Around 600 BC, a lot was happening in India which several writers name a great revolution. Vedic practices were well understood and had been followed for centuries. Like everything else, Vedic rituals have not remained static and offerings to Gods have undergone big change from a simple offering of 'Som Ras' to very elaborate rites. People have been told overtime to believe that the only way to earn merit with powerful Gods is to follow the rites and rituals as prescribed and conducted by learned Brahmin Priests on your behalf. A happy and satisfied priest was to help your Gods being happy and blessed for you. But many people have got tired, of this and being dissatisfied on many grounds were coming forward to question this status quo.
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| Goutam Buddha |
Prince Gautama, the son of King Suddhodana of Shakyas, having his capital as Kapilvastu, was one such person questioning these traditions.
We have all heard about Gautama who got tired of material life of being a prince and ultimately at the age of twenty-nine years left his kingdom, his beautiful wife, a very young son and all of his family to seek the truth. But nothing happens all at once. He was a born Kshatriya and a had good exposure to all Vedic systems of his time, had been married for ten long years, had best of everything that a normal person aspires for. But far from all this, there were many questions that kept coming back to him without clarity about their likely answers.
So, he decided to seek knowledge and went to one Brahmin hermit named Alara whose forest academy was not far from his hometown. Later he also joined another ascetic Brahmin named Udraka to gain more knowledge and clarity. He spent full six years
and learned everything on offer about Hindu philosophies, doctrines, spirituality but he found that his questions have remained unanswered. From there, he left to try penance hoping that it will help him activate his superhuman insight. He is said to have spent another six years with five disciples in attendance and tortured him near to death to seek knowledge pursuing the path of most severe penance. But he still not got what he was looking. Devastated by his yearning for more and more, he got deserted by his fellow disciples and got left all alone. It is as this stage that he is said to have set down under a tree for deep contemplation. At this time, he was also considering going back to his princely life and resume normal life but his heart wanted him to try more. Here he realized that a holy calm life and love towards others were good enough penance for all evils; this is how Self-Culture and Universal Love became the Essence of Buddhism!
He went to Eanaras where his old disciples were living at that time and there he shared his new tenets with them. He concluded that based on his self experience, extremes of asceticism or worldly life are to be avoided for a middle way path which opens the eyes and bestows understanding, leads to peace of mind, to higher wisdom and full enlightenment—to Nirvana.
He explained them four truths about human suffering and all five of them soon converted to be his first followers. Next was a banker's son from Banaras. In about five months of his stay at Banaras he could muster about sixty followers who were all taught with his doctrines and were asked to go in different directions to preach the truth. Soon he got recognized by all levels of society and his fame reached to his home town as well where he got his foster mother and wife and his son also enrolled in his faith who became the first female and only child members of his order.
For next twenty five years, Gautama, the Buddha wandered all through the Gangetic planes preaching piety and holy life to people from all strata of society, poor and rich, good and misguided, high and low without any difference of gender, caste and class. A whole lot of people from women and lower classes were easy converts because it was first time that someone was actually treating them at par and opening doors to them to seek some religious exposure.
He died at the advanced age of eighty and by that time, his order has taken a good shape for keeping the momentum even when he was not around.
The Basic Four Truths Doctrine by Buddha
The First Truth is the 'fact of suffering'. All desires, happiness, sukha (what ever is good), pleasant, right, permanent, joyful, harmonious, satisfying, are all actually the sources of sufferings. People remain engaged seeking pleasures in pursuing for these aims in life but ultimately all of them find that life brings Dukha, just the opposite: frustration, dissatisfaction, incompleteness, sufferings, and sorrows. Buddha realized that life is change and change can never satisfy desire. Hence, everything that changes brings suffering. He concluded that birth, decay, illness, death are all the sufferings that a normal human being is to experience for his daily existence. In addition to these, every person also get sufferings from presence of objects or person that one hates, when he is unable to get the objects of desire, when he tries to cling to people made of five elements, etc. In short, clinging to very existence of the humanity is full of misery and sufferings and therefore, first truth.
The Second Truth is the 'cause of suffering'. It is not life that brings sorrow, but the demand on life. The cause of sorrow is selfish desire: Trishna (the thirst for life). Thirst for pleasures, thirst for existence, thirst for prosperity are the examples of thirsts which remain unfulfilled and then lead to thirst for rebirth. Buddha taught that there is no fire like selfish desire. Not a hundred years of experience can extinguish it, for the more you feed it, more it bums.
The Third Truth is that 'suffering that has a cause also has an end'. When there is a complete absence of all passions, when there is a complete destruction of desires then the fire of selfishness is extinguished, the mind is made free from selfish desire, what remains is the state of wakefulness, of peace, of joy, of perfect health, called Nirvana.
The Fourth Truth of Buddha is the 'Noble Path of Truth'. He concluded that selfishness can be extinguished by following the eight fold path. The eight steps involved in this path were identified as: 1. Right Understanding, 2. Right Purpose, 3. Right Speech, 4. Right Conduct, 5. Right Occupation, 6. Right Effort, 7. Right Attention, and 8. Right Meditation. If Dharma is a wheel, these eight ways are its spokes, which hold the wheel and help it moving.
