SAMANAM IN ANCIENT AND CONTEMPORARY SOURCES COLLECTING AND STUDYING

This research is concerning with the study of Samanam religion that mentioned in ancient and contemporary sources. It is aimed to identify and trace Samanam in ancient and contemporary sources and collect related data and information to study and compare it to the recent Buddhism. The researcher used the historical, inductive and comparative approach. The most important findings, the researcher found that the origin of Samanam is traced back to the Sanskrit word which means, the monk who dedicates himself to meditation, and that Samanam is the Buddhist religion, not shamanism. In addition, ancient sources described Samanam almost the same as Buddhism and among of these is describing "bodhisattvas" or "Buddha" himself as the head of Buddhism and that Samanam and Buddhism believe in reincarnation but not in God. The ancient sources mentioned the places of Samana and the name of its founder and part of beliefs that these sources presented about Samana are: "eternity of the world", "the rewarding" and "idols worshipping".