Five Faiths Project

Introduction



Hinduism



Judaism



Buddhism



Christianity



Islam


BUDDHISM

The Life of Siddhartha

May every creature abound in well-being and peace. May every living being, weak or strong, the long and the small, the short and the medium sized, the mean and the great, May every living being, seen or unseen, those dwelling far off, those near by, those waiting to be born, May all attain inward peace.
Buddhist prayer on Loving-kindness, taken from the Sutra on Loving-kindness. Pali: Metta-Sutta

According to traditional Buddhist stories, Siddhartha Guatama was born to a noble family in the 6th century BCE, in the foothills of the Himalayan mountains just inside the borders of modern-day Nepal. Long after he died, his followers understanding him to be the Buddha, a title which means “awakened one,” pieced together a basic chronology of his early life from the many stories they knew about him, his life and his teaching. Some of these stories are attributed to the Buddha himself and are included in written versions of his teachings. Others grew out of the oral tradition which supported his followers in the years after his life and death. While none of his teachings were written down until long after his death, there are many loving stories recorded in Buddhist texts which speak of Siddhartha’s birth and the experience of his awakening. In an attempt to understand some of the foundations of Buddhism, this text focuses on an abbreviated retelling of the stories which speak of his life in his father’s court, his subsequent search for answers to human suffering and his awakening. Within Buddhism, it is said that Siddhartha lived to be 80 years old. During the last 45 years of his life, he walked through much of the Northern Districts of India teaching men and women the path to liberation that he had found.

According to these recorded stories, at the time of his son’s birth, Siddhartha’s father wanted to know how best to raise this child. He sought the counsel of priests. These men advised the king that his son did indeed have a destiny marked with an important choice. If the boy stayed in the world, he would grow up to be the greatest of all rulers, reuniting all of the known world under his leadership. If on the other hand, Siddhartha chose to turn away, he would become a perfectly enlightened teacher. Siddhartha’s father wanted him to remain active in the affairs of the world. He did not want him to become a mendicant, one who rejects his home and family. He built a palace of elaborate wealth for his son and surrounded it with a high wall. Whenever Siddhartha left the palace, the king made certain that the streets were cleaned and only the most beautiful sights remained out and in view. Nothing should be allowed to turn his son’s attentions away from the world around him. Siddhartha grew up in this palace, married and had a son.

The Four Sights

One of the central stories in Siddhartha’s early life focuses on his growing awareness of human suffering. Despite his father’s efforts to shield him, Siddhartha was still exposed to suffering in the world. One story tells of a day when Siddhartha and one of his servants went out for a chariot ride. While passing through the very streets his father had so carefully maintained, Siddhartha saw something he had never seen before. He asked his servant what it was. The servant told him the truth. It was a feeble old man. Siddhartha had never seen old age before. Even though the king continued to make every attempt to protect his son, on a second journey, Siddhartha saw a man suffering, lying on the ground by the side of the road. Again he asked his companion what he was seeing. The answer, disease. On a third journey, he saw a decaying corpse in a funeral procession. Siddhartha had never seen death before, and again his servant helped him to understand what he was seeing. On the fourth journey, he saw a monk, robed in ochre fabric, with his head shaved as a sign of his renunciation of the world. The monk held a begging bowl in his hand. Siddhartha asked his servant to explain. The servant said the monk was a man who had turned from the distractions of the material world in order to search for deeper meaning and truth, to find solutions to the problems of old age, illness and death.

Siddhartha’s search for answers

These four sights: old age, disease, death and renunciation, are said to have created a deep longing in young Siddhartha. He found that everything within him longed to discover a way to end suffering. He knew that even the vast luxuries which his father had provided for him could not solve the problem. His own heart remained deeply troubled and the suffering of others haunted him. So, moved by compassion, he made the decision to leave the comfort and pleasure of his life in order to search for a solution. At the age of 29, he silently said goodbye to his wife and child in the middle of the night as they slept. He left the palace. He rode off on a white horse, bringing one attendant with him. At dawn, a good distance away from his home, he changed clothes with a hunter who happened to be passing by, shaved his head as a sign of his renunciation, and sent the horse and servant back to the palace. He continued on alone. Siddhartha spent the next six years of his life searching for a solution to the problem of human suffering.

