印度宗教大解析：婆罗门教、佛教与印度教的前世今生

之前也发过一篇帖子讨论东方宗教的问题。昨天又听了一个up主讲解这类话题的节目，他把印度宗教之间的关系讲得很明白。

按照一般的理解，印度的宗教主要是印度教和佛教，而佛教已经在印度衰亡，人们也常常把印度教称为婆罗门教，两者常常被混为一谈。但实际上，这三者之间真正的关系是：婆罗门教是最古老的宗教，佛教是在婆罗门教的基础上诞生的，而印度教则是综合了婆罗门教和佛教的优势，杂糅出来的全新宗教。它最终取代了前两者，成为印度最主要的宗教，并有一个漫长的形成过程。

我们知道，人类最古老的文明，如两河流域文明、尼罗河流域文明、黄河流域文明和印度河流域文明，都位于河流附近。但印度河文明与其他几个文明不同，它只留下了遗址和一些意义不明的纹章，并没有可被解读的文字，因此也没有留下太多历史记录。然而，这毫无疑问是一个非常辉煌璀璨的文明。

印度有文字可考的历史始于雅利安人的征服。而婆罗门教就是在雅利安人征服印度之后形成的。但这并不意味着婆罗门教是由雅利安人创造的，以下将从几个特点来分析婆罗门教的形成。

第一，吠陀天启，吠陀是婆罗门教最根本的经典，就像儒家的《春秋》和《论语》一样，吠陀的原意是知识。所以，婆罗门教的教义基础是根植于古老的印度河文明的。

第二，作为征服者的雅利安人，结合自己之前萨满教的风俗，提出了祭祀万能论。他们认为需要由最高等级的婆罗门举行繁复的祭祀仪式，这些仪式都具有原始萨满教的特点，非常血腥，通常都要宰杀牲畜，在重大的祭祀活动中，甚至要献上活人祭祀。这与中国殷商时期的风俗非常接近。

第三和第四个特点则是完全是为统治阶级服务的，即种姓制度和降低统治成本的轮回论，为统治阶级的统治合法性背书，并且压制被统治者的反抗意识。

但是，到了佛祖诞生的那个时代（大约是我国春秋战国时期），种姓制度也越来越不得人心，出现了沙门主义运动。沙门是专门反对婆罗门教种姓制度的各种思想潮流和宗教，佛教就是其中之一。这里讲一个有趣的观点，从参加过百家讲坛的钱文忠教授讲佛学的节目中听来的，沙门的意思是祈求布施的人，也就是化缘。之所以沙门主义会兴起，一个很重要的原因是印度次大陆的气候温热潮湿，农业收成不需要花费太多力气。但湿热的气候也导致米饭不能隔夜，所以人们很愿意将剩饭施舍给别人。这样就形成了一群不必从事生产，而专心于思辨的学者。而供养他们的大多是中下层平民，所以这些学者们往往会为这些阶层发声，提出反对种姓制度、倡导平等的学说，佛陀就是代表人物之一。

佛教与婆罗门教最大的不同，是强调众生平等，而且这个“生”涵盖的范围非常广，只要是有知觉的生物都包含在内。比如，不仅仅是人与人之间平等，人与蝼蚁也是平等的。

其次，佛教与婆罗门教对世界的本源也有不同的理解。婆罗门教认为，梵是组成世界最基本的物质。有人将“梵”与道家的“道”相对应；而佛教则认为，世界的本源并不是“梵”，而是“空”，这就非常接近于现代量子物理的观点，即物质来源于真空中的能量的涨落。不过，这也并不是说道家的思想就比佛教低一个层次。因为道家也意识到，虽然“道”是世界的本源，但道的本质也是“空”和“无”。比如《道德经》中著名的例子就是车轮。车轮的辐条之间实际上在都是空的，而正是有了这些“无”，车轮才能发挥作用。

另一个大的不同是，婆罗门教认为轮回的主体是类似灵魂概念的阿特曼，而佛教则认为轮回的主体是安阿特曼，也就是无我。记得有位大人物说过“我将无我”，这话就来源于佛教。

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I also wrote a post about Eastern religions. Yesterday, I listened to another up Master's program on this topic, and he explained the relationship between religions in India very clearly.

