Dhammananda_Flower_of_Mankind.pdf

FLOWER OF MANKIND

Ven Dr K Sri Dhammananda

‘ This is that Blossom on our human tree

Which opens once in many myriad years –

But opened, fills the world with Wisdom’s scent

And love’s dropped honey.’

( Light of Asia )

This is a verse from Sir Edwin Arnold’s famous poem on the life of the Buddha, Light of

Asia. When it was first published more than a century ago, it took England and the

United States by storm. It ran to sixty editions in England and eighty editions in the

United States in the course of a few years. Few hundred thousand copies were sold at a

time when there were neither best-seller lists, nor the Book-of-the-Month Club. Most

Western readers of the older generation had their impression of the Buddha from this

poem.

Sir Edwin used the image of a tree to represent mankind, and the Buddha was depicted

as a flower on that tree. This flower blooms only once in a myriad years, which means

that humanity would have to wait for an immense period of time for this special flower to

blossom. But once it blooms, it fills the whole universe with its fragrance of wisdom. And

the love and compassion contained in it is as sweet as honey.

The analogy of a flower is apt to describe the Buddha. A flower emerges from a tree

complete in its own glory. Although it draws strength and sustenance from the tree, it

does so of its own effort, without the help of any supernatural creator. A beautiful flower

simply exists. It does not need to explain why it is beautiful. The Buddha, too, simply ‘is’

the Buddha, the fully Self-Enlightened One, who depends on no god or follower for his

existence.

A flower is appreciated and admired by both young and old. It exudes its fragrance

without preference or discrimination. It does not say, ‘I will bring joy to only those who

follow me.’ Similarly, the Buddha is an enlightened teacher who is appreciated by

everyone, including non-Buddhists who study the master’s message with open minds.

The message of the Buddha is delivered out of compassion for the benefit of all living

beings, and those who seek the Truth can benefit from it.

The fragrance of wisdom and the honey-sweet compassion of the Buddha are attested

to by many well-known poets, scholars, philosophers, historians, scientists,

psychologists, free-thinkers, rationalists and even by agnostics. They have recognised

him as an enlightened and liberal religious teacher who had rendered a great service to

mankind through his rational interpretation of the ultimate truth.

Albert Einstein has said in his autobiography: ‘If there is any religion that would cope

with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism.’ He also said that Buddhism has the

characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic religion for the future : it

transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and theology; it covers both the natural and

the spiritual, and it is based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things,

natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity.

A writer and world historian who is no doubt familiar to many is H.G. Wells. In his history

book, Wells wrote: ‘You see clearly a man, simple, devout, lonely, battling for light, a

vivid human personality, not a myth. He gave a message to mankind universal in its

character. Many of our best modern ideas are in closest harmony with it.’

Even an agnostic like Bertrand Russell, the foremost British philosopher in our times

who was awarded a Nobel Prize, said that among the founders of all religions in this

world, he respected only one man – the Buddha. The main reason was that the Buddha

did not make statements regarding the origin of the world. Bertrand Russell said that the

Buddha was the only teacher who realised the true nature of the world. But, while many

others made unjustifiable claims based on rather simplistic logic on how the world

originated, the Buddha did not commit himself to any statement about a beginning. This

was because he knew his listeners did not have the proper intellectual training and

understanding of the physical world to comprehend what he himself had discovered.

A flower in full bloom cannot keep the fragrance to itself. Similarly, soon after the

Buddha had gained his Enlightenment, he decided to preach his Dhamma and share the

supreme knowledge he had gained with suffering humanity. He surveyed the world and

saw that there are beings who were able to understand the Dhamma he discovered. Out

of pity for the world, he said, ‘Open to them are the Doors to Deathlessness. Let those

who have ears hearken and place their confidence in the Dhamma.’

Who is the Buddha?

There are many misinterpretations regarding the appearance of the Buddha in this

world. Many people cannot understand who the Buddha actually is because of his

appearance, serenity, and towering wisdom and understanding. When they compare his

rational views and his personality with other religious teachers, they find that he is

unique in many ways and his teachings are different from what anyone had thought of

before. Therefore, they cannot believe he was an ordinary human being. That is why

people have often asked whether he is an extraordinary super – natural being, a prophet

or a messenger of a god. Some believe that the Buddha, with his supreme intellect, had

learnt everything he knew from the existing Indian religious systems and philosophy,

refined them and presented these old thoughts as a new doctrine.

All these views are not true. The Buddha had never claimed that he was sent as a

messenger of any god. Nor did he say that he had heard any divine – voice which

whispered into his ears to reveal certain commandments to be introduced as a religion.

Furthermore, while the Buddha had studied all the existing systems of philosophical

though under the best teachers if his days, in none of these teachings could he find the

life that he was seeking for.

