Sramana

Samanas (. .. Pali, m, Samana, Sanskrit, m, श्रमण, Sramana, Hindi, m, श्रमण, śramaṇ, in the meaning of ascetic, mendicant monk / monk as " someone who exerts himself " ) called today wandering mendicants and ascetics in India.

The Pali term " Samana " is used mainly in the Buddhist context. The mendicant monks and ascetics in Jainism are called " Shramanas ". Samanas do not own property and live on charity. Your life is determined by asceticism, fasting, and philosophy. In Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha, Siddhartha story joins a group of ascetics and moved with them to India.

In India, the 7 / 6 Century BC there was a distinct Shramana movement began to develop that the Brahminism, the authority of the Vedas and the caste system defied and salvation from the cycle of rebirth ( moksha ) looked away from these Institutitionen. Many ascetics went out into the woods to meditate and to attain liberation from samsara in the course of their renunciation of the world on their own. In this way, groups formed with a partially significant supporters who understood their teachings as enlightened alternative to the established Brahmanism, and from which also Buddhism and Jainism developed. These two communities are the only ones to this day remaining representatives of this Indian tradition. However, while Buddha Siddhartha Gautama the " Middle Way " ( madhyama pratipad ) preferred the extreme asceticism, this belongs to the Jain way to do this (eg the conscious enduring pain).

Etymology

The word " Shramana " comes from the Sanskrit root " shram ", which means " effort ", " endeavor ".

Trivia

The term shaman has evolved from " Shramana " or " samana ".