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> Religion: East Asian Religion: The Bhagavad Gita

> Requirements: My Research area is East Asian Religion. "The Bhagavad Gita" has been a great source for Hinduism, and we can observe the emergence of Hinduism from the Vedic Upanishadic tradition by reading the Gita.

The Gita demonstrates the ways in which Hinduism both preserves elements of the Vedic-Upanishadic traditions and accommodates elements introduced from Jainism, Buddhism, and other group. Allowed Source id a translation of "The Bhagavad- Gita" by Barbara Stoler Miller and "World Religions Eastern Traditions" by Willard G. Oxtoby, etc.

> Project Developed:

When it comes to locating overlaps between the Gita legacy and its candidate ancestry in Jainism, Buddhism and Hinduism, several caveats should be applied. For one thing, one would have to distinguish between the 'earlier' Buddhism as maintained and practiced in Gautama's lifetime, and its later evolution with a lot of reinterpretations and "protestant" reform it underwent. Indeed, Gautama himself placed a considerable emphasis on protesting against the somewhat arbitrary and formal pillars like the multiple and "imperfect" Hinduist deities as projections of human traits, the numerous rituals and other institutions (which is one reason why Buddhism is all but big in India today). He also tended to avoid strict definitions of any of his doctrine's constituents, including Nirvana, god, enlightenment, and karma. He denied any religious emphasis per se, or any authority-laden setting. His basically was a "middle-way" method of bypassing the sharp corners of this uncomfortable world, intense self-effort and positive thinking being the two linchpins (unlike the Hinduist fatalism). It wasn't until his followers supplemented the core with "amendments and additions" that it evolved into a full-blown religion, with wholesale re-deification ( of his own persona included). That later stage itself might well have been influenced by the neighboring doctrines, thus marking a period of intense convergence. The later versions of these teachings should thus have a lot more overlap or at any rate constitute a more intercompatible body, with the more complementary or overlapped core evolving into a Gita-style summary.

Much in line with Oxtoby's finding of the 1900s being a period of "experiential" revolution, the later development of Buddhism has taken on a major emphasis on "experience-intensive" aspects, with magic, superspiritual (meditative) and hallucinogenic components now playing more of a part. That could also be the period when, of all the yogas Gita had to offer (jnana yoga, sagnasi yoga, and agni yoga to name but a few), experiential techniques came to dominate over all else (i.e. carmic and knowledge-related). That could in itself be a [novel] period of practical convergence between the candidate prototypes, if only by dint of aspects now being perceived more relevant.

In particular, the "disciples" have established the "institution" of bodhisattvas or helpers, who choose to condescend back to earth in order to mentor, rather than proceed into Nirvana after the final reincarnation. They are treated indeed like saints and worshipped as gods, with Gautama himself being the first bodhisattva. They then redefined significantly the notion of Nirvana into a state of virtual nothingness, with no existence per se because there is no self-identification, change, or consciousness for that matter, --thus de-facto converging to the Jainist Moksha. The latter, it should be noted, came into existence at about the same time as Buddhism. They had a different Buddha, by the name Mahavira, who also received his enlightenment (Jina, hence Jainism) when sitting under a tree.

Buddha's method, "in a nutshell," is simple: Eightfold Path that helps you to receive the Enlightenment then to attain the Nirvana (the original one!) while here on earth. For him, there simply was no supreme deity nor host of other personal celestial dwellers. He denied Hinduist gods, yet as a matter of recognizing the whole of creation as holy and deserving equal treatment. So far, we have not engaged in any major controversy with Jainism: all the same, if we are to abstain from approaching the fine divides and the less important technicalities like the cult of nudity (coupled with chastity and a strong form of antigluttony in the general sense, spiritual included). Could also proceed to major pillars like the Wheel of Life and other symbols present somehow in all of these yet with quite different underlying message and/or relevance.
Back to Gautama's original propositions, though. His middle way between the two extremes, asceticism and hedonism, can properly be viewed as "rational guidelines" for those coping with the many challenges as posed by life.

The Four Rules diagnose/define the problem:

(1) Suffering is attached to life,
(2) It is caused by desires and craving,
(3) Implication: to stop suffering, stop desire,
(4) Implication: to stop desire, practice the Eightfold Path of the middle way, which can be grouped into three pillars:
(I) Right knowledge,
(II) Right action,
(III) Right direction (concentration or orientation).