He declared that he did not have any teacher who could teach him how to gain

Enlightenment. He endeavoured to find someone who could enlighten him, but he could

not find such a person. So he used his own effort, knowledge and understanding to

gain this supreme wisdom. Buddhahood was the result of his own effort. Not only did

he fully understand the Truth, he also taught the doctrine to enlighten others. He is,

therefore, called a Samma Sambuddha or the Fully Enlightened One.

Was the Buddha a Human Being?

The Buddha was born as a human being. As a young prince, he was given the training

required of a noble youth from the warrior clan. At the age of sixteen, he married his

cousin, Yasodhara, who gave birth to his son, Rahula. After realising the universal

suffering of sickness, old age and death which afflicted all beings, he decided to

renounce at the age of 29 and went in search of the Truth for 6 years. At the age of 35,

he was Enlightened while meditating under the Bodhi Tree. He lived as a human being

up to the time he was Enlightened. But can he be considered as a human being after

enlightenment?

The answer was given by the Buddha to Drona, a brahmin, who noticed his footprints

and realised at once that he could be no ordinary being. He approached the Buddha and

asked if he was a god ( deva ), a heavenly musician ( gandhabba ) a demon (yakkha).

The Buddha answered, “No” to all these questions. When he was asked whether he

was a human being ( manussa ), the Buddha again answered that he was not. When

asked who he was, the Buddha replied that he had defilement which condition rebirth

as a deva, gandhabba, yakkha or a human being. He added:

‘As a lotus, fair and lovely,

By the water is not soiled,

By the world I am not soiled;

Therefore, brahmin, I am Buddha.’

When the Buddha attained Enlightened, he could no longer be considered as a human

being in the normal sense of the world. He had attained the absolute state of the

Unconditioned, the Eternal, unlike a normal human being who is bound to this planet by

time and space. In addition, his mental state was at the supramundane level, not at the

mundane level of unenlightened beings. He did not belong to any category of beings

who were still bound in Samsara, He was not even a deva or brahma to whom many

people pay homage. There is only one way to describe him – the Buddha, the

Enlightened One who is completely liberated from a conditioned and relative existence

and who has transcended time and space. Buddhas are enlightened beings who belong

to a special lineage or species of beings known as Buddha wangsa.

It is important for us to keep this in mind because many non-Buddhist writers have

described the Buddha as a wise teacher with a very good teaching. But alas, they say he

was only human being, and his teaching is, therefore, limited to what a wise man is

capable of, and no higher. These authors then offer some alternate teachings which they

claim are divinely inspired.

Buddhists should not be taken in these arguments, especially if they remember that

although the Buddha was born as a human being, he could no longer be considered to

be a limited human being after Enlightenment. He lived and taught as a supremely

enlightened being. He was the embodiment of Truth, and he once said, ‘ He who sees

the Dhamma, sees me.’ This means that he had actually become an embodiment of the

truth ( Dhamma ) itself. Conditioned by his human birth, he maintained his corporeal form

during the forty five years after his enlightenment. When he died at the age of eighty,

he attained Mahaparinibbana – which means that although he passed away in human

form, he did not die as a human being, to be reborn again in some other form. Maha

Parinibbana, is the unconditioned state of ultimate release. This unconditioned state is

beyond our understanding of existence or non-existence as applied to human life or

phonomena. Therefore, to ask questions about the existence or non-existence of beings

in the state of Maha Parinibbana, is absolutely pointless.

The Hallmark of the Buddha.

The Buddha is indeed a unique being. He is the supremely enlightened being who arises

in this world out of compassion for the world, for the good, benefit and happiness of all.

He appears rarely in this world. The Dhammapada says, ‘Rare is the appearance of the

Buddha.’ The Buddha is described as the ‘Accomplished One’ ( Tathagata ), the Worthy

One ( Araham ), the Fully Enlightened One ( Samma Sambuddha ) the Giver of

Deathlessness ( amatassa data ) and the Lord of Truth ( Dhammassami ).

Once a Brahmin was so struck by the radiance and incomparable physical beauty of the

Buddha that he was moved to ask if the Blesses One was a god. The Buddha explained:

Known are the things to be known,

Cultivated are the things to be cultivated,

Destroyed are the things to be destroyed,

Therefore, Brahman, I am the Buddha.

The stanza summerises the great qualities of the Buddha. He had realised the real

nature of every component thing in the universe with his supreme wisdom. There are no

controversies regarding what he taught. This is because there is no ambiguity or

vagueness in his teachings, which could lead to endless arguments and lead men away

from the ultimate goal of finding release from Samsara . If our judgements do not agree

with his teachings, it is only because we have not yet realised the real nature of things.

