Essays

Buddhism is the religion and philosophy based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama (Sanskrit, in Pali, Siddhattha

Gotama), who lived between approximately 563 and 483 BCE. This religion originated in India and gradually spread

throughout Asia, to Central Asia, Tibet, Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia, as well as the East Asian countries of China, Mongolia, Korea and Japan.

"To shun all evil.

To do good.

To purify one's heart.

This is the teaching of the Buddhas."

— Dhmmnapada, XIV, 5

Buddhism largely consists of the doing of good action, the avoidance of bad action and mental training. The aim of these practices is to put an end to suffering and achieve enlightenment, either for one or for all beings. Enlightenment is considered to be touching or abiding in nirvana, which means 'extinguishing'.

Buddhist morality is guided by principles of nonviolence and moderation. Buddhists frequently use formal sitting meditation and also often chanting and walking meditation. Buddhists use such techniques to try to gain insight into the fundamental operations of human psychology, the causal processes of the world or both.

While Buddhism does not deny the existence of mystical beings (indeed, many are discussed in Buddhist scripture), it does not ascribe power for creation, salvation or judgment to them, however, because like humans they are regarded as having the power to affect worldly events, some Buddhist Schools associate with them via ritual. Buddha is a word in the ancient Indiar languages Pali and Sanskrit which means 'one who has become awake'. It is derived from the verbal root 'budh', meaning to awaken'.

The word 'Buddha' denotes not just a single religious teacher who lived in a particular epoch, but a type of person, of which there have been many instances in the course of cosmic time. The Buddha Gautama, then, is simply one member in the spiritual lineage of Buddhas, which stretches back into the dim recesses of the past and forward into the distant horizons of the future.

Gautama did not claim any divine status for himself, nor did he assert that he was inspired by a God or Gods. He claimed to be not a personal saviour, but a teacher to guide those who choose to listen. A Buddha is any human being who has fully awakened to the true nature of existence, whose insight has totally transformed him or her beyond birth, death and subsequent rebirth and who is enabled to help others achieve the same enlightenment.

The principles by which a person can be led to enlightenment are known as the Buddha dharma or simply the Dharma. Dharma in this sense of the rather complex term means, 'law, doctrine or truth'. Anyone can attain what the Buddha attained regardless of age, gender or caste. Indeed, Buddhists believe there have been many solitary Buddhas who achieved enlightenment on their own but did not go on to teach others. According to one of the stories in the Sutta Nipata, the Buddha, too, was afraid to teach humans because he despaired of their limited capacity for understanding. The Vedic (early Hindu) God Indra, however, interceded and requested that he teach despite this. That the historical Buddha did so is thus a mark of special compassion.

Legend has it that the Buddha to be, Siddhartha Gautama, was born around the 6th century BCE. His birthplace is said to be Lumbini in the kingdom of Magadha, in what is now Nepal. His father was a King and Siddhartha lived in luxury, being spared all the hardship of life.

The legends say that a seer predicted that Siddhartha would become either a great King or a great holy man, because of this, the King tried to make sure that Siddhartha never had any cause for dissatisfaction with his life, as that might drive him toward a spiritual path. However, at the age of 29, while being escorted by his attendant Channa, he came across what has become known as the Four Passing Sights: an old crippled man, a sick man, a decaying corpse and finally a wandering holy man. These four sights, as they are called, led him to the realization that birth, old-age, sickness and death came to everyone, not. only once but repeated for life after life in succession for uncounted aeons. He decided to abandon his worldly life, leaving behind his wife and child, his privilege, rank, caste and to take up the life of a wandering holy me n in search of the answer to the problem of birth, old age, sickness and death. It is said that he stole out of the house in the dead of night, pausing for one last look at his family and did not return there for a very long time-

Indian holy nien (sadhus), in those davs just as today, engaged in a variety of ascetic practices designed to 'mortify' the flesh. This belief was taken to an extreme in the faith of Jainism. It was thought that by enduring pain and suffering, the atman, 'soul' became free from the round of rebirth into pain and sorrow. Siddhartha proved adept at these practices and was able to surpass his teachers. However, he found no answer to his problem and, leaving behind his teachers, he and a small gr011? Of companions set out to take their austerities even further.

He became a skeleton covered with skin, surviving on a single grain of rice per day and practiced holding his breath. After nearly starving himself to death with no success (some sources claim that he nearly drowned), Siddhartha began to reconsider his path. I hen he remembered a moment in childhood in with he had been watching his father start the season's ploughing and he had fallen into a naturally concentrated and focused state in which time seemed to stand still and which was blissful and refreshing. Perhaps this would provide an alternative to the dead end of self-mortification?

Taking a little buttermilk from a passing goatherd, he found a large tree (now called the Bodhi tree) under which he would be shaded from the heat of the midsummer sun and set to meditating. This new way of practicing began to bear fruit. His mind becaiTi0 concentrated and pure and then, six years after he began his quest, he attained Enlightenment and became a Buddha.

Historically speaking, there are questions about this story. First, there are other narrative versions of his life that do not exactly match - one has it that the Buddha leaves home in the 'prime of his youth', his parents weeping and wailing all the while. Second, we know from other sources that the country of Magadha, where he was born, was an oligarchic republic at that time, so there was no royal family of which to speak. However, regardless of the details of his early life, the evidence strongly indicates that the Buddha was indeed a historical person living in approximately the same time and place in which he is traditionally placed.

Buddhists seek refuge in what are often referred to as the Three Jewels or Triple Gem. These are the Buddha, the Dharma and the 'noble', Sangha or community of laypeople and monks who have become enlightened. While it is impossible to escape one's karma or the effects caused by previous thoughts, words and deeds, it is possible to avoid the suffering that comes from it by becoming enlightened.

To one who is seeking to become enlightened, taking refuge constitutes a continuing commitment to pursuing enlightenment and following in the footsteps of the people who have followed the path to enlightenment before. It contains an element of confidence that enlightenment is in fact a refuge, a supreme resort. Many Buddhists take the refuges each day, sometimes more than once in order to remind themselves of what they are doing and to direct their resolve inwardly towards liberation.