History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c91.97

v7.c91.97

The brāhmaṇas of the times when Buddhism was at its peak had to strive to keep the banner of the Vedic religion flying, to deprive Buddhism of its hold on the masses of the people and even on the intelligentsia and to make them stick to the old fold. Buddhism itself had changed a great deal in its ideals, doctrines, sometime before the beginning of the Christian era and for centuries thereafter. Buddha's original doctrines were aimed at individual effort and salvation of the individual by his own effort and self-culture. Early Buddhist texts deny the existence of anything like a soul¹⁵¹² and find no place for the idea of God. Though Buddha spoke of *Nirvāṇa* he did not clearly define it nor does he specify the condition of the individual when he enters nirvāṇa. Aśvaghoṣa compares nirvāna to the extinction of a flame (Saundarananda, chap. XVI. 28-29). Because the doctrine of karma was deeply rooted in the popular mind at the time of Buddha, Buddhism took over that doctrine, which, to men who are not Buddhists, appears to be contradictory of the denial of the existence of a soul. The word 'Dhamma' is used in three senses in the Pāli 'Dhammapada' (which being mentioned in the questions of Milinda is earlier than the 2nd century B. C.) viz. (1) the truth or law preached by Buddha, (2) thing or form, (3) way or mode of life.