World History

Unit 1: The Beginnings of Civilization

Chapter 3: Ancient Indian Civilization

8. Thu, Sep 26, 2013

Asoka remains an intriguing ruler. He seems to have been decent and enlightened in many ways, and as an unsuccessful religious reformer, he is worth comparing to Akhenaten in Egypt — ultimately his beliefs did not catch on extensively in his homeland. In fact Buddhism had far more success abroad than in its homeland; China, Southeast Asia, and even parts of Afghanistan were very strongly influenced by it. Why did their beliefs fail to catch on?

It's worth considering the relationship of Buddhism to Hinduism in terms of the suppositions they share and the points on which they differ. They share the notion of the underlying notion of maya in the Hindu sense, namely a belief that visible reality is all at some level an illusion. (In this respect they are also at least somewhat akin to the teachings of Plato, and certain early Christian mystics — though most of the latter inclined toward the heretical.) On the other hand, Hindu theology is fundamentally deistic — like the Greeks and Romans, and even the Jews, Christians, and Muslims, it adheres to the concept of personal deities, whereas Buddhism does not. Buddhism has more to to with achieving an ascended state of consciousness — one to which humans or anything else can ultimately aspire.

We have talked about the law and theology of the early Mediterranean and Middle Eastern civilizations. In looking at those of India, consider the following:

• What do the interrelated concepts of karma and dharma have to do with law in the positive state-based sense?
• How does the concept of maya support or undercut the application of law? If everything is illusory, does it matter?
• What do the moral teachings of a work like the Baghavad-Gita have to do with morality and the laws of human behavior?

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