Shramanism:

Its Origin and Significance

What can we learn
from Ancient India’s Shramanic Movement?

Kyung Ah Choi17

Abstract
Modern daily life has become more and more problematic despite
overall improvements in our living standard. As a result “social deviation” is
a pathological phenomenon in today’s society. When one opposes the existing
ideology and social system in confronting inner conflict, they frequently need
to put distance between themselves and society and seek alternative values or
another world-view. A similar phenomenon happened in ancient India. Those
who could not adjust to life under the Brahmanic system renounced the world.
They were called Shramanas. They did not accept the authority of the Vedas
and the Brahmins. They chose their Shramana status voluntarily, while
Brahmins inherited their priestly status. Naturally, the Shramanas rejected the
Brahmanic norms of life, i.e., ashrama. They did not believe in a “creator

Kyung Ah Choi is a researcher at the Institute for Liberal Arts at Gyeongsang National Univ.
(choikyungah@hanmail.net)

*This work is supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea Grant funded by the Korean
Government [NRF-2011-35C-A00287].

International Journal of Buddhist Thought & Culture September 2013, vol. 21, pp. 109-28.
ⓒ 2013 International Association for Buddhist Thought & Culture
110 Kyung Ah Choi: Shramanism, Its Origin and Significance

god”; they refused to perform sacrificial rites; and they emphasized human
effort. Shramanism, the philosophical basis for renunciants who challenged the
status quo, was ascetic in nature from the beginning. The ascetic ideology
demands that the soul has to be freed from the body and strengthened the
belief that Moksa (liberation) is not possible unless one renounces the world.
The Buddha, however, saw the Shramanic vision of life as Duhkha (suffering)
and did not fully accept asceticism as a religious practice. He taught true
“renunciation.”

Key words: Shramanism, Brahmanism, Ascetic, Deviation,

De-authoritarianism.

I. Introduction

The prehistoric Indus civilization antedates Vedic civilization, and the

Shramanic religious movement seems to have originated from this indigenous
culture. In fact, Indian culture is considered by some to be the oldest
continuous civilization on earth. In spite of the thousands of years of history
that separate today’s societies and ancient Indian societies, the phenomenon of
“social deviation” is still relevant. The price for rapid economic development
may be social deviation and a growing sense of desperation among those who
cannot keep up with the mainstream of society and who are not adept at
competing with others. People are under great pressure from day-to-day life
itself, and this allows very little time for relaxation and introspection.
In ancient India, there was a time when the number of people
dissatisfied with the prevailing religious system increased considerably, giving
birth to a significant religious movement called Shramanism. Shramanism
greatly influenced the social and religious atmosphere of ancient India around
the time of the Buddha. The goal of Shramanism was not
“anti-authoritarianism” but “de-authoritarianism”; it led to the advent of a more
liberal way of thinking, away from authoritarianism. Reflecting upon the
Shramanic movement of ancient India from which Buddhism emerged, I tried
to explore the possibility of a “positive deviation” in today’s society.