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India’s Axial Age
By Willy | October 14, 2009
Occurring in the middle of the first millennium BC, the Axial Age saw a transformation of human thinking and religion from external actions and rituals to internal thoughts and feelings. Religion began to pass from a tightly-controlled priesthood to the common people. Axial Age thinking affected many countries simultaneously. In Greece, Socrates dared to doubt everything. The later Hebrew prophets in Palestine wrote that Yahweh was tired of sacrifices and wanted only devotion. At the same time, Confucius and Lao-Tzu redefined Chinese religion and society.
Like China, India had two major Axial Age thinkers that left their mark on religion and society. One of these was Mahavira, who found enlightenment and release from the problem of suffering by extreme asceticism. His followers began known as the Jains.
India’s other great figure of the Axial Age was Siddartha Gautama, known as the Buddha. Although undoubtedly an historical figure, Gautama’s life is recorded only in accounts that are heavily mythologized. From them we can gather that he was born to a kshatriya (ruling-caste) family in what is now Nepal. Disaffected with his pleasurable princely life, he ran away to seek an answer to the problem of human suffering. Meditating under a pipal tree in Gaya, Gautama became enlightened and concluded that all suffering was caused by desire, and desire could be done away with by following a moderate path of right actions and intentions. With this realization, Gautama became the Buddha, the Enlightened One.
Buddha’s influence on Indian society was tremendous. Although not an atheist, Buddha taught that even trust in god was a form of attachment. Disdaining the caste system, Buddha allowed men and women from all classes to join his sanghas (religious communities). Buddha was himself a meat-eater, being particularly fond of pork, but later Buddhists interpreted his teachings as encouraging vegetarianism and non-violence. A meatless diet spread across India in the centuries after Buddha, becoming an integral part of Hinduism in some areas, particularly the south.
Buddhism became a part of the cultures of Sri Lanka, China, Japan, and southeast Asia, where it survives to this day. In India, Hinduism eventually absorbed Buddhism; today, Buddhism survives as a separate religion only in parts of India near Tibet. Although no longer a major religion in India, Buddhism’s marks are still visible in India, especially in the vegetarian diet.
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