Post 3

Materialists
========

Material experience is certainly the first of human experiences. From the beginning of life, where other beliefs have not yet developed, the baby believes only in direct perception through the senses (IM p. 5). Everyone begins their lives materialists, but, not many continue their lives believing only in direct perception as do the Materialists. A belief only in direct perception necessarily entails a belief in only matter for it is only matter that can be directly perceived. Moral responsibility, human afterlife, God, heaven and hell, none of them directly perceivable, do not exist for the materialist.

But, what of consciousness and life, neither directly perceivable but both clearly existing? The materialists explains both are merely the products of matter. Like alcohol arising from fermented grapes, life and consciousness arises when matter of certain kinds congregates in a certain way producing life and consciousness (IM p. 26). The life process of all living matter is explained by "inherent nature" (svabhava). A dog barks, a chicken pecks, an elephant is very large, a beetle very small; all appearances, behaviors and activities of living things are determined by the inherent natures of the things in themselves (IM p. 12, BP p. 12).

The first interpreter of material experiences is Brhaspati, the legendary founder of Indian materialism. Brhaspati was also called Carvaka and Lokayata, names synonymous with Indian materialism (SIP p. 227, 228, PTI p. 86, IM p. 17). His Brhaspati Sutra (600 B.C) has been lost but his ideas continue on in commentaries on materialism. The most well known commentaries are the (A) Sarvadarsanasamgraha, (B) Sarvasiddhantasamgraha and the Tattvopaplavasimha. Here are a few quotes from these texts:

(B) Only the perceived exists; the unperceivable does not exist (SIP p. 234)

(A) ....there are four elements, earth, water, fire, and air; And from these four elements alone is intelligence produced---(SIP p. 230)

(A) The fire is hot, the water cold, refreshing cool the breeze of morn;
By whom came this variety? from their own nature was it born.
And all this has been also said by Brhaspati---
There is no heaven, no final liberation, nor any soul in another world,
Nor do the actions of the four castes, orders, &c., produce any real effect (SIP p. 233)

(B) There is no world other than this; there is no heaven and no hell (SIP p. 235)

(B) A person is happy or miserable through [the laws of] nature; there is no other cause. Who paints the peacocks, or who makes the cuckoos sing? There exists here no cause excepting nature. (SIP p. 235)

(A) ....there is no such thing as happiness in a future world....then why engage in sacrifices....which can only be performed with great expenditure of money and bodily fatigue....these performances are only useful as means of livelihood, for the Veda is tainted by the three faults of untruth, self contradiction and tautology....Brhaspati says (the three Vedas) are but means of livelihood for those who have no manliness nor sense (SIP p. 229)

(A) The three authors of the Vedas were buffoons, knaves and demons (SIP p. 234)

(A) While life is yours, live joyously;
None can escape Death's searching eye:
When once this frame of ours they burn,
How shall it e'er again return? (SIP p. 228)

(A) The only end of man is enjoyment produced by sensual pleasures (SIP p. 229)

(B) The wise should enjoy the pleasures of this world through the proper visible means of agriculture, keeping cattle, trade, political administration, etc. (SIP p. 235)

An example of the materialists' natural causal theory, svabhava or inherent nature, is the way a mango seed will always grow into a mango tree and not into a banana tree or anything else.   This is the deterministic aspect of materialist causality. But, strangely, materialists have it both ways, deterministic and indeterministic. Causality, for certain materialist schools, was a totally unpredictable process, things happen only by chance, a view unique to materialists.

This indeterministic aspect of materialism is present in the third most well known materialist text, Jayarasi's Tattvopaplavasimha, highly regarded because it refutes inference as a source of knowledge and thereby denied any relation between cause and effect. Of the three traditional sources of knowledge---perception, inference, and verbal testimony (PTI p. 87)---the materialists accepted only perception as true and real. Verbal testimony was rejected a source of knowledge because words and their meanings were based upon inference.   Inference cannot yield truth, they say (PTI p. 87).

