Buddha
Gautama Buddha can be considered as an avatar of Vishnu.
Gautama was born in Lumbini in modern
day Nepal and raised in the small kingdom or principality of Kapilavastu, ruins of
which are under the present day Piprahwa between the
Kapilvastu district and Siddharthnagar district divided today by the Nepalese and Indian borders.
According to the most traditional biography, the Buddha's father was King Śuddhodana, the leader
of Shakya clan, whose
capital was Kapilavastu, and who were later annexed by the growing Kingdom of Kosala during the Buddha's lifetime; Gautama was the family name. His
mother, Queen Maha Maya (Māyādevī) and Suddhodana's wife, was a Koliyan
princess. Legend has it that, on the night Siddhartha was conceived, Queen Maya
dreamt that a white elephant with six white tusks entered her right side, and ten months later
Siddhartha was born. As was the Shakya tradition, when his mother Queen Maya
became pregnant, she left Kapilvastu for her father's kingdom to give birth.
However, her son is said to have been born on the way, at Lumbini, in a garden
beneath a sal tree.The day of the Buddha's birth is
widely celebrated in Theravada countries as Vesak. Various sources hold that the Buddha's mother died at
his birth, a few days or seven days later. The infant was given the name
Siddhartha (Pāli: Siddhattha), meaning "he who achieves his aim".
During the birth celebrations, the hermit seer Asita journeyed from his mountain abode and announced that the
child would either become a great king (chakravartin) or a great
holy man. By
traditional account, this occurred after Siddhartha placed his feet in Asita's
hair and Asita examined the birthmarks. Suddhodana held a naming ceremony on
the fifth day, and invited eight brahmin scholars to
read the future. All gave a dual prediction that the baby would either become a
great king or a great holy man. Kaundinya (Pali:
Kondanna), the youngest, and later to be the first arahant other than
the Buddha, was reputed to be the only one who unequivocally predicted that
Siddhartha would become a Buddha.
While later tradition and legend
characterized Śuddhodana as a hereditary monarch, the descendant of the
Solar Dynasty of Ikṣvāku (Pāli: Okkāka), many scholars think that Śuddhodana was
the elected chief of a tribal confederacy.
Early texts suggest that Gautama
was not familiar with the dominant religious teachings of his time until he
left on his religious quest, which is said to have been motivated by
existential concern for the human condition. At the time, many small city-states existed in Ancient India, called Janapadas. Republics and
chiefdoms with diffused political power and limited
social stratification, were not uncommon amongst them, and were referred to as
gana-sanghas. The
Buddha's community does not seem to have had a caste system. It was not
a monarchy, and seems to have been structured either as an oligarchy, or as a
form of republic. The more egalitarian gana-sangha form of government, as a
political alternative to the strongly hierarchical kingdoms, may have
influenced the development of the Shramana type Jain and Buddhist sanghas, where monarchies tended toward Vedic Brahmanism.
Siddhartha was brought up by his
mother's younger sister, Maha Pajapati. By tradition, he is said to have been destined by birth
to the life of a prince, and had three palaces (for seasonal occupation) built
for him. Although more recent scholarship doubts this status, his father, said
to be King Śuddhodana, wishing for his son to be a great king, is said to have
shielded him from religious teachings and from knowledge of human suffering.
When he reached the age of 16,
his father reputedly arranged his marriage to a cousin of the same age named Yaśodharā (Pāli:
Yasodharā). According to the traditional account, she gave birth to a son,
named Rahula. Siddhartha
is then said to have spent 29 years as a prince in Kapilavastu. Although
his father ensured that Siddhartha was provided with everything he could want
or need, Buddhist scriptures say that the future Buddha felt that material
wealth was not life's ultimate goal.
At the age of 29, the popular
biography continues, Siddhartha left his palace to meet his subjects. Despite
his father's efforts to hide from him the sick, aged and suffering, Siddhartha
was said to have seen an old man. When his charioteer Channa explained to him that all people grew old, the prince
went on further trips beyond the palace. On these he encountered a diseased man, a
decaying corpse, and an ascetic. These
depressed him, and he initially strove to overcome ageing, sickness, and death
by living the life of an ascetic.
