Buddhism as a Reflection of Late Vedic Society

Paper Summary:

While Buddhism exists today as a guiding philosophy for people throughout the world, much of the original Buddhist canon was a reaction to the society in which the Buddha lived. The late Vedic period in the Ganges Plain was a time of material wealth and increased urbanization. The paper shows that by reacting to these philosophies, the Buddha sought to infuse an ethical message into the increasingly capitalistic values of the rising urban middle class. In his "Discourses", the Buddha placed the accumulation of capital into a moral system, challenged the legitimacy of caste and urged the laity to perform their social and familial duties as ethically as possible. The paper argues that Buddhism arose as both an accommodation to and rejection of the social and economic conditions of the late Vedic period.

From the Paper:

"The Buddhist concept of the purposes of wealth is perhaps the best example of the Buddha's reaction to his society. As already discussed, accumulation of property was seen almost as a duty of the householder. But many people, particularly adherents to heterodox sects, saw that wealth can also lead to idleness and immorality. Realizing that property was crucial to the society in which he lived, the Buddha propounded a theory in which wealth could be used ethically. According to him, property should be used to support oneself, family, and friends, to guard against future misfortune, to assist the community, and to support monks and others who lived by donation."

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