JoanneMoffit at 01:39, 26 September 2025

2025-09-26T01:39:08Z

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[[Buddhism]] arose in the Indian subcontinent in the 5th century BC, when the predominant religion in the region was [[Historical Vedic religion|Brahmanism]], a predecessor of modern-day [[Hinduism]]. Hinduism supported a religiously and socially motivated [[Caste system in India|caste system]], which continues to play a significant role in the society of India today. Due to differing [[Buddhist cosmology|metaphysical]] and [[Buddhist ethics|ethical]] doctrines, '''Buddhist attitudes towards caste''' have historically diverged from and rejected those of casteism in several ways.<ref name=JS>{{cite journal|url=https://brill.com/view/journals/iij/63/2/article-p128_2.xml?language=en&ebody=pdf-63199|title=Indian Buddhist Attitudes toward Outcastes|first=Jonathan|last=Silk|journal=Indo-Iranian Journal|date=2020|volume=63 |issue=2 |pages=128–187 |doi=10.1163/15728536-06302003 |s2cid=225688259 |doi-access=free|hdl=1887/138378|hdl-access=free}}</ref>{{rp|p=128}}

Buddhism is integrated into the [[Newar caste system]] among the [[Newar people]] of [[Nepal]], just north of India.

There has been much debate about the extent to which Buddhism has been ideologically opposed to the caste system in India. The teachings of the Buddha have been described as fundamentally anti-caste.<ref name=JS />{{rp|p=128}} However, there is also evidence of complacency towards caste discrimination in early Buddhist literature,<ref name=JS />{{rp|p=129}} and it is unclear whether members of "untouchable" castes were treated as having the same potential for enlightenment as others.<ref name=JS />{{rp|p=137}}

==Background==
The Hindu caste system is structured around two key concepts through which members of society are categorized, {{transliteration|sa|[[varṇa]]}} ({{lang|sa|वर्ण}}) and {{transliteration|sa|[[jāti]]}} ({{lang|sa|जाति}}). Jati refers to countless [[endogamous]] groups defined by [[career|occupation]], social status, shared [[ancestry]], and locality, while varna divides society into a hierarchy of (usually four) broad social classes. The social hierarchy between jati is determined by their relationship to the more general hierarchy of varnas. From least to most privileged, the traditional varnas and their associated occupational classes are [[Shudras]] (manual laborers), [[Vaishyas]] (Farmers, landlords, Merchants), [[Kshatriyas]] (warriors and rulers), and [[Brahmins]] (the priestly class).<ref name=ST>{{cite book |last1=Tenhunen |first1=Sirpa |last2=Säävälä |first2=Minna |title=An Introduction to Changing India: Culture, Politics and Development |date=2012 |publisher=Anthem Press |isbn=978-0-85728-805-9 |pages=33–34 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6hIHJEJxnVcC |access-date=20 August 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

As with jati, varnas are linked to occupation, endogamy, and inherited status. However, varna is also related to Hindu religion and myth, and concepts of relative spiritual purity. [[Vaivasvata Manu#Descendants|The myth of Manu]] describes the four varnas originating from different parts of the body of the original man. Unlike the European system of the [[estates of the realm]], varna was also defined by ritual purity. It was believed that ritual impurity could be transmitted to a member of a higher varna by direct or indirect contact with a member of a lower one.<ref name=ST /> According to some traditions, all varnas but shudra could claim [[dvija]] status, admitting the study of religious texts. It was also thought that the soul could move between varnas between rebirths, but that a person was stuck within their birth caste for life. Those who were not counted as members of any varna ({{transliteration|sa|avarṇa}}) were either so-called "tribal" or [[Adivasi]] people, or untouchable [[Dalits]] given the most stigmatized work in the community. Though negative caste-based discrimination has been illegal in India since 1948,<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-28/struggle-to-challenge-indias-caste-system/101185772 | title='I would tell the other girls at school that I was Brahmin': The struggle to challenge India's caste system | newspaper=ABC News | date=27 June 2022 }}</ref> it still has serious effects in parts of the country.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-35650616|title=What is India's caste system?|date=25 February 2016|work=BBC News|language=en-GB}}</ref>

