Buddha is believed to have lived 500 years before the advent of Christ. India is considered as the place of birth of Buddhism, the first world religion, a religion with out a god. Lumbini has documented as the place of birth of Buddha, according to the pillar found in this place. Kapilavastu, a place in India or Nepal(?) is known to be the place where Buddha stayed during his young days. There has been a palace that was discovered in this place of Kapilavastu. Maya, the then queen is considered as the mother of the Buddha. The birth-name of the Buddha was Siddhartha, unfortunately his mother passed away a few days after his birth. There were some special birth-marks (chakra) on Buddha at the time of birth.
Siddhartha from birth seemed to be more interested in understanding the nature of his surroundings than the military pursuits as expected of a prince. It was at the age of 9 that Siddhartha went out side the walls of his palace to see the real-world. He is thought to have seen a farmer planting seeds as a hard toiling work. Due to land tilling, he observed a fresh worm came visible that was then eaten away by a bird.
His first experience of a real outside the palace life. He felt his mind leading to a contemplative mode. He seemed to have thought why human beings have to leave in such a suffering way. Siddhartha for the first time got a glimpse of how the world was interconnected: if the farmer had not tilled the lad, the worm might not have been eaten away by the bird. All actions have consequences, this simple thought became the basis of what is now understood as "Karma". This event of thinking about the happenings around him led him into a trance; "Dhyana", thinking/meditating about the purpose life.
Siddhartha's father tried to entice him to keep on the track of taking the duty of the king of Kapilavastu. Siddhartha even married a princess but he was not able to take his mind off about the thinking on the nature of life and its suffering.
When Siddhartha set out on a journey to see the kingdom there were a total of 4 journeys that left an undeniable mark on him.
First, he noticed an old man, painfully making his way through the village. This sight made him realize the process of physical aging. Siddhartha was alarmed to learn about the undeniable fact of aging and that it no one can escape the same. Now, the reality was being to unveil itself to this young prince.
Secondly, he noticed a man suffering with disease and shocked about the truth that all can become infected with diseases. The protective wall of his fantasy of the palace was crumbling within Siddhartha.
Thirdly, Siddhartha was four men carrying a corpse on their shoulders. At this time he discovered that according to the popular belief then, every one is destined to be born and then die time and again. There seemed to solution, end about the misery of human living.
Siddhartha is to say the least was shocked. The fourth sight was a man wearing a simple robe and begging around the road-side. The question arose why would one want to be begging and living a simple life?
The above mentioned four journeys had tremendous effect on Siddhartha's life, who now had learned the meaning of non-permanence of life. he knew that he had to see answers about the various questions he had about the process of life. He escaped the palace through the eastern gate and was now on his journey to discover the meaning of life. He exchanged his jewellery, princely clothes for simple robe and set out into the world, all alone for the fist time. He wanted to come face to face with the reality of life. He encountered a widespread of human suffering in various cities, perhaps this is the reason why Buddhism stresses on the human suffering like a universal problem of human life.
Siddhartha realized that if he were to get an answer about getting rid of the suffering, he might have to challenge the then prevailing religion of Brahman religion. Those times, Brahmins were thought to have the sacred knowledge centered on knowing certain spiritual texts called Vedas (Knowledge). Brahmins knowledge was considered to be essential in performing various "right of passage" of life. But this knowledge was only passed on among Brahmins, from father to sons. At this time, the philosophy of Brahminism (Hinduism) was being questioned. Siddhartha thought that the solution of overcoming the miseries of life should be open to all humans rather than to a few class of people called Brahmins. Siddhartha is know to have said, one does not become a brahmin by birth, but instead by living a good life. Nothing is predispositioned by birth.
Buddha was looking for a new explanation of life and sought to meditation to understand the philosophy of life. Aim was to attain the alter form of existence. At first Siddhartha tries meditation, and then my ascetic form of living by fasting. Just when Siddhartha was getting worse in health due to fasting a young girl offered him a bowl of milk and rice. Then Siddhartha realized that if her were to continue to fast further, he might just die without having understood the purpose of life. Such past asceticism does not help a person in getting answers about life.
During the course of his ascetic living Siddhartha observed a musician tighten his stringed instrument, he observed that harmony and good music originated when the string was not too sloppy and not too tight. The string had to tightened just to the middle for the good music to arise. This middle was the state of mind, called enlightenment (ever lasting peace) he was looking for.
After 6 years of traveling Siddhartha reached Bodh-Gaya and decided to stay in the same place until he found a way to enlightenment. He gave himself the time to focus the mind by slowing down the rhythmic breathing. This helped him in quietening the mind. During this period, Maya (desire: psychological forces of the self mind) is seen to have tempted Siddhartha to get him out of meditation.
Siddhartha recognized that Maya itself is an aspect of himself. The total recognition of this fact was his enlightenment.
Thus Siddhartha became the awakened one "Buddha". If one removes desire from within, then one can get rid of dissatisfaction and sufferings of the life. This content became the central theme of Buddhism. It has four foundation noble truths:
1) There is suffering in life.
2) Diagnose the cause of that suffering that is, desire
3) There is a cure of this suffering
4) The prescription given by Buddha to attain a state of liberation
Morality, meditation, and wisdom are the stepping stones to enlightenment. Buddha dedicated rest of his life in helping his fellows in attaining liberation. Buddha, by some is considered as the one with the qualities of peace and non-violence.
According a Buddhist follower,
1. Buddhism in two words is: practice, mindfulness.
The following are also considered as prescribed by Buddhism:
Not to kill,
Not to steal,
No societal misconduct,
Not to tell a lie,
No indulgence to intoxicants.
After 8 years of his leaving of the palace, Buddha went back to his palace. Father had forgiven his son, his wife joined Buddha's sangha (monastery) and became his first women disciple. Before leaving again for this journey Buddha anointed his son as a member of his monastery.
Buddhism can be described as a religion, as the science of mind, a philosophy. Its unlike any other religion, Buddhism centers around the mind and has no concept of supreme god, instead the presence of the supreme teacher (the Buddha, the awakened one). For many people, its like an alternative to religion, sort of a therapeutic means to deal with the problems of life.
Meditation can be a means to be more effective in the society where one lives. This is one of the reasons many people are drawn towards Buddhism. In current times, Buddhism becomes a form of self improvement: a way of dealing with the stresses of life, a way of clarifying the goals of life.
To the best knowledge of one of the narrators, Buddha might have wanted to be known as a normal human being (unlike a magical/super-natural figure) . There have been comments to Buddha having bodily ailments such as back-ache and weakness. It is considered that Buddha died at the age of 80 due to food poisoning.
It is said that just before his passing away, Buddha fell into a state of trance on his journey from this world to Nirvana. After Buddha's life, his teachings were documented and his remains were preserved after the cremation. The remains of Buddha's were kept in the kingdom of king Ashoka (3 B.C.) , who himself was a follower of Buddha.
The narrator concludes by saying that, the irony of the legacy of the Buddha is that, after the Buddha's passing away, the person how preached the uselessness of rituals, cult, etc. ultimately himself is being followed as a cult using a ritual based system in the current times.
The path to Nirvana according to Buddhism lies in the mind of each and every one of us.
No comments:
Post a Comment