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| Navayāna | |
|---|---|
| नवयान | |
.jpg) A Navayāna Buddhist shrine withAmbedkar's portrait andThe Buddha and His Dhamma book. The photograph is on the event of the 50thDhammachakra Pravartan Day. | |
| Type | Dharmic |
| Moderator | BodhisattvaAmbedkar |
| Region | India |
| Founder | B. R. Ambedkar |
| Origin | 1956 Deekshabhoomi,Nagpur, India |
| Members | 7.30 million followers (2011) |
| Part ofa series on |
| Buddhism |
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Navayāna (Devanagari: नवयान,IAST:Navayāna, meaning "New Vehicle"), otherwise known asNavayāna Buddhism, refers to thesocially engagedschool of Buddhism founded and developed by the Indian jurist, social reformer, and scholarB. R. Ambedkar;[a] it is also calledNeo-Buddhism andAmbedkarite Buddhism. Its members describe the school as the application of Buddhist principles for the welfare of many.[1][2]
Ambedkar was an Indian lawyer, politician, andscholar of Buddhism, and the Drafting Chairman of theConstitution of India. He was born in an untouchable family during thecolonial era of India, studied abroad, became a Dalit leader, and announced in 1935 his intent to convert fromHinduism to a different religion,[3] an endeavor which took him to study all the major religions of the world in depth, namely Hinduism,Buddhism,Sikhism,Christianity, andIslam, for nearly 21 years.[4][5][3] The school was otherwise namedAmbedkarite Buddhism after him by people after his death.[6] Ambedkar held a conference on 13 October 1956, announcing his rejection of Hinduism.[7] Thereafter, he left Hinduism andadopted Buddhism as his religious faith, about six weeks before his death.[1][6][7] Its adherents see Navayāna Buddhism not as a sect with radically different ideas, but rather as a new social movement founded on theprinciples of Buddhism.
In the Buddhist faith, Navayāna is not considered as an independent new branch of Buddhism native toIndia, distinct from the traditionally recognized branches ofTheravāda,Mahāyāna, andVajrayāna[8]—considered to be foundational in the Buddhist tradition.[9][b] It radically re-interprets what Buddhism is;[10][c] Ambedkar regarded Buddhism to be a better alternative thanMarxism orCommunism, taking into account modern problems within Indian society.[6][11][12]
While the termNavayāna is most commonly used in reference to the movement that Ambedkar founded in India, it is also (more rarely) used in a different sense, to refer toWesternized forms of Buddhism.[13] Ambedkar didn't call his version of BuddhismNavayāna or "Neo-Buddhism".[14] His book,The Buddha and His Dhamma, is considered Bible of Buddhism byNavyana Buddhists and seems to be an attempt to unite allBuddhist schools. The followers of Navayāna Buddhism are generally called "Buddhists" (Bauddha) as well asAmbedkarite Buddhists, and rarelyNavayāna Buddhists.[15] Almost 90% of Navayāna Buddhists live inMaharashtra.[citation needed]
Ambedkar was an Indian leader influential during the colonial era and early post-independence period of India. He was the fourteenth child in an impoverished Maharashtra Schedule caste family, who studied abroad, returned to India in the 1920s and joined the political movement. His focus was social and political rights for the Depressed class community.[16] To free his community from religious prejudice, he concluded that they must leave Hinduism and convert to a different religion. He chose Buddhism as the only way to end human suffering.[16][11]
In 1935, following disagreements withMahatma Gandhi, Ambedkar announced his intent to convert from Hinduism to Buddhism.[3] Over the next two decades, Ambedkar studied Buddhist texts and wroteThe Buddha and His Dhamma which is considered Bible of Buddhism.[17]
Ambedkar re-emphasized Buddhist principles to address modern issues.[1][6] Navayanadhamma doctrine as propounded by Ambedkar, states Sumant (2004),[18] "does not situate morality in a transcendental [religious] domain", nor in "a civil association, including the state".Dhamma is derived from and the guiding principle for social conscience.[18]
Navayana Buddhism began in 1956, whenBhimrao R. Ambedkar adopted it, and 380,000 oppressed community members converted to Buddhism fromHinduism on 14 and 15 October 1956.[16][7] After that on every year 14 October is celebrated asDhammachakra Pravartan Day at Dikshabhoomi, Nagpur:
I will accept and follow the teachings of Buddha. I will keep my people away from the different opinions of Hinayana and Mahayana, two religious orders. — B.R. Ambedkar[19]
The writings of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar were posthumously published asThe Buddha and His Dhamma, and this is the scripture also known as Bible Buddhism bringing all important teaching of Buddha into one book.[20] Among Navayana followers, state Keown & Prebish (2013),[11] this is "often referred to as their 'bible' and its novel interpretation of the Buddhist path commonly constitutes their only source of knowledge on the subject".[11]
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar is regarded as abodhisattva, theMaitreya, among the Indian Buddhists.[21][22] In practice, the Navayana followers revere Ambedkar, states Deitrick (2013),[23] as virtually on-par with the Buddha.[23] He is considered as the one prophesied to appear and teach thedhamma after it was forgotten; his iconography is a part of Indian Buddhist shrines and he is shown with a halo.[22] Though Ambedkar statesHe is an ordinary man still Indian Buddhist shrines features images of the Ambedkar along with Buddha, and the followers bow and offer prayers before them in practice.[24] According to Junghare (1988),[25] for the followers of Navayana, Ambedkar has become a deity and is devotionally worshipped.[25]
Ambedkar's re-interpretation of Buddhism and his formulation of Navayana has attracted admirers and criticism.[12] The Navayana theories restate the core doctrines of Buddhism, according to Zelliot & Macy (1980),[26] wherein Ambedkar's "social emphasis exclude[s] or distort some teaching, fundamental to traditional and canonical Buddhism".[26] Anne Blackburn states that Ambedkar re‑interprets core concepts of Buddhism inclass conflict terms, wherenirvana is not the aim and end of spiritual pursuits, but a preparation for social action against inequality:
Nibbana (Skt.nirvana) the state or process which describes enlightenment, is considered [by Ambedkar] a precursor for moral action in the world and explicitly associated with a non-monastic lifestyle.Nibbana "means enough control over passion so as to enable one to walk on the path of righteousness". Ambedkar's understanding ofdukkha andnibbana implies that moral action, for which nibbana is preparation, will rectify sufferings of Mankind.
