party. He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945 and,
after 1934, also head of state as Führer und Reichskanzler, ruling the country as an absolute
dictator.
A decorated veteran of World War I, Hitler joined the precursor of the Nazi Party (DAP) in
1919 and became leader of NSDAP in 1921. He attempted a failed coup called the Beer Hall
Putsch in Munich in 1923, for which he was imprisoned. Following his imprisonment, in
which he wrote Mein Kampf, he gained support by promoting German nationalism, anti-
semitism, anti-capitalism, and anti-communism with charismatic oratory and propaganda. He
was appointed chancellor in 1933, and quickly transformed the Weimar Republic into the
Third Reich, a single-party dictatorship based on the totalitarian and autocratic ideals of
national socialism.
Hitler ultimately wanted to establish a New Order of absolute Nazi German hegemony in
continental Europe. To achieve this, he pursued a foreign policy with the declared goal of
seizing Lebensraum ("living space") for the Aryan people; directing the resources of the state
towards this goal. This included the rearmament of Germany, which culminated in 1939
when the Wehrmacht invaded Poland. In response, the United Kingdom and France declared
war against Germany, leading to the outbreak of World War II in Europe.[2]
Within three years, Germany and the Axis powers had occupied most of Europe, and most of
Northern Africa, East and Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean. However, with the reversal
of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, the Allies gained the upper hand from 1942
onwards. By 1945, Allied armies had invaded German-held Europe from all sides. Nazi
forces engaged in numerous violent acts during the war, including the systematic murder of
as many as 17 million civilians,[3] including an estimated six million Jews targeted in the
Holocaust and between 500,000 and 1,500,000 Roma,[4] Poles, Soviet civilians, Soviet
prisoners of war, people with disabilities, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, and other
political and religious opponents.
In the final days of the war, during the Battle of Berlin in 1945, Hitler married his long-time
mistress Eva Braun and, to avoid capture by Soviet forces less than two days later, the two
committed suicide[5] on 30 April 1945.
Contents
[show]
• 1 Early
years
○ 1
.
1
A
n
c
e
s
t
r
y
○ 1
.
2
C
h
i
l
d
h
o
o
d
○ 1
.
3
E
a
r
l
y
a
d
u
l
t
h
o
o
d
i
n
V
i
e
n
n
a
a
n
d
M
u
n
i
c
h
○ 1
.
4
W
o
r
l
d
W
a
r
I
• 2 Entry
into
politics
○ 2
.
1
B
e
e
r
H
a
l
l
P
u
t
s
c
h
○ 2
.
2
M
e
i
n
K
a
m
p
f
○ 2
.
3
R
e
b
u
i
l
d
i
n
g
o
f
t
h
e
p
a
r
t
y
• 3 Rise
to
power
○ 3
.
1
B
r
ü
n
i
n
g
A
d
m
i
n
i
s
t
r
a
t
i
o
n
○ 3
.
2
A
p
p
o
i
n
t
m
e
n
t
a
s
C
h
a
n
c
e
l
l
o
r
○ 3
.
3
R
e
i
c
h
s
t
a
g
f
i
r
e
a
n
d
t
h
e
M
a
r
c
h
e
l
e
c
t
i
o
n
s
○ 3
.
4
"
D
a
y
o
f
P
o
t
s
d
a
m
"
a
n
d
t
h
e
E
n
a
b
l
i
n
g
A
c
t
○ 3
.
5
R
e
m
o
v
a
l
o
f
r
e
m
a
i
n
i
n
g
l
i
m
i
t
s
• 4 Third
Reich
○ 4
.
1
E
c
o
n
o
m
y
a
n
d
c
u
l
t
u
r
e
○ 4
.
2
R
e
a
r
m
a
m
e
n
t
a
n
d
n
e
w
a
l
l
i
a
n
c
e
s
○ 4
.
3
T
h
e
H
o
l
o
c
a
u
s
t
• 5
World
War II
○ 5
.
1
E
a
r
l
y
d
i
p
l
o
m
a
t
i
c
t
r
i
u
m
p
h
s
○ 5
.
2
S
t
a
r
t
o
f
W
o
r
l
d
W
a
r
I
I
○ 5
.
3
P
a
t
h
t
o
d
e
f
e
a
t
○ 5
.
4
A
t
t
e
m
p
t
e
d
a
s
s
a
s
s
i
n
a
t
i
o
n
○ 5
.
5
D
e
f
e
a
t
a
n
d
d
e
a
t
h
• 6
Legacy
• 7
Religio
us
views
• 8
Attitud
e to
occulti
sm
• 9
Health
○ 9
.
1
S
y
p
h
i
l
i
s
○ 9
.
2
M
o
n
o
r
c
h
i
s
m
○ 9
.
3
P
a
r
k
i
n
s
o
n
'
s
d
i
s
e
a
s
e
○ 9
.
4
O
t
h
e
r
c
o
m
p
l
a
i
n
t
s
○ 9
.
5
M
e
n
t
a
l
h
e
a
l
t
h
○ 9
.
6
A
d
d
i
c
t
i
o
n
t
o
a
m
p
h
e
t
a
m
i
n
e
○ 9
.
7
H
i
s
t
o
r
i
a
n
s
'
v
i
e
w
s
• 10
Sexuali
ty
• 11
Family
• 12
Hitler
in
media
○ 1
2
.
1
O
r
a
t
o
r
y
a
n
d
r
a
l
l
i
e
s
○ 1
2
.
2
R
e
c
o
r
d
e
d
i
n
p
r
i
v
a
t
e
c
o
n
v
e
r
s
a
t
i
o
n
○ 1
2
.
3
P
a
t
r
i
a
p
i
c
t
u
r
e
d
i
s
c
○ 1
2
.
4
D
o
c
u
m
e
n
t
a
r
i
e
s
d
u
r
i
n
g
t
h
e
T
h
i
r
d
R
e
i
c
h
○ 1
2
.
5
T
e
l
e
v
i
s
i
o
n
○ 1
2
.
6
D
o
c
u
m
e
n
t
a
r
i
e
s
p
o
s
t
T
h
i
r
d
R
e
i
c
h
○ 1
2
.
7
F
i
l
m
s
• 13 See
also
• 14
Footno
tes
• 15
Refere
nces
• 16
Further
reading
○ 1
6
.
1
M
e
d
i
c
a
l
b
o
o
k
s
• 17
Extern
al links
Early years
Ancestry
Hitler's father, Alois Hitler, was an illegitimate child of Maria Anna Schicklgruber, so his
paternity was not listed on his birth certificate; he bore his mother's surname.[6][7] In 1842,
Johann Georg Hiedler married Maria and in 1876 Alois testified before a notary and three
witnesses that Johann was his father.[8] Despite this testimony, Alois' paternity has been the
subject of controversy. After receiving a "blackmail letter" from Hitler's nephew William
Patrick Hitler threatening to reveal embarrassing information about Hitler's family tree, Nazi
Party lawyer Hans Frank investigated, and, in his memoirs, claimed to have uncovered letters
revealing that Alois' mother was employed as a housekeeper for a Jewish family in Graz and
that the family's 19-year-old son, Leopold Frankenberger, fathered Alois.[7] No evidence had,
at that time, ever been produced to support Frank's claim, and Frank himself said Hitler's full
Aryan blood was obvious.[9] Frank's claims were widely believed in the 1950s, but by the
1990s, were generally doubted by historians.[10][11] Ian Kershaw dismissed the Frankenberger
story as a "smear" by Hitler's enemies, noting that all Jews had been expelled from Graz in
the 15th century and were not allowed to return until well after Alois was born.[11]
At age 39, Alois took the surname Hitler. This surname was variously spelled Hiedler,
Hüttler, Huettler and Hitler, and was probably regularized to Hitler by a clerk. The origin of
the name is either "one who lives in a hut" (Standard German Hütte), "shepherd" (Standard
German hüten "to guard", English heed), or is from the Slavic word Hidlar and Hidlarcek.
Childhood
Adolf Hitler was born on 20 April 1889 at half-past six in the evening at the Gasthof zum
Pommer, an inn in Braunau am Inn, Austria–Hungary, the fourth of Alois and Klara Hitler's
six children.
Adolf Hitler as an infant
At the age of three, his family moved to Kapuzinerstrasse 5[12] in Passau, Germany where the
young Hitler would acquire Lower Bavarian rather than Austrian as his lifelong native
dialect.[13] In 1894, the family moved to Leonding near Linz, then in June 1895, Alois retired
to a small landholding at Hafeld near Lambach, where he tried his hand at farming and
beekeeping. During this time, the young Hitler attended school in nearby Fischlham. As a
child, he played "Cowboys and Indians" and, by his own account, became fixated on war
after finding a picture book about the Franco-Prussian War in his father's things.[14]
His father's efforts at Hafeld ended in failure and the family moved to Lambach in 1897.
There, Hitler attended a Catholic school located in an 11th-century Benedictine cloister
whose walls were engraved in a number of places with crests containing the symbol of the
swastika.[15] It was in Lambach that the eight year-old Hitler sang in the church choir, took
singing lessons, and even entertained the fantasy of one day becoming a priest.[16] In 1898, the
family returned permanently to Leonding.
His younger brother Edmund died of measles on 2 February 1900, causing permanent
changes in Hitler. He went from a confident, outgoing boy who found school easy, to a
morose, detached, sullen boy who constantly battled his father and his teachers.[17]
Hitler was close to his mother, but had a troubled relationship with his authoritarian father,
who frequently beat him, especially in the years after Alois' retirement and disappointing
farming efforts.[18] Alois wanted his son to follow in his footsteps as an Austrian customs
official, and this became a huge source of conflict between them.[14] Despite his son's pleas to
go to classical high school and become an artist, his father sent him to the Realschule in Linz,
a technical high school of about 300 students, in September 1900. Hitler rebelled, and in
Mein Kampf confessed to failing his first year in hopes that once his father saw "what little
progress I was making at the technical school he would let me devote myself to the happiness
I dreamed of." Alois never relented, however, and Hitler became even more bitter and
rebellious.
German Nationalism quickly became an obsession for Hitler, and a way to rebel against his
father, who proudly served the Austrian government. Most people who lived along the
German-Austrian border considered themselves German-Austrians, but Hitler expressed
loyalty only to Germany. In defiance of the Austrian monarchy, and his father who
continually expressed loyalty to it, Hitler and his young friends liked to use the German
greeting "Heil", and sing the German anthem "Deutschland Über Alles" instead of the
Austrian Imperial anthem.[14]
After Alois' sudden death on 3 January 1903, Hitler's behaviour at the technical school
became even more disruptive, and he was asked to leave. He enrolled at the Realschule in
Steyr in 1904, but upon completing his second year, he and his friends went out for a night of
celebration and drinking, and an intoxicated Hitler tore his school certificate into four pieces
and used it as toilet paper. When someone turned the stained certificate in to the school's
director, he "... gave him such a dressing-down that the boy was reduced to shivering jelly. It
was probably the most painful and humiliating experience of his life."[19] Hitler was expelled,
never to return to school again.
At age 15, Hitler took part in his First Holy Communion on Whitsunday, 22 May 1904, at the
Linz Cathedral.[20] His sponsor was Emanuel Lugert, a friend of his late father.[21]
Early adulthood in Vienna and Munich
From 1905 on, Hitler lived a bohemian life in Vienna on an orphan's pension and support
from his mother. He was rejected twice by the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (1907–1908),
citing "unfitness for painting", and was told his abilities lay instead in the field of
architecture.[22] Following the school rector's recommendation, he too became convinced this
was his path to pursue, yet he lacked the proper academic preparation for architecture school:
In a few days I myself knew that I should some day become an architect. To be sure, it was
an incredibly hard road; for the studies I had neglected out of spite at the Realschule were
sorely needed. One could not attend the Academy's architectural school without having
attended the building school at the Technic, and the latter required a high-school degree. I
had none of all this. The fulfilment of my artistic dream seemed physically impossible.[23]
On 28 June 1925, Hitler wrote a letter from Uffing to the editor of The Nation in New York
City complaining of the length of his sentence at "Sandberg a. S." [sic], where he claimed his
privileges had been extensively revoked.[52]
Mein Kampf
Main article: Mein Kampf
Meanwhile, Papen tried to get his revenge on Schleicher by working toward the General's
downfall, through forming an intrigue with the camarilla and Alfred Hugenberg, media
mogul and chairman of the DNVP. Also involved were Hjalmar Schacht, Fritz Thyssen and
other leading German businessmen and international bankers.[70] They financially supported
the Nazi Party, which had been brought to the brink of bankruptcy by the cost of heavy
campaigning. The businessmen wrote letters to Hindenburg, urging him to appoint Hitler as
leader of a government "independent from parliamentary parties" which could turn into a
movement that would "enrapture millions of people."[71]
On 21 March, the new Reichstag was constituted with an opening ceremony held at
Potsdam's garrison church. This "Day of Potsdam" was staged to demonstrate reconciliation
and unity between the revolutionary Nazi movement and "Old Prussia" with its elites and
virtues. Hitler appeared in a tail coat and humbly greeted the aged President Hindenburg.
Because of the Nazis' failure to obtain a majority on their own, Hitler's government
confronted the newly elected Reichstag with the Enabling Act that would have vested the
cabinet with legislative powers for a period of four years. Though such a bill was not
unprecedented, this act was different since it allowed for deviations from the constitution.
Since the bill required a ⅔ majority in order to pass, the government needed the support of
other parties. The position of the Centre Party, the third largest party in the Reichstag, turned
out to be decisive: under the leadership of Ludwig Kaas, the party decided to vote for the
Enabling Act. It did so in return for the government's oral guarantees regarding the Church's
liberty, the concordats signed by German states and the continued existence of the Centre
Party.
