2. Buddhism and The Buddha

Buddhism is the western term for the teaching of the Buddha or the religion founded by the Buddha^[1]. In the East, it is known as the Buddha-Sasana. Buddha is not a name. It is a title, meaning “the Enlightened One or the Awakened One." The Buddha's personal name was Siddhattha and his clan name was Gotama^[2]. Thus, he was sometimes referred to as Siddhattha Gotama. People however, now make use of these manes. They simply call him the Buddha or Gotama the Buddha. The Buddha lived 25 centuries ago in North India. He was born a prince of the Sakyan kingdom, which was located at the foot of the Himalayas. His father, who was the king ruling over the Sakyas, was called Suddhodana. The Queen, who was the princess mother, was called Maya. As a prince, he grew up in the midst of luxury. He led the happy life of a privileged youth and married princess Yasodhara, his beautiful cousin, who bore him a son, Rahula. The princely luxurious life, however, could not shut the eyes of a wise and thoughtful person like him from the realization of life. Thus, in spite of his father’s efforts to keep his mind attached to the world and satisfied with the enjoyment of the sensual pleasures within the palace gates, he became aware of the dark side of life, the sorrows of his fellow beings and the fleeting nature of all worldly things. This happened for the first time when he took chariot rides in the streets of his father’s capital, Kapilavastu^[3]. Then he saw far sights, which altered his whole life. The first three of them—a man feeble with old age, another with a grievous disease, and a corpse filled him with a longing to find some way to help his fellow men and to discover the true meaning of life. The fourth sight, a monk, gave him a hope of the possibility of learning about truth and finding a way out of suffering. Then, at the age of 29, prince Siddhattha left his father’s palace, left his dearly loved wife and newly born son, and led the life of a wandering ascetic, devoting himself to finding some way of overcoming suffering.

First of all, he went to two foremost Brahmin ascetics who taught him the highest stages of the Yoga mystic practices. Unsatisfied with these teachers, he went on to practice self-mortification until he realized that such practices were foolish and useless. Six years of experiment in the forest led him to the conclusion that the well-worn paths of Yoga and asceticism did not lead to wisdom.

He then gave up these practices and went on his own way, applying the reflective thought of conscious meditation to a rational simple life of moderation. At the full moon of May, 45 years before the Buddhist Era. While sitting under the Bodhi tree at Gaya, he found his answer and attained the Enlightenment^[4]. The Great Man, now known as the Buddha, went first from Gaya to Saranath near Benares, where he gave his first sermon in the Deer Park. From then through the remaining 45 years of his life, he wandered from place to place teaching his discoveries to all who would listen to him and organizing his followers who renounced the world to form the Sangha^[5].

At last, at the age of eighty and in the year 543 B.C.E. The Buddha fell ill while on his way to Kusinara, capital of Malla State. Even in the face of death, his mind moved towards others. He hold Ananda, his faithful attendant, to console Chunda, the poor blacksmith from whose house the Buddha ate his meal with indigestible pork, that his food-offering was of great fruit and merit and that he should not blame himself for the food. On his deathbed under two Sala trees in the Sala Grove of the Mallas, he explained to his disciples that they would not be left without the teacher, for “the Doctrine and Discipline I have taught you, that shall be your teacher, when I am gone.^[6] ” And his last words were “Behold now, monks, I exhort you. Subject to decay are all component things. Work out your salvation with diligence.”^[7] Though it is now more than 2,500 years since the passing away of the Buddha, the Dhamma he taught remains our teacher as he himself named it. The Sangha, which consists of the followers who study, practice and disseminate the Dhamma, he received this torch of light from the torchbearer himself and carried it on and on to us throughout lands and centuries.

The three of them-the Buddha, the founder, the Dhamma, the teaching, and the Sangha, the Order of disciples–from the Triple Gem, which all Buddhist value the best of all precious things, and the threefold Refuge, which guides them on the Path of the true good life. Each year on the Vesakha Full Moon, throughout the world, millions of men and women gather together to commemorate the birth, Enlightenment and passing away of this Great Man. The birth reminds them of the face that a man, by training himself through his own effort and intelligence, can achieve supreme attainments even to be a Buddha, the enlightenment, that only through the discovery of the Buddha did the timeless Dhamma became known to the world, and the passing away, that though the Buddha as a person was gone, the light of the timeless Dhamma will still be kept shining so long as there is a Sangha, a community of righteous followers, to carry on the torch treading the path of self-enlightenment themselves and helping others towards the same goal.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

The title of the Buddha, or the Buddhahood, is therefore not monopolished by any person or group. It is the title to be determined by the qualities or virtues that must be up to the standard having been established. This implies the full-final perfection of the so-called ten Parami having been steadily and strenuously accumulated by that individual., Great Reply to Global Questions p, 3.

[2]:

Narada, The Buddha and His Teachings. p. 2.

[3]:

Vajirananavarosa Prince. Life of the Buddha, p. 25.

[4]:

Anukul Chandra Banerjee, Buddhism In India And Abroad, pp.22-25

[5]:

‘Sangha’ lit. means ‘Community., But in Buddhism this term denotes ‘The Community of Buddhist monks’ which is the Order of Monks. Buddha, Dhamma (Teachings) and Saņgha (Order) are known as Tisarana “Three Refuges” or Tiratana (Sanskrit Triratna), for details see: What the Buddha Taught.

[6]:

Dighanikaya, Vol. xvi, Mahaparinibbana Suttanta, P.156.

[7]:

Dighanikaya, Vol. xvi, Mahaparinibbana Suttanta, p.154.