Accompanied by Channa and aboard
his horse Kanthaka, Gautama
quit his palace for the life of a mendicant. It's said
that, "the horse's hooves were muffled by the gods" to prevent guards
from knowing of his departure.
Gautama initially went to Rajagaha and began his ascetic life by begging for alms in the
street. Having been recognised by the men of King Bimbisara, Bimbisara
offered him the throne after hearing of Siddhartha's quest. Siddhartha rejected
the offer, but promised to visit his kingdom of Magadha first, upon
attaining enlightenment.
He left Rajagaha and practised
under two hermit teachers. After mastering the teachings of Alara Kalama (Skr. Ārāḍa Kālāma), he was asked by Kalama to succeed him.
However, Gautama felt unsatisfied by the practise, and moved on to become a
student of Udaka
Ramaputta (Skr. Udraka Rāmaputra). With
him he achieved high levels of meditative consciousness, and was again asked to
succeed his teacher. But, once more, he was not satisfied, and again moved on.
Siddhartha and a group of five companions
led by Kaundinya are then
said to have set out to take their austerities even further. They tried to find
enlightenment through deprivation of worldly goods, including food, practising self-mortification. After nearly starving himself to death by restricting
his food intake to around a leaf or nut per day, he collapsed in a river while
bathing and almost drowned. Siddhartha began to reconsider his path. Then, he
remembered a moment in childhood in which he had been watching his father start
the season's plowing. He attained a concentrated and focused state that was
blissful and refreshing, the jhāna.
According to the early Buddhist
texts, after realizing that meditative jhana was the right path to awakening,
but that extreme asceticism didn't work, Gautama discovered what Buddhists call
the Middle Way—a path of
moderation away from the extremes of self-indulgence and
self-mortification. In a famous incident, after becoming starved and weakened,
he is said to have accepted milk and rice pudding from a
village girl named Sujata. Such was
his emaciated appearance that she wrongly believed him to be a spirit that had
granted her a wish.
Following this incident, Gautama
was famously seated under a pipal tree - now
known as the Bodhi tree - in Bodh Gaya, India, when he vowed never to arise until he had found the
truth. Kaundinya and four
other companions, believing that he had abandoned his search and become
undisciplined, left. After a reputed 49 days of meditation, at the age of 35,
he is said to have attained Enlightenment. According
to some traditions, this occurred in approximately the fifth lunar month,
while, according to others, it was in the twelfth month. From that time,
Gautama was known to his followers as the Buddha or "Awakened
One" ("Buddha" is also sometimes translated as "The
Enlightened One"). He is often referred to in Buddhism as Shakyamuni
Buddha, or "The Awakened One of the Shakya Clan."
According to Buddhism, at the
time of his awakening he realized complete insight into the cause of suffering,
and the steps necessary to eliminate it. These discoveries became known as the
"Four Noble Truths", which are at the heart of Buddhist teaching.
Through mastery of these truths, a state of supreme liberation, or Nirvana, is believed to be possible for any being. The Buddha
described Nirvāna as the perfect peace of a mind that's free from ignorance,
greed, hatred and other afflictive states, or "defilements"
(kilesas). Nirvana is also regarded as the "end of the world", in
that no personal identity or boundaries of the mind remain. In such a state, a
being is said to possess the Ten Characteristics,
belonging to every Buddha.
According to a story in the Āyācana
Sutta (Samyutta Nikaya VI.1) - a
scripture found in the Pāli and other canons -
immediately after his awakening, the Buddha debated whether or not he should
teach the Dharma to others. He was concerned that humans were so
overpowered by ignorance, greed and hatred that they could never recognise the
path, which is subtle, deep and hard to grasp. However, in the story, Brahmā Sahampati convinced him, arguing that at least some will understand
it. The Buddha relented, and agreed to teach.
After his awakening, the Buddha
met two merchants, named Tapussa and Bhallika, who became his first lay disciples. They were
apparently each given hairs from his head, which are now claimed to be
enshrined as relics in the Shwe Dagon Temple in Rangoon, Burma. The Buddha intended to visit Asita, and his former teachers, Alara Kalama and Uddaka
Ramaputta, to explain his findings, but
they had already died.