He sought out two spiritual masters, asking for their wisdom. When he came to realize that he had learned all that they had to teach him, and still he had no answer, he left their company. Then, he joined a small group of ascetics who practiced extreme forms of self-mortification. He adopted their rigorous practice of self-denial. So completely did he embrace the denial of his body that he grew thin and weak. Still he did not see the answers he sought. One night, weak from extensive fasting, he fell into a faint. Had it not been for the kindness of the daughter of a village chieftain, who offered him rice-milk gruel, he might have died. Reflecting on the experiences of his life, still, Siddhartha found no answer. He knew that luxury and indulgence could not keep suffering away, nor could the extreme denial of asceticism. He left the company of the ascetics, and traveling some distance, found a tree and sat down beneath its branches. He closed his eyes. He decided that he would not open his eyes, nor would he move from the spot until he found what he was seeking.

The Awakening

He turned all of his attention within, seeking to find a new consciousness and perception. As he moved deeper and deeper into himself, he began to see the truth of existence. He came to see all things as they really are. Demons came to tempt him to stop, but Siddhartha would not be moved. The earth and all the elements of the cosmos supported the search. In his meditation, he saw the endless cycles of birth, death and rebirth. He saw his own connection to every living thing that had ever lived and every thing yet to live. At last, he entered the final hidden aspects of reality. He saw that all things in the world and all things inside him are without independent, substantial being. All things are interconnected by various causes and supporting conditions. In this state of profound meditative awareness, the unconditional reality of Nirvana was revealed. At this moment, in the here and now, Siddhartha became the Buddha, the Awakened One. He was transformed. He knew that his experience could not be described with mere words or thoughts. Nirvana must be experienced.

For a total of 49 days, he remained under the Bodhi Tree. At the end of those days, he opened his eyes, stood, and walked back to the company of people, determined to offer what he had learned. He came to a small garden, encountered a tiny group of monks, the same monks who had been his companions when he practiced self-denial. He sat with them and there gave the first of a lifetime of sermons and talks. This first sermon is recorded as a discourse called “Setting in Motion the Wheel of the Dharma (teachings).” In it, he spoke in the common language of the people and employed simple analogies to explain his new understanding.

The Four Noble Truths

At the core of the Buddha’s teaching is an explanation of the nature of things as they really are. The Buddha called this the Four Noble Truths. First, he said, all of life is suffering. All human life is steeped in sorrow and longing. He said our own ignorance and selfish desires cause all of our longing, sorrow and suffering. Then he explained that there is a way to put an end to suffering. And he offered the way. This teaching made sense to the listeners. Followers of the Buddha agreed that life was filled with suffering. They could understand that this suffering was caused by their own desires for personal comfort and safety. They agreed with the Buddha when he taught that all human beings suffer pain, discomfort, disease and death, and with them, a pervasive sense of sorrow and longing.

The Three Jewels of Buddhism

Sometimes followers of the Buddha refer to him as the doctor, offering a healing cure for illness. Buddhists affirm his teachings to be practical, tested and tried. Like a medicine offered to cure an illness, Buddhists believe his teachings are for all human beings, men and women, young and old, regardless of class or caste. If the Buddha is the doctor, his teachings, called dharma, are the medicine. He said that the way to end the suffering was to follow the Middle Path. The Middle Path is an eight-fold set of actions, behaviors and intentions which, when practiced, will bring an end to the pain under which all individuals suffer. The Buddha was concerned with both individual suffering and the corporate suffering of all sentient beings. He taught that people needed one another in order to find and practice the Middle Way. The Buddhist monastic community is called the sangha. Together with the Buddha himself, and the dharma, it comprises the Three Jewels of Buddhism.

Good is the sight of noble ones,
Their company is always pleasant.
Dhammapada XV, 206

Here is what the Buddha taught as the way to end suffering. He said that each person, with the assistance of a community of friends and allies, must attempt to live his or her life according to the eightfold path. Buddhists believe that in following this path they can be assured that they will live wiser and more caring lives, set free from the endless suffering of existence.

