Samana (monk)
Samanas ( Pali , m., Samaṇa, Sanskrit , m., श्रमण, śramaṇa, Hindi , m., श्रमण, śramaṇ; in the meaning of ascetic , mendicant monk / wandering monk as “someone who exerts themselves”) still describes wandering mendicant monks and ascetics in India .
etymology
The word shramana comes from the Sanskrit root shram , which means something like “to make an effort”, “to make an effort”. The Pali term Samana is mainly used in the Buddhist context. The mendicant monks and ascetics in Jainism are called shramanas . Samanas have no property of their own and live on alms . Their life is determined by asceticism , fasting and philosophy .
history
In India of the 7th / 6th Century BC A downright shramana movement began to develop in the 5th century BC, which opposed brahminism , the authority of the Vedas and the caste system and sought salvation from the cycle of rebirths ( moksha ) apart from these institutions. Numerous ascetics went out into the woods to meditate there and in the course of their renunciation of the world to gain liberation from samsara on their own . In this way, groups formed with a sometimes considerable following, who understood their teachings as an enlightening alternative to established Brahmanism, and from which Buddhism and Jainism also developed. These two communities are the only remaining representatives of this Indian tradition to this day. However, while Buddha Siddhartha Gautama preferred the "middle way" (madhyama pratipad) to extreme asceticism, this is part of the Jainist way (e.g. the conscious endurance of pain).
Trivia
- In Hermann Hesse's story Siddhartha , Siddhartha joins a group of Samanas and travels with them through the country.
- The term shaman developed from "shramana" or "samana".
See also
Monasticism , bhikkhu , sadhu , sannyasin
Footnotes
- ↑ Klaus-Josef Notz (Ed.): Lexicon of Buddhism. Basic concepts, traditions, practice. Vol. 2: NZ. Freiburg 1998. p. 431.