Life of Buddha

Siddhartha, who was later known as the Buddha, the Englightened One, was the son of King Shuddodhana of Kapilavastu and his queen, Maya. He was born at Lumbini in the Himalayan foothills, in what is now Nepal but was then a part of India. His family name was Gautama and he belonged to the Shakya clan. Hence he is sometimes called Shakyamuni (Shakya Sage) or Shakyasimha (Shakya Lion). Among his other epithets are Amitabha (Infinite Light) and Tathagata (He Who Has Arrived At Perfection).

Queen Maya died a week after delivering the prince. At Siddhartha’s birth, the royal astrologer prophesied that he would one day become disillusioned with worldly pleasures and go forth as a mendicant in search of the wisdom that can overcome suffering. Siddhartha grew up into a handsome youth, gentle and compassionate, skilled in all the arts. The king, remembering the astrologer’s prophecy, tried to save his son from unpleasant sights. He was lodged in a beautiful palace and surrounded by every conceivable luxury. The king found for him a lovely wife, Yashodhara, princess of a neighbouring kingdom. Yashodhara bore him a son. But the seeds of disenchantment had already sprouted in Siddhartha’s heart. He named his son Rahula (Impediment).

As prophesied, Siddhartha saw the three signs of suffering: sickness, old age and death. On the night of the full moon in the month of Vaishakha, corresponding with April-May in the western calendar, Siddhartha prepared for the Great Renunciation. He stood at the door of his bedchamber, looked at his sleeping wife and son for a few moments, and left the palace.

He sat at the feet of famous masters, but none of them could explain to him the cause of sorrow. For a while he joined a group of ascetics and performed severe austerities. He became extremely weak in body and mind, and reailzed that wisdom could not be attained through self- mortification. At last, meditating under a tree near Gaya, he attained Bodhi (Illumination). Prince Siddhartha had become the Buddha, the Fully Awakened One. And the tree which had sheltered him came to be known as the Bodhi Tree.

After becoming enlightened, Gautama the Buddha could have immediately released himself from the cycle of rebirths and attained Nirvana, Supreme Liberation. But the compassionate side of his nature prevented him from tasting the fruit of liberation so long as a single living creature was in pain. He decided to postpone his Nirvana and share his wisdom with others. His first sermon was preached in the Deer Park at Sarnath, near the ancient holy city of Banaras. The ascetics from whom he had parted company a few months earlier became his first audience. According to legend, deer from the forest came and listened enraptured, to the Buddha’s first sermon, sensing that his message was for all living beings.

As the number of his followers increased, the Bhikshusangha (Order of Monks) was formed. At first, only men were admitted. But later, urged by his foster-mother Gotami, the Buddha admitted women and an Order of Nuns was formed. After a few months the Buddha visited Kapilavastu and met his father, wife and son. He had left as a prince: he returned as a mendicant. He was hailed as a hero, a conqueror in the spiritual realm. During the remaining 40 years of his life the Buddha travelled from village to village, except during the rainy season, preaching the message of love, compassion, tolerance, self-restraint. Sometimes he spent a few days in the cities of Shravasti and Vaishali. Mingling with ordinary people, and speaking their language in preference to Sanskrit, the Buddha led the life of a humble mendicant, bringing solace and hope to countless human beings. He died in 483 B.C., in his 80th year at Kusinara, not far from the place of his birth. Just before his death, when his favourite disciple, Ananda, started weeping, the Buddha said: “All component things must dissolve. A Buddha can only point the way. Become a lamp unto yourself. Work out your own salvation diligently”. These were his last words.

While Hindu thought was preoccupied with the essential nature of Absolute Reality, the Buddha avoided metaphysical controversies. “The arising of sorrow, the termination of sorrow, that is all I teach,” he once said. Nevertheless, two philosophical principles are implicit in his teaching. First, there is the Law of Impermanence. Everything in the phenomenal world is subject to change, though obviously some things are more enduring than others. The second assumption is the Law of Causation. Nothing happens by chance. Apart from natural causes, we are subject to the operation of our karma. As a corollary to the Laws of Impermanence and Causation, it follows that the popular notion of a “soul” which somehow survives the body is illusory. The Buddha urges us to discard this illusion. He did not, however, reject the Universal Spirit or Self (Atman) of the Upanishads.

The Buddhist religion rests upon the Four Noble Truths enunciated in the first sermon. These truths are: (i) suffering is universal, (ii) suffering is caused and sustained by trishna (“thirst,” craving), (iii) suffering can be prevented and overcome, (iv) there is a way leading to the removal of suffering. The fourth “noble truth” spells out the practical side of the Buddha’s ethical and religious teaching. The Middle Way now becomes the “Eight fold Path of the good life”, consisting of right conduct, right motive, right resolve, right speech, right livelihood, right attention, right effort and right meditation.

