Agama And Tripitaka Comparative Study

SR No.: 022804
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Nagaraj Muni
Publisher: Today and Tomorrows Printers and Publishers
Publication Year: 1986
Total Pages: 804
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 19 MB

Page 41

CHAPTER 1
MAHAVIRA AND BUDDHA
One or Two
Bhagavan Mahavira and Gautama Buddha were born in about the same time and in the same country. ] Both - of them were, Ksatriya princes. Both were married , bothhad a child each and both discarded their home and hearth, in youth, Accordingly to the Jaina and the Buddhist texts, both attained enlightenment after a fairly long penance, and, thereafter, according to the some sources, both of them propounded their respective tenets. The followers of both of them came to be known as sramanı, bhiksu and śrvaka:. On the occasion of their final liberation (nirvina), their followers, in the monarchies of the Mallaki and Licchavi clans, were present. And hence, these are some of the striking very unusual similarities in the lives of Bhagavan Mahāvira and Gautama Buddha that suddenly make a thinker to ponder. Is it that known by two different names of Mahavira and Buddha, it is the only one great personality intended? On account of this reason and the manifold similarities of the Jaina and Buddha traditions the western scholarship misconstrued Buddha and Mahāvira as one individual.
The field of history was over-shadowed by mist and fog for quite some time. But it has been variously confirmed on account of the multifarious evidences available that known by the two names of Mahavira and Buddha, there are two great personalities. Still, the aforesaid similarities are so striking that scholars dwelling upon them, from time to time, repeat the contention that Mahavira and Buddha are infact, One and not two. In the year 1962, the well known Buddhist scholar from Sri Lanka, Dr. Jayasurya, had come on the pilgrimage of Rajagriha. There, while giving an! account of the similarities in the life of Mahavira and Buddha, he thus spoke to the Press correspondents:
"In my opinion, Bhagavān Mahavira and Buddha could hardly be two persons. It is possible that histori