On 23 March, the Reichstag assembled in a replacement building under extremely turbulent
circumstances. Some SA men served as guards within while large groups outside the building
shouted slogans and threats toward the arriving deputies. Kaas announced that the Centre
Party would support the bill with "concerns put aside," while Social Democrat Otto Wels
denounced the act in his speech. At the end of the day, all parties except the Social
Democrats voted in favour of the bill. The Communists, as well as some Social Democrats,
were barred from attending. The Enabling Act, combined with the Reichstag Fire Decree,
transformed Hitler's government into a legal dictatorship.
Removal of remaining limits
This section needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be
challenged and removed. (April 2009)
—
With this combination of legislative and executive power, Hitler's government further
suppressed the remaining political opposition. After the rapid dissolution of the Communist
Party the Social Democratic Party (SPD) were banned, leading to a 10 May court order that
all property and assets be seized. The Steel Helmets (World War One veterans) on 26 April
were placed under Hitler's leadership with guarantee they would exist as an autonomous
organization to be called upon as an auxiliary police force. On 2 May, stormtroopers
ransacked and destroyed every trade union office in the country and 4 May the Christian
Trade Unions and all other unions vowed allegiance to Hitler. The State Party dissolved on
June 28. The 60 year old People's Party officially dissolved on 4 July. The Catholic Church
was given no choice but to support Hitler after dissolution of their Centre Party on 5 July.
The right wing German Nationalist Front was forced to incorporate its small paramilitaries
into the Nazi SA and dissolved per the "Friendship Agreement". Finally, on 14 July, the Nazi
Party was declared the only legal party in Germany as big business and the army stood on the
sidelines.[75]
Hitler used the SA paramilitary to push Hugenberg into resigning, and proceeded to
politically isolate Vice-Chancellor Papen. Because the SA's demands for political and
military power caused much anxiety among military and political leaders, Hitler used
allegations of a plot by the SA leader Ernst Röhm to purge the SA's leadership during the
Night of the Long Knives. As well, opponents unconnected with the SA were murdered,
notably Gregor Strasser and former Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher.[76]
In 1934, Hitler became Germany's president under the title Führer und Reichskanzler (Leader
and Chancellor of the Reich).
President Paul von Hindenburg died on 2 August 1934. Rather than call new elections as
required by the constitution, Hitler's cabinet passed a law proclaiming the presidency vacant
and transferred the role and powers of the head of state to Hitler as Führer und Reichskanzler
(leader and chancellor). This action effectively removed the last legal remedy by which Hitler
could be dismissed – and with it, nearly all institutional checks and balances on his power.
On 19 August a plebiscite approved the merger of the presidency with the chancellorship
winning 84.6% of the electorate.[77][78] This action technically violated both the constitution
and the Enabling Act. The constitution had been amended in 1932 to make the president of
the High Court of Justice, not the chancellor, acting president until new elections could be
held. The Enabling Act specifically barred Hitler from taking any action that tampered with
the presidency. However, no one dared object.
As head of state, Hitler now became Supreme Commander of the armed forces. When it came
time for the soldiers and sailors to swear the traditional loyalty oath, it had been altered into
an oath of personal loyalty to Hitler. Normally, soldiers and sailors swear loyalty to the
holder of the office of supreme commander/commander-in-chief, not a specific person.[79]
In 1938, two scandals resulted in Hitler bringing the Armed Forces under his control. Hitler
forced the resignation of his War Minister (formerly Defense Minister), Werner von
Blomberg, after evidence surfaced that Blomberg's new wife had a criminal past. Prior to
removing Blomberg, Hitler and his clique removed army commander Werner von Fritsch on
suspicion of homosexuality.[80] Hitler replaced the Ministry of War with the Oberkommando
der Wehrmacht (High Command of the Armed Forces, or OKW), headed by the pliant
General Wilhelm Keitel. More importantly, Hitler announced he was assuming personal
command of the armed forces. He took over Blomberg's other old post, that of Commander-
in-Chief of the Armed Forces, for himself. He was already Supreme Commander by virtue of
holding the powers of the president. The next day, the newspapers announced, "Strongest
concentration of powers in Führer's hands!"
Third Reich
Main article: Nazi Germany
Having secured supreme political power, Hitler went on to gain public support by convincing
most Germans he was their saviour from the economic Depression, the Versailles treaty,
communism, the "Judeo-Bolsheviks", and other "undesirable" minorities. The Nazis
eliminated opposition through a process known as Gleichschaltung ("bringing into line").
Economy and culture
Hitler oversaw one of the greatest expansions of industrial production and civil improvement
Germany had ever seen, mostly based on debt flotation[jargon] and expansion of the military.
Nazi policies toward women strongly encouraged them to stay at home to bear children and
keep house. In a September 1934 speech to the National Socialist Women's Organization,
Adolf Hitler argued that for the German woman her "world is her husband, her family, her
children, and her home." This policy was reinforced by bestowing the Cross of Honor of the
German Mother on women bearing four or more babies. The unemployment rate was cut
substantially, mostly through arms production and sending women home so that men could
take their jobs. Given this, claims that the German economy achieved near full employment
are at least partly artefacts of propaganda from the era. Much of the financing for Hitler's
reconstruction and rearmament came from currency manipulation by Hjalmar Schacht,
including the clouded credits through the Mefo bills.
Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini during Hitler's visit to Venice from 14 to 16 June 1934
In a meeting with his leading generals and admirals on 3 February 1933, Hitler spoke of
"conquest of Lebensraum in the East and its ruthless Germanisation" as his ultimate foreign
policy objectives.[86] In March 1933, the first major statement of German foreign policy aims
appeared with the memo submitted to the German Cabinet by the State Secretary at the
Auswärtiges Amt (Foreign Office), Prince Bernhard Wilhelm von Bülow (not to be confused
with his more famous uncle, the former Chancellor Bernhard von Bülow), which advocated
Anschluss with Austria, the restoration of the frontiers of 1914, the rejection of the Part V of
Versailles, the return of the former German colonies in Africa, and a German zone of
influence in Eastern Europe as goals for the future. Hitler found the goals in Bülow's memo
to be too modest.[87] In March 1933, to resolve the deadlock between the French demand for
sécurité ("security") and the German demand for gleichberechtigung ("equality of
armaments") at the World Disarmament Conference in Geneva, Switzerland, the British
Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald presented the compromise "MacDonald Plan". Hitler
endorsed the "MacDonald Plan", correctly guessing that nothing would come of it, and that in
the interval he could win some goodwill in London by making his government appear
moderate, and the French obstinate.[88]
In May 1933, Hitler met with Herbert von Dirksen, the German Ambassador in Moscow.
Dirksen advised the Führer that he was allowing relations with the Soviet Union to
deteriorate to an unacceptable extent, and advised to take immediate steps to repair relations
with the Soviets.[89] Much to Dirksen's intense disappointment, Hitler informed that he wished
for an anti-Soviet understanding with Poland, which Dirksen protested implied recognition of
the German-Polish border, leading Hitler to state he was after much greater things than
merely overturning the Treaty of Versailles.[90]
In June 1933, Hitler was forced to disavow Alfred Hugenberg of the German National
People's Party, who while attending the London World Economic Conference put forth a
programme of colonial expansion in both Africa and Eastern Europe, which created a major
storm abroad.[91] Speaking to the Burgermeister of Hamburg in 1933, Hitler commented that
Germany required several years of peace before it could be sufficiently rearmed enough to
risk a war, and until then a policy of caution was called for.[92] In his "peace speeches" of 17
May 1933, 21 May 1935, and 7 March 1936, Hitler stressed his supposed pacific goals and a
willingness to work within the international system.[93] In private, Hitler's plans were
something less than pacific. At the first meeting of his Cabinet in 1933, Hitler placed military
spending ahead of unemployment relief, and indeed was only prepared to spend money on
the latter if the former was satisfied first.[94] When the president of the Reichsbank, the former
Chancellor Dr. Hans Luther, offered the new government the legal limit of 100 million
Reichmarks to finance rearmament, Hitler found the sum too low, and sacked Luther in
March 1933 to replace him with Hjalmar Schacht, who during the next five years was to
advance 12 billion Reichmarks worth of "Mefo-bills" to pay for rearmament.[95]
A major initiative in Hitler's foreign policy in his early years was to create an alliance with
Britain. In the 1920s, Hitler wrote that a future National Socialist foreign policy goal was "the
destruction of Russia with the help of England."[96] In May 1933, Alfred Rosenberg in his
capacity as head of the Nazi Party's Aussenpolitisches Amt (Foreign Political Office) visited
London as part of a disastrous effort to win an alliance with Britain.[97] In October 1933,
Hitler pulled Germany out of both the League of Nations and World Disarmament
Conference after his Foreign Minister Baron Konstantin von Neurath made it appear to world
public opinion that the French demand for sécurité was the principal stumbling block.[98]
In line with the views he advocated in Mein Kampf and Zweites Buch about the necessity of
building an Anglo-German alliance, Hitler, in a meeting in November 1933 with the British
Ambassador, Sir Eric Phipps, offered a scheme in which Britain would support a 300,000-
strong German Army in exchange for a German "guarantee" of the British Empire.[99] In
response, the British stated a 10-year waiting period would be necessary before Britain would
support an increase in the size of the German Army.[99] A more successful initiative in foreign
policy occurred with relations with Poland. In spite of intense opposition from the military
and the Auswärtiges Amt who preferred closer ties with the Soviet Union, Hitler, in the fall of
1933 opened secret talks with Poland that were to lead to the German–Polish Non-
Aggression Pact of January 1934.[98]
In February 1934, Hitler met with the British Lord Privy Seal, Sir Anthony Eden, and hinted
strongly that Germany already possessed an Air Force, which had been forbidden by the
Treaty of Versailles.[100] In the fall of 1934, Hitler was seriously concerned over the dangers
of inflation damaging his popularity.[101] In a secret speech given before his Cabinet on 5
November 1934, Hitler stated he had "given the working class his word that he would allow
no price increases. Wage-earners would accuse him of breaking his word if he did not act
against the rising prices. Revolutionary conditions among the people would be the further
consequence."[101]
Although a secret German armaments programme had been on-going since 1919, in March
1935, Hitler rejected Part V of the Versailles treaty by publicly announcing that the German
army would be expanded to 600,000 men (six times the number stipulated in the Treaty of
Versailles), introducing an Air Force (Luftwaffe) and increasing the size of the Navy
(Kriegsmarine). Britain, France, Italy and the League of Nations quickly condemned these
actions. However, after re-assurances from Hitler that Germany was only interested in peace,
no country took any action to stop this development and German re-armament continued.
Later in March 1935, Hitler held a series of meetings in Berlin with the British Foreign
Secretary Sir John Simon and Eden, during which he successfully evaded British offers for
German participation in a regional security pact meant to serve as an Eastern European
equivalent of the Locarno pact while the two British ministers avoided taking up Hitler's
offers of alliance.[102] During his talks with Simon and Eden, Hitler first used what he
regarded as the brilliant colonial negotiating tactic, when Hitler parlayed an offer from Simon
to return to the League of Nations by demanding the return of the former German colonies in
Africa.[103]
Starting in April 1935, disenchantment with how the Third Reich had developed in practice
as opposed to what been promised led many in the Nazi Party, especially the Alte Kämpfer
(Old Fighters; i.e., those who joined the Party before 1930, and who tended to be the most
ardent anti-Semitics in the Party), and the SA into lashing out against Germany's Jewish
minority as a way of expressing their frustrations against a group that the authorities would
not generally protect.[104] The rank and file of the Party were most unhappy that two years into
the Third Reich, and despite countless promises by Hitler prior to 1933, no law had been
passed banning marriage or sex between those Germans belonging to the "Aryan" and Jewish
"races". A Gestapo report from the spring of 1935 stated that the rank and file of the Nazi
Party would "set in motion by us from below," a solution to the "Jewish problem," "that the
government would then have to follow."[105] As a result, Nazi Party activists and the SA
started a major wave of assaults, vandalism and boycotts against German Jews.[106]
On 18 June 1935, the Anglo-German Naval Agreement (AGNA) was signed in London
which allowed for increasing the allowed German tonnage up to 35% of that of the British
navy. Hitler called the signing of the AGNA "the happiest day of his life" as he believed the
agreement marked the beginning of the Anglo-German alliance he had predicted in Mein
Kampf.[107] This agreement was made without consulting either France or Italy, directly
undermining the League of Nations and put the Treaty of Versailles on the path towards
irrelevance.[108] After the signing of the A.G.N.A., in June 1935 Hitler ordered the next step in
the creation of an Anglo-German alliance: taking all the societies demanding the restoration
of the former German African colonies and coordinating (Gleichschaltung) them into a new
Reich Colonial League (Reichskolonialbund) which over the next few years waged an
extremely aggressive propaganda campaign for colonial restoration.[109] Hitler had no real
interest in the former German African colonies. In Mein Kampf, Hitler had excoriated the
Imperial German government for pursuing colonial expansion in Africa prior to 1914 on the
grounds that the natural area for Lebensraum was Eastern Europe, not Africa.[110] It was
Hitler's intention to use colonial demands as a negotiating tactic that would see a German
"renunciation" of colonial claims in exchange for Britain making an alliance with the Reich
on German terms.[111]
In the summer of 1935, Hitler was informed that, between inflation and the need to use
foreign exchange to buy raw materials Germany lacked for rearmament, there were only
5 million Reichmarks available for military expenditure, and a pressing need for some
300,000 Reichmarks/day to prevent food shortages.[112] In August 1935, Dr. Hjalmar Schacht
advised Hitler that the wave of anti-Semitic violence was interfering with the workings of the
economy, and hence rearmament.[113] Following Dr. Schacht's complaints, plus reports that
the German public did not approve of the wave of anti-Semitic violence, and that continuing
police toleration of the violence was hurting the regime's popularity with the wider public,
Hitler ordered a stop to "individual actions" against German Jews on 8 August 1935.[113] From
Hitler's perspective, it was imperative to bring in harsh new anti-Semitic laws as a
consolation prize for those Party members who were disappointed with Hitler's halt order of 8
August, especially because Hitler had only reluctantly given the halt order for pragmatic
reasons, and his sympathies were with the Party radicals.[113] The annual Nazi Party Rally
held at Nuremberg in September 1935 was to feature the first session of the Reichstag held at
that city since 1543. Hitler had planned to have the Reichstag pass a law making the Nazi
Swastika flag the flag of the German Reich, and a major speech in support of the impending
Italian aggression against Ethiopia.[114] Hitler felt that the Italian aggression opened great
opportunities for Germany. In August 1935, Hitler told Goebbels his foreign policy vision as:
"With England eternal alliance. Good relationship with Poland . . . Expansion to the East. The
Baltic belongs to us . . . Conflicts Italy-Abyssinia-England, then Japan-Russia imminent."[115]
At the last minute before the Nuremberg Party Rally was due to begin, the German Foreign
Minister Baron Konstantin von Neurath persuaded Hitler to cancel his speech praising Italy
for her willingness to commit aggression. Neurath convinced Hitler that his speech was too
provocative to public opinion abroad as it contradicted the message of Hitler's "peace
speeches", thus leaving Hitler with the sudden need to have something else to address the
first meeting of the Reichstag in Nuremberg since 1543, other than the Reich Flag Law.[116]
On 13 September 1935, Hitler hurriedly ordered two civil servants, Dr. Bernhard Lösener and
Franz Albrecht Medicus of the Interior Ministry to fly to Nuremberg to start drafting anti-
Semitic laws for Hitler to present to the Reichstag for 15 September.[114] On the evening of 15
September, Hitler presented two laws before the Reichstag banning sex and marriage
between Aryan and Jewish Germans, the employment of Aryan woman under the age of 45 in
Jewish households, and deprived "non-Aryans" of the benefits of German citizenship.[117] The
laws of September 1935 are generally known as the Nuremberg Laws.
