The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c11.3

c11.3

Obviously, Buddhism is an imcomparably more presentable candidate for the axial breakthrough. It shares with the Upaniṣads the doctrinal concern with *karman*, transmigration, world renunciation, and final release; but its purely ethical karman doctrine untrammeled by ritual or magical reminiscences, the rational clarity of its stand on transmigration and salvation impress the observer as a decisive advance. Its rejection of the Veda, moreover, gives Buddhism the character of a radically new beginning. No less important in this respect is the impact it had on the mundane order through the intimate connection with the Maurya Empire, which arose with other new empires at the end of the Axial Age. Giving the empire a new ethical legitimation, Buddhism owes to empire the realization of its universalistic claim. Even though the Maurya Empire lasted only for a relatively short time, the pattern for a new type of universalistic imperial order, based on the intimate connection of the ruler and the monastic establishment, the *sangha*, was set.²