Sramanism
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Sramanism is one of the three main families of ancient Indian philosophy. With its root in the Sanskrit 'Sramana' (literally- 'the one who strives'), its etymological origination also captures its core characteristic - the stress such systems place on 'practice' -usually involving hard-to-carry-out penitances. Restated, all philosophies under this family state that knowledge/happiness/freedom is possible through human efforts, not always of an 'intellectual' nature.
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[edit] Overview
Sramana (also called the un-orthodox schools of Hinduism) is one of the three main families of Ancient Indian philosophy/belief systems - the other two being Brahmanism (which sought to achieve individual goals through manipulation of a smaller model of the Universe {microcosm}), and Bhakti or devotional (which sought to achieve individual goals by pleasing/appealing to a super-Will or God.)
The most commonly recommended way to knowledge/happiness/freedom is the ancient Indian practice of meditation or completely concentrating the mind on a particular question/subject or concept (in the case of the more mystically oriented 'schools'.) Some of the schools prescribe extremely punitive routines such as starvation, subjecting oneself to the elements, walking over fire etc. Most mainstream ones however are content with practices such as minimal intake of nourishment, sexual abstinence, avoiding everything which is strictly not necessary for one's health - such as the use of cushions, chairs and clothes. Another common characteristic, as should be obvious, is the emphasis they place on the individual's capacity to find knowledge/happiness/freedom/salvation by him/herself without any external aid.
Most schools now remain only in ancient chronicles and accounts except Jainism and Buddhism, both of which sprouted many versions of themselves in latter centuries; some of whom do not fit into the category of Sramanism. Besides these two, other sects include Ajivika (Ajivaka), Yogi (Samkhya) etc.. and others named after the teacher who first set the respective philosophy and rules.
[edit] Karma
Though the idea of Karma ('what you sow is what you reap') forms one of the fundamental pillars of the sramana code of ethics (with its exhortations to individual effort), early Sramanic schools don't strictly partake of the freewill-fatalistic dilemma of latter western philosophy. Towards the third to fifth centuries AD, the emphasis on the Individual led some of them like the Sautrantika Mahayana Buddhists to reach an idealistic theory of reality (where only the consciousness exists), like the European philosophers of the 17 and 18 centuries. Also logically following from this emphasis on individual experience and efforts is the absence of any super-Will controlling the universe (God) and the complete control an individual has over his destiny.
To re-capture the similarities, in Sramanistic philosophies:
- The goal of an individual's life (happiness/peace/freedom/salvation) is achieved through hard-to-practise routines/disciplines (even when it is made dependent on 'knowledge', the path to the latter is equally arduous)
- [Corollary] The achievement of the goal depends only on the individual's action (Karma), no external agents like God or Church, with powers to forgive individual misdeeds, are allowed or recognized.
[edit] Lifestyle
From ancient Indian texts (mainly Buddhist chronicles) Sramanas seem to have been quite a numerous crowd and used to inhabit the forests and other hard-to-reach places like mountain-sides. Their lifestyle was what can best be described as 'ascetic', as all the schools demanded single-minded dedication in pursuit of the ultimate happiness/peace/freedom/salvation (Sankrit: moksha) Some of the schools also had a 'householder' version of their very strict rules and philosophies, such as the latter Jainism (Nigranthism) which allowed the lay followers to engage in any economically productive occupation which did not violate a code of five rules which included non-killing, abstinence from promiscuity, non-hurting, non-lying etc.
