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“Shakyamuni,” the name by which we call the Indian Buddha, is a combination of two words: Shakya, the name of Shakyamuni’s ancestral clan, and muni, the Sanskrit word for “sage.” However, his correct title is, “Shakyamuni, World-Honored One.” “World-Honored One" is an honorific title indicating that Shakyamuni was a Buddha. Shakyamuni, the sage born of the Shakya clan, is commonly referred to as a Buddha – an enlightened one, or one who is awakened to the true nature of all phenomena. Buddhism refers to the body of teachings that Shakyamuni the Buddha expounded throughout his life. Prior to Shakyamuni’s AppearanceThe Indus civilization evolved in the Indus River valley in ancient India from about 3,000 to 2,000 BC. A number of indigenous peoples contributed to the establishment of the Indus valley civilization, including the Dravidians, the Indus and the Munda. However, in about 1500 BC, Aryans out of central Asia invaded the Indus valley and conquered these original inhabitants, which eventually led to marked discrimination by the Aryan freemen against the subjugated aborigines. The Aryan conquerors established a unique society in the Ganges River valley based on a four-class system. The Aryans themselves comprised the three upper classes, which included the Brahmans, who were priests; the Kshatriya, which included the royals and the military; and the Vaisya, or the commoner class. The indigenous peoples were relegated to the outcast Shudra or vassal class, which served the other three. This bloodline-based classification, known as the caste system, became more and more specialized over time, and still defines Indian society to this day. In the area of religious beliefs, the Aryans revered the forces of nature as deities, and compiled four collections of scripture: the Rig-Veda, the Sama-Veda, the Atharva-Veda and the Yajur-Veda, which consisted of hymns, rituals and incantations. Many commentaries on the four Vedas were also written, among which, the Brahmana in particular, established complex rules on the carrying out of Vedic rituals and sacrifices. The expert knowledge required for mastery of the Brahmana strengthened the powers of the Brahman priesthood and ultimately gave rise to a religion under their sole control, i.e., Brahmanism. The Brahmans later compiled a collection of secret mysteries in writings called the Upanishads, which set forth a philosophy on gaining freedom from the otherwise never-ending cycle of birth and death, based on the content of Vedic hymns and rituals. At the time of Shakyamuni’s birth, there were also six free-thinking philosophers, known as the six non-Buddhist teachers, who rejected established Brahmanism and developed their own schools of thought. Ajita Kesakambala espoused the idea that life exists only insofar as there is a physical body to support it. Purana Kassapa argued against any positive or negative relationship between cause and effect. Pakudha Kacchayana believed that seven essential elements comprise human life, i.e., earth, wind, water, fire, suffering, pleasure and the soul. Makkhali Gosala reasoned that people’s lives are pre-determined and are therefore unaffected by any form of religious practice. Sanjaya Belatthiputta, a skeptic, denied any possibility of knowing whether or not life continues after death. Nigantha Nataputta, the founder of Jainism, asserted that man can only free himself from suffering through asceticism and by refraining from taking life. By scorning the truth of cause and effect, these religions and schools and thought denied reality, which rendered them powerless to relieve people’s suffering or positively effect society. Under the influence of these inferior religions and philosophies, the sixteen major kingdoms and countless minor principalities in India at that time were constantly at odds with each other, which increasingly destabilized Indian society. Shakyamuni’s AdventBirth
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