In October 1935, in order to prevent further food shortages and the introduction of rationing,
Hitler reluctantly ordered cuts in military spending.[118] In the spring of 1936 in response to
requests from Richard Walther Darré, Hitler ordered 60 million Reichmarks of foreign
exchange to be used to buy seed oil for German farmers, a decision that led to bitter
complaints from Dr. Schacht and the War Minister Field Marshal Werner von Blomberg that
it would be impossible to achieve rearmament as long as foreign exchange was diverted to
preventing food shortages.[115] Given the economic problems which was affecting his
popularity by early 1936, Hitler felt the pressing need for a foreign policy triumph as a way
of distracting public attention from the economy.[115]
In an interview with the French journalist Bertrand de Jouvenel in February 1936, Hitler
appeared to disavow Mein Kampf by saying that parts of his book were now out of date and
he was not guided by them, though precisely which parts were out of date was left unclear.[119]
In March 1936, Hitler again violated the Versailles treaty by reoccupying the demilitarized
zone in the Rhineland. When Britain and France did nothing, he grew bolder. In July 1936,
the Spanish Civil War began when the military, led by General Francisco Franco, rebelled
against the elected Popular Front government. After receiving an appeal for help from
General Franco in July 1936, Hitler sent troops to support Franco, and Spain served as a
testing ground for Germany's new forces and their methods. At the same time, Hitler
continued with his efforts to create an Anglo-German alliance. In July 1936, he offered to
Phipps a promise that if Britain were to sign an alliance with the Reich, then Germany would
commit to sending twelve divisions to the Far East to protect British colonial possessions
there from a Japanese attack.[120] Hitler's offer was refused.
In August 1936, in response to a growing crisis in the German economy caused by the strains
of rearmament, Hitler issued the "Four-Year Plan Memorandum" ordering Hermann Göring
to carry out the Four Year Plan to have the German economy ready for war within the next
four years.[121] During the 1936 economic crisis, the German government was divided into
two factions, with one (the so-called "free market" faction) centring around the Reichsbank
President Hjalmar Schacht and the former Price Commissioner Dr. Carl Friedrich Goerdeler
calling for decreased military spending and a turn away from autarkic policies, and another
faction around Göring calling for the opposite. Supporting the "free-market" faction were
some of Germany's leading business executives, most notably Hermann Duecher of AEG,
Robert Bosch of Robert Bosch GmbH, and Albert Voegeler of Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG.[122]
Hitler hesitated for the first half of 1936 before siding with the more radical faction in his
"Four Year Plan" memo of August.[123] Historians such as Richard Overy have argued that the
importance of the memo, which was written personally by Hitler, can be gauged by the fact
that Hitler, who had something of a phobia about writing, hardly ever wrote anything down,
which indicates that Hitler had something especially important to say.[124] The "Four-Year
Plan Memorandum" predicated an imminent all-out, apocalyptic struggle between "Judo-
Bolshevism" and German National Socialism, which necessitated a total effort at rearmament
regardless of the economic costs.[125] In the memo, Hitler wrote:
Since the outbreak of the French Revolution, the world has been moving with ever increasing
speed toward a new conflict, the most extreme solution of which is called Bolshevism, whose
essence and aim, however, are solely the elimination of those strata of mankind which have
hitherto provided the leadership and their replacement by worldwide Jewry. No state will be
able to withdraw or even remain at a distance from this historical conflict . . . It is not the aim
of this memorandum to prophesy the time when the untenable situation in Europe will
become an open crisis. I only want, in these lines, to set down my conviction that this crisis
cannot and will not fail to arrive and that it is Germany's duty to secure her own existence by
every means in face of this catastrophe, and to protect herself against it, and that from this
compulsion there arises a series of conclusions relating to the most important tasks that our
people have ever been set. For a victory of Bolshevism over Germany would not lead to a
Versailles treaty, but to the final destruction, indeed the annihilation of the German
people . . . I consider it necessary for the Reichstag to pass the following two laws: 1) A law
providing the death penalty for economic sabotage and 2) A law making the whole of Jewry
liable for all damage inflicted by individual specimens of this community of criminals upon
the German economy, and thus upon the German people.[126]
Hitler called for Germany to have the world's "first army" in terms of fighting power within
the next four years and that "the extent of the military development of our resources cannot
be too large, nor its pace too swift" (italics in the original) and the role of the economy was
simply to support "Germany's self-assertion and the extension of her Lebensraum."[127][128]
Hitler went on to write that given the magnitude of the coming struggle that the concerns
expressed by members of the "free market" faction like Schacht and Goerdeler that the
current level of military spending was bankrupting Germany were irrelevant. Hitler wrote
that: "However well balanced the general pattern of a nation's life ought to be, there must at
particular times be certain disturbances of the balance at the expense of other less vital tasks.
If we do not succeed in bringing the German army as rapidly as possible to the rank of
premier army in the world . . . then Germany will be lost!"[129] and "The nation does not live
for the economy, for economic leaders, or for economic or financial theories; on the contrary,
it is finance and the economy, economic leaders and theories, which all owe unqualified
service in this struggle for the self-assertion of our nation."[122][clarification needed] Documents such
as the Four Year Plan Memo have often been used by right historians such as Henry Ashby
Turner and Karl Dietrich Bracher who argue for a "primacy of politics" approach (that Hitler
was not subordinate to German business, but rather the contrary was the case) against the
"primacy of economics" approach championed by Marxist historians (that Hitler was an
"agent" of and subordinate to German business).[130]
In August 1936, the freelance Nazi diplomat Joachim von Ribbentrop was appointed German
Ambassador to the Embassy of Germany in London at the Court of St. James's. Before
Ribbentrop left to take up his post in October 1936, Hitler told him: "Ribbentrop . . . get
Britain to join the Anti-Comintern Pact, that is what I want most of all. I have sent you as the
best man I've got. Do what you can . . . But if in future all our efforts are still in vain, fair
enough, then I'm ready for war as well. I would regret it very much, but if it has to be, there it
is. But I think it would be a short war and the moment it is over, I will then be ready at any
time to offer the British an honourable peace acceptable to both sides. However, I would then
demand that Britain join the Anti-Comintern Pact or perhaps some other pact. But get on with
it, Ribbentrop, you have the trumps in your hand, play them well. I'm ready at any time for an
air pact as well. Do your best. I will follow your efforts with interest".[131]
The Holocaust
Main article: The Holocaust
An American soldier stands in front of a wagon piled high with corpses outside the
crematorium in the newly liberated Buchenwald concentration camp
One of the foundations of Hitler's social policies was the concept of racial hygiene. It was
based on the ideas of Arthur de Gobineau, a French count; eugenics, a pseudo-science that
advocated racial purity; and social Darwinism. Applied to human beings, "survival of the
fittest" was interpreted as requiring racial purity and killing off "life unworthy of life." The
first victims were children with physical and developmental disabilities; those killings
occurred in a programme dubbed Action T4.[147] After a public outcry, Hitler made a show of
ending this program, but the killings continued (see Nazi eugenics).
Between 1939 and 1945, the SS, assisted by collaborationist governments and recruits from
occupied countries, systematically killed somewhere between 11 and 14 million people,
including about six million Jews,[148][149] in concentration camps, ghettos and mass executions,
or through less systematic methods elsewhere. In addition to those gassed to death, many died
as a result of starvation and disease while working as slave labourers (sometimes benefiting
private German companies). Along with Jews, non-Jewish Poles, Communists and political
opponents, members of resistance groups, homosexuals, Roma, the physically handicapped
and mentally retarded, Soviet prisoners of war (possibly as many as three million), Jehovah's
Witnesses, Adventists, trade unionists, and psychiatric patients were killed. One of the
biggest centres of mass-killing was the industrial extermination camp complex of Auschwitz-
Birkenau. As far as is known, Hitler never visited the concentration camps and did not speak
publicly about the killing in precise terms.[150]
The Holocaust (the "Endlösung der jüdischen Frage" or "Final Solution of the Jewish
Question") was planned and ordered by leading Nazis, with Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard
Heydrich playing key roles. While no specific order from Hitler authorizing the mass killing
has surfaced, there is documentation showing that he approved the Einsatzgruppen killing
squads that followed the German army through Poland and Russia, and that he was kept well
informed about their activities. The evidence also suggests that in the fall of 1941 Himmler
and Hitler decided upon mass extermination by gassing. During interrogations by Soviet
intelligence officers declassified over fifty years later, Hitler's valet Heinz Linge and his
military aide Otto Gunsche said Hitler had "pored over the first blueprints of gas chambers."
His private secretary, Traudl Junge, testified that Hitler knew all about the death camps.[citation
needed]
Göring gave a written authorisation to Heydrich to "make all necessary preparations" for a
"total solution of the Jewish question". To make for smoother cooperation in the
implementation of this "Final Solution", the Wannsee conference was held on 20 January
1942, with fifteen senior officials participating (including Adolf Eichmann) and led by
Reinhard Heydrich. The records of this meeting provide the clearest evidence of planning for
the Holocaust. On 22 February, Hitler was recorded saying to his associates, "we shall regain
our health only by eliminating the Jews".
World War II
Main article: World War II
Early diplomatic triumphs
Alliance with Japan
Main article: German–Japanese relations
Adolf Hitler's face on a German stamp 1944. The country's name has changed to the Greater
German Reich since 1943 and this name can be seen on the stamp.
As part of the anti-British course, it was deemed necessary by Hitler to have Poland either a
satellite state or otherwise neutralized. Hitler believed this necessary both on strategic
grounds as a way of securing the Reich's eastern flank and on economic grounds as a way of
evading the effects of a British blockade.[233] Initially, the German hope was to transform
Poland into a satellite state, but by March 1939 the German demands had been rejected by the
Poles three times, which led Hitler to decide upon the destruction of Poland as the main
German foreign policy goal of 1939.[234] On 3 April 1939, Hitler ordered the military to start
preparing for Fall Weiss (Case White), the plan for a German invasion to be executed on 25
August 1939.[234] In August 1939, Hitler spoke to his generals that his original plan for 1939
had to "... establish an acceptable relationship with Poland in order to fight against the West"
but since the Poles would not co-operate in setting up an "acceptable relationship" (i.e.
becoming a German satellite), he believed he had no choice other than wiping Poland off the
map.[235] The historian Gerhard Weinberg has argued since Hitler's audience comprised men
who were all for the destruction of Poland (anti-Polish feelings were traditionally very strong
in the German Army), but rather less happy about the prospect of war with Britain and
France, if that was the price Germany had to pay for the destruction of Poland, it is quite
likely that Hitler was speaking the truth on this occasion.[235] In his private discussions with
his officials in 1939, Hitler always described Britain as the main enemy that had to be
defeated, and in his view, Poland's obliteration was the necessary prelude to that goal by
securing the eastern flank and helpfully adding to Germany's Lebensraum.[236] Hitler was
much offended by the British "guarantee" of Polish independence issued on 31 March 1939,
and told his associates that "I shall brew them a devil's drink".[237] In a speech in
Wilhelmshaven for the launch of the battleship Tirpitz on 1 April 1939, Hitler threatened to
denounce the Anglo-German Naval Agreement if the British persisted with their
"encirclement" policy as represented by the "guarantee" of Polish independence.[237] As part
of the new course, in a speech before the Reichstag on 28 April 1939, Adolf Hitler,
complaining of British "encirclement" of Germany, renounced both the Anglo-German Naval
Agreement and the German–Polish Non-Aggression Pact.
As a pretext for aggression against Poland, Hitler claimed the Free City of Danzig and the
right for "extra-territorial" roads across the Polish Corridor which Germany had unwillingly
ceded under the Versailles treaty. For Hitler, Danzig was just a pretext for aggression as the
Sudetenland had been intended to be in 1938, and throughout 1939, while highlighting the
Danzig issue as a grievance, the Germans always refused to engage in talks about the matter.