He had cultivated all virtues to perfection and upheld these qualities even at the risk of

his own life. He had gone beyond the fluctuating human emotions and beyond all human

frailties. He had eradicated all unwholesomeness, all selfishness and evil thoughts in the

mind.

His Great Wisdom

The Buddha was self – enlightened. Although he went to some teachers to study under

them, yet none of them could show him the way to ultimate Truth. Therefore, he decided

to rely on his own effort to find the Truth. Once an ascetic who was so impressed by the

radiant appearance of the Buddha asked him who his teacher was. The Buddha replied :

‘All have I overcome, all so I know,

From all am I detached. All have I renounced.

Wholly absorbed am I in the destruction of craving.

Having comprehended all by myself,

Whom shall I call my teacher?’

Like a flower in full bloom which cannot keep the scent to itself, the Buddha started

spreading the sublime message soon after gaining Enlightenment. He decided to preach

his Dhamma and share the supreme knowledge he had gained with suffering humanity.

He was an incomparable teacher. In the verse traditionally recited by devotees on the

virtues of the Buddha, it is said that he was completely and perfectly Enlightened

( samma-sambuddha ). He was also endowed with knowledge and virtue

( vijjacaranasampanno ) and knower of the words ( lokavidu ). In addition, he was an

unsurpassed guide of those to be trained ( annuttaro purisadammasarathi ) and a

teacher of gods and men ( sattha deva manussanam ).

Certain people are extremely proud of their intellectual attainment. They claim to have

knowledge, but their knowledge is seldom coupled with wisdom. One western scholar

admitted that the more we learn about things existing in the world, the more we create

our own concepts and fantasies which are the product of our limited way of thinking and

shaped by our limited senses. He said that instead of gaining wisdom, we have

increased our ignorance. People who claim to know many things only develop their

egoism and sceptical views which create more confusion and disturb the peace and

confidence in their minds. The knowledge and attitudes they maintain often create more

misunderstanding and conflict instead of generating harmony and goodwill.

People may try to study about everything in this world and gain scientific knowledge

which can explain many things previously unknown. Yet, this knowledge for what it is

capable of cannot be regarded as wisdom. While modern man’s knowledge about the

physical universe is indeed very extensive, the real wisdom to fathom the true nature of

human existence is still lacking. The Buddha's wisdom therefore is still relevant to the

needs of modern man even during these times of advanced knowledge.

The Buddha’s understanding of all universal phenomena is not mere knowledge, but

insight wisdom arising from his spiritual realisation into the actual nature of the cosmos.

We can get some idea of the depth of his profound wisdom when we study the Four

Noble Truths he taught. Before listening to the Buddha, people were ignorant about

many things : Why were they here in the world? What did they really have to do as

human beings? Was there an ultimate aim in life? Why was it that people could

gain no satisfaction in life, despite their formidable store of knowledge? Without

the wisdom of the Enlightened One, people would have gone on developing more and

more craving and selfish desire, under the impression that they were progressing. But is

it really progress when such pursuits bring more fear, worries, uncertainty and

insecurity? Is it really progress when these, in turn, create frustration and

disappointment, which will later lead to conflict, clashes, jealousy and enmity? We know

from our own experience that when people have only mere knowledge, scientific or other

wise, but not supreme wisdom, they often are unable to live happily with themselves or

with others.

The more we remain in this world, the more problems we will have to face. Life is a big

physical and mental battle for those who are unenlightened. The Buddha, who had

realised the nature of existence and its real cause, can show us the way to liberation.

Only an enlightened religious teacher who has realised the root of all problems is able to

guide mankind to face and overcome them. Only the Buddha who has conquered

ignorance can teach us how to be free from being entangled in sorrow and despair. We

are constantly in danger of being smothered by greed, hatred and delusion, the bad

motivations responsible for all evil deeds. Only the Buddha can teach us how to

eradicate these bad motivations through the training of our minds.

The Buddha understood that every component thing has what is known as the Three

Characteristics. Every phenomenon is impermanent, and there can be no

compounded thing which can remain unchanging for a single moment. Even modern

scientists support the explanation given by the Buddha more than twenty five centuries

ago that existence arises from the conflict or friction of elements and energies. In this

dynamic process of continuous friction, things arise and change according to the causes

which condition their existence. Therefore, it is the nature of all conditioned things to

change, without which there can be no existence.

The second characteristic is unsatisfactoriness that underlies every component thing.

Some people cannot understand why the Buddha spoke of unsatisfactoriness when in

life there are many things which are attractive and beautiful, creating a sense of

pleasure. They might seem so at the beginning, but what happens when these change?

Dissatisfaction sets in. Since we cannot really prevent changes from taking place, as

explained in the first characteristic of impermanence, in the final analysis we cannot

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