Something that I can’t wrap my head around is now on earth Ambedkar thought that Buddhism was a religion centered on social justice.
Hot take but Lord Buddha endorsed jati-varna/caste more then Lord Ram or Lord Krishna ever did.
🧵Thread🪡
Across various sutras, Lord Buddha explicitly endorses the 4 fold varna system. Emphasis is placed on Brahmin and Kshatriya castes as respected communities and the castes where Buddha’s and Bodhisattvas are born into (All Buddhas thus far were born in Brahmin/Kshatriya lineages).
Jati especially is endorsed as birth based and it seems that in some ways, jati/varna are used interchangeably interestingly enough.
The passage below clearly shows how caste-conscious and conformist Indian/Buddhist society was during Lord Buddha’s time.
OTOH, there are def interpretations where Lord Buddha says caste is based on profession/action. However on closer examination, the word “kammanā” is expanded to include the classic sanchit & other karmic concepts denoting high level karma that factors into birth vs current karma.
The dagger to Ambedkar’s Navayana though, may be how vehemently Buddha opposes inter-caste marriage. Again, I really cannot recall any verses as condemning as the below & prior ones uttered by Lord Ram/Lord Krishna on caste. Curious…
Something that may cause even more schizophrenic emotions is Lord Buddha dedicating an entire chapter of the Dhammapada to praising Brahmins. From their aesthetics to their asceticism, Buddha chides those who attack Brahmins but also does seem to favor an action based Brahminhood
But what about Buddhists society? Ambedkar would have you believe that Buddhist societies were so egalitarian utopias free of the evils of Brahminism. Well besides the fact that Buddhists frequently worshipped “Brahminical gods,” we also have caste in 🇱🇰 , 🇳🇵, & 🇲🇲
Source of the screenshots from the above jstor.org/stable/29757366
You can read even more myth-busting on caste especially in a political and historical sense in my recent piece. From the Vedas, Buddhism, Bhakti movement, Ambedkar, Dalit politics, and now the BJP’s brute dominance amongst the Bahujans.
theemissary.co/how-the-bjp-be…
For some reason the SS came out weird in this tweet. Updated and full verses
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