The Eight-fold Middle Path

Whatever deeds a man may do,
be they delightful,
be they bad,
They make a heritage for him;
deeds do not vanish without a trace.
Dharmapada

In Buddhism, the eight steps on the path are not separate, to be taken one at a time or in some particular order, but rather offer a whole new way of living every aspect of one’s life. To illustrate this, there is a story in which the Buddha drew a circle on the ground divided by eight spokes to make it clear that the eight steps are all interconnected and create one whole way of living, a full course of treatment for the ills of life. Followers of the Buddha attempt to live their day to day lives according to these precepts. The eight spokes on the wheel are:

Central to Buddhist teaching is the understanding of the Buddha’s stories and teaching as accurate, truthful and practical. The Buddha is said to have told the small gathering that everything he was teaching, he himself had experienced. He also assured them that he would never lie to them. Buddhists believe that all life is a teacher, and when seen with the right state of mind, all experiences will lead toward understanding. For the next 45 years, he spoke, taught, answered questions and established a community of followers, until, at the age of eighty he died. The Buddha, like so many ancient teachers, never wrote any of his ideas down. Instead, he lived according to his understanding and shared his insights with those who sought his counsel.

Following the teachings of Buddha

Buddhism, the practice of following the teachings of the Buddha, rapidly grew and flourished throughout India. He offered his followers a way to achieve nirvana, the state of perfect awareness reached by all individuals who have experienced and achieved awakening. He was clear that nirvana was available to everyone, young and old, male and female, regardless of the positions and classes of society into which they were born. He taught that the experience of nirvana is like waking from a lifelong dream, suddenly seeing things as they really are and knowing the truth behind everything that is seen.

Buddhists try to live in such a way that in every aspect of daily life, in work, in rest, in meditation and in relationships, they are selfless, concerned with the well-being of all. There are literally thousands of stories in the Buddhist tradition that support these goals. In one, there is a house burning with three fires: hatred, greed and ignorance. To put out the fires, Buddhists chant, meditate and are kind to others. These things reduce the fires. When the house is no longer ablaze, all the unhappiness ends, and the whole household enters nirvana.

In another story, the Buddha overheard a group of his followers trying to remember if the Buddha had said this or that particular saying. When he heard this, he turned to them and said in all of his life he had not said a single word. He wanted to help his followers to remember that being tangled in ideas and quotes and sayings was not the path. They should not allow themselves to be distracted by words, even words he had spoken to them. Rather, they should return to the practice of life described in the eight-fold Middle Path.

Developments in Buddhism

After his death, the Buddha’s followers continued to establish communities of people who were dedicated to his teachings. Two major schools of Buddhism were established: the Theravada and the Mahayana. Both schools share belief in the Three Jewels of Buddhism, but they differ in their interpretations of the Buddha’s teachings and in the particular practices which they employ. The Theravada School focuses attention on the efforts of the individual will, on wisdom, on centering one’s practice in meditation, on the use of minimal rituals and on maintaining minimal concerns for the metaphysical. The Theravada School holds that great concentration is required in order to achieve enlightenment, and that the highest attainable goal is that of a personally enlightened sage or noble one. In addition, the Theravada School contends that the Buddha was the supreme and inspired teacher, and he remains in nirvana perpetually after death. The Mahayana School, which is also divided into many lesser strains, maintains that all people can achieve the teachings of the Buddha as the teachings are relevant to all aspects of every life. Mahayanan Buddhists focus their attention on compassion as a guiding principle, and believe that Buddhas and bodhisattvas endlessly support all human aspirations toward nirvana. Buddhists within this tradition believe that whenever a human being enters nirvana, he or she becomes a bodhisattva, and may return to aid other humans on their path to enlightenment. The bodhisattvas listen to and answer prayers. Employing more ritual and metaphysics, Mahayana Buddhism includes practices of petitionary prayer, and sees the Buddha himself as the divine savior of the world.

