LIWA

Mahavira and Buddha – Great Preachers

ICSE Class 6 · History & Civics · Chapter 6

What this chapter covers

Key definitions

Kevala jnana is the perfect knowledge that Mahavira gained after twelve years of hard penance.

Jina is a title that means the conqueror, one who has conquered his own desires.

A tirthankara is a great teacher who, Jains believe, shows people the way across the river of life.

Ahimsa means not hurting any living being by thought, word or action.

Karma is the result of a person's actions, good or bad, that stays with the soul.

Rebirth is the belief that the soul is born again and again in a new body after death.

Moksha is the freedom of the soul from the cycle of birth and death.

The Digambaras are the Jain sect whose monks wear no clothes at all.

The Shvetambaras are the Jain sect whose monks and nuns wear simple white clothes.

Renunciation means giving up comfort, wealth and family to search for the truth.

Enlightenment is the moment of true understanding that Siddhartha reached at Bodh Gaya.

Buddha is a title that means the enlightened one.

Key points

Questions answered

Name two social conditions of the later Vedic period that made people unhappy.
Any two of these: a rigid caste system fixed by birth; costly rituals that only priests could perform; animal sacrifices that killed the farmers' cattle; prayers in Sanskrit that ordinary people could not understand.
What does the word "Jina" mean?
Jina means the conqueror, one who has conquered his own desires.
Name the Three Jewels of Jainism.
Right faith, right knowledge and right conduct.
What were the four sights that Siddhartha saw?
An old man, a sick man, a dead body and a calm monk.
Where did the Buddha give his first sermon?
At the Deer Park in Sarnath, near Varanasi.
State the second Noble Truth.
Desire, or wanting things, is the cause of sorrow.
Name the two sects of Jainism and the two sects of Buddhism.
Jainism: Digambaras and Shvetambaras. Buddhism: Hinayana and Mahayana.
Give one way in which Jainism and Buddhism are alike, and one way in which they differ.
Alike: both taught ahimsa (or rejected caste by birth, or rejected costly rituals). Differ: Jainism asks for hard penance, while Buddhism follows the Middle Path (or Jainism stayed mostly in India while Buddhism spread across Asia).