He then travelled to the Deer Park near Vārāṇasī (Benares) in northern India, where he set in motion what
Buddhists call the Wheel of Dharma by delivering his first sermon to the five companions
with whom he had sought enlightenment. Together with him, they formed the first
saṅgha: the company of Buddhist monks.
All five become arahants, and within
the first two months, with the conversion of Yasa and fifty four of his friends, the number of such
arahants is said to have grown to 60. The conversion of three brothers named
Kassapa followed, with their reputed 200, 300 and 500 disciples, respectively.
This swelled the sangha to more than 1000.
For the remaining 45 years of
his life, the Buddha is said to have traveled in the Gangetic Plain, in what is
now Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and
southern Nepal, teaching a
diverse range of people: from nobles to outcaste street
sweepers, murderers such as Angulimala, and
cannibals such as Alavaka. From the outset, Buddhism was equally open to all races
and classes, and had no caste structure,
as was the rule in Hinduism. Although the Buddha's language remains unknown,
it's likely that he taught in one or more of a variety of closely related
Middle Indo-Aryan dialects, of which Pali may be a standardization.
The sangha traveled through the
subcontinent, expounding the dharma. This continued throughout the year, except
during the four months of the vassana rainy season when ascetics of all religions rarely
traveled. One reason was that it was more difficult to do so without causing
harm to animal life. At this time of year, the sangha would retreat to
monasteries, public parks or forests, where people would come to them.
The first vassana was spent at Varanasi when the
sangha was formed. After this, the Buddha kept a promise to travel to Rajagaha, capital of
Magadha, to visit
King Bimbisara. During
this visit, Sariputta and Mahamoggallana were
converted by Assaji, one of the
first five disciples, after which they were to become the Buddha's two foremost
followers. The Buddha spent the next three seasons at Veluvana Bamboo Grove
monastery in Rajagaha, capital of Magadha.
Upon hearing of his son's
awakening, Suddhodana sent, over a period, ten delegations to ask him to return
to Kapilavastu. On the
first nine occasions, the delegates failed to deliver the message, and instead
joined the sangha to become arahants. The tenth delegation, led by Kaludayi, a childhood friend of Gautama's (who also became an
arahant), however, delivered the message.
Now two years after his
awakening, the Buddha agreed to return, and made a two-month journey by foot to
Kapilavastu, teaching the dharma as he went. At his return, the royal palace
prepared a midday meal, but the sangha was making an alms round in Kapilavastu.
Hearing this, Suddhodana approached his son, the Buddha, saying:
"Ours
is the warrior lineage of Mahamassata, and not a single warrior has gone
seeking alms"
The Buddha is said to have
replied:
"That
is not the custom of your royal lineage. But it is the custom of my Buddha
lineage. Several thousands of Buddhas have gone by seeking alms"
Buddhist texts say that
Suddhodana invited the sangha into the palace for the meal, followed by a
dharma talk. After this he is said to have become a sotapanna. During the
visit, many members of the royal family joined the sangha. The Buddha's cousins Ananda and Anuruddha became two
of his five chief disciples. At the age of seven, his son Rahula also joined, and became one of his ten chief disciples.
His half-brother Nanda also joined
and became an arahant.
Of the Buddha's disciples,
Sariputta, Mahamoggallana, Mahakasyapa, Ananda and
Anuruddha are believed to have been the five closest to him. His ten foremost
disciples were reputedly completed by the quintet of Upali, Subhoti, Rahula, Mahakaccana and Punna.
In the fifth vassana, the Buddha
was staying at Mahavana near Vesali when he heard news of the impending death of his father.
He is said to have gone to Suddhodana and taught the dharma, after which his
father became an arahant.
The king's death and cremation
was to inspire the creation of an order of nuns. Buddhist texts record that the
Buddha was reluctant to ordain women. His foster mother Maha Pajapati, for
example, approached him, asking to join the sangha, but he refused. Maha
Pajapati, however, was so intent on the path of awakening that she led a group
of royal Sakyan and Koliyan ladies, which followed the sangha on a long journey
to Rajagaha. In time, after Ananda championed their cause, the Buddha is said
to have reconsidered and, five years after the formation of the sangha, agreed
to the ordination of women as nuns. He reasoned that males and females had an
equal capacity for awakening. But he gave women additional rules (Vinaya) to follow.
