Buddha’s soul

Did Buddha have a soul? An interesting question, but a question that may offend some Buddhists. Buddhists firmly believe that no such thing like soul exists.

I have great respect for Buddha and there is no way I can say anything that shows disrespect to Buddha. Actually, I am using the word soul figuratively, to mean ‘essence’. – essence of Buddha’s thinking and his views. That is what I intend to discuss in this blog series.

Buddha was a Hindu prince born in the Kshatriya caste. My use of the word ‘Hindu’ may be a bit misleading since the version of Hinduism we have today may be quite different from what existed in Buddha’s times. But essentials did not change much, over thousands of years.

The essentials of Hinduism are –

• Acceptance of the authority of  Vedic scriptures and the rituals ordained by them; 
• Belief in divine beings; 
• Belief in heaven and other worlds; 
• Division of society into various castes or Varnas; 
• The idea of Sanyäsa or contemplative way of life, moving from place to place, living on alms; 
• Belief in Karma (records of past actions that influence our lives later on); 
• Belief in rebirth, driven by the Karma;   
• Aspiration for final liberation (or Mökšha).

Buddha seemed to have believed in most of these things. He had respect for Brahmins (upper most caste in the caste hierarchy), though he did not support oppression of people based on caste. In his initial years he did go through training in Vedic scriptures, though after he took up sanyäsa, he did not care much for any of the rituals ordained by them (again, this is in consonance with Hindu tenets – these rituals are not meant for sanyäsis). He talked about divine beings mentioned in the Vedas. He even visited their worlds and these divine beings in turn visited Buddha.

Buddha spent most of his life as a Sanyäsi, living on alms. Karma, anyway, is the central tenet of Buddhism. He did talk about rebirth and cycle of births and deaths. His main emphasis was a way out of this cycle, that would lead to liberation.

I am highlighting these, just to clear the misconception in the minds of some people, who think that Buddha preached an altogether new religion. I would like to suggest that Buddha ironed out some of the ills in the Hindu society, and gave it a new focus and reformed outlook.

Yes, in marked contrast to the Vedic school of thought, especially the Upanishads, which revolved around the concept of soul, Buddha rejected the very idea and tried to explain everything without taking recourse to it. Or did he really do that?

There are many puzzling things about Buddha. What I am planning to do in subsequent posts is to pick some of these and look at them closely. In the process, learn more about the essence of Buddha. So, come, let us move towards Buddhahood.