By following this path of many-sided restraint and self –perfection, one can conquer craving. Then one is within sight of Nirvana, the transcendental state of complete emancipation. Being by its very nature beyond the sphere of phenomenal experience, Nirvana cannot be defined or described. Asked what Nirvana was like, Buddha merely smiled – suggesting, perhaps, that it was blissful. And when pressed hard for an answer, he only said, “Nirvana is peace, silence.”

Buddhism is thus not the gloomy, pessimistic creed that its critics make it out to be. The Buddha begins with suffering but proceeds to the conquest of suffering. Nirvana is not an “afterthought” introduced to mitigate a sorrow-centered world-view. It is basic to Buddhism. The Buddha once said, “every drop in the ocean has the taste of salt, so does every word that I have uttered carry the flavour of Nirvana”.

Courtesy: India Insight guide.

Buddhism

Buddhism has played a decisive role in molding India’s values and ideas. Yet at one time it was seen as being opposed to Hinduism and as signifying a break in the Indian religious tradition. Actually, the two faiths supplemented each other. The Buddha rejected the infallibility of the Vedas, the supremacy of the Brahmins and some of the external features of Hinduism. But he accepted the basic structure of Hindu thought as expressed in the Law of Karma and Rebirth. Buddhism, like Hinduism, gives priority to experience over thought, and sees a universal rhythmic principle uniting man with nature.

In the first phase of the development of Buddhism, these similarities were over-shadowed by the differences in emphasis. But a few centuries after the Buddha’s death, the two faiths came close to each other. The Mahayana evolved a concept of Absolute Reality very similar to that in the Upanishads. The Buddha was venerated as a god. Buddhism produced its own mythology. Buddhists adopted Sanskrit in preference to Pali, the dialect in which the Buddha himself had delivered his discourses. It is significant that the great epoch of Brahmanical revival, such as the golden age of the Gupta dynasty (4^th and 5^th centuries A.D.), coincided with a splendid blossoming of Buddhist philosophy, art and poetry.

Even in its heyday, Buddhism was not the religion of the majority of Indian people. In the Middle Ages, Buddhism remained dormant in India while it became the dominant religion of Thailand, Cambodia and some other Asian countries. In modern India, there has been a revival of interest in Buddhism. Yet, Buddhists constitute a very small proportion of the Indian population. This has led some people to assert that India “repudiated” and “banished” Buddhism. But something which has been assimilated until in flows through the very bloodstream of Indian culture cannot be said to have been rejected simply because we cannot see it on the surface. Even when there was an ideological conflict between Hinduism and Buddhists, the Buddha’s personality and character attracted the admiration of Hindus and Buddhists alike. The Buddha’s emphasis on compassion, love and non-violence has become a permanent part of India’s spiritual heritage.

Buddhism has inspired some of the finest masterpieces of architecture, sculpture and painting. The stupas of Sanchi and Amaravati, the frescos of Ajanta, the remains of the university of Nalanda, the monastries of Buddha-gaya and Rajagriha and, above all, the Buddha images of the Mathura and Sarnath schools – all these bear witness to the fact that the influence of Buddhism has been much more enduring than its numerical strength might lead one to expect.

Courtesy: India Insight guide.

THE THIRD ANGLE

Never date your best friend’s love.

Call them soap operas or serials; they are one of the most addictive things on television today.

Nothing else can make the estrogen levels of a woman go so high even though she probably knows what’s coming up next.

The reason I’m talking about serials is because most of them are based on love triangles. And that’s what this article is all about. It’s better to watch and forget these “triangles”. Don’t get carried away and get into one. But all those who are into this kind of relationship and want to know whether it is right, here’s my opinion.

Let’s start with the plot. Boy and girl fall in love. They find it difficult to adjust and break up. Enter the best friend of either partner into the picture.

Though the couple is trying to work things out and get the relationship back on track, the presence of the best friend makes things worse.

Gradually, the friend enters into a relationship with a partner. Now, what?

I don’t know about a lot of you, but, since school, I know one coveted rule about the dating game – “Never take your best friend’s date.” But, if you do, that’s the lowest you can sink. Instead of stealing someone’s love, a better idea is to try and patch things between them. I pity the one who has accepted this newfound romance. You have no values in life. And to the person who has been betrayed, consider yourself lucky.

The person whom you were dating is actually the loser.

As for your ‘best’ friend, with someone like this, who needs enemies.

- Courtesy: The Hindu, Monday the 5^th February, 2007.

Hmm.. guess what went on in my mind when I read through this? Yeah. I do agree that I was indeed sporting a lovely smile by the time I finished it. Then again, I was convinced that I am not crazy after all…