According to colorful legends,
even during the Buddha's life the sangha was not free of dissent and discord.
For example, Devadatta, a cousin of Gautama who became a monk but not an
arahant, more than once tried to kill him.
Initially, Devadatta is alleged
to have often tried to undermine the Buddha. In one instance, according to
stories, Devadatta even asked the Buddha to stand aside and let him lead the
sangha. When this failed, he is accused of having three times tried to kill his
teacher. The first attempt is said to have involved him hiring a group of
archers to shoot the awakened one. But, upon meeting the Buddha, they laid down
their bows and instead became followers. A second attempt is said to have
involved Devadatta rolling a boulder down a hill. But this hit another rock and
splintered, only grazing the Buddha's foot. In the third attempt, Devadatta is
said to have got an elephant drunk and set it loose. This ruse also failed.
After his lack of success at
homicide, Devadatta is said to have tried to create a schism in the sangha, by proposing extra restrictions on the vinaya. When the Buddha again prevailed, Devadatta started a
breakaway order. At first, he managed to convert some of the bhikkhus, but Sariputta
and Mahamoggallana are said to have expounded the dharma so effectively that
they were won back.
According to the Mahaparinibbana Sutta of the Pali canon, at the age of 80, the Buddha
announced that he would soon reach Parinirvana, or the final deathless state,
and abandon his earthly body. After this, the Buddha ate his last meal, which
he had received as an offering from a blacksmith named Cunda. Falling violently ill, Buddha instructed his attendant Ānanda to convince Cunda that the meal eaten at his place had
nothing to do with his passing and that his meal would be a source of the
greatest merit as it provided the last meal for a Buddha. Mettanando and von
Hinüber argue that the Buddha died of mesenteric infarction, a symptom of old age, rather than food poisoning. The precise
contents of the Buddha's final meal are not clear, due to variant scriptural
traditions and ambiguity over the translation of certain significant terms; the
Theravada tradition
generally believes that the Buddha was offered some kind of pork, while the Mahayana tradition
believes that the Buddha consumed some sort of truffle or other mushroom. These
may reflect the different traditional views on Buddhist vegetarianism and the precepts for monks and nuns.
Ananda protested the Buddha's
decision to enter Parinirvana in the abandoned jungles of Kuśināra
(present-day Kushinagar, India) of the Malla kingdom.
Buddha, however, is said to have reminded Ananda how Kushinara was a land once
ruled by a righteous wheel-turning king that resounded with joy: 44.
Kusavati, Ananda, resounded unceasingly day and night with ten sounds—the trumpeting
of elephants, the neighing of horses, the rattling of chariots, the beating of
drums and tabours, music and song, cheers, the clapping of hands, and cries of
"Eat, drink, and be merry!"
The Buddha then asked all the
attendant Bhikkhus to clarify
any doubts or questions they had. They had none. According to Buddhist
scrptures, he then finally entered Parinirvana. The Buddha's final words are
reported to have been: "All composite things pass away. Strive for your
own liberation with diligence." His body was cremated and the relics were placed in monuments or stupas, some of which are
believed to have survived until the present. For example, The Temple of the Tooth or "Dalada Maligawa" in Sri Lanka is the place
where what some believe to be the relic of the
right tooth of Buddha is kept at present.
According to the Pāli historical
chronicles of Sri Lanka, the Dīpavaṃsa and Mahāvaṃsa, the coronation of Aśoka (Pāli:
Asoka) is 218 years after the death of Buddha. According to two textual records
in Chinese, the coronation of Aśoka is 116 years after the death of Buddha.
Therefore, the time of Buddha's passing is either 486 BCE according to
Theravāda record or 383 BCE according to Mahayana record. However, the actual
date traditionally accepted as the date of the Buddha's death in Theravāda
countries is 544 or 543 BCE, because the reign of Aśoka was traditionally
reckoned to be about 60 years earlier than current estimates.
At his death, the Buddha is
famously believed to have told his disciples to follow no leader. Mahakasyapa was chosen
by the sangha to be the chairman of the First Buddhist Council, with the two chief disciples Mahamoggallana and Sariputta having died
before the Buddha.
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