I have a book that claims that Siddhartha Gotama was a Shaivite before becoming the Buddha. It even gives a specific name of his guru, Makkhali Gosala. now, I find a lot of other things in this book questionable, so I was wondering if there is anything in the Buddhist tradition to support this? I know in the Buddhist tradition the say he was an ascetic monk in India which would make the possibility of him being Shaivite very high. But is there anything specific about this or his guru?
Thank you.
Thank you.
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Cleveland
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Unsu...
Re: Was Siddhartha a Shaivite?
Sun, January 14, 2007 - 10:42 PMHe had several teachers and mastered all of their teachings but still found them all incomplete and inaccurate. It was after that that he went off and tried asceticism. As to whether he was specifically a Shaivite, it's not likely as such sects were not in existence in the way they are now. Hinduism as we know it today for example rose long after the Buddha. His time was one of Brahminic culture in which there were many different teachings and sects, from materialist to monotheist, none of which ultimately the Buddha found to be true. -
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Re: Was Siddhartha a Shaivite?
Sun, January 14, 2007 - 10:53 PMThanks for your input Gennyu. Though I disagree with some of what you say. Shiva is an ancient God in India and Nepal worshiped from time immemorial. True it wasn't so sectarian as it is today, but Shiva is well known as a common God for renunciates. And though there was a lot of Brahminic influence in the mainstream religious practices of the time, for up to four hundred years before Siddhartha there was a movement going on of forest dwelling ascetics who ran counter to the tradions of the time. So the probability of Siddhartha being initiated by a worshiper of Shiva I'd say is very high.
But I was just wondering if there is any Buddhist tradition at all that specifically supports this. -
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Unsu...
Re: Was Siddhartha a Shaivite?
Mon, January 15, 2007 - 3:06 AMBuddhist traditions don't really get into the nitty gritty of precisely what teachings were taught by the Buddha's teachers, other than those views that he specifically rejected, which would include any idea of a supreme being or a creator deity, even a triune one, so you may be correct that one or more of his teachers was a Shaivite. The best place to get information on this would be to contact either the Hindu University of Benares, who are the world leaders in Hindu/Brahminic historical studies as well as Buddhism in India, or SOAS, the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.
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