Welcome to Eternal Path! This week we feature a dive into Buddhism and Caste, an unfortunate aspect of recent Kashmir life, and an aesthetic!
Religion Highlight: Buddhism and Caste
American textbooks when discussing religion, often use the trope that Buddhism arose as a reaction against Hinduism, and implicitly advocate that Buddhism was an improvement on Hinduism. One of the key angles in which they do so is through the topic of caste; the claim made is that Buddhism was a rebellion against the caste system. This claim, while untrue, is wildly popular, and one propagated specifically by Navayana Buddhists (followers of Bhim Rao Ambedkar), a delusional group of Hinduphobes. Aabhas Maldahiyar dropped a great thread around how Buddha was not against varna or jati and in some cases quite clearly upheld it. The link to the thread on twitter is here and a single-page version here.
One of the funnier quotations Maldahiyar points out is regarding the Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra castes where “in Kannakatthalasutta (90), it is further clarified that of the four the first two are chief and deserve respect from the other two.”
To balance out the textual analysis, here is a funny meme mocking the Navayana Buddhist understanding of the Buddha and Caste.
Hinduphobia Highlight: Recent Killings of Hindus in Kashmir
Our readers will likely be aware that multiple genocides of Hindus have occurred over the centuries. Even after the repeal of Article 370, killings of Hindus in Kashmir have continued. @Sharnarthee has compiled a list of Hindus killed by Muslim terrorists and gangs in Kashmir since 2020. Its important to remember these people and #SayTheirNames