==Discussion of caste in Buddhist sources==
Buddhist sources contain discussion of the origins and nature of the Indian caste system, as well as some arguments against caste discrimination in both religious and everyday contexts. Hindu and Buddhist scriptures are both preoccupied by the four-varna system, while the distinctions between jati have held more importance in recent history. Further, the caste system was scarcely as pervasive or consistent in the Indian subcontinent as it is idealised to be in scriptural sources, due to varied geography, cultural differences between regions, and changing conditions throughout history.<ref name=ST /> In as much as Buddhist sources have less ideological investment in the caste system than Brahmanical sources, they may provide historians with a less exaggerated account of the role of caste in the economy and society of ancient India.<ref name=UC>{{cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/21781975|title=Towards a Historical Sociology of Stratification in Ancient India: Evidence From Buddhist Sources|first=Uma|last=Chakravarti|year=1984|journal=Economic and Political Weekly}}</ref>{{rp|p=356}} Many Buddhist texts suggest that ancient Indian society was effectively operating on much vaguer distinction between "high" ({{lang|pi|ukkaṭṭha}}) and "low" ({{lang|pi|hīna}}) occupations, as opposed to an idealised varna system.<ref name=UC />{{rp|p=357}} Furthermore, Buddhist scriptures deny superiority based on birth, but accept the four classes as an inevitable part of society. In contrast to Hindu sources, the warrior usually comes before the brahmin.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/sourcesofindiant0001unse_j5i5_2 |title=Sources of Indian tradition |date=1988 |publisher=New York : Columbia University Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-231-06650-1 |pages=98}}</ref>

===Social as opposed to intrinsic determination of caste===
A key difference from the Brahmanical understanding of caste has been observed in early Buddhist literature relating to the Buddhist distinction between the real and the [[nominalism|nominal]]. Two early Buddhist texts, the {{transliteration|sa|Kalpadrumāvadānamālā}} and the {{transliteration|sa|Śārdūlakarṇāvadāna}} refer to enforced social distinctions such as the four varnas as [[Samjna (concept)|{{transliteration|sa|sañjñā(māntra)}}]], {{lit|(mere) nominal designations}}. In general, early Buddhist philosophical sources conclude that caste distinctions are mainly imperceptible, and only the result of social conventions, determining nothing about the inner essence of the people they refer to.<ref name=EV>{{cite book|last1=Eltschinger|first1=Vincent|title=Caste and Buddhist Philosophy|date=2012}}</ref>{{rp|pp=1–3}}<ref name=JS />{{rp|p=129}} The {{transliteration|sa|Śārdūlakarṇāvadāna}} illustrates the nominality of the four varnas using the following allegory:<ref name=EV />{{rp|p=4}}<ref>{{cite book|title=Divyāvadānam|chapter=śārdūlakarṇāvadānam|url=https://suttacentral.net/divy33/san/vaidya?reference=none&highlight=false|language=sa}}</ref>
{{blockquote|Just as sand does not become food simply because a child says so when young children playing on a main road build sand pies and give them names, saying “This one is milk, this one is meat, and this one is curd,” so it is with the four classes [{{transliteration|sa|varṇās}}], as you, the Brahmin, describe them.}}
While Buddhist philosophy tends to deny the four varnas any inherent reality, the social processes behind their development are considered in some texts. For example, the {{transliteration|pi|[[Aggañña Sutta]]}} describes the first Kshatriya arising from a primordial, unstratified society due to the need for the community to enact punishment ({{transliteration|pi|daṇḍa}}) against the original crime of theft. It describes the origin of the other three varnas through similar myths focussed on human drama.<ref name=EV />{{rp|pp=6–8}}