Ambedkar considered all ideas in Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism that relate to an individual's merit and spiritual development as insertions into Buddhism, and something that "cannot be accepted to be the word of the Buddha". Buddhism, to Ambedkar, must have been a social reform movement.[12][26] Martin Fuchs states that Ambedkar's effort is to be admired as an attempt to seek a "post-religious religion" which transcends distinctions and as being driven by the "reasonable principle of sociality", not in the sense of spiritual doctrines, philosophical speculations and existentialist questions.[27]
According to Blackburn, "neither view of traditional Buddhism — as a social reform movement or as some other stable entity interpreted (or misinterpreted) from a social reform perspective — is historically accurate", thereby placing Navayana theories to be ahistorical, though it served as an important means for Dalit political mobilization and social movement.[12]
Scholars broadly accept that the depictions of the Buddha as a social reformer are inaccurate.[12][28][d]Gombrich (2012)[29] states that there is no evidence that the Buddha began or pursued social reforms; rather his aim was the salvation of those who joined his monastic order.[29][30][31] Modernist interpreters of Buddhism, states Gombrich, keep picking up this "mistake from western authors", a view that initially came into vogue during the colonial era.[29][32][33]
Richard Gombrich adds that Buddha should not be seen as a social reformer: "his concern was to reform individuals and help them leave society forever, not to reform the world... He never preached against social inequality, only declared its irrelevance to salvation. He never tried to abolish the caste system nor to do away with slavery"[34]
Empirical evidence outside of India, such as in the Theravada Buddhist monasteries of the Sinhalese society, suggests that class ideas have been prevalent among thesangha monks, and between the Buddhist monks and the laity. In all canonical Buddhist texts, thekhattiyas (warrior class) are always mentioned first and never other classes such asbrahmans,vessas,suddas.[35]
The novel interpretations and the dismissal of mainstream doctrines of Buddhism by Ambedkar as he formulated Navayana has led some to suggest that Navayana may more properly be called Ambedkarism.[11] However, Ambedkar did not consider himself as the originator of a new Buddhism, but stated that he was merely reviving what was original Buddhism after centuries of "misguided interpretation" by wrong headed Buddhist monks.[11] Others, states Skaria, consider Ambedkar attempting a synthesis of the ideas of modernKarl Marx into the structure of ideas by the ancient Buddha, as Ambedkar worked on essays on both in the final years of his life.[36]
According to Janet Contursi, Ambedkar re-interprets Buddhist religion and with Navayana "speaks through Gautama and politicizes the Buddha philosophy as he theologizes his own political views".[37]
TheScheduled Castes Order (Amendment) Act, 1990 granted reservation to Dalit Buddhists and recognized their Scheduled Caste status.[38]
According to the2011 Census of India there are 8.4 million Buddhists in India. Navayana Buddhists comprise about 87% (7.3 million) of the Indian Buddhist community, with nearly 90% (6.5 million) of all Navayana Buddhists in India living inMaharashtra state.[39][40] A 2017 IndiaSpend.com report on census data says "Buddhists have a literacy rate of 81.29%, higher than the national average of 72.98%", but it does not distinguish Navayana Buddhists from other Buddhists.[39] When compared to overall literacy rate of Maharashtra state where 80% of Buddhists are found, their literacy rate is 83.17% or slightly higher than statewide average of 82.34%.[39]
According to Jean Darian, the conversion to Buddhism and its growth in India has in part been because of nonreligious factors, in particular the political and economic needs of the community as well as the needs of the political leaders and the expanding administrative structure in India.[41]
Major festivals among Navayana Buddhists are:
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