Who was the Buddha.pdf

Who was the Buddha? From Birth to

Renunciation and Nibbana

Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma-

sambuddhassa Honour to him, the blessed One, the

worthy One, the fully Enlightened One. Dh 24

The Buddha was known as Siddhattha Gautama,

a unique human being who was self-Enlightened. In his

historical life he was known as Sakyamuni the Buddha.

At this life he chose to become a Bodhisatta, who

destined to attain Buddhahood, and become a future

Buddha, through the cultivation of his mind. The

Buddha was indeed a man but an extraordinary man,

who was born he made himself so. He perceived the

talent possibilities and creative power of man and

without arrogating to himself to divinity advised his

followers to emulate him, for Buddhahood is talent in

all. Through his own efforts, Buddha practiced to

perfection the ten supreme qualities of generosity,

discipline, renunciation, wisdom, energy, endurance,

truthfulness, determination, goodwill and equanimity.

Through his mental purification, Buddha opened the

doors to all knowledge. He knew all things to be known

cultivated all things to be cultivated, and destroyed all

things to be destroyed.

There was a kingdom called Sakya and

Kapilavatthu was its capital. It was located at the

foothills of the Himalayas, to the North of India. The

Ruler of this Kingdom was King Suddhodana Gautama.

He belonged to the Gautama clan. The King's wife

whose name was Queen Mahamaya. Queen Mahamaya

arrived at Lumbini Pleasure Park, on Friday the 15th of

June. (This according to the Lao tradition and in terms of

solar calendar, this day is identical with Full-Moon Day

of the month of May. After a long journey, Queen

Mahayama ordered the officials to break journey to

enable her to rest awhile in the shade of trees. On the

fullmoon day of May, in the year 623 B.C. (the sixth

lunar month which we call Visakha). The Queen

Mahamaya gave birth to a son under the Sala trees in a

beautiful park called Lumbini. The Bodhisatta Prince

walked upon Seven Lotuses, scanned in all directions

immediately after he was born. "In his noble voice that

he was born to dispel the darkness of ignorance and to

show the world how to be free from suffering"

(Dhammananda 15)

Five days after the birth of Bodhisatta Prince,

King Suddhohana invited many sages and requested

them to select a fitting name for the Prince. The sages

held discussion and selected the name 'Siddhartha' as the

most suitable for the Bodhisatta Prince. The name was

means "Fulfilled Wish". Two days after the naming

ceremony of the Prince Siddhartha, Queen Mahayama

passed away. Queen Mahayama was a virtuous Lady of

a noble Royal Dynasty. After the death of Queen

Mahayama, Prince Siddhartha was raised by his aunt

Queen Maha Prajapati Gautami, who was also his step-

mother. she looked after the Prince as her own child. In

the consequence, Prince did not know His real mother

was.He was born a prince who seemed to have

everything and grew up in wealth, luxury and receiving

an education befitting a prince. At sixteen he married to

his cousin named PrincessYasodhara, generally known

as Bimba. They lived a happy married life for the next

thirteen years, and during that time Princess Yasodhara

gave birth to a son whom they called Rahula. His wife

was majestic, cheerful day and night, and full of dignity

and grace.

During a trip to Pleasure Garden, he saw four

things that made him, very thoughtful about life. He saw

an old man, a sick person, a dead body and a Bhramin

monks ascetic. When he saw the sights, one after

another, the realization came to him that worldly comfort

and security do not guarantee happiness, not bring him

real happiness while other people were suffering. He

wanted to find the way out of these universal Suffering,

the real happiness, the happiness that all people could

share. He was deeply removed by the suffering he saw

around. One night in His twenty-ninth years old, in that

still night Prince Siddhartha decided to leave the Palace,

his wealth, his wife, and his royal son. He bade his

sleeping wife and son a silent farewell without

awakening anyone. The Prince left the city on his great

white horse Kanthaka, and rode off toward the forest.

Only Channa accompanied them. After riding for a

while Prince siddhartha stopped and turned around for a

last look at the city of Kapilavastu, bathed in moonlight.

He decided to leave to find the cure not for Himself

only, but to find the key for all human happiness. After

the Prince Siddhartha and Channa reached the bank of

the River Anoma on horse-back by dawn. Prince

Siddhartha shaved his head and deciding to become an

Ascetic solely because he was determined to overcome

all the suffering of the whole mankind.