[238]
A notable contradiction existed in Hitler's plans between the long-term anti-British
course, whose major instruments such as a vastly expanded Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe
would take several years to complete, and Hitler's immediate foreign policy in 1939, which
was likely to provoke a general war by engaging in such actions as attacking Poland.[239][240]
Hitler's dilemma between his short-term and long-term goals was resolved by Foreign
Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, who told Hitler that neither Britain nor France would
honour their commitments to Poland, and any German–Polish war would accordingly be a
limited regional war.[241][242] Ribbentrop based his appraisal partly on an alleged statement
made to him by the French Foreign Minister Georges Bonnet in December 1938 that France
now recognized Eastern Europe as Germany's exclusive sphere of influence.[243] In addition,
Ribbentrop's status as the former Ambassador to London made him in Hitler's eyes the
leading Nazi British expert, and as a result, Ribbentrop's advice that Britain would not honour
her commitments to Poland carried much weight with Hitler.[243] Ribbentrop only showed
Hitler diplomatic cables that supported his analysis.[244] In addition, the German Ambassador
in London, Herbert von Dirksen, tended to send reports that supported Ribbentrop's analysis
such as a dispatch in August 1939 that reported British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain
knew "the social structure of Britain, even the conception of the British Empire, would not
survive the chaos of even a victorious war", and so would back down.[242] The extent that
Hitler was influenced by Ribbentrop's advice can be seen in Hitler's orders to the German
military on 21 August 1939 for a limited mobilization against Poland alone.[245] Hitler chose
late August as his date for Fall Weiss in order to limit disruption to German agricultural
production caused by mobilization.[246] The problems caused by the need to begin a campaign
in Poland in late August or early September in order to have the campaign finished before the
October rains arrived, and the need to have sufficient time to concentrate German troops on
the Polish border left Hitler in a self-imposed situation in August 1939 where Soviet co-
operation was absolutely crucial if he were to have a war that year.[246]
The Munich agreement appeared to be sufficient to dispel most of the remaining hold which
the "collective security" idea may have had in Soviet circles,[247] and, on 23 August 1939,
Joseph Stalin accepted Hitler's proposal to conclude a non-aggression pact (the Molotov-
Ribbentrop Pact), whose secret protocols contained an agreement to partition Poland. A
major historical debate about the reasons for Hitler's foreign policy choices in 1939 concerns
whether a structural economic crisis drove Hitler into a "flight into war" as claimed by the
Marxist historian Timothy Mason or whether Hitler's actions were more influenced by non-
economic factors as claimed by the economic historian Richard Overy.[248] Historians such as
William Carr, Gerhard Weinberg and Ian Kershaw have argued that a non-economic reason
for Hitler's rush to war was Hitler's morbid and obsessive fear of an early death, and hence
his feeling that he did not have long to accomplish his work.[134][249][250] In the last days of
peace, Hitler oscillated between the determination to fight the Western powers if he had to,
and various schemes intended to keep Britain out of the war, but in any case, Hitler was not
to be deterred from his aim of invading Poland.[251] Only very briefly, when news of the
Anglo-Polish alliance being signed on 25 August 1939 in response to the German-Soviet
Non-Aggression Pact (instead of the severing of ties between London and Warsaw predicted
by Ribbentrop) together with news from Italy that Mussolini would not honour the Pact of
Steel, caused Hitler to postpone the attack on Poland from 25 August to 1 September.[252]
Hitler chose to spend the last days of peace either trying to manoeuvre the British into
neutrality through his offer of 25 August 1939 to "guarantee" the British Empire, or having
Ribbentrop present a last-minute peace plan to Henderson with an impossibly short time limit
for its acceptance as part of an effort to blame the war on the British and Poles.[253][254] On 1
September 1939, Germany invaded western Poland. Britain and France declared war on
Germany on 3 September but did not immediately act. Hitler was most unpleasantly surprised
at receiving the British declaration of war on 3 September 1939, and turning to Ribbentrop
angrily asked "Now what?"[255] Ribbentrop had nothing to say other than that Robert
Coulondre, the French Ambassador, would probably be by later that day to present the French
declaration of war.[255] Not long after this, on 17 September, Soviet forces invaded eastern
Poland.[256]
Members of the Reichstag greet Hitler in October 1939 after the conclusion of the Polish
campaign
Adolf Hitler in Reichstag during his speech against Franklin D. Roosevelt. 11 December
1941.
The destroyed 'Wolf's Lair' barracks after the 20 July 1944 plot
In late 1942, German forces were defeated in the second battle of El Alamein, thwarting
Hitler's plans to seize the Suez Canal and the Middle East. In February 1943, the Battle of
Stalingrad ended with the destruction of the German 6th Army. Thereafter came the Battle of
Kursk. Hitler's military judgment became increasingly erratic, and Germany's military and
economic position deteriorated along with Hitler's health, as indicated by his left hand's
severe trembling. Hitler's biographer Ian Kershaw and others believe that he may have
suffered from Parkinson's disease.[270] Syphilis has also been suspected as a cause of at least
some of his symptoms, although the evidence is slight.[271]
Following the allied invasion of Sicily (Operation Husky) in 1943, Mussolini was deposed by
Pietro Badoglio, who surrendered to the Allies. Throughout 1943 and 1944, the Soviet Union
steadily forced Hitler's armies into retreat along the Eastern Front. On 6 June 1944, the
Western Allied armies landed in northern France in what was one of the largest amphibious
operations in history, Operation Overlord. Realists in the German army knew defeat was
inevitable, and some plotted to remove Hitler from power.
Attempted assassination
In July 1944, as part of Operation Valkyrie in what became known as the 20 July plot, Claus
von Stauffenberg planted a bomb in Hitler's headquarters, the Wolfsschanze (Wolf's Lair) at
Rastenburg. Hitler narrowly escaped death. He ordered savage reprisals, resulting in the
executions of more than 4,900 people,[272] sometimes by starvation in solitary confinement
followed by slow strangulation. The main resistance movement was destroyed, although
smaller isolated groups continued to operate.
Defeat and death
Main article: Death of Adolf Hitler
By late 1944, the Red Army had driven the Germans back into Central Europe and the
Western Allies were advancing into Germany. Hitler realized that Germany had lost the war,
but allowed no retreats. He hoped to negotiate a separate peace with America and Britain, a
hope buoyed by the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt on 12 April 1945.[273][274][275][276] Hitler's
stubbornness and defiance of military realities allowed the Holocaust to continue. He ordered
the complete destruction of all German industrial infrastructure before it could fall into Allied
hands, saying that Germany's failure to win the war forfeited its right to survive.[277] Rather,
Hitler decided that the entire nation should go down with him. Execution of this scorched
earth plan was entrusted to arms minister Albert Speer, who disobeyed the order.[277]
In April 1945, Soviet forces attacked the outskirts of Berlin. Hitler's followers urged him to
flee to the mountains of Bavaria to make a last stand in the National Redoubt. But Hitler was
determined to either live or die in the capital.
On 20 April, Hitler celebrated his 56th birthday in the Führerbunker ("Führer's shelter")
below the Reichskanzlei (Reich Chancellery). Elsewhere, the garrison commander of the
besieged Festung Breslau ("fortress Breslau"), General Hermann Niehoff, had chocolates
distributed to his troops in honour of Hitler's birthday.[278]
By 21 April, Georgi Zhukov's 1st Belorussian Front had broken through the defences of
German General Gotthard Heinrici's Army Group Vistula during the Battle of the Seelow
Heights. The Soviets were now advancing towards Hitler's bunker with little to stop them.
Ignoring the facts, Hitler saw salvation in the ragtag units commanded by Waffen SS General
Felix Steiner. Steiner's command became known as Armeeabteilung Steiner ("Army
Detachment Steiner"). But "Army Detachment Steiner" existed primarily on paper. It was
something more than a corps but less than an army. Hitler ordered Steiner to attack the
northern flank of the huge salient created by the breakthrough of Zhukov's 1st Belorussian
Front. Meanwhile, the German Ninth Army, which had been pushed south of the salient, was
ordered to attack north in a pincer attack.
Late on 21 April, Heinrici called Hans Krebs, chief of the Oberkommando des Heeres
(Supreme Command of the Army or OKH), and told him that Hitler's plan could not be
implemented. Heinrici asked to speak to Hitler but was told by Krebs that Hitler was too busy
to take his call.
On 22 April, during one of his last military conferences, Hitler interrupted the report to ask
what had happened to Steiner's offensive. There was a long silence. Then Hitler was told that
the attack had never been launched, and that the withdrawal from Berlin of several units for
Steiner's army, on Hitler's orders, had so weakened the front that the Russians had broken
through into Berlin. Hitler asked everyone except Wilhelm Keitel, Hans Krebs, Alfred Jodl,
Wilhelm Burgdorf, and Martin Bormann to leave the room,[279] and launched a tirade against
the perceived treachery and incompetence of his commanders. This culminated in an oath to
stay in Berlin, head up the defence of the city, and shoot himself at the end.[280]
Before the day ended, Hitler again found salvation in a new plan that included General
Walther Wenck's Twelfth Army.[281] This new plan had Wenck turn his army – currently
facing the Americans to the west – and attack towards the east to relieve Berlin.[281] Twelfth
Army was to link up with Ninth Army and break through to the city. Wenck did attack and, in
the confusion, made temporary contact with the Potsdam garrison. But the link with the Ninth
Army, like the plan in general, was ultimately unsuccessful.[282]
On 23 April, Joseph Goebbels made the following proclamation to the people of Berlin:
I call on you to fight for your city. Fight with everything you have got, for the sake of your
wives and your children, your mothers and your parents. Your arms are defending everything
we have ever held dear, and all the generations that will come after us. Be proud and
courageous! Be inventive and cunning! Your Gauleiter is amongst you. He and his
colleagues will remain in your midst. His wife and children are here as well. He, who once
captured the city with 200 men, will now use every means to galvanize the defence of the
capital. The Battle for Berlin must become the signal for the whole nation to rise up in
battle ...[279]
The same day, Göring sent a telegram from Berchtesgaden in Bavaria. Göring argued that,
since Hitler was cut off in Berlin, he should assume leadership of Germany as Hitler's
designated successor. Göring mentioned a time limit after which he would consider Hitler
incapacitated.[283] Hitler responded, in anger, by having Göring arrested. Later when Hitler
wrote his will on 29 April, Göring was removed from all his positions in the government.[283]
[284][285]
Further on the 23 April, Hitler appointed General der Artillerie Helmuth Weidling as
the commander of the Berlin Defense Area. Weidling replaced Lieutenant General
(Generalleutnant) Helmuth Reymann and Colonel (Oberst) Ernst Kaether. Hitler also
appointed Waffen SS General (SS Brigadeführer) Wilhelm Mohnke the (Kommandant)
Battle Commander for the defence of the government district (Zitadelle sector) that included
the Reich Chancellery and Führerbunker.[286]
By the end of the day on 27 April, Berlin was completely cut off from the rest of Germany.
On 28 April, Hitler discovered that SS leader Heinrich Himmler was trying to discuss
surrender terms with the Western Allies (through the Swedish diplomat Count Folke
Bernadotte).[287] Hitler ordered Himmler's arrest and had Hermann Fegelein (Himmler's
representative for the SS at Hitler's HQ in Berlin) shot.[284][288]
Outside the building in Braunau am Inn, Austria where Adolf Hitler was born is a memorial
stone warning of the horrors of World War II
Hitler, the Nazi Party and the results of Nazism are typically regarded as gravely immoral.[302]
Historians, philosophers, and politicians have often applied the word evil in both a secular[303]
and a religious[citation needed] sense. Historical and cultural portrayals of Hitler in the west are
overwhelmingly condemnatory. Holocaust denial, along with the display of Nazi symbols
such as swastikas, is prohibited in Germany and Austria.
Outside of Hitler's birthplace in Braunau am Inn, Austria, the Memorial Stone Against War
and Fascism is engraved with the following message:
FÜR FRIEDEN FREIHEIT
UND DEMOKRATIE
NIE WIEDER FASCHISMUS
MILLIONEN TOTE MAHNEN
Loosely translated it reads: "For peace, freedom // and democracy // never again fascism //
millions of dead remind [us]"[clarification needed]
Some people have referred to Hitler's legacy in neutral or favourable terms. Former Egyptian
President Anwar El Sadat spoke of his 'admiration' of Hitler in 1953, when he was a young
man, though it is possible he was speaking in the context of a rebellion against the British
Empire.[304] Louis Farrakhan has referred to him as a "very great man".[305] Bal Thackeray,
leader of the right-wing Hindu Shiv Sena party in the Indian state of the Maharashtra,
declared in 1995 that he was an admirer of Hitler.[306] Friedrich Meinecke, the German
historian, said of Hitler's life that "it is one of the great examples of the singular and
incalculable power of personality in historical life".[307]
Religious views
Main article: Adolf Hitler's religious views
Hitler was raised by Roman Catholic parents, but after he left home, he never attended Mass
or received the sacraments.[308] Hitler favoured aspects of Protestantism if they were more
suitable to his own objectives. At the same time, he adopted some elements of the Catholic
Church's hierarchical organization, liturgy and phraseology in his politics.[309][310] After he had
moved to Germany, where the Catholic and the Protestant church are largely financed
through a church tax collected by the state, Hitler never "actually left his church or refused to
pay church taxes. In a nominal sense therefore," the historian Steigmann-Gall (whose views
on Christianity and Nazism are admittedly outside the consensus) states, Hitler "can be
classified as Catholic."[311] Yet, as Steigmann-Gall has also pointed out in the debate about
religion in Nazi Germany: "Nominal church membership is a very unreliable gauge of actual
piety in this context."[312]
In public, Hitler often praised Christian heritage, German Christian culture, and professed a
belief in an Aryan Jesus Christ, a Jesus who fought against the Jews.[313] In his speeches and
publications Hitler spoke of his interpretation of Christianity as a central motivation for his
antisemitism, stating that "As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I
have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice."[314][315] His private statements, as reported
by his intimates, show Hitler as critical of traditional Christianity, considering it a religion fit
only for slaves; he admired the power of Rome but had severe hostility towards its teaching.
