A Research On The Basic Terminologies And Ideas Of The Early Buddhism

This dissertation mainly researches the basic terms and ideas of early Buddhism on the basis of the perspective of terminology and etymology.Through the etymology and the development of vocabulary,the dissertation expounds the meaning and semantics of its basic terminologies,so as to excavate its ideological connotation and restore its ideological outlook at that time as far as possible.Buddhism was established in India in the 5^th and 6^th century BC.There are many ways to divide the development stages of Indian Buddhism,which can be divided into four main stages:Early Buddhism,Hinayana Buddhism,Mahayana Buddhism and late Buddhism.It began to decline around the 13^th century and eventually declined in India.India's modern Buddhist Revival Movement was mainly initiated from Sri Lanka and some other areas.The Early Buddhism which here refers to the era of Sakyamuni Buddha and his direct disciples.This period started from the founding of Buddhism by Sakyamuni Buddha in 531 BC to the fundamental division of Buddhism in 380 BC.This paper mainly consists of five parts,which mainly introduces the development history of India's Early Buddhism;the historical stages of the historical overview of each period;the ancient scriptures about Indian Early Buddhism;the basic terms and ideas of Indian Early Buddhism;the significance and value of the basic terms and ideas of Indian Early Buddhism to current society.The 1^st chapter is the development history of the basic terminologies and ideas of Early Buddhism in India.Through the perspective of historical development and etymology to study,it combs the social and historical background of Early Buddhism.As a kind of social culture,Buddhism's existence and change are related to a certain time and space.It also has a certain relationship with the social and cultural forms before its emergence.Therefore,it is necessary to investigate the ancient Indian culture before the Early Buddhism.Before the emergence of Buddhism in the early days,Brahmanic culture occupied the dominant position in Indian ideology and culture.Brahmanic culture is the mainstream culture of India,which is the product of the combination of Indian indigenous culture and foreign Aryan culture.According to archaeological excavations,the earliest civilization in India is the Indus civilization.The time range of Indus civilization is about 2500 BC to 1750 BC.The Indus River civilization was destroyed around 1750 BC.Hundreds of years later,the Aryans entered India and conquered the aborigines by force.The culture brought by the Aryans was Vedic culture,and the time range of Veda was about 1500 BC to 800 BC.Then,in the Upanishads period,Upanishads was the beginning of Indian religious philosophy,whose time range was about 800 BC to 500 BC.These cultural forms had a profound impact on the rise of Early Buddhism.Some ideas of Early Buddhism can be found in the Vedas and Upanishads,which shows the influence of Brahmanic culture on Early Buddhism.The 2^nd Chapter is in order to make a more in-depth and detailed research on the basic terminologies and ideas of the Early Buddhism,it is necessary to divide it into several stages to study.It was the Japanese scholar Nakamura Yuan who first raised this issue.In China,Prof.Guangchang Fang also had the same point of view and related discussions.On the basis of the evolution of vocabulary development,that the historical development of Early Buddhism,it can be divided into three stages:the first stage is the period of Sakyamuni Buddha and his direct disciples;the second stage is the period of Kashyapa and Ananda living in the world;the third stage is the period of fundamental division from Ananda's Nirvana to sectarian Buddhism.The time division of the Early Buddhist era,to analyze the context of vocabulary development is not only conducive to the in-depth and detailed study of the meaning of the basic terminologies,but also conducive to the development of the subsequent Early Buddhist thought.The 3^rd chapter is about the Buddhist scriptures in Early India,including Tibetan Buddhist scriptures,Chinese Buddhist scriptures and Pali Buddhist scriptures.Tibetan Buddhist scriptures mainly include Verse Summary of the Essence of the Doctrine translated in the Early Period and Dhammpada translated from Pali by modern translator Gedunchophel;Chinese Buddhist scriptures mainly include four Agama Scriptures,namely Long-Agama Scripture,Mid-Agama Scripture,Mix-Agama Scripture and Axguttara-Nikqya.According to the textual research of the Buddhist historian Waddell and others,these Agama Scriptures from different sects.Long-Agama Scripture may come from Dharmagubtakas Mid-Agama Scripture may from saying that everything has its own parts,Mix-Agama Scripture may from saying that everything has its own parts or Yinguang,and Axguttara-Nikqya may from Mahasamghikha or Dhammpada.The Pali Buddhist scriptures about Early Buddhism mainly include Digha Nikaya and so on.Amongst,the contents of the first four Buddhist scriptures roughly correspond to the four Agamas Buddhist scriptures translated into Chinese.As the above Buddhist scriptures all come from the period of sectarian Buddhism,it is necessary to analyze their data.Since the last century,Buddhist researchers from all over the world have devoted themselves to this work and achieved considerable research results.They have put forward the viewpoint of literature analysis based on the principles of chant and analogy,language and its logical rules.Later,they have also carried out analysis based on these principles,so as to clarify the Early Buddhist thoughts.The 4^th chapter is the the basic terminologies and ideas of Buddhism in Early India,which is also the main object of this paper.As Mr.Guangchang Fang said,the study of Early Buddhism is a big topic,which should be and can be divided into five relatively independent and interrelated topics,namely,the classics,history,thoughts,groups and figures of Early Buddhism.This paper mainly discusses the basic terms and thoughts of Early Buddhism,and analyzes and studies the ideological connotation of the basic terms such as the four Nobel Truths,Dependant and Origination,Egoless and Middle Way by using the Tibetan Buddhist scriptures Dharmic Collection Scriptures and Dhammpada.The Early Buddhist thought is the source of Buddhist thought.Only by sorting out the ideological features of the Early Buddhist period can we make clear the thoughts of sect Buddhism and even Mahayana Buddhism,and understand how the Buddhist doctrine came into being and continued to develop and evolve.Therefore,the thought of Early Buddhism is the basic point for the study of Buddhist thought.In the past,our study of Early Buddhism is relatively weak compared with other periods of Buddhism,especially compared with the research results of Mahayana Buddhism,it can be said that it is a blank place,the relevant Tibetan research results are also very few,and rare researchers are engaged in this work.Thus,it is of great academic significance to study the history and the thought of Buddhism in its early stage.The 5^th chapter mainly discusses the basic terminologies and ideas of Buddhism in Early India and its significance and value to current society.From the perspective of religious Sociology,this paper expounds the enlightenment and positive influence of the Early Buddhist thought on the current society.As the Soviet scholar Charbaz said:"the main idea of the early history of Buddhism is to turn Dharmic Wheel.It is difficult to say that it represents a religion."Our traditional culture focuses more on metaphysical philosophical speculation,more on spiritual culture and focuses on the level of birth,and then ignores the material culture,which leads to the construction of"modern culture"to be strengthened.Based on the present and looking forward to the future,we can also absorb the cultural factors conducive to the present from the Early Buddhist cultural orientation of"Entering the WTO",so as to publicize them and finally form a"internal and external"perfect cultural system.