Buddhist practices and rituals

Both Theravada and Mahayana Buddhists have many practices which help them to pursue the Middle Path. Buddhists often worship at sites dedicated to the Buddha and to the bodhisattvas. When the Buddha died, his body was cremated and his remains were taken to eight locations in India. At each spot a stupa, a Buddhist shrine, was built to commemorate his life and his offerings. Later, an emperor named Ashoka took the pearl-like pieces of the Buddha’s remains, believed to be reflections of his extreme purity, and redistributed them to new stupas all over India. In temples, candles surround images of Buddha and the bodhisattvas. These candles represent to Buddhists the light of the Buddha’s teaching and its capacity to dispel the darkness of ignorance. Flowers are often placed at altars dedicated to the Buddha, as reminders of the impermanence of all things. Buddhists recognize that while the flowers may look beautiful and fresh for a time, they will surely fade and wilt. Devotees offer gifts of food to be eaten by the monks so that they may continue their journey without hunger. In Buddhist practice, all these gifts are given as tokens of thanksgiving for the gifts the Buddha gave in his lifetime, and the gifts the bodhisattvas continue to give. Particularly in Mahayana Buddhism, chanted prayers, bells and other implements are employed as part of devotions. Mandalas, complex circular drawings, are sometimes used to help Buddhists understand the intricate mysteries of life. Buddhist devotions are also practiced in homes, where Buddhists may have an image of the Buddha or a bodhisattva set in a special place. In addition, many Buddhists find meditation to be a central part of their discipline. Practiced both privately and in gatherings, some Buddhists visually focus on an object, a flower or a candle, to help concentrate the mind. Buddhists may also chant as a part of their practice. Some Buddhists touch a mala, or recitation beads as they chant. A mala is constructed of 108 beads. The beads may be used for counting the repetitions of certain words or prayers used in Buddhist practice.

Buddhist sacred texts

After the death of the Buddha, many followers began to write down his teachings. Theravada Buddhists hold the Pali Canon, a collection of writings in the ancient language of Pali, as their most sacred text. Mahayana Buddhists have their own set of scriptures, originally written in Sanskrit, and now existent in Chinese and Tibetan. The Chinese began making translations in the first century and the Tibetans began the process in about the 8th century. The Chinese text, called the Taisho, or “Great Treasury of Sutras,” is the most authoritative text in the Mahayana tradition. All of these texts have been translated into many other languages, making the teachings of Buddhism available to people throughout the world.

Buddhism today

There are approximately 400 million Buddhists in the world today. Following the teachings of the Buddha, each seeks to practice the life of the Middle Path. By paying attention to the Buddha’s teaching, the experiences of life and the needs and concerns of all sentient beings, Buddhists try to organize their every thought and every aspect of their lives to reflect the generosity and compassion of the Buddha’s awakening.

Footnotes

  1. During his lifetime, and after his death, many loving stories were told which surround all events of the life of Siddhartha, the Buddha. The stories reveal that all life supported his awakening. In some stories this is made evident by the intervention of divine spirits; in others, the animals and plants offer their support in miraculous ways; in others, the previous lifetimes of the Buddha are offered. In every case, Buddhist stories make it clear that the life of this man was significant to the life of all.
  2. The spiritual masters are said to have taught Siddhartha a strenuous method of meditation. It was this method that he later employed when he sat under the Bodhi Tree, carrying his meditation to a deeper and more profound level.
  3. This story comes from the Mahayanan Lotus Sutra. The story is intended to teach that all human beings have the opportunity to come to understand the way to escape the cycle of birth, death and rebirth. All are able to see and support the same attainment of the Buddha. All can become Buddhas.
  4. The distinctions between these two schools are many, and there are many other offshoots of Buddhism which have had a major impact on Buddhism worldwide. Among these, Tibetan Buddhism, with the exile from Tibet of the 14th Dalai Lama in 1959 has had a profound pact on Buddhism. The Dalai Lama has published many books which are readily available in America. More information on the distinctions between the two main schools may be found in The Perennial Dictionary of World Religions, ed. Keith Crim. HarperCollins, New York. 1989.
  5. Sutras are short verses and collections of short verses comprised to tell a story or teach a principle. The root word literally means “thread” and implies the sewing together of ideas and stories. This term is used in both Hinduism and Buddhism.
  6. In fact, it is difficult to get an actual number for Buddhism. There are nations in the world which are principally Buddhist, their population being counted as a whole.