A study of the Buddhist concept of liberation with special reference to the Majjhima Nikaya

Abstract

The concept of liberation is one of the most fundamental concepts, a central notion of many different religious and philosophical traditions in the world. People always have desires for safety, happiness, perfection and particularly earnest desire for liberation from the bondage, suffering of body and mind. Such desires become a source of strong inspiration for the arising of almost philosophies and religions of the world. Buddhism has been known as a peaceful religion carrying the Buddha message of love and wisdom for all living beings. The Buddhist concept of liberation has been seen to be one of the most practical concepts which have inspired many scientists or thinkers to discuss and explain it for improving human dignity. Thus liberation has been regarded to be the most essential teachings of the Buddha. For Buddhism, all attachments in this or that form are obstacles in the process of liberation. Besides, among the Buddha s teachings, the Majjhima Nikand#257;ya, which consists of hundred and fifty two discourses (suttas), is the most reliable source of teachings of the Buddha preached on various occasions. Thus, I decided to choose the subject: A Study of the Buddhist Concept of Liberation with Special Reference to the Majjhima Nikand#257;ya for my Ph.D. research. My thesis includes six chapters as follows: The very first chapter of the thesis is A Brief Introduction to the Concept of Liberation in Several Philosophical and Religious Traditions . In this chapter, I present two main groups of religious traditions: (1) Prophetic religions and (2) Indian religions. The first group includes Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and the others; the second group includes Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, and the others. Every successive religion has been more or less influenced by the previous religions in theories as well as in practices; yet there exists some differences among them.