接着讲讲宗教的事情。上次说到印度本土的宗教——印度教将世界的本源称为梵。这个梵非常类似道家所说的道，一成不变，是万事万物的本源。而印度就要将他的信众分为三六九等，也就是著名的种姓制度，但是种姓等级制度本质上来说是反人性的，人性中抱有追求平等的需求。那么为了维持这个秩序，压抑人们的本能，印度教创立了轮回的学说，说人的灵魂——阿特木也是永恒的。如果这一世即使受苦受难，也不反抗斗争，破坏这一体制，那么他的修行的成果会带给带到下一世当中，会提升自己的阶层。而修行的最高成果就是灵魂——阿特木达到梵我一如的境界，和梵一样永恒不变了，也就跳出了轮回。
应该说，这套宗教学说还是挺高明的，至少比中国古代同样强调等级制度的儒家完全靠道德说教和思想灌输来的要有用的多。历史上大多数的儒家知识分子和统治阶层结合以后，就展现出自己虚伪的一面了。说一套做一套，就是因为没有轮回和下一世位置这个作为惩罚和威慑，所以碰到一些品质稍差的儒家学者，他们对于违反自己嘴上所主张的这套并没有多大的心理压力。
但等级制实际上就是压迫。有压迫自然有反抗。在公元前四世纪，也就是中国古代春秋战国百家争鸣、古希腊群贤必至的同一时期，这一时期也被称为轴心时代，印度也生发出来许多反对婆罗门教种姓制度的沙门主义运动，而佛教就是其中之一。佛教的创始人乔达摩悉达多是北印度喜马拉雅山脚下一个小国的王子。当然，这个国和我们现在的国的意义并不完全一致，类似西周的封建诸侯，或者诸侯内部也有很多大家族，而这个国更内更近，而乔达摩的意思是世界上最好的，悉达多则是牛。直译过来，就是世界上最好的牛。因为印度人对牛有着近乎神一样的崇拜，即使到了现在都是如此。如果一头牛在印度站在街道中间不走，在那休息是没人敢赶它走的，只能等它休息好了，自己离开。所以世界上最好的牛就有点类似于圣雄甘地中“圣雄”的意思。所以这个名字应该算是一个尊号。
而佛陀的姓名在中文中还有另外一个，就是释迦摩尼。这里的释迦就是佛陀出生的家族的名称。因此你可以看到一个非常有意思的现象。在中国，出家人如果要登记姓名的话，那么所有的和尚他们都会说自己姓释，也就是佛祖的传人。比如经常上新闻热搜的少林寺主持，虽然和他有关的消息总是负面偏多，但这个名字却耳熟能详，就叫释永信。
不管怎样，佛陀是小国的王子也好，是贵族大家族的公子也好。总的来说，他的出身像还是远远高于普通平民的。而如果按照后世流行的阶级出身的学说，他这种出身于统治阶级的人物，应该全力的维持类似婆罗门教所主张的等级制度，压迫底层的人民才对。不过，佛陀释迦牟尼在看见了人间的苦难和洞悉了世事的运行规律之后，却超脱了自己阶级的局限，创立了强调众生平等挑战婆罗门等级制度的佛教学说，这也可以看出，阶级出身论也绝非真理和铁律。
释迦牟尼创立的宗教，为什么被称为在中国被称为佛教也很有意思。佛教一词的来源就是释迦牟尼称号佛陀。而这个词在古印度的巴利文和现在的英语当中的发音都是“布达”。意思是觉悟者。就是在古代中国没有亲浊辅音之分。也就是b和f不分。在佛教刚传入中国的时候，其发音也是“布达”。但是随着时间的推移，加上b、f不分，就变成了“佛陀”。这个宗教也就被称为了佛教。另外也可以看出，佛教为了适应在中国的发展，也是做出了许多本土化的改变的。佛陀原本的意思仅仅是觉悟者。来到中国之后，却成了神通广大的神仙，连孙悟空都挑出他的手掌心。
而且佛教的世界观是相当博大精深的。可以说处是除了道家之外，与现代科学最契合的宗教。从佛陀的原意是觉醒者这个词来看，佛教在一定意义上来说是无神论的宗教，就和现代科学一样，现代科学也是尽量回避谈论无法证伪的上帝的存在。但佛教必竟产生于印度，是脱胎于波罗门教的，所以他也有自己的轮回学说，只是在佛教看来，连印度教认为是世界本源的“梵”都是不存在的。佛教认为，世界本源就是空，空无一物的空。这在现代的量子力学也有非常类似的观点。组成我们身体的各种原子是由电子、质子、中子的微观粒子。而质子、中子则是由夸克这些基本粒子组成的。这些基本粒子是如何产生的呢？量子力学认为，它们是从一种弥漫在整个空间当中的量子场受到能量的激发。从真空中产生出来的，而且真空从来都不空，不断有虚粒子创生又湮灭。不仅世界的本源“梵”是不存在的。连轮回当中的灵魂——阿特木也是不存在的。所谓的灵魂，也就是那个我们感受到的那个自我，也是由各种因果关系聚集在一起形成的。
在一起
形成的
Moving on to religion. Speaking last time about the native religion of India, Hinduism refers to the source of the world as Brahma. This Brahma is very similar to the Tao, which is immutable and the source of all things. India, on the other hand, has to divide its followers into three and sixty-nine classes, which is the famous caste system, but the caste hierarchy is essentially anti-human nature, and human nature has the need to pursue equality. So in order to maintain this order and suppress people's instincts, Hinduism created the theory of reincarnation, saying that the human soul - Atmu is also eternal. If in this life, even though he suffers, he does not resist and fight to destroy this system, then the fruits of his practice will be carried to the next life and he will raise his own class. And the highest result of practice is the soul - Atmu reaches the realm of the Brahma self, as eternal as Brahma, and jumps out of samsara.