In the {{transliteration|pi|Vasala Sutta}} of the {{transliteration|pi|[[Sutta Nipāta]]}}, the Buddha is on his alms round and encounters a Brahmin, who calls him an outcaste ({{transliteration|pi|vasalaka}}) and demands that he does not enter his home. The Buddha responds by reprimanding the Brahmin's understanding of caste and redefining {{transliteration|pi|vasala}} and {{transliteration|pi|brāhmaṇa}} respectively in terms of bad and good Buddhist conduct. He concludes that "not by birth is one an outcast; not by birth is one a brahman. By deed one becomes an outcast, by deed one becomes an brahman."<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/snp/snp.1.07.piya.html|chapter=Vasala Sutta: Discourse on Outcasts|title=Sutta Nipāta}}</ref> The idea that Brahminhood is determined by actions rather than birth appears frequently in Buddhist literature. Though this position rejects the typical birth-based caste hierarchy in favour of a deed-based view of social status, it does not strictly deny the validity of caste distinctions. Its purpose may simply be to defend the central role of action ({{transliteration|sa|karma}}) in determining one's status, in line with Buddhist doctrine, rather than to advocate for a radical egalitarian restructuring of caste society.<ref name=JS />{{rp|p=140}}

==Caste and Buddhist practice==
===Varna in the {{transliteration|pi|saṅgha}}===
In the [[Divyavadana|{{transliteration|sa|Divyāvadāna}}]], the Buddhist king [[Asoka]] is questioned by one of his ministers for "bow[ing] down to renunciants who come from all castes." The king responds that "at the time of a wedding, a marriage, one [rightly] considers caste, but not at the time of teaching the Dharma. For the causes of the practice of the Teaching are good qualities; good qualities do not pay attention to caste."<ref name="JS" />{{rp|pp=133}} This is both a denial of the relevance of caste after ordination into the sangha,<ref name="JS" />{{rp|pp=131}} and an affirmation of its validity in the social affair of marriage.<ref name="JS" />{{rp|pp=135}} The same position is repeated in the [[Da zhidu lun|{{transliteration|sa|Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa}}]].<ref name="JS" />{{rp|pp=147}} In practice, the majority of the early Sangha came from the upper Brahmin and Kshyatriya castes.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://web.uni-frankfurt.de/irenik/relkultur50.pdf|title=Buddhism: An Atheistic and Anti-Caste Religion?|year=2001|journal=Journal of Religious Culture|first=Edmund|last=Weber}}</ref>

==The Buddha's own caste==
[[File:Great Departure - Schist - ca 2nd Century CE - Gandhara - Loriyan Tangai - ACCN 5043 - Indian Museum - Kolkata 2016-03-06 1480.JPG|thumb|upright=1.35 |Prince Siddhārtha leaving the palace on a horse during the [[Great Renunciation]].]]
The Buddha was born as Prince Siddhārtha into the {{transliteration|pi|[[Kshatriya|Khattiya]]}} warrior caste of the {{transliteration|pi|[[Shakya|Sakaya]]}} clan.<ref name="University of Hawaii Press">{{cite book |last1=Hirakawa |first1=Akira |url=https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10125/23030 |title=A History of Indian Buddhism: From Śākyamuni to Early Mahāyāna |date=1990 |publisher=[[University of Hawaii Press]] |page=21 |hdl=10125/23030 |access-date=2023-10-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308145824/https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10125/23030 |archive-date=2021-03-08 |url-status=bot: unknown}}</ref> However, the Sakaya clan existed on the northern periphery of India, and they did not uphold the four-varna system common elsewhere in India, instead dividing society into and aristocratic caste of {{transliteration|pi|khattiya}}, and a slave caste of {{transliteration|pi|suddas}}. Other scholars have stated that the Buddha did not follow the four fold Aryan Caste System for it was not part of his ethnic heritage.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Levman |first=Bryan |date=January 2014 |title=Cultural Remnants of the Indigenous Peoples in the Buddhist Scriptures |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276914202 |website=ResearchGate}}</ref>

