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Prolegomena to History of the
Buddhist Philosophy
Kamlesh Kumar Gautam
The period of sixth and 5th Century B.C. is regarded as “an age of far reaching religious reforming activity over whole of the ancient world.” In Greece, China, Iran as well as India there are found a remarkable intellectual and religious upheavel in this age. The factors leading to such changes are not easy to identify. Great scholars like Gordon child and Bury have attributed the thought ferment to change in social living and progress of thoughts respectively.
As far as India is concerned, it is undeniable that important changes did take place in society in the age of Buddha. It is true that Tathāgata received enligthment under the Bodhi Tree as a result of intense austeritis and deep contemplation but he had fourished amidst a social, economical and political context whose influences were cast on his personality and thought. It has been said that the great personality represents the explicit flowering of dominant forces of the particular age. The compulsive urgency wiht which the problem of pain represented itself to Tathāgata was result of social ethos and spirit of that age which was prevalent in the society. Buddha himself had belief that his trading were bound, have social influences. The Dhammapad says “A supernatural person (a Buddha) is not easily found, he is not found everywhere. Where never such a sage is born, that race prospers.