Very simple indeed and well structured like an algorithm. Fight desire, treat the whole creature as a projection of deity and on par with you, and you'll enter the Nirvana (or Nibbana) as a paradise here on earth without evil and suffering. This recipe alone is often reasonably found to underlie all traditional religions, thus providing an overlap between them, in which light the unifying legacy of Gita appears but a special (if uninteresting) case.

One aspect of deification of the whole creature is seeing god in one's self. Gautama's practice of meditation as a concentration and directed search for a god in one's inner self thus should appear very much consistent with his symmetric and unemotional approach. However, paganism-whether it be in the conventional form of worshiping spirits or creature instead of the creator, or in the finer Shintoism,--might claim as much consistency with the principle. At least superficially, then, the more basic or general level of the core doctrine is inherently underidentified, which in itself is a major potential source of pseudo integrability.

We have thus far maintained the apparent similarities between the alternate concepts of Nirvana. Its importance can hardly be overemphasized, as one has to define the objective, or end to judge the means. Unlike the Buddhist Nibbana as a liberation from the cycle of rebirths ("samsara"), the Hinduist (Jainist?) Moksha promises the reunification of the individual atom (atman) with God (Brahman). The later Buddhist tradition maintains largely the same on the surface, yet the emphasis is on the absorption of the droplet by the ocean, thereby erasing any identity (paradise as rest "in nihilo").

On second thought, however, the Jainist way of attaining the Nirvana does not exactly duplicate that proposed by Buddhism originally. More clearly articulated and personalized relationship with the creature, greater emphasis on asceticism (rather than the middle-way balancing) all contribute to Moksha appearing as unambiguous as it is well worth the effort. Paradoxically, though, with the Jainist espousers being a minority in the modern times India, they actually constitute an extremely influential minority of highly successful bankers and corporate professionals. Wealth accumulation for the purpose of right(eous) distribution (helping the poor etc.) is perceived as an important component of "action" (along with "knowledge" and "attitude") in its active form.

Arguably, the Gita contains every Vedic legacy, be it in reference to the episodes and divine characters of the Kurukshetra Battle (traceable to the scenes and plots from the epic Ramayana [200 BC], Mahabharta [300 BC]) or in terms of gnoseologic content close to the 4 Vedas [1500-1000 BC] and the Upanishads [700 BC]. The "factual" content drawing from Vedas provides a detailed coverage of aspects of the creation, astral hierarchy, and the metrics of the Universe (lifecycles, metamorphoses and reincarnations, as well as the underlying "mechanisms" or "laws of motions"). The organization of the Gita can tentatively be outlined as the doctrine of core knowledge (Chh. 2-11), implications (Chh. 12-15), then the "advanced" knowledge (Chh. 16-18). It could indeed closely follow the Eight Paths of Gautama (knowledge, action, and compliance of the latter with the former), and it could reflect the evolution form basic knowledge to practicing the normative implications and thus receiving the enlightenment, which further "qualifies" for the higher knowledge of spheres (planets) where Nirvana is to be attained (Krshnaloka, etc.)

One should note, though, that the original four Vedas mostly introduced the sacred texts pertaining to the archaic Vedic pantheon of gods who were to become far less popular in the later (indeed, modern) times. While they do continue to play an important part in daily lives, they are viewed as inferior aeons to the lord Vishnu and his personalities (Rama, Krshna, and Shiva). That latter view is maintained in the 1,800 Upanishads as capturing the essence of Vedas, and in the
later Vedanta legacy (Aryan records describing the universe and conventionally referred to as the Vedas).

To further clarify (or complicate?) things, the Bhagavad Gita (Song of the Lord) "as it is" is actually a bit far from the original Bhagavad Gita constituting Chapter 18 of the Mahabharata scripture (which is 15 times the length of the Bible). Almost by definition, then, the modern Gita should be viewed as an expanded version, supplemented with something, presumably [most] integrable into its general framework and Mahabharta context. It had thus with necessity to be semi-Hinduist, hemi-Buddhist, and demi-Jainist, building on [late?] Vedic postulates.
We have thus researched some of the main sources that could account for the surmised Vedic backing and the strong Jainist as well as Buddhist presence in the Bhagavad Gita, a major reference to the core of late Hinduism. On the one hand, we have traced the knowledge-laden and background sacred content to the principle Hinduist sources such as the 4 Vedas and the Upanishads. On the other hand, the other two maintained candidacies had at various stages some original (inherent) as well as some gained (introduced or re-emphasized) sources of overlap, thus qualifying them as a fairly non-heterogeneous or intercomplementary core readily to be reintegrated within the original basic premises ...

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