==Buddhism and untouchability outside of India==
[[File:Hinin indou no kirikami talisman.png|thumb|Example of a talisman used in Sōtō Zen on the corpse and home of a deceased Buraku for "negating relations to parents, family, and other humans in all directions," as part of rites meant to sever karmic links to the community, who might otherwise be haunted for mistreating them.<ref name="WB" />]]
Far beyond the range of Hindu practice and the caste system of India, [[Silk Road transmission of Buddhism|Buddhism eventually spread]] into east Asian regions including China, Korea, and Japan. Each of these regions has its own indigenous religions with which Buddhism iteracted. Some of these interactions relate to non-Indian forms of [[untouchability]].<ref name="HP" />

===Japan===
In Japan, the predominant religion of [[Shinto]]ism emphasised a system of [[harae|ritual purity]] and [[kegare|defilement]]. Though in India, Buddhism presented a form of rejection of Hindu ideas of irremediable defilement, Buddhist doctrines had different effects in the Japanese context. Various acts prohibited as immoral in Buddhism, particularly involving the slaughter of animals and consumption of meat, combined with pre-existing Shinto ideas, leading to a set of occupations being labelled as defiled or untouchable. This began with occupations relating to handling dirt and animal and human corpses, but spread to encompass a few other menial tasks including basket and sandal making. The people who performed these occupations became a segregated untouchable caste within Japanese society.<ref name="HP">{{cite journal|first=Herbert |last=Passin |title=Untouchability in the Far East |year=1955 |journal=Monumenta Nipponica|volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=247–267 |doi=10.2307/2382914 |jstor=2382914 }}</ref>{{rp|pp=32–33}} This group of people were originally referred to as the {{transliteration|ja|eta}} ({{lang|ja|穢多}}, {{lit|greatly defiled}}). An additional class of occupations that were considered outside social norms, including travelling actors, prostitutes, and beggars, later formed a second outcaste group called the {{transliteration|ja|hinin}} ({{lang|ja|非人}} {{lit|inhuman}}).<ref name="HP" />{{rp|pp=33–34}} The specific membership of these groups has not been constant throughout history, but a generalised untouchable group called the {{transliteration|ja|Burakumin}} ({{lang|ja|部落民}}, {{lit|hamlet people}}) was enforced during the [[Tokugawa period]], discrimination relating to {{transliteration|ja|Buraku}} status continues to be an issue in present-day Japan.<ref name="LA">{{cite journal|title=The ''Burakumin'': The Complicity of Japanese Buddhism in Oppression and an Opportunity for Liberation|url=http://kusala.online-dhamma.net/%E6%96%87%E5%AD%97%E8%B3%87%E6%96%99/%E5%8D%97%E5%82%B3%E4%BD%9B%E6%95%99%E5%9C%96%E6%9B%B8%E9%A4%A8%20Theravada%20Buddhism%20E-Library/054%20%E9%9B%9C%E8%AA%8C%20Magazine/Journal%20of%20Buddhist%20Ethics/JBE/www.jbe.gold.ac.uk/7/alldritt001.html#39|first=Leslie|last=Alldritt|journal=Journal of Buddhist Ethics|year=2000 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230526141208/http://kusala.online-dhamma.net/%E6%96%87%E5%AD%97%E8%B3%87%E6%96%99/%E5%8D%97%E5%82%B3%E4%BD%9B%E6%95%99%E5%9C%96%E6%9B%B8%E9%A4%A8%20Theravada%20Buddhism%20E-Library/054%20%E9%9B%9C%E8%AA%8C%20Magazine/Journal%20of%20Buddhist%20Ethics/JBE/www.jbe.gold.ac.uk/7/alldritt001.html#39 |archive-date= May 26, 2023 }}</ref><ref name="WB">{{cite journal|title=Zen and the Art of Religious Prejudice|url=http://enlight.lib.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/JR-MAG/mag51762.pdf|first=William|last=Bodiford|journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies|year=1996|volume=23 |issue=1–2 |doi=10.18874/jjrs.23.1-2.1996.1-27 }}</ref>