According to the general understanding, the main religions in India are Hinduism and Buddhism, and Buddhism has declined in India, and people often refer to Hinduism as Brahmanism, and the two are often confused. But in fact, the real relationship between these three is that Brahmanism is the oldest religion, Buddhism was born on the basis of Brahmanism, and Hinduism is a new religion that combines the advantages of Brahmanism and Buddhism. It eventually replaced the first two as the dominant religion in India and had a long process of formation.

We know that the oldest human civilizations, such as the Mesopotamian, Nile, Yellow and Indus valleys, were located near rivers. But unlike the other civilizations, the Indus Civilization left only ruins and some obscure heraldry, but no decipherable writing, so it did not leave much of a historical record. However, there is no doubt that this was a very splendid civilization.

The written history of India begins with the Aryan conquest. Brahmanism was formed after the Aryan conquest of India. However, this does not mean that Brahmanism was created by Aryans. The following will analyze the formation of Brahmanism from several characteristics.

First, the Vedic revelation, the Veda is the most fundamental Canon of Brahmanism, just like the Confucian Spring and Autumn Annals and the Analects, the original meaning of Veda is knowledge. Thus, the doctrinal basis of Brahmanism is rooted in the ancient Indus civilization.

Second, the Aryans, as conquerors, combined with their previous shamanistic customs, put forward the theory of sacrifice. They believed that elaborate sacrificial rituals were performed by Brahmins of the highest order, which had the characteristics of primitive shamanism and were very bloody, often involving the slaughter of livestock and, in major sacrificial activities, even human sacrifice. This is very close to the customs of the Yin and Shang dynasties in China.

The third and fourth features are entirely for the ruling class, that is, the caste system and the reincarnation theory that reduces the cost of rule, endorses the ruling class's rule legitimacy, and represses the consciousness of resistance of the ruled.

However, by the time the Buddha was born (about the Spring and Autumn Period in China), the caste system was becoming more and more unpopular, and the Samana movement emerged. Samana is a variety of ideological currents and religions specifically opposed to the Brahmanic caste system, Buddhism being one of them. Here is an interesting point of view, heard from Professor Qian Wenzhong who has participated in the lecture hall of Buddhism program, Samana means a person who prays for alms, that is, begging for alms. An important reason for the rise of Samanism is that the climate of the Indian subcontinent is warm and humid, and farming does not require much effort. But the hot and humid climate also means that rice cannot be cooked overnight, so people are willing to give away leftovers to others. Thus formed a group of scholars who did not have to engage in production, but devoted themselves to speculation. Most of the people who supported them were the middle and lower classes, so these scholars often spoke up for these classes, putting forward doctrines against the caste system and advocating equality, and Buddha was one of the representative figures.

The biggest difference between Buddhism and Brahmanism is the emphasis on the equality of all beings, and the scope of this "being" is very wide, as long as sentient beings are included. For example, it is not only men who are equal to each other, but also men and ants.

Secondly, Buddhism and Brahmanism have different understandings of the origin of the world. Brahmanism holds that Brahman is the most basic substance that makes up the world. Some people compare the "Brahman" with the "Tao" of Taoism; Buddhism, on the other hand, holds that the origin of the world is not "Brahman" but "emptiness", which is very close to the modern quantum physics view that matter originates from the fluctuations of energy in a vacuum. However, this is not to say that the thinking of the family is a level below that of Buddhism. Because Taoists also realize that although Tao is the source of the world, the essence of Tao is also emptiness and nothing. The famous example in the Tao Te Ching, for example, is the wheel. The spokes of the wheel are actually empty, and it is with these "nothingness" that the wheel can function.

Another big difference is that Brahmanism believes that the subject of samsara is the Atman, which is similar to the concept of the soul, while Buddhism believes that the subject of samsara is the Anatman, which is the non-self. I remember that a great man said, "I will have no self," which comes from Buddhism.