[316]
Here Hitler's attack on Catholicism "resonated Streicher's contention that the Catholic
establishment was allying itself with the Jews."[317] In light of these private statements, for
John S. Conway and many other historians it is beyond doubt that Hitler held a "fundamental
antagonism" towards the Christian churches.[318] The various accounts of Hitler's private
statements vary strongly in their reliability; most importantly, Hermann Rauschning's Hitler
speaks is considered by most historians to be an invention.[319][320]
In the political relations with the churches in Germany however, Hitler readily adopted a
strategy "that suited his immediate political purposes".[318] Hitler had a general plan, even
before the rise of the Nazis to power, to destroy Christianity within the Reich.[321][322][323] The
leader of the Hitler Youth stated "the destruction of Christianity was explicitly recognized as
a purpose of the National Socialist movement" from the start, but "considerations of
expedience made it impossible" publicly to express this extreme position.[321] His intention
was to wait until the war was over to destroy the influence of Christianity.[316]
Hitler for a time advocated for Germans a form of the Christian faith he called "Positive
Christianity",[324][325] a belief system purged of what he objected to in orthodox Christianity,
and featuring added racist elements. By 1940 however, it was public knowledge that Hitler
had abandoned advocating for Germans even the syncretist idea of a positive Christianty.[326]
Hitler maintained that the "terrorism in religion is, to put it briefly, of a Jewish dogma, which
Christianity has universalized and whose effect is to sow trouble and confusion in men's
minds."[327]
Hitler once stated, "We do not want any other god than Germany itself. It is essential to have
fanatical faith and hope and love in and for Germany."[328]
Attitude to occultism
Some writers believe that, in contrast to some Nazi ideologues, Hitler did not adhere to
esoteric ideas, occultism, or Ariosophy.[316] Hitler ridiculed such beliefs in Mein Kampf.[324][329]
Nevertheless, other writers believe the young Hitler was strongly influenced, particularly in
his racial views, by an abundance of occult works on the mystical superiority of the Germans,
such as the occult and anti-semitic magazine Ostara, and give credence to the claim of its
publisher Lanz von Liebenfels that Hitler visited Liebenfels in 1909 and praised his work.[330]
The historians are still divided on the question of the reliability of Lanz' claim of a contact
with Hitler.[331] Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke considers his account reliable, Brigitte Hamann
leaves the question open and Ian Kershaw is extremely sceptical.[332]
Health
Hitler's health has long been the subject of debate. He has variously been said to have had
irritable bowel syndrome, skin lesions, irregular heartbeat, Parkinson's disease,[271] syphilis,
[271]
Asperger syndrome[333][334] and a strongly suggested addiction to methamphetamine.[citation
needed]
He had problems with his teeth and his personal dentist Hugo Blaschke stated that he
fitted a large dental bridge to his upper jaw in 1933 and that on 10 November 1944 he carried
out surgery to cut off part of the left rear section of the bridge that was causing an infection of
his gums. He was also suffering from a sinus infection.[335]
After the early 1930s, Hitler generally followed a vegetarian diet, although he ate meat on
occasion. There are reports of him disgusting his guests by giving them graphic accounts of
the slaughter of animals in an effort to make them shun meat.[336] A fear of cancer (from
which his mother died) is the most widely cited reason, though many authors[who?] also assert
Hitler had a profound and deep love of animals.[citation needed] Martin Bormann had a greenhouse
constructed for him near the Berghof (near Berchtesgaden) to ensure a steady supply of fresh
fruit and vegetables for Hitler throughout the war.
Hitler was a non-smoker and promoted aggressive anti-smoking campaigns throughout
Germany. (See Anti-tobacco movement in Nazi Germany).[337]
Syphilis
Hitler's tremors and irregular heartbeat during the last years of his life could have been
symptoms of tertiary (late stage) syphilis,[338] which would mean he had a syphilis infection
for many years. Along with another doctor, Theodor Morell diagnosed the symptoms as such
by early 1945 in a joint report to SS head Heinrich Himmler.[338] Some historians have also
cited Hitler's preoccupation with syphilis across 14 pages of Mein Kampf, where he called it a
"Jewish disease", leading to speculation he may have had the disease himself. His possible
discovery in 1908 that he himself had the disease may have been responsible for his
demeanor; while his life course may have been influenced by his anger at being a syphilitic,
as well as his belief that he had acquired the disease from undesirable societal elements
which he intended to eliminate. In several chapters of Mein Kampf, he wrote about the
temptation of prostitution and the spreading of syphilis, specifically volume 1, chapter 10
"Causes of the Collapse".[339] Historians have speculated he may have caught the affliction
from a German prostitute at a time when the disease was not yet treatable by modern
antibiotics, which would also explain his avoidance of normal sexual relations with women.
However, syphilis had become curable in 1910 with Dr. Paul Ehrlich's introduction of the
drug Salvarsan.
No pictures exist of Hitler revealing any portion of his torso.[citation needed] Deborah Hayden[340]
has written extensively regarding Hitler and syphilis[vague].[341][342]
Since the 1870s, however, it was a common rhetorical practice on the völkisch right to
associate Jews with diseases such as syphilis. Historian Robert Waite claims Hitler tested
negative on a Wassermann test as late as 1939, which does not prove that he did not have the
disease, because the Wassermann test was prone to false-negative results. Regardless of
whether he actually had syphilis or not, Hitler lived in constant fear of the disease, and took
treatment for it no matter what doctors told him.[338]
In his biography of Doctor Felix Kersten called The Man with the Miraculous Hands,[343]
journalist and Académie française member Joseph Kessel wrote that in the winter of 1942,
Kersten heard of Hitler's medical condition. Consulted by his patient, Himmler, as to whether
he could "assist a man who suffers from severe headaches, dizziness and insomnia," Kersten
was shown a top-secret 26-page report. It detailed how Hitler had contracted syphilis in his
youth and was treated for it at a hospital in Pasewalk, Germany. However, in 1937,
symptoms re-appeared, showing that the disease was still active, and by the start of 1942,
signs were evident that progressive syphilitic paralysis (Tabes dorsalis) was occurring.
Himmler advised Kersten that Morell (who in the 1930s claimed to be a specialist
venereologist) was in charge of Hitler's treatment, and that it was a state secret. The book also
relates how Kersten learned from Himmler's secretary, Rudolf Brandt, that at that time,
probably the only other people privy to the report's information were Nazi Party chairman
Martin Bormann and Hermann Göring, the head of the Luftwaffe.
Monorchism
See also: Hitler's possible monorchism
It has been alleged that Hitler had monorchism, the medical condition of having only one
testicle. Hitler's personal doctor, Johan Jambor, supposedly described the dictator's condition
to a priest who later wrote down what he had been told in a document which was uncovered
in 2008, 23 years after the doctor's death.[344]
Soviet doctor Lev Bezymensky, allegedly involved in the Soviet autopsy, stated in a 1967
book that Hitler's left testicle was missing. Bezymensky later admitted that the claim was
falsified.[345] Hitler was routinely examined by many doctors throughout his childhood,
military service and later political career, and no clinical mention of any such condition has
ever been discovered. Records do show he was wounded in 1916 during the Battle of the
Somme, and some sources describe his injury as a wound to the groin.
Parkinson's disease
It has also been speculated Hitler had Parkinson's disease.[346] Newsreels of Hitler show he
had tremors in his hand and a shuffling walk (also a symptom of tertiary syphilis, see above)
which began before the war and continued to worsen until the end of his life. Morell treated
Hitler with a drug agent that was commonly used in 1945, although Morell is viewed as an
unreliable doctor by most historians and any diagnoses he may have made are subject to
doubt.
A more reliable doctor, Ernst-Günther Schenck, who worked at an emergency casualty
station in the Reich Chancellery during April 1945, also claimed Hitler might have
Parkinson's disease. However, Schenck only saw Hitler briefly on two occasions and, by his
own admission, was extremely exhausted and dazed during these meetings (at the time, he
had been in surgery for numerous days without much sleep). Also, some of Schenck's
opinions were based on hearsay from Dr. Haase.
Other complaints
From the 1930s he suffered from stomach pains, in 1936 a non cancerous polyp was removed
from his throat and he developed eczema on his legs.[347] He suffered ruptured eardrums as a
result of the July 20 plot bomb blast in 1944 and 200 wood splinters had to be removed from
his legs,[348] but he was otherwise uninjured. Some doctors dismiss Hitler's ailments as
hypochondria, pointing out the apparently drastic decline of Hitler's health as Germany began
losing World War II.
Mental health
This section contains close paraphrasing of one or more non-free copyrighted
sources. Ideas in this article should be expressed in an original manner. See the talk
page for details. (March 2010)
Hitler's mental health is a minefield of theories, speculation and conjecture. This topic is very
controversial, as many believe that if a psychological cause can be found for Hitler's
behavior, there would be more reasoning behind his actions.
Waite, who wrote an extensive psychohistory of Hitler, concluded that he suffered from
borderline personality disorder, which manifested its symptoms in numerous ways and would
imply Hitler was in full control of himself and his actions. Others have proposed Hitler may
have been schizophrenic[citation needed], based on claims that he was hallucinating and delusional
during his last year of life. Others believe that Hitler had a mental disorder and was not
schizophrenic nor bipolar, but rather met the criteria for both disorders, and was therefore
most likely a schizoaffective.[citation needed] If true, this might be explained by a series of brief
reactive psychoses in a narcissistic personality which could not withstand being confronted
with reality (in this case, that he was not the "savior of Germany" he envisioned himself to
be, as his plans and early achievements collapsed about him). In addition, his regular
methamphetamine use and possible sleep deprivation in the last period of his life must be
factored into any speculation as to the cause of his possible psychotic symptoms, as these two
activities are known to trigger psychotic reactions in some individuals. Hitler never visited a
psychiatrist, and under current methodology, any such diagnosis is speculation.
Addiction to amphetamine
Hitler began using amphetamine occasionally after 1937 and became addicted to
amphetamine after the late summer of 1942.[349] Albert Speer stated he thought this was the
most likely cause of the later rigidity of Hitler’s decision making (never allowing military
retreats).[350]
Historians' views
In a 1980 article, the German historian Hans-Ulrich Wehler dismissed theories that sought to
explain Nazi Germany as due to some defect, medical or otherwise in Hitler. In his opinion,
besides the problem that such theories about Hitler's medical condition were extremely
difficult to prove, they had the effect of personalizing the phenomena of Nazi Germany by
attributing everything that happened in the Third Reich to one flawed individual.[266] The
British historian Sir Ian Kershaw agreed that it was better to take a broader view of German
history by seeking to examine what social forces led to the Third Reich and its policies, as
opposed to the "personalized" explanations for the Holocaust and World War II.[266]
Sexuality
Hitler with his long-time mistress Eva Braun, whom he married 29 April 1945
Main article: Sexuality of Adolf Hitler
Hitler presented himself publicly as a man without a domestic life, dedicated entirely to his
political mission.
He had a fiancée in the 1920s, Mimi Reiter, and later had a mistress, Eva Braun. He had a
close bond with his half-niece Geli Raubal, which some commentators have claimed was
sexual, though there is no evidence that proves this.[351] All three women attempted suicide
(two succeeded), a fact that has led to speculation that Hitler may have had sexual fetishes,
[clarification needed]
such as urolagnia (aroused by urine or urination), as was claimed by Otto
Strasser, a political opponent of Hitler. Reiter, the only one to survive the Nazi regime,
denied this.[352] Some theorists have claimed that Hitler had a relationship with British fascist
Unity Mitford.[353] Lothar Machtan argues in The Hidden Hitler that Hitler was homosexual.
[354]
Family
Main article: Hitler (disambiguation)
Paula Hitler, the last living member of Adolf Hitler's immediate family, died in 1960.
The most prominent and longest-living direct descendant of Adolf Hitler's father, Alois, was
Adolf's nephew William Patrick Hitler. With his wife Phyllis, he eventually moved to Long
Island, New York, changed his last name, and had four sons. None of William Hitler's
children have had any children of their own.
Over the years, various investigative reporters have attempted to track down other distant
relatives of the Führer. Many are now alleged to be living inconspicuous lives and have long
since changed their last name.