Carvaka knowledge is the earliest in the Indian evolution of knowledge (INP p. 89). Its rejection of inference as a source of knowledge was a criticism aimed directly at the Hindus who said you could predict the effect if you knew the causes, as per the caste system. The materialists were entirely opposed to this notion; the materialist opposition to inference made them the earliest opponent of the Hindus: "Of the Nastik (nihilistic) systems of Indian philosophy, none is so anti-vedic as the Carvaka school (INP p. 89)". The Jains and Buddhists were soon to follow in opposition of the Hindus.

Materialism is a very old view, first mentioned in the Rig Veda and subsequently in other Hindu literature, including the Upanisads and the epics of India, the Ramayana and Mahabarata (INP p. 89, IM p. 16). Materialist ideas were widespread and present also in Jain and Buddhist literature. It is possible Siddhatha was quite familiar with materialist views by the time he was a young man; his knowledge of it appears in the Sandaka Sutta MN and the Samannaphala Sutta DN. A good portion of the Sandaka Sutta is a dialogue between Sandaka, a wanderer, and Ananda, the Buddha's cousin and most devoted follower. Here, Ananda itemizes for Sandaka the various claims of the materialists as understood by the Buddha:

1) There is nothing given, nothing offered, nothing sacrificed; no fruit or result of good and bad actions (i. 515).
2) A person consists of the four great elements---earth, water, fire and air (i. 515).
3) Fools and the wise are alike cut off and annihilated with the dissolution of the body; after death they do not exist (i. 516).
4) When one acts or make others act, when one mutilates...when one tortures...when one inflicts sorrow....when one oppresses....when one intimidates....when one kills living beings......etc. no evil is done by the doer (i. 516).
5) There is no cause or condition for the defilement of beings.....there is no cause or condition for the purification of beings (i. 517).
6) The human being is without a creator, he/she is made of earth, water, fire, air, pleasure, pain and soul (i. 518).

(Interestingly, the idea of the soul is so powerful, some materialists accept the idea of the soul although they say the soul does not survive death)

7) Just as a ball of string when thrown goes as far as the string unwinds, so too, by running and wandering through the round of rebirths, fools and the wise both will make an end of suffering (i. 518).

The Materialist Figures
=================

The materialist claims in the Sandaka Sutta are personalized by four renowned materialists of the Buddha's time in the Samannaphala Sutta DN. The first of these materialists is Puruna Kassapa, a naked wanderer who denied there is "any reward or punishment for good or bad deeds (note 99 DN)": If a person "...cuts or causes to be cut...burns....kills....steals....lies....no evil is done.... if a person with with a razor sharp wheel were to make of this earth one single mass and heap of flesh, there would be no evil as a result of that, no evil would accrue....OR....if a person is a giving person, controls himself, abstains from harming, is truthful, still there is no merit, and no merit accrues."

The second is Makkahali Gosala, a fatalist who said things happen without cause and everything is determined by fate (niyati), species (sangati) and self nature (svabhava) (EEB p. 19). Being a determinist he naturally opposed the idea of the will, "There is no self power or other power, there is no power in humans, no strength or force, vigor or exertion....(a human life is like) ....a ball of string when thrown runs till it is all unraveled, so fools and wise run on and circle round till they make an end of suffering". (Samannaphala DN)

A third materialist, the most prominent of them, was Ajita Kesakambali, who, like Puruna Kassapa said there is no fruit to good or bad deeds and added there is no afterlife, only annihilation follows life (Samannaphala DN). Ajita rejected the efficacy of moral discourse along with prayer, ritual, generosity. His description of a human person was the standard materialist model----earth, water, fire and air----to which he added "faculties". This indicates Ajita felt there is something other than matter involved in life processes.

Pakudha Kaccayana, the fourth materialist, added even more to Ajita's description of a human person. To the four physical elements he added pleasure, pain and life principle. Like Ajita he felt there was something more to life than matter. But, make no mistake about it, both Pakudha and Ajita believed matter is everything. The "faculties" and "life principle" of a human person are just the products of matter, these coming to an end with the death of the body. "The thrust of Pakudha's argument is in the direction of denying a 'person' (EEB p. 19)". He makes this argument in the Samannaphala: ".... whoever cuts off a man's head with a sharp sword does not deprive anyone of life, he just inserts the blade in the intervening space between these seven bodies ". When a person's head is cut off, it may seem a killing has occurred but that is not the case for "....there is neither slain nor slayer...". Killing with a sword is just a case of matter invading matter.

Overall, the literature of Indian materialism is very scanty (PTI p. 86); much of materialist ideas are only known to us through the writing of its opponents. This suggests materialist ideas were not popular and as a result its road has always been a bumpy road. Nevertheless, materialism did influence many other views, especially the atheistic and empirical outlook of Buddhism which found value in materialist ideas. For instance, the Buddha's most basic description of a human person is the same as the materialists---earth, water, fire and air (Mahahatthipadopama MN). Although materialist ideas have never taken root in India, it does have numerous secret followers (IM p. 17) who share materialism's anti-metaphysical attitude and those who feel in their hearts matter is central to everything.

Skeptics and Agnostics
================

The Buddha's two other major competitors were the Skeptics/Agnostics and the original people of India, the Dasyus. Sanjaya Belatthaputta, the most renowned of the skeptics shared with the materialists a homeless existence as did Mahavira, the Jaina leader. Sanjaya is famed in Buddhist literature as the voice of the skeptics and agnostics. In spite of his fame he was derided "the most stupid and confused (Samannaphala DN)" and is the most "dull and confused among all ascetics and Brahmins [those of the Brahmin caste]" (Sandaka MN). Sanjaya was called stupid and confused because he was an "eel wriggler (Sandaka MN, Brahmajala DN)", a skeptic who never took a position----"I don't say it is so....I don't say it is not so (Samannaphala DN)"----and rejected all views. Although considered dull and stupid, he brought into Buddhism what was to become the most well known of Buddhist arguments, the Four Cornered Argument: 1) it is, 2) it is not, 3) it is both is and is not, 4) it is neither is or is not (EEB p. 32).

The Dasyus
=========

Finally, the Dasyus, the aboriginal people of India, were the first contributors to Indian ideas. Although they were overpowered by the invention of the invading Aryans, the four fold caste system, their contributions lives on in Indian culture.   Their utilitarian Four Stages of Life or Asramas----student, householder, forest dweller, ascetic----and their Four Fruits of Life or Purusarthas----wealth (artha), enjoyment (kamma), morality (dhamma), freedom (moksha)----are still remembered in Indian culture. The Dasyus were an ascetic (sramana) culture and from it may have come their most enduring contribution to India and to the world---- their practice of meditation.

Conclusion to Buddhism's Competitors
===========================

These were the many competitors of the Buddha. To meet this competition, the followers of the Buddha marketed the Buddha "...the divine embodiment of power, goodness and bliss, and an Absolute rather than a historical figure and teacher...." (EBO p. 25). In this struggle "....for competitive existence an association (sangha) is compelled to exalt the personality of the founder"   (EBO p. 25).

This strategy was intended to counter the transcendentalism of the Hindus and Jains but succeeded only in sending empirical Buddhism on the road to a transcendental future. Eventually, Buddhism would be out-competed primarily by Hindu eternalism and to a lesser extent the Syad (somehow, perhaps, maybe) of 

Jainism.   Pragmatic Buddhism may have survived in China because its opposition was an equally pragmatic Confucianism and did not have to face a very strong idealistic (reality is fundamentally mental) tradition as it did in India (NAG p. 8).  

Buddhism gradually disappeared from India a separate entity while materialism persisted on its rocky road in India, as it always has in other forms world wide. Buddhism is no longer a part of Indian life, but, did contribute greatly to the centuries long arguments among the Indian competitors, arguments so thorough it culminated in there being "....practically no insight or shade of speculation known to man that is not found in Indian thought (OP p. 9)".

This ends Post 3.