It should be said that this religious doctrine is quite clever, at least more useful than that of ancient Chinese Confucianism, which also emphasized the hierarchy and relied solely on moral preaching and ideological indoctrination. In history, most Confucian intellectuals showed their hypocrisy when they were combined with the ruling class. Saying one thing and doing another is because there is no reincarnation and the position of the next life as punishment and deterrence, so I encounter some Confucian scholars of slightly inferior quality, they do not have much psychological pressure to violate the set of words they advocate.
But hierarchy is really oppression. Where there is oppression, there is resistance. In the fourth century B.C., which is the same period of ancient China's Spring and Autumn and the warring States, and the ancient Greece, which is also known as the Axis Era, there were many Samanist movements against the caste system of Brahmanism in India, and Buddhism was one of them. Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, was a prince in a small country in the foothills of the Himalayas in northern India. Of course, the meaning of this country and our present country is not exactly the same, similar to the feudal vassals in the Western Zhou Dynasty, or there are many big families within the vassals, and this country is closer to the inside, and Gautama means the best in the world, Siddhartha is the cow. It literally means the best cow in the world. Because Indians have an almost god-like worship of the cow, even today. If a cow in India stands in the middle of the street and does not walk, no one dares to drive it away there, but can only wait for it to rest and leave by itself. So the best cow in the world is somewhat similar to the meaning of "Mahatma" in Mahatma Gandhi. So the name should be considered an honorific.
The Buddha has another name in Chinese, Sakyamuni. Shakya here is the name of the family into which the Buddha was born. So you can see a very interesting phenomenon. In China, if a monk has to register his or her name, all monks say their surname is Shi, a descendant of Buddha. For example, the host of Shaolin Temple, which is often hot on the news, although the news about him is always negative, but the name is familiar, it is called Shi Yongxin.
In any case, the Buddha was a prince of a small country or a son of a noble family. In general, his background is much higher than that of ordinary people. According to the theory of class origin popular in later generations, a figure born in the ruling class, such as him, should make every effort to maintain a hierarchy similar to that advocated by Brahmanism and oppress the people at the bottom. However, after Buddha Sakyamuni saw human suffering and understood the law of the world, he broke away from the limitations of his own class and founded the Buddhist doctrine that stressed the equality of all beings and challenged the Brahmin hierarchy, which can also be seen that the theory of class origin is not a truth or an iron law.
It is also interesting why the religion founded by Sakyamuni is called Buddhism in China. The origin of the word Buddhism is the name of Buddha by Sakyamuni. The word is pronounced Buda in both ancient Indian Pali and modern English. It means the enlightened one. In ancient China, there was no such thing as pro-turbidities. So b and f are indistinguishable. When Buddhism was first introduced into China, it was also pronounced "Buda". But over time, when you add b and f, you become "Buddha." This religion became known as Buddhism. In addition, it can be seen that in order to adapt to the development of Buddhism in China, it has also made many localized changes. The original meaning of Buddha is simply the enlightened one. After coming to China, he became a god with vast powers, and even Sun WuKong picked out his palm.
And the Buddhist worldview is quite extensive and profound. It can be said that in addition to Taoism, Chu is the most compatible religion with modern science. From the Buddha's original meaning of the word awakening, Buddhism is in a sense an atheistic religion, much like modern science, which avoids talking about the existence of an unfalsifiable God. However, Buddhism must have been born in India and was born out of Balomanism, so it also has its own theory of reincarnation, but from the perspective of Buddhism, even the "Brahma" that Hinduism considers to be the origin of the world does not exist. Buddhism believes that the origin of the world is emptiness, the emptiness of nothing. This has a very similar view in modern quantum mechanics. The atoms that make up our bodies are microscopic particles of electrons, protons and neutrons. Protons and neutrons, on the other hand, are made of elementary particles called quarks. How are these elementary particles produced? Quantum mechanics holds that they are energized by a quantum field that permeates space. It is produced in a vacuum, and the vacuum is never empty, and virtual particles are constantly created and annihilated. Not only does the source of the world, "Brahman," not exist. Even the soul in reincarnation, Atmu, does not exist. The so-called soul, the self that we feel, is also formed by the aggregation of causes and effects.