He renounced everything including his family

and hope in exchange for the search for Truth which no

one had found. He became a Ascetic Siddhartha and

spent the next six years studying with many Brahmin

teachers and practicing extreme self-denial in the forest.

The five ascetics, Kondanna, Bhaddiya, Vappa,

Mahanama and Assaji taught him much but non really

knew the cause of human suffering and how it could be

overcome. Ascetic Siddhartha was disappointed and

unsatisfied with the teaching of Sages and five ascetics

could not give Ascetic Siddhartha a solution to old age,

sickness, death and the unceasing problems of life.

Ascetic Siddharatha decided to sought a new original

path between the two (the Middle Way) to achieve

Enlightenment through self-effort and without seeking

the assistance of others.

Six years after becoming a homeless monk, on

the full moon night of the month of May (Vesakha the

sixth lunar month), he sat under the Bodhi tree at Gaya,

deeply absorbed in meditation, unaided and unguided by

any supernatural power and solely relying in His efforts

and wisdom. He reached the real happiness he sought

and realized the true nature of all life and all things as

they are truly are. This real happiness is called the

Enlightenment. At the age of 35 years, he was fully

Enlightenment (Buddhahood) or . He was transformed

from an earnest truth seeker into the Buddha, the

Enlightened One or Awakened One.

The term Buddha is not a proper name rather

than a description of one who in spiritually awakened.

The Buddha found out the truth of life. From that day

onwards, he was called the Buddha, or Awakened One.

The Buddha found out the truth of life and life is

full of problems. He taught three principles of

Buddhism to guide their thoughts and actions. Narada

Thera explains these principles are as follows:

"Not to do any evil

To do good deeds.

To purify the mind"

This is the Teaching of the Buddha (165)

Buddha lived for 45 years in which time he traveled all

over northern India teaching others what he had

discovered. For nearly half a century, the Buddha

walked on the dusty paths of India teaching the truth,

which is called the Dhamma, to his followers and to all

human being. The Enlightened One sent out his sermon

to every places and everybody who would listen, without

making any distinction between classes. He would

preach men, women, beggars, and kings, making no

distinction between the classes. He gave men the power

to think for themselves, raised the worth of mankind,

and showed that man can reach to the highest knowledge

and supreme Enlightenment by his own efforts.

After of forty-five years of preaching the truth,

Buddha passed away at the age of eightieth years. The

Buddha felt that his end was coming closer. He went to

Kusinara, and there on the full moon day of Visakha

month, under two sala trees. Buddha entered into deep

meditation and passed away.

The was the first most active missionary in the

world. He wandered from place to place for forty five

years preaching His Doctrine to the masses and the

intelligentsia. Till his last moment, he served humanity

both by example and by precept. Buddha left behind

thousands of followers, monks, nun, and vast treasure

store of Dhamma Teaching. The Buddha exhorts his

disciples to depend on themselves for their deliverance,

for both purity and defilement depends on oneself . The

Buddha once says to his disciples to be self-dependent

the Buddha says in the parinibbana Sutta :

" Be ye islands unto yourselves, be ye a refuge unto

yourselves, seek not for refuge in others" (Thera 3).

" A unique being, an extraordinary man arises in this

world for the benefit of the many, for the happiness of

the many, out of compassion for the world, for the good,

benefit, and happiness of gods and men. Who is this

unique being? It is the Tathagara, the Exalted, Fully

Enlightened One" (Angguttara Nikaya 22).

In 'The Three Greatest Men in History' historian

H.G. Wells writes, "In the Buddha you can see clearly a

man-simple devout, lonely, battling for light-vivid

human personality, not a myth. He too had a message to

mankind universal in character. Many of our best

modern ideas are in closest harmony with it. All the

miseries and discontents are due, He taught, to

selfishness. Before a man can become serene he must

cease to live for his senses or himself. Then he merges

into a great being. The Buddha in different language call

men to self-forgetfulness 500 years before Christ. In

some ways the Buddha is nearer to us and our needs. He

was lucid upon our individual importance, sacrifice and

service than Christ and less ambiguous upon question of

personal immortality."

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: