CASTE

Caste (jāti) is the Hindu belief that humans were created by God as four distinct and different types; priests (brāhmaṇa), warriors (khattiya), merchants (vessa) and labourers (sudda). According to this belief the different castes should make their living in different ways, should not mix and should be treated differently. Beyond the four castes are the outcastes (nīcā kulā or vasala), those who have no caste and are considered beyond the pale of ordinary Hindu society.

The Buddha was an outspoken critic of the caste system and at least a dozen of his discourses are devoted to highlighting its contradictions and cruelties. The Buddha's tribe, the Sākyans, were excessively proud of their high caste status. When a group of them requested to become monks, the Buddha ordained Upāli, a low caste barber, first thus giving him a precedence that would require the others to bow to him.

The Buddha criticised the caste system on several grounds. The claim that it was ordained by God is no more than a myth (M.II,148). Caste is not practised everywhere and thus must be a regional custom rather than a universal truth (M.II,149). The claim that different castes have different abilities and personalities is not born out by experience and is thus invalid (M.II,150; Sn.116). Low castes and outcastes may be dirty because they are compelled to do dirty jobs but if they wash themselves they become as clean as everyone else (M.II,151). The caste system engenders cruelty and suffering and is thus evil. From the Buddhist perspective, how people are treated, the respect they receive, the opportunities they have, even where they are reborn, should depend on their behaviour, not what caste they are born into. The Buddha said: ‘Without righteousness, all castes can go to purgatory. All castes are pure if they act with righteousness’ (Ja.VI,100).

Despite the Buddha's repudiation of caste, less extreme variations of the system exist in most Buddhist countries. For example, the paya kyun of Burma are the decedents of monastery slaves and the buraku of Japan were originally degraded because they worked as fishermen or butchers. Both groups are marginalized by their respective societies. Sri Lanka's monastic sects are all divided along caste lines. Since the 1950's, millions of low caste and outcaste people in India, following the example of their leader Dr. Ambedkar, have converted to Buddhism to escape the indignities of the caste system.