THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTH

The Four Noble Truth comprises the essence of Buddha's teachings.They are the truth of suffering, the truth of the cause of suffering ,the truth of  the end of suffering & the truth of the path that leads to the end of suffering .                                                                                                                         The four noble truth are a contingency plan for dealing with the suffering humanity faces-suffering of a physical king,or of a mental nature.The first truth identifies the presence of suffering.The second truth,seeks to  determine the cause of sufferings .In Buddhism,desire and ignorance lie at the root of suffering.By dseire ,Buddhist refer to craving pleasure,material goods and immortality , all of which are wants that can never be satisfied As a result ,desiring them can only bring suffering.Ignorance ,in comparison,relates to not seeing the world as it actually is.Without the capicity for mental concentration.                                                                                                                                             The third Nobel truth, the truth of the end of suffering,has dual meaning ,suggesting either the end of suffering in this life,When one has achieved NIRVANA, which is a state free from suffering or earthly things i.e birth or rebirth,spiritual enlightment has been reached .\The four Nobel truth is the method attaining the end of suffering.i.e Eightfold path (astangik marg)                                                 THE STEPS OF THE NOBEL EIGHTHFOLD PATH ARE-                                                                    RIGHT OF UNDERSTANDING                                                                                                              RIGHT OF SPEECH                                                                                                                                   RIGHT OF ACTION                                                                                                                                  RIGHT OF LIVLIHOOD                                                                                                                           RIGHT OF EFFORT                                                                                                                                  RIGHTS OF MINDFULNESS                                                                                                                   RIGHTS OF CONCENTRATION                                                                                                             RIGHT OF THOUGHT   

MAHAYANA AND HINAYANA

• after the death of Buddha, Buddhism was divided into two sects namely Mahayana & Hinyana. Mahayana & Hinayana originated in prajnaparamita sutras. They have both the same goal but there ways of achievement of Nirvana was different .                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Hinayana :- Hinyana follows the original teaching of Buddha.It emphasizes individual salvation through self discipline and meditation. They followed teaching or philosophy not as a religion, no idiol workship were seen.There work was written in PALI language.Buddha is fol;owed like a normal human because Budha was simply a king who choosen to attain simple life and founded a way to NIRVANA .According to them they think GAUTAMA BUDDHA DONOT KNOW HOW TO MEDITATE IN HIS EARLY LIFE SO COULDN'T  have been a god .                                                                                                                              MAHAYANA :- THIS SECT OF Buddhism believe in the heavenliness of buddha and believes in idol wokship .It was spreaded from INDIA to several other nations such as china, korea ,japan,taiwan,nepal,tibet ,bhutan & mangolia. They were people believe in mantras,there main principles were based on the possibility of universal liberation from sufferings for all being . thats why ,this sect is called MAHAYANA ( the great vehicle).Based on the existence of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas embodying Buddha nature .In this sect they allow salvation through faith and commiting oneself to buddha.There early work was written in sanskrit language.They think Buddha came down to earth to help people cross the sea of life.                                           SIMILARITIES - The Four Nobel truth  and eightfold path (astangik marg)  are exactly the same in both sect.                                                                        
  

Mahajanpadas ( ANGA & MAGADHA)

3.Anga :- It lay to the east of its neighbour and river,Magadha and was seperated from it by the river Champ. The capital of Anga was located on the bank of this  river and was also named Champa( Near modern Bhagalpur). It was prominent for its wealth and commerce Anga was annexed by Magadha in the 6th century BCE.The earliest mention occurs in the Atharaveda.Puranic text place the janapadas of the Anga,kalinga,vangas,pundras,vidarbhas & vindhya vasis in the Purva -dakshina divison.Puranas  also  list several early kings of Anga . The mahagovinda suttra refers to King Dhatarathha of  Angas. Jain text refers to Dhadhivahana , as a ruler of the Angas.According to Mahabharata, Duryodhana had named KARNA  the king of anga.A great struggle went on between the angas and its eastern neighbour tHE VIDHURA PANDITA JATAKA describes Rajagriha (the magadhan capital) as the city of Anga and Mahabharat also refers to a sacifice performed by the king of Anga atGaya This indicates that anga had inittially succeded in annexing the Magadhas thus extented to matsya kingdom.                                                                                                                      4. MAGADHA   :- kikata was an ancient kindom mentioned in vedas.It is believed that they were the forefathers of Magadhas .According to  puranic literature kikata is placed near Gaya with its capital (Rajgir).The existence of Magadha is recorded in Vedic text earlier in time than 600BCE the earliest reference to Magadha peopleoccurs in the Arthaveda, where they are found list along with the Angas,Gandharis & Mujavats.The core kingdom was the area of bihar south of the  Ganges ,Rajgriha was initially known as so during the reign of Ajatsatru . It was expended to the most of bihar and bengal with conquest of Vajjii confederation and Anga, its extent was upto Bihar,Jharkhand,Orissa,West Bengal, Eastern UTAR PRADESH and some areas of today the nation of Bangladesh &Nepal .In  both Buddhist &Jain text it mentions the Magadha kingdom ,from the sources it appears that Magadha was ruled by Haryanka dynasty for 200 years ,c(543-413) BCE .Gautama Buddha , the founder of buddhism , lived much of his life in the kingdom of Madagha and attained enlightment in Bodh Gaya, gave his first sermon in Sarnath and the first  buddha council was held in rajgriha . Brihadratha was the first ruler of Magadha . King Bimbisar conquest the kingdom of ANGA  which is now in bengal.King Bimbisar was killed by his son Ajatsatru. He send his minister to undermine the unity  of licchavis,Ajatsatru built a fort at the town of patliputra.It took fifteen years for Ajatsatru to defeat licchavi After the death of Ajatstru it become the capital HARYANKA DYNASTY was overthrown by SHISUNGA DYNASTY tthe  shisunga last ruler Mahanandin ,was assignated by Mahapadma nanda in 345 BCE.      

political historyof 6th century B.C

                                                                                                                                                              The sixth century B.C was a time when there was many powerfull and independent states ,this century is regarded as a starting point of the political history of ancient India. We have Buddhist and Jain text (ANGUTTARA NIKAYA& BHAGAVATI SUTRA )from this we have come to know that there were sixteen states of great extent and power and were known as "SOLASA MAHAJANAPADA".These states were:-                                                                  1.kasi  2.kosala  3.Anga    4. magadha  5.vajji  6. malla  7..chedi   8.vatsa  9.kuru  10.panchala 11.matsya 12. sursena  13.asmaka 14.avanti 15.gandhara   16. kamboja..                                                                                                                                                                      These Mahajanapadas flourished together during a period posterior to Karala-janka but anterior to maha  kosala ,because one of them Vajji ,apparently rose to power after the fall of Videhan monarchy,while another namely ,Kasi      1.KASI   lost its indepndence before the timeof Mahakosala and formed an integral part of the kosalan empire in the latter half of the sixth century B.C. In Jain text Anga ,Magadha,Vatsa,Vajji,Kasi &kosala are common to both the lists.Of the sixteen Mahajanapadas KASI was probably at first the most powerful.The Mahavagga also mentions the fact that kasi was in former times a great  and prosperous relalm & immense resources.  The Jainas also witneesed   the greatness   of Kasi &its king Asvasena,( king of Benaras)  as his father  Tirthanker Parsva died in  250 years before Mahavira. The Jatakas & mahavagga clearly proves that Kasi was at one time  a great almost an imperial power,strongerthan manyof its neighbours  including Kosala.    2. KOSALA , it was bounded on the west by the Gumti ,on the south by the Sai river, on the east by theSadantra which seperated it from Videha kosala region gave rise to  Sramana movements ,including Jainism & Buddhism. Its capital was Sravasti , during the 5th century BCE, incorported the territory of the Sakya clan, to which the buddha belonged . In the time of king Mahakosala,the conquered neighboring kingdom of kasi had become an integral part of the Kosala kingdom.Mahakosala's daughter Kosaladevi married with king  Bimbisara ( of magadha) . the kosala kingdom was defited by Ajatsatru of the Magadhan Haryanka dynasy ,which formed the basis of the Mauryan empire.