==Newar caste system==
[[File:Vajracharya_priest.jpg|thumb|A Newar Buddhist priest of the Vajracharya caste]]
{{main article|Newar caste system}}
Among the Newar people of Nepal, [[Newar Buddhists]] are a minority, representing 10.74% of the Newar population in 2011, compared to majority of [[Newar Hindus]], representing 87.38%.<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://cbs.gov.np/image/data/Population/Population%20Monograph%20of%20Nepal%202014/Population%20Monograph%20V02.pdf |title=Population Monograph of Nepal |date=2014 |isbn=978-9937-2-8972-6 |publisher=Central Bureau of Statistics |series=Volume II |access-date=2020-05-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170918043750/http://cbs.gov.np/image/data/Population/Population%20Monograph%20of%20Nepal%202014/Population%20Monograph%20V02.pdf |archive-date=2017-09-18 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Despite this, the Newar caste system inteleves separate castes for Hindus and Buddhists, spanning all levels of the social hierarchy.

The existence and influence of [[Buddhist]] "ex-monks" from ancient times in the Kathmandu Valley added a "double-headed" element to the Newar caste system. While [[Rajopadhyaya|Rājopādhyāya]] Brahmins (or Déva-bhāju) occupied the highest social position in the Hindu side, the [[Vajracharya]] (or Guru/Gu-bhāju) formed the head among the Buddhists. For Hindu Newars, Brahmans had formal precedence with Kshatriyas, which included the royal family and the various groups now known as [[Shresthas|Srēṣṭha]] who ran the administration of the Malla courts. For Buddhist Newars, the non-celibate ([[Grihastha|gr̥hastha]]) priestly [[Sangha (Buddhism)|sangha]] class [[Vajracharya]]s and [[Shakyas]] (who are collectively called "Bañdā" or "Baré") were provided with the highest position. In Kathmandu, they were followed by a lay patron Buddhist caste of [[Uray (caste group)|Urāy]], or [[Upāsaka and Upāsikā|Upasakas]], who specialized in the trade with Tibet.<ref>{{cite book|title=A History of Nepal|last1=Whelpton|first1=John|date=2005|page=31|publisher=Cambridge Univ Press |isbn=9780521804707 |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofnepal00whel}}</ref> Therefore, the Hindu Rajopadhyaya [[Brahmins]] and Buddhist [[Vajracharya]]s occupy the highest position in Newar society.<ref name="Bista">People of Nepal - Dor Bahadur Bista</ref> This is followed by the Hindu [[Kshatriya]] nobility (Chatharīya Srēṣṭha) and the [[Vaishya]] merchant and traders castes. The Newar ''varna'' logic as stratified from the Hindu Brahmanic perspective place Shakya-Baré, [[Uray (caste group)|Urāy]] among the Buddhists, and [[Shresthas#Sr.C4.93.E1.B9.A3.E1.B9.ADha sub-caste groups|Pāncthariya Srēṣṭha]], and other groups above the Jyapus among the Hindus among the ''[[dvija|dwija]]'' twice-born status as the core [[Vaishya]] castes of Newars who are highly specialized in trade and commerce.<ref>{{cite book|title=Mesocosm: Hinduism and the Organization of a Traditional Newar City in Nepal|last1=Levy|first1=Robert I.|date=1990|url=http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft6k4007rd/ |publisher=UC Press E-Books Collection, 1982-2004 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220122013946/http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft6k4007rd&brand=ucpress |archive-date= Jan 22, 2022 }}</ref>

==References==
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[[Category:Buddhism and society|caste]]
[[Category:Caste]]

Buddhism and caste - Revision history

JoanneMoffit at 01:39, 26 September 2025