Adolf Hitler's genealogy
• Klara Hitler, mother
• Alois Hitler, father
• Alois Hitler, Jr., half-brother
• Angela Hitler Raubal, half-sister
• Bridget Dowling, sister-in-law
• Eva Braun, mistress and then wife
• Geli Raubal, niece
• Gretl Braun, sister-in-law through Hitler's marriage to Eva Braun
• Heinz Hitler, nephew
• Hermann Fegelein, brother-in-law through Hitler's marriage to Eva Braun
• Ilse Braun, sister-in-law through Hitler's marriage to Eva Braun
• Johann Georg Hiedler, presumed grandfather
• Johann Nepomuk Hiedler, maternal great-grandfather, presumed great uncle and
possibly Hitler's true paternal grandfather
• Leo Raubal Jr, nephew
• Maria Schicklgruber, grandmother
• Paula Hitler, sister
• William Patrick Hitler, nephew
Hitler in media
References
• Bloch, Michael (1992), Ribbentrop, New York: Crown Publishing, ISBN 0517593106
• Bullock, A. (1962), Hitler: A Study in Tyranny, Penguin Books, ISBN 0140135642
• Butler, Ewan; Young, Gordon (1989), The Life and Death of Hermann Goering, David &
Charles, ISBN 071539455X
• Carr, William (1972), Arms, Autarky and Aggression, London: Edward Arnold,
ISBN 9780713156683
• Conway, John S. (1968), The Nazi Persecution of the Churches 1933–45,
ISBN 0297763156
• Cornish, Kimberley (1999), The Jew of Linz: Hitler, Wittgenstein and their secret battle
for the mind, ISBN 0712679359
• Crozier, Andrew (1988), Appeasement and Germany's Last Bid for Colonies, London:
Macmillan Press, ISBN 0312015461
• Dawidowicz, Lucy (1976), A Holocaust Reader, New York: Behrman House,
ISBN 0874412196
• Dawidowicz, Lucy (1986), The War Against the Jews, Bantam Books,
ISBN 0874412226
• Doerr, Paul (1998), British Foreign Policy, Manchester: Manchester University Press,
ISBN 0719046726
• Dollinger, Hans (1995-03-28), The Decline and Fall of Nazi Germany and Imperial
Japan, Gramercy, ISBN 0517123991
• Fest, Joachim C. (1970), The Face Of The Third Reich, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson,
ISBN 0297179497
• Fest, Joachim C. (1974), Hitler, New York: Harcourt Trade Publishers,
ISBN 0745639186
• Fischer, Thomas. Soldiers Of the Leibstandarte. J.J. Fedorowicz Publishing, Inc. 2008.
ISBN 978-0-921991-91-5.
• Haffner, Sebastian (1979), The Meaning of Hitler, Harvard University Press,
ISBN 067455776X
• Hakim, Joy (1995), A History of Us: War, Peace and all that Jazz, New York: Oxford
University Press, ISBN 0-19-509514-6
• Halperin, S. William (1965) [1946], Germany Tried Democracy: A Political History of
the Reich from 1918 to 1933, The Norton Library, ISBN 0-393-00280-2
• Hamann, Brigitte; Thornton, Thomas (1999), Hitler's Vienna. A dictator's apprenticeship,
Oxford University Press, ISBN 0195125371
• Hildebrand, Klaus (1973), The Foreign Policy of the Third Reich, London: Batsford
• Hitler, Adolf; Norman Hepburn Baynes (1942), The Speeches of Adolf Hitler, April 1922
– August 1939, London: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-598-75893-3
• Hitler, Adolf; Raoul Jean Jacques Francois De Roussy De Sales, ed (1973), My New
Order, Octagon Books, ISBN 0-374-93918-7
• Hitler, Adolf (15 September), Mein Kampf, Mariner Books, ISBN 0395925037
• Joachimsthaler, Anton (1999), The Last Days of Hitler – The Legends – The Evidence –
The Truth, Brockhampton Press, ISBN 1-86019-902-X
• Kee, Robert (1988), Munich, London: Hamish Hamilton, ISBN 0241125375
• Keegan, John (1987), The Mask of Command: A Study of Generalship, Pimlico (Random
House), ISBN 0712665269
• Keegan, John (1989), The Second World War, Glenfield, New Zealand: Hutchinson,
ISBN 0681970626
• Kershaw, Ian (1999), Hitler: 1889–1936: Hubris, New York: W. W. Norton & Company,
ISBN 0393046710
• Kershaw, Ian (2000a), The Nazi Dictatorship: Problems and Perspectives of
Interpretation (4th ed.), London: Arnold, ISBN 0340760281
• Kershaw, Ian (2000b), Hitler, 1936–1945: Nemesis, New York; London: W. W. Norton
& Company, ISBN 0393322521
• Kurowski, Franz (2005), The Brandenburger Commandos: Germany's Elite Warrior
Spies in World War II, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Book, ISBN 13: 978-
08117-3250-5, 10: 0-8117-3250-9
• Langer, Walter C. (1972), The Mind of Adolf Hitler, New York: Basic Books,
ISBN 0465046207
• Lewis, David (2003), The Man who invented Hitler, Hodder Headline, ISBN 0-7553-
1148-5
• Machtan, Lothar (2001), The Hidden Hitler, New York: Basic Books, ISBN 0-465-
04308-9
• Marrus, Michael (2000), The Holocaust in History, Toronto: Key Porter,
ISBN 0299234045
• Murray, Williamson (1984), The Change in the European Balance of Power, Princeton:
Princeton University Press, ISBN 0691054134
• Overy, Richard; Wheatcroft, Andrew (1989), The Road To War, London: Macmillan,
ISBN 0-14-028530-X
• Overy, Richard (2005), The Dictators: Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia, Penguin Books,
ISBN 0393020304
• Payne, Robert (1990), The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler, New York, New York:
Hippocrene Books, ISBN 0880294027
• Rees, Laurence (1997), The Nazis: A Warning From History, New York: New Press,
ISBN 0563387041
• Rißmann, Michael (2001) (in (German)), Hitlers Gott. Vorsehungsglaube und
Sendungsbewußtsein des deutschen Diktators, Zürich München: Pendo, ISBN 3-85842-
421-8
• Roberts, Andrew (1991), The Holy Fox, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson,
ISBN 0297811339
• Robertson, E.M. (1963), Hitler's Pre-War Policy and Military Plans, London: Longmans
• Röpke, Wilhelm (1946), The Solution to the German Problem, G. P. Putnam's Sons
• Rosenbaum, R. (1998), Explaining Hitler: The Search for the Origins of his Evil,
Macmillan Publishers, ISBN 006095339X
• Shirer, William L. (1990 reprint), The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, Simon &
Schuster, ISBN 0-671-72868-7
• Speer, Albert (2003), Inside the Third Reich, Weidenfeld & Nicolson History, ISBN 1-
842-127357
• Steigmann-Gall, Richard (2003), The Holy Reich: Nazi Conceptions of Christianity,
1919–1945, Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press,
doi:10.2277/0521823714, ISBN 0521823714
• Strobl, Gerwin (2000), The Germanic Isle, Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge
University Press, ISBN 0521782651
• Toland, John (1991 reprint), Adolf Hitler: The Definitive Biography, Doubleday,
ISBN 0385420536
• Tooze, Adam (2006), The Wages of Destruction, New York: Viking Press,
ISBN 0670038261
• Waite, Robert G. L. (1993), The Psychopathic God: Adolf Hitler, Da Capo Press, ISBN 0-
306-80514-6
• Weinberg, Gerhard (1970), The Foreign Policy of Hitler's Germany Diplomatic
Revolution in Europe 1933–1936, Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press,
ISBN 0226885097
• Weinberg, Gerhard (1980), The Foreign Policy of Hitler's Germany Starting World War
II, Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0226885119
• Wheeler-Bennett, John (1967), The Nemesis of Power, London: Macmillan,
ISBN 1403918120
Further reading
• Hant, Claus (2010), Young Hitler, Quartet Books Publishing, ISBN 978-0704371828
• Murray, Henry A. (1943), Analysis of the Personality of Adolph Hitler: With
Predictions of His Future Behavior and Suggestions for Dealing with Him Now and
After Germany's Surrender,
http://library.lawschool.cornell.edu/WhatWeHave/SpecialCollections/Donovan/Hitler
/index.cfm
• O'Donnell, James (1978), The Bunker, New York: Da Capo Press, ISBN 0-306-
80958-3
Medical books
• Bezymenski, L. (1968), The Death of Adolf Hitler: Unknown Documents from Soviet
Archives, Harcourt Brace, ISBN 0-7181-0634-2
• Doyle, D. (2005), Hitler's Medical Care,
http://www.rcpe.ac.uk/publications/articles/journal_35_1/Hitler's_medical_care.pdf
• Heston, L. (1980), The Medical Casebook of Adolf Hitler: His Illnesses, Doctors, and
Drugs, Stein & Day, ISBN 0-8128-2718-X
• Heston, L. (2000), The Medical Casebook of Adolf Hitler, Cooper Square Press,
ISBN 0-8154-1066-2
• Heston, L. (1999), Adolf Hitler: A Medical Descent That Changed History His Drug
Abuse, Doctors, Illnesses, Baypoint Press, ISBN 0-9665852-9-1
• Morell, Dr. Theodore; et al. (1983), Adolf Hitler : The Secret Diaries of Hitler's
Doctor, Focal Point Publications, ISBN 0-283-98981-5,
http://www.fpp.co.uk/books/Morell/Morell.zip
• Schwaab, E. (1992), Hitler's Mind: A Plunge into Madness, Praeger Publishers,
ISBN 0-275-94132-9
• Victor, G. (1999), Hitler: The Pathology of Evil, Potomac Books, ISBN 1-57488-228-
7
• Zalampas, S. (1990), Adolf Hitler: A Psychological Interpretation of His Views on
Architecture Art and Music, Bowling Green State University Popular Press, ISBN 0-
87972-488-9
External links
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Ashoka
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
"Asoka" redirects here. For other uses, see Ashoka (disambiguation).
Mauryan Samrat
A Chakravatin (possibly Ashoka) 1st century BC/CE.
Andhra Pradesh, Amaravati. Preserved at Musee Guimet
Reign 273-232 BC
Coronation 270 BC
Born 304 BC
Place of
Pataliputra, Patna
death
Predecessor Bindusara
Rani Tishyaraksha
Wives Rani Padmavati
Rani Kaurwaki
Father Bindusara
Religious
Buddhism, Humanism
beliefs
Ashoka (Devanāgarī: अशोक, IAST: Aśoka, IPA: [aˈɕoːkə], 304–232 BC), popularly known
as Ashoka the Great, was an Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty who ruled almost all of
the Indian subcontinent from 269 BC to 232 BC. One of India's greatest emperors, Ashoka
reigned over most of present-day India after a number of military conquests. His empire
stretched from present-day Pakistan, Afghanistan in the west, to the present-day Bangladesh
and the Indian state of Assam in the east, and as far south as northern Kerala and Andhra. He
conquered the kingdom named Kalinga, which no one in his dynasty had conquered starting
from Chandragupta Maurya. His reign was headquartered in Magadha (present-day Bihar,
India).[1] He embraced Buddhism from the prevalent Vedic tradition after witnessing the mass
deaths of the war of Kalinga, which he himself had waged out of a desire for conquest. He
was later dedicated to the propagation of Buddhism across Asia and established monuments
marking several significant sites in the life of Gautama Buddha. Ashoka was a devotee of
ahimsa (nonviolence), love, truth, tolerance and vegetarianism. Ashoka is remembered in
history as a philanthropic administrator. In the history of India Ashoka is referred to as
Samraat Chakravartin Ashoka- the Emperor of Emperors Ashoka.
His name "aśoka" means "without sorrow" in Sanskrit (a= no/without, soka= sorrow or
worry). In his edicts, he is referred to as Devānāmpriya (Devanāgarī:
देवानािपय)/Devānaṃpiya or "The Beloved Of The Gods", and Priyadarśin (Devanāgarī:
िपयदशी)/Piyadassī or "He who regards everyone with affection". Another title of his is
Dhamma (prakrit: धममः), "Lawful, Religious, Righteous".
Renowned British author and social critic H. G. Wells in his bestselling two-volume work,
The Outline of History (1920), wrote of emperor Ashoka:
In the history of the world there have been thousands of kings and emperors who called
themselves 'their highnesses,' 'their majesties,' and 'their exalted majesties' and so on. They
shone for a brief moment, and as quickly disappeared. But Ashoka shines and shines brightly
like a bright star, even unto this day.
Along with the Edicts of Ashoka, his legend is related in the later 2nd century
Aśokāvadāna ("Narrative of Asoka") and Divyāvadāna ("Divine narrative"), and in the
Sri Lankan text Mahavamsa ("Great Chronicle").
After two thousand years, the influence of Ashoka is seen in Asia and especially the Indian
subcontinent. An emblem excavated from his empire is today the national Emblem of India.
In the History of Buddhism Ashoka is considered just after Gautama Buddha.
Contents
[show]
• 1
Biogra
phy
○ 1
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• 2
Histori
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• 3
Import
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Ashok
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• 4
Contri
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○ 4
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○ 4
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C
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• 5
Quotati
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○ 5
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• 6
Ashok
a
Today
○ 6
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1
I
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a
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○ 6
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2
I
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u
r
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• 7
Gallery
• 8 See
also
• 9
Source
s
• 10
Notes
• 11
Extern
al links
Biography
Early life
This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be
challenged and removed. (January 2009)
Ashoka was born to the Mauryan emperor Bindusara and his Queen 'Dharma' (although she
was a Brahmin or Shubhadrangi, she was undervalued as she wasn't of royal blood). Ashoka
had several elder siblings (all half-brothers from other wives of Bindusara). He had just one
younger sibling, Vitthashoka (a much loved brother from the same mother). Because of his
exemplary intellect and warrior skills, he was said to have been the favorite of his grandfather
Chandragupta Maurya. As the legend goes, when Chandragupta Maurya left his empire for a
Jain living, he threw his sword away. Ashoka found the sword and kept it, in spite of his
grandfather's warning. Ashoka, in his adolescence, was rude and naughty. He was a fearsome
hunter. He was a kshatriya and was given all royal military trainings and other Vedic
knowledge. According to a legend, he killed a Lion with just a wooden rod. Ashoka was very
well known for his sword fighting. He was very adventurous and this made him a terrific
fighter. Ashoka was a frightening warrior and a heartless general. Because of this quality he
was sent to destroy the riot of Avanti.
Rise to Power
Maurya Empire at the age of Ashoka. The empire stretched from Iran to Bangladesh/Assam
and from Central Asia (Afganistan) to Tamil Nadu/South India.
Developing into an impeccable warrior general and a shrewd statesman, Ashoka went on to
command several regiments of the Mauryan army. His growing popularity across the empire
made his elder brothers wary of his chances of being favored by Bindusara to become the
next emperor. The eldest of them, Susima, the traditional heir to the throne, persuaded
Bindusara to send Ashoka to quell an uprising in Taxshila, a city in the north-west District of
Pakistani Punjab region, for which Prince Susima was the Governor. Taxshila was a highly
volatile place because of the war-like Indo-Greek population and mismanagement by Susima
himself. This had led to the formation of different militias causing unrest. Ashoka complied
and left for the troubled area. As news of Ashoka's visit with his army trickled in, he was
welcomed by the revolting militias and the uprising ended without a conflict. (The province
revolted once more during the rule of Ashoka, but this time the uprising was crushed with an
iron fist)
Ashoka's success made his stepbrothers more wary of his intentions of becoming the emperor
and more incitements from Susima led Bindusara to send Ashoka into exile. He went into
Kalinga and stayed there incognito. There he met a fisher woman named Kaurwaki, with
whom he fell in love. Recently found inscriptions indicate that she would later become either
his second or third queen.
Meanwhile, there was again a violent uprising in Ujjain. Emperor Bindusara summoned
Ashoka out of exile after two years. Ashoka went into Ujjain and in the ensuing battle was
injured, but his generals quelled the uprising. Ashoka was treated in hiding so that loyalists of
the Susima group could not harm him. He was treated by Buddhist monks and nuns. This is
where he first learned the teachings of the Buddha, and it is also where he met Devi, who was
his personal nurse and the daughter of a merchant from adjacent Vidisha. After recovering, he
married her. It was quite unacceptable to Bindusara that one of his sons should marry a
Buddhist, so he did not allow Ashoka to stay in Pataliputra but instead sent him back to
Ujjain and made him the governor of Ujjain.
The following year passed quite peacefully for him, and Devi was about to deliver his first
child. In the meanwhile, Emperor Bindusara died. As the news of the unborn heir to the
throne spread, Prince Susima planned the execution of the unborn child; however, the
assassin who came to kill Devi and her child killed his mother instead. Ashoka beheads his
elder brother to ascend the throne. In this phase of his life, Ashoka was known for his
unquenched thirst for wars and campaigns launched to conquer the lands of other rulers and
became known as Chandashok (terrible Ashoka), the Sanskrit word chanda meaning cruel,
fierce, or rude, Chandi-devi being associated with Kali.
Ascending the throne, Ashoka expanded his empire over the next eight years, from the
present-day boundaries and regions of Burma–Bangladesh and the state of Assam in India in
the east to the territory of present-day Iran / Persia and Afghanistan in the west; from the
Pamir Knots in the north almost to the peninsular of southern India (i.e. Tamilnadu / Andhra
pradesh).
Conquest of Kalinga
Main article: Kalinga War
While the early part of Ashoka's reign was apparently quite bloodthirsty, he became a
follower of the Buddha's teaching after his conquest of Kalinga on the east coast of India in
the present-day state of Orissa. Kalinga was a state that prided itself on its sovereignty and
democracy. With its monarchical parliamentary democracy it was quite an exception in
ancient Bharata where there existed the concept of Rajdharma. Rajdharma means the duty of
the rulers, which was intrinsically entwined with the concept of bravery and Kshatriya
dharma.
The pretext for the start of the Kalinga War (265 BC or 263 BC) is uncertain. One of
Susima's brothers might have fled to Kalinga and found official refuge there. This enraged
Ashoka immensely. He was advised by his ministers to attack Kalinga for this act of
treachery. Ashoka then asked Kalinga's royalty to submit before his supremacy. When they
defied this diktat, Ashoka sent one of his generals to Kalinga to make them submit.
The general and his forces were, however, completely routed through the skilled tact of
Kalinga's commander-in-chief. Ashoka, baffled at this defeat, attacked with the greatest
invasion ever recorded in Indian history until then. Kalinga put up a stiff resistance, but they
were no match for Ashoka's brutal strength. The whole of Kalinga was plundered and
destroyed. Ashoka's later edicts state that about 100,000 people were killed on the Kalinga
side and 10,000 from Ashoka's army. Thousands of men and women were deported.
Buddhist Conversion
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A similar four "Indian lion" Lion Capital of Ashoka atop an intact Ashoka Pillar at Wat U
Mong near Chiang Mai, Thailand showing another larger Dharma Chakra / Ashoka Chakra
atop the four lions thought to be missing in the Lion Capital of Ashoka at Sarnath Museum
which has been adopted as the National Emblem of India.
As the legend goes, one day after the war was over, Ashoka ventured out to roam the city and
all he could see were burnt houses and scattered corpses. This sight made him sick and he
cried the famous monologue:
What have I done? If this is a victory, what's a defeat then? Is this a victory or a defeat? Is
this justice or injustice? Is it gallantry or a rout? Is it valor to kill innocent children and
women? Do I do it to widen the empire and for prosperity or to destroy the other's kingdom
and splendor? One has lost her husband, someone else a father, someone a child, someone
an unborn infant.... What's this debris of the corpses? Are these marks of victory or defeat?
Are these vultures, crows, eagles the messengers of death or evil?
The brutality of the conquest led him to adopt Buddhism and he used his position to
propagate the relatively new religion to new heights, as far as ancient Rome and Egypt. He
made Buddhism his state religion around 260 BC, and propagated it and preached it within
his domain and worldwide from about 250 BC. Emperor Ashoka undoubtedly has to be
credited with the first serious attempt to develop a Buddhist policy.
Stupa of Sanchi.
The source of much of our knowledge of Ashoka is the many inscriptions he had carved on
pillars and rocks throughout the empire. Emperor Ashoka is known as Piyadasi (in Pali) or
Priyadarshi (in Sanskrit) meaning "good looking" or "favored by the gods with good
blessing". All his inscriptions have the imperial touch and show compassionate loving. He
addressed his people as his "children". These inscriptions promoted Buddhist morality and
encouraged nonviolence and adherence to Dharma (duty or proper behavior), and they talk of
his fame and conquered lands as well as the neighboring kingdoms holding up his might. One
also gets some primary information about the Kalinga War and Ashoka's allies plus some
useful knowledge on the civil administration. The Ashoka Pillar at Sarnath is the most
popular of the relics left by Ashoka. Made of sandstone, this pillar records the visit of the
emperor to Sarnath, in the 3rd century BC. It has a four-lion capital (four lions standing back
to back) which was adopted as the emblem of the modern Indian republic. The lion
symbolizes both Ashoka's imperial rule and the kingship of the Buddha. In translating these
monuments, historians learn the bulk of what is assumed to have been true fact of the
Mauryan Empire. It is difficult to determine whether or not some actual events ever
happened, but the stone etchings clearly depict how Ashoka wanted to be thought of and
remembered.
Ashoka's own words as known from his Edicts are: "All men are my children. I am like a
father to them. As every father desires the good and the happiness of his children, I wish that
all men should be happy always." Edward D'Cruz interprets the Ashokan dharma as a
"religion to be used as a symbol of a new imperial unity and a cementing force to weld the
diverse and heterogeneous elements of the empire".
Also, in the Edicts, Ashoka mentions Hellenistic kings of the period as converts to Buddhism,
although no Hellenic historical record of this event remain:
The conquest by Dharma has been won here, on the borders, and even six hundred yojanas
(5,400–9,600 km) away, where the Greek king Antiochos rules, beyond there where the four
kings named Ptolemy, Antigonos, Magas and Alexander rule, likewise in the south among
the Cholas, the Pandyas, and as far as Tamraparni (Sri Lanka).
—Edicts of Ashoka, Rock Edict 13 (S. Dhammika)
Ashoka also claims that he encouraged the development of herbal medicine, for human and
nonhuman animals, in their territories:
Everywhere within Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi's [Ashoka's] domain, and among the
people beyond the borders, the Cholas, the Pandyas, the Satiyaputras, the Keralaputras, as far
as Tamraparni and where the Greek king Antiochos rules, and among the kings who are
neighbors of Antiochos, everywhere has Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, made
provision for two types of medical treatment: medical treatment for humans and medical
treatment for animals. Wherever medical herbs suitable for humans or animals are not
available, I have had them imported and grown. Wherever medical roots or fruits are not
available I have had them imported and grown. Along roads I have had wells dug and trees
planted for the benefit of humans and animals.
—Edicts of Ashoka, Rock Edict 2
The Greeks in India even seem to have played an active role in the propagation of Buddhism,
as some of the emissaries of Ashoka, such as Dharmaraksita, are described in Pali sources as
leading Greek (Yona) Buddhist monks, active in spreading Buddhism (the Mahavamsa,
XII[2]).
Death and legacy
Ashoka ruled for an estimated forty years. After his death, the Mauryan dynasty lasted just
fifty more years. Ashoka had many wives and children, but many of their names are lost to
time. Mahindra and Sanghamitra were twins born by his first wife, Devi, in the city of Ujjain.
He had entrusted to them the job of making his state religion, Buddhism, more popular across
the known and the unknown world. Mahindra and Sanghamitra went into Sri Lanka and
converted the King, the Queen and their people to Buddhism. They were naturally not
handling state affairs after him.
In his old age, he seems to have come under the spell of his youngest wife Tishyaraksha. It is
said that she had got his son Kunala, the regent in Takshashila, blinded by a wily stratagem.
The official executioners spared Kunala and he became a wandering singer accompanied by
his favourite wife Kanchanmala. In Pataliputra, Ashoka hears Kunala's song, and realizes that
Kunala's misfortune may have been a punishment for some past sin of the emperor himself
and condemns Tishyaraksha to death, restoring Kunala to the court. Kunala was succeeded by
his son, Samprati, but his rule did not last long after Ashoka's death.
The reign of Ashoka Maurya could easily have disappeared into history as the ages passed
by, and would have had he not left behind a record of his trials. The testimony of this wise
king was discovered in the form of magnificently sculpted pillars and boulders with a variety
of actions and teachings he wished to be published etched into the stone. What Ashoka left
behind was the first written language in India since the ancient city of Harappa. The language
used for inscription was the then current spoken form called Prakrit.
In the year 185 BC, about fifty years after Ashoka's death, the last Maurya ruler, Brhadrata,
was assassinated by the commander-in-chief of the Mauryan armed forces, Pusyamitra
Sunga, while he was taking the Guard of Honor of his forces. Pusyamitra Sunga founded the
Sunga dynasty (185 BC-78 BC) and ruled just a fragmented part of the Mauryan Empire.
Many of the northwestern territories of the Mauryan Empire (modern-day Iran, Afghanistan
and Pakistan) became the Indo-Greek Kingdom.
When India gained independence from the British Empire it adopted Ashoka's emblem for its
own, placing the Dharmachakra (The Wheel of Righteous Duty) that crowned his many
columns on the flag of the newly independent state. In 1992, Ashoka was ranked #53 on
Michael H. Hart's list of the most influential figures in history. In 2001, a semi-fictionalized
portrayal of Ashoka's life was produced as a motion picture under the title Asoka. King
Ashoka, the third monarch of the Indian Mauryan dynasty, has come to be regarded as one of
the most exemplary rulers in world history. The British historian H.G. Wells has written:
"Amidst the tens of thousands of names of monarchs that crowd the columns of history ... the
name of Asoka shines, and shines almost alone, a star."
Buddhist Kingship
Main articles: History of Buddhism and History of Buddhism in India
Further information: Buddhism in Sri Lanka and Buddhism in Burma
One of the more enduring legacies of Ashoka Maurya was the model that he provided for the
relationship between Buddhism and the state. Throughout Theravada Southeastern Asia, the
model of ruler ship embodied by Ashoka replaced the notion of divine kingship that had
previously dominated (in the Angkor kingdom, for instance). Under this model of 'Buddhist
kingship', the king sought to legitimize his rule not through descent from a divine source, but
by supporting and earning the approval of the Buddhist sangha. Following Ashoka's
example, kings established monasteries, funded the construction of stupas, and supported the
ordination of monks in their kingdom. Many rulers also took an active role in resolving
disputes over the status and regulation of the sangha, as Ashoka had in calling a conclave to
settle a number of contentious issues during his reign. This development ultimately lead to a
close association in many Southeast Asian countries between the monarchy and the religious
hierarchy, an association that can still be seen today in the state-supported Buddhism of
Thailand and the traditional role of the Thai king as both a religious and secular leader.
Ashoka also said that all his courtiers were true to their self and governed the people in a
moral manner.
Historical sources
Bilingual inscription in (Greek and Aramaic) by king Ashoka, from Kandahar (Shar-i-kuna).
Kabul Museum.
Western sources – Ashoka was almost forgotten by the historians of the early British India
but James Prinsep contributed in the revelation of historical sources. Another important
historian was British archaeologist Sir John Hubert Marshall who was director-General of the
Archaeological Survey of India. His main interests were Sanchi and Sarnath besides Harappa
and Mohenjodaro. Sir Alexander Cunningham, a British archaeologist and army engineer and
often known as the father of the Archaeological Survey of India, unveiled heritage sites like
the Bharhut Stupa, Sarnath, Sanchi, and the Mahabodhi Temple; thus, his contribution is
recognizable in realms of historical sources. Sir Mortimer Wheeler who was a British
archaeologist also exposed Ashokan historical sources, especially the Taxila.
Main articles: Edicts of Ashoka, Ashokavadana, Mahavamsa, and Dipavamsa
Eastern sources - Information about the life and reign of Ashoka primarily comes from a
relatively small number of Buddhist sources. In particular, the Sanskrit Ashokavadana ('Story
of Ashoka'), written in the 2nd century, and the two Pāli chronicles of Sri Lanka (the
Dipavamsa and Mahavamsa) provide most of the currently known information about Ashoka.
Additional information is contributed by the Edicts of Asoka, whose authorship was finally
attributed to the Ashoka of Buddhist legend after the discovery of dynastic lists that gave the
name used in the edicts (Priyadarsi – 'favored by the Gods') as a title or additional name of
Ashoka Mauriya. Architectural remains of his period have been found at Kumhrar, Patna,
which include an 80-pillar hypostyle hall.
Edicts of Ashoka -The Edicts of Ashoka are a collection of 33 inscriptions on the Pillars of
Ashoka, as well as boulders and cave walls, made by the Emperor Ashoka of the Mauryan
dynasty during his reign from 272 to 231 BC. These inscriptions are dispersed throughout the
areas of modern-day Pakistan and India, and represent the first tangible evidence of
Buddhism. The edicts describe in detail the first wide expansion of Buddhism through the
sponsorship of one of the most powerful kings of Indian history.It give more information
about Ashoka's proselytism, Moral precepts, Religious precepts, Social and animal welfare .
Ashokavadana - The Ashokavadana is a 2nd century CE text related to the legend of the
Maurya Emperor Ashoka. The legend was translated into Chinese by Fa Hien in 300 CE.
Mahavamsa -The Mahavamsa ("Great Chronicle") is a historical poem written in the Pali
language, of the kings of Sri Lanka. It covers the period from the coming of King Vijaya of
Kalinga (ancient Orissa) in 543 BC to the reign of King Mahasena (334–361).As it often
refers to the royal dynasties of India, the Mahavamsa is also valuable for historians who wish
to date and relate contemporary royal dynasties in the Indian subcontinent. It is very
important in dating the consecration of the Maurya emperor Ashoka.
Dipavamsa -The Dipavamsa, or "Deepavamsa", (i.e., Chronicle of the Island, in Pali) is the
oldest historical record of Sri Lanka. The chronicle is believe to be compiled from Atthakatha
and other sources around the 3–4th century, King Dhatusena (4th century CE) had ordered
that the Dipavamsa be recited at the Mahinda (son to Ashoka )festival held annually in
Anuradhapura.
The use of Buddhist sources in reconstructing the life of Ashoka has had a strong influence
on perceptions of Ashoka, as well as the interpretations of his edicts. Building on traditional
accounts, early scholars regarded Ashoka as a primarily Buddhist monarch who underwent a
conversion to Buddhism and was actively engaged in sponsoring and supporting the Buddhist
monastic institution. Some scholars have tended to question this assessment. The only source
of information not attributable to Buddhist sources are the Ashokan edicts, and these do not
explicitly state that Ashoka was a Buddhist. In his edicts, Ashoka expresses support for all
the major religions of his time: Buddhism, Brahmanism, Jainism, and Ajivikaism, and his
edicts addressed to the population at large (there are some addressed specifically to
Buddhists; this is not the case for the other religions) generally focus on moral themes
members of all the religions would accept.
However, there is strong evidence in the edicts alone that he was a Buddhist. In one edict he
belittles rituals, and he banned Vedic animal sacrifices; these strongly suggest that he at least
did not look to the Vedic tradition for guidance. Furthermore, there are many edicts expressed
to Buddhists alone; in one, Ashoka declares himself to be an "upasaka", and in another he
demonstrates a close familiarity with Buddhist texts. He erected rock pillars at Buddhist holy
sites, but did not so for the sites of other religions. He also used the word "dhamma" to refer
to qualities of the heart that underlie moral action; this was an exclusively Buddhist use of the
word. Finally, the ideals he promotes correspond to the first three steps of the Buddha's
graduated discourse.[3]
Important years in the life of Ashoka
Birth – 304 BC
Marriage with Maharani devi – 286 BC
Mahindra's birth – 284 BC
Sanghamitta's birth – 281 BC
Reign – 272/273 BC to his Nirvana / Death (232 BC)
Rajyabhisheka – 270 BC
Tending to Buddhism – 266 BC
Building Chaityas – 266/263 BC
Mahindra and Sanghamitta Become Buddhist – 264 BC
Kalinga Vijaya – 262/263 BC
Converted to Buddhism – 263 BC
Dharmayatra – 263–250 BC
Third Buddhist council – 250–253 BC
Mahindra's Sri Lanka Yatra – 252 BC
Buddhist Proselytism – 250 to his Death / Nirvana
Edicts – 243/242 BC
Death / Nirvana of Sanghamitta – 240 BC
Rani Tishyaraksha becomes Pattarani – 236 BC
Prince Kunal becomes Upraja – 233 bc
Ashoka's Death / Nirvana – 232 BC
(Note – There are some historians according to whom Ashoka embraced Buddhism in 266
BC but became a true follower of Buddhism after the Conquest of Kalinga 262 BC or 263
BC)
Contributions
Global Spread of Buddhism
Ashoka, now a Buddhist emperor, believed that Buddhism is beneficial for all human beings
as well as animals and plants, so he built 84,000 stupas, Sangharama, viharas, Chaitya, and
residences for Buddhist monks all over South Asia and Central Asia. He gave donations to
viharas and mathas. He sent his only daughter Sanghamitta and son Mahindra to spread
Buddhism in Sri Lanka (ancient name Tamraparni). Ashoka also sent many prominent
Buddhist monks (bhikshus) Sthaviras like Madhyamik Sthavira to modern Kashmir and
Afganistan; Maharaskshit sthavira to Syria, Persia / Iran, Egypt, Greece, Italy and Turkey;
Massim Sthavira to Nepal, Bhutan, China and Mongolia; Sohn Uttar Sthavira to modern
Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar (old name Suvarnabhumi for Burma and Thailand), Thailand and
Vietnam; Mahadhhamarakhhita stahvira to Maharashtra (old name Maharatthha);
Maharakhhit Sthavira and Yavandhammarakhhita Sthavira to South India. Ashoka also
invited Buddhists and non-Buddhists for religious conferences. Ashoka inspired the Buddhist
monks to compose the sacred religious texts, and also gave all types of help to that end.
Ashoka also helped to develop viharas (intellectual hubs) such as Nalanda and Taxila.
Ashoka helped to construct Sanchi and Mahabodhi Temple. Ashoka never tried to harm or to
destroy non-Buddhist religions, and indeed gave donations to non-Buddhists. As his reign
continued his even-handedness was replaced with special inclination towards Buddhism.[4]
Ashoka helped and respected both Sramans (Buddhists monks) and Brahmins (Vedic monks).
Ashoka also helped to organize the Third Buddhist council (c. 250 BC) at Pataliputra (today's
Patna). It was conducted by the monk Moggaliputta-Tissa who was the spiritual teacher of
the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka.
As an Administrator
Mauryan ringstone, with standing goddess. Northwest Pakistan. 3rd century BC. British
Museum.
Ashoka's military power was so strong that he was able to crush those empires that went to
war against him still, he was on friendly terms with kingdoms in the South like Cholas,
Pandya, Keralputra, the post Alexandrian empire, Tamraparni, and Suvarnabhumi who were
strong enough to remain outside his empire and continued to profess Hinduism. According to
his edicts we know that he provided humanitarian help including doctors, hospitals, inns,
wells, medical herbs and engineers to his neighboring countries. In his neighboring countries
Ashoka helped humans as well as animals. Ashoka also planted trees in his empire and his
neighboring countries. Ashoka was perhaps the first emperor in human history to ban slavery,
hunting, fishing and deforestation. Ashoka also banned the death sentence and asked the
same for the neighboring countries.[5] Ashoka commanded his people to serve the orders of
their elders parents) and religious monks (shramana and Brahmin). Ashoka also
recommended his people study all religions and respect all religions. According to Ashoka, to
harm another's religion is a harm to someone's owns religion. Ashoka asserted his people to
live with Dharmmacharana. Ashoka asked people to live with harmony, peace, love and
tolerance. Ashoka called his people as his children, and they could call him when they need
him. He also asked people to save money and not to spend for immoral causes. Ashoka also
believed in dharmacharana (dhammacharana) and dharmavijaya (dhammavijaya). According
to many European and Asian historians the age of Ashoka was the age of light and
delightment. He was the first emperor in human history who has taught the lesson of unity,
peace, equality and love. Ashoka's aim was not to expand the territories but the welfare of all
of his subjects (sarvajansukhay). In his vast empire there was no evidence of recognizable
mutiny or civil war. Ashoka was the true devotee of nonviolence, peace and love. This made
him different from other emperors. Ashoka also helped Buddhism as well as religions like
Jainism, Hinduism, Hellenic polytheism and Ajivikas. Ashoka was against any discrimination
among humans. He helped students, the poor, orphans and the elderly with social, political
and economic help. According to Ashoka, hatred gives birth to hatred and a feeling of love
gives birth to love and mercy. According to him the happiness of people is the happiness of
the ruler. His opinion was that the sword is not as powerful as love. Ashoka was also Kind to
prisoners, and respected animal life and tree life. Ashoka allowed females to be educated. He
also permitted females to enter religious institutions. He allowed female Buddhist monastic
such as Bhikkhuni. He combined in himself the complexity a king and a simplicity of a
buddhist monk. Because of these reasons he is known as the emperor of all ages and thus
became a milestone in the History of the world.
Ashoka Chakra
The Ashoka Chakra, "the wheel of Righteousness" (Dharma in Sanskrit or Dhamma in Pali)"
Fragment of the 6th Pillar Edicts of Ashoka (238 BC), in Brahmi, sandstones. British
Museum.
• All men are my children. What I desire for my own children, and I desire their welfare
and happiness both in this world and the next, which I desire for all men. You do not
understand to what extent I desire this, and if some of you do understand, you do not
understand the full extent of my desire.
• Here (in my domain) no living beings are to be slaughtered or offered in sacrifice.
• Respect for mother and father is good, generosity to friends, acquaintances, relatives,
Brahmans and ascetics is good, not killing living beings is good, moderation in
spending and moderation in saving is good.
• To do good is difficult. One who does good first does something hard to do. I have
done many good deeds, and, if my sons, grandsons and their descendants up to the
end of the world act in like manner, they too will do much good. But whoever
amongst them neglects this, they will do evil.
Truly, it is easy to do evil.
• All religions should reside everywhere, for all of them desire self-control and purity
of heart.
• King Piyadasi does not consider glory and fame to be of great account unless they are
achieved through having my subjects respect Dhamma and practice Dhamma, both
now and in the future.
• Whoever praises his own religion, due to excessive devotion, and condemns others
with the thought "Let me glorify my own religion," only harms his own religion.
Therefore contact (between religions) is good. One should listen to and respect the
doctrines professed by others.
• There is no gift like the gift of the Dhamma, (no acquaintance like) acquaintance with
Dhamma, (no distribution like) distribution of Dhamma, and (no kinship like) kinship
through Dhamma. And it consists of this: proper behavior towards servants and
employees, respect for mother and father, generosity to friends, companions,
relations, Brahmans and ascetics, and not killing living beings.
• King Piyadasi, honors both ascetics and the householders of all religions, and he
honors them with gifts and honors of various kinds.But Beloved-of-the-Gods, King
Piyadasi, does not value gifts and honors as much as he values this—that there should
be growth in the essentials of all religions.
• Along roads I have had banyan trees planted so that they can give shade to animals
and men, and I have had mango groves planted. At intervals of eight //krosas//, I have
had wells dug, rest-houses built, and in various places, I have had watering-places
made for the use of animals and men. But these are but minor achievements. Such
things to make the people happy have been done by former kings. I have done these
things for this purpose, that the people might practice the Dhamma.
• It is my desire that there should be uniformity in law and uniformity in sentencing. I
even go this far, to grant a three-day stay for those in prison who have been tried and
sentenced to death. During this time their relatives can make appeals to have the
prisoners' lives spared. If there is none to appeal on their behalf, the prisoners can give
gifts in order to make merit for the next world, or observe fasts.[7]
About Ashoka
Mahabodhi Temple is credited to Ashoka.
• "Among the emperors and historical personalities, Samrath / Emperor Ashoka is the
surely only being who had decided not to battle with enemy when he won the battle."
– Jawaharlal Nehru in The Discovery of India (page no. 86).
• "There is the only one period in Indian history which is a period of freedom, greatness
and glory. That is the period of the Mauryan empire (Ashoka's empire)." – B. R.
Ambedkar in Annihilation of Caste (page no. 70–71).
• "Ashoka is perhaps the only emperor who hated wars because of the blood shed and
cruelty. He wanted to win the souls of people with love not the bodies with sword and
terror." – V. G. Gokhale.
• "In some cases Ashoka may be compared with Alexander the Great, Augustus Caesar,
Genghis Khan, Timur, Peter I of Russia, Napoleon I. But Ashoka was not extra
ambitious like Alexander. Ashoka was an ideal administrator like Augustus Caesar,
but unlike Caesar, he didn't want to be known as a dictator. Ashoka was a strong
general but unlike Napoleon I Ashoka never was unsatisfied. Ashoka wanted to be
loved by his subjects. He never terrorized his subjects like Genghis Khan, Timur and
Peter I of Russia. Nobility of soul, purity of mind, honesty of nature, clarity of dignity
and love for all let Ashoka sit with Gautama Buddha and Jesus Christ." – Madhav
Kondvilkar in Devancha Priya Raja Priyadarshi Samrath Ashok (page no. 19).
• "Nowadays wars, conflicts and blood shed have become very familiar, but about two
thousand years ago Ashoka comprehended the evils of war and conflicts. Ashoka
turned his all power to establish harmony and peace, in this way he has put a fine
example to be followed before all mankind. In this way he has shown that in
peacetime man would be a progressed being." – Dr. Binda Paranjape in Ashokache
Shilalekha (page no.29).
• "A hundred years after my death there will be an emperor named Ashoka in
Pataliputra. He will rule one of the four continents and adorn Jambudvipa (old name
to India) with my relics, building eighty four thousand stupas for the welfare of
people. He will have them honored by gods and men. His fame will be widespread.
His meritorious gift was just this: Jaya threw a handful of dust into the Tathaagata's
bowl." Prediction of Buddha for Ashoka according to the Ashokavadana.