Noble Eight-Fold Path
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| Eight Fold Path of Buddha |
Brief details for these eight-fold path is as under:
Right Understanding: Seeing life as it is—in the midst of change, there is no place to stand firm. Happiness cannot come from anything outside, all things that come into being have to pass away—this understanding is the beginning of wisdom.
Right Purpose: To be willingly thinking that it is in line with life. One should order his life around the Dhamma.
Right Speech, Right Conduct, and Right Occupation: These follow from right purpose. In short these are means to live in harmony with the unity of life.
Right Effort, Right Attention, and Right Meditation: These deal with the mind. Our life is shaped by mind—we become what we think. Right effort is the constant endeavour to train oneself in thought, word and action. Right attention follows from right effort. It simply means keeping the mind where it should be. The wise train the mind to give total attention to one thing at a time, here and now. Right meditation is the means to train the mind. Through meditation, selfish passions will not enter the mind and the mind will grow calm and kind.
The sum and substance of Buddha's teachings is that without entering into any discussion into origin or destiny of men, one should lead a holy life and that will lead him to the Summum Bonum, the highest good. Buddha was said to be not interested in going through complex philosophical issues as he believed that such issues do not help the common person in any way and he wished his followers to remain away from such unwanted intellectual discussions which are nothing but waste of time. He called such questions as improper and preferred to abstain from replying. Once a monk kept pestering him about philosophy, Buddha is said to have told that he was like a wounded man who refused to have treatment until he learned the name of the person who has shot him and what village he came from; he would die before he got his useless information. Buddha wanted to preach a cure for grief, suffering and miseries impacting human here and now (Armstrong, Buddha).
After his death, Buddhism got branched out into two main categories. The first is called Northern Buddhism which got popular in China, Japan, Nepal and Tibet. But this branch of Buddhism got mixed ceremonies which were never known to Buddha himself. The second is called Southern Buddhism which got spread throughout in Sri Lanka, Burma and Thailand and then came back to south and eastern part of India. Southern Buddhism furnishes most valuable literature of the faith. The most important of these include Suttee Pitaka, Vinaya Pitaka and Abhidamma Pitaka. Suttee Pitaka contains sayings and doings of Gautama himself. He is himself actor and speaker of the doctrines conveyed in his own words. Vinaya Pitaka contains minute rules for monks and nuns who had embraced the holy order for proper conduct and behaviour in Viharas (Monastries). It is said that most of these guidelines have been finalized and got settled during Gautama's own life under his own guidelines. Finally, Abhidamma Pitaka contains investigations on various subjects like conditions of life in different worlds, personal qualities, elements, cause of existence and such other matters pertaining to metaphysics. These were composed mostly after Buddha's death.
In addition to Pitakas, another important scripture called Dhammapada (Dharm-pad in Hindi—the foot prints of Dharma) which is a collection of sayings of Buddha in the form of verses. It is most widely and best known Buddhist scripture. It explains:
"Dharma expresses the central law of life that all things and events are part of an indivisible whole. In the human activity, it is the behaviour that is in harmony with the ultimate Unity. Sometimes it is justice, righteousness, fairness, sometimes simply a personal duty, obligations of religion or society. It is also being true to nobility, honour forgiveness, trustfulness, loyalty, compassion, ahimsa."
If Upanishads are like slides, the Dhammapada is like a field guide. It can't take us there but it can certainly show us the way — tell us about what to look for, warns about missteps, advise about detours, what to avoid. Besides Upanishad and Dhammapada, Gita will qualify to be the third instrument as a map and personal guide book in the journey of exploring the Ultimate. Human beings are not cabin dwellers; born to a life cramped and confined, we are meant to explore to seek to push the limits of our potential. In that journey, the world of senses is just a base camp. The Dhammapada is a map of spiritual journey. One can start from where ever he is. Like on road, our values and aspirations and understanding of life around keep changing as we make progress. (Easwaran)
During the time of Buddha, spiritual seekers were mostly graduates of the forest academies which were very popular around the Upanishad time period. These people turned inward mostly for the same reasons that scientists and adventurers turn outward - not to run away from life but to master it. They yearned to know what is not known yet; to know what human being is, what life is, what death means and can it be conquered. Various Upanishads of the Vedic sages are clearly antecedents of the Buddha's voice.
Meditation Teachings by Buddha
The meditation suggested by Buddha is also different than the one propagated by Hindu philosophy of Yoga. The First Dhyana (Meditation) recommended by Buddha starts with withdrawing attention from all the senses and turning the same inward which he called right attention. Gradually as the quiet settles in, we realize we are in a new world. In this world of consciousness, we cannot look for any landmarks but should rather feel the senses disconnected from the external world and direct the thought process to focus on inward consciousness alone. The mind will try to wander to external world which is but natural. But throughout this first Dhyana, we try to stop the centrifugal force of the thinking process from going outward and to recall the attention back to inward consciousness. In order to attain the concentration which cannot be broken by any sensory attraction (body) or emotional response (mind), we have to work a lot to develop control over senses and also restrict our likes and dislikes in much controlled level. This stage is the first leg in a long journey and itself is a rare achievement. No great flashes of insight come at this stage as it is just but a beginning.
The Second, Dhyana—here the struggle of self mastery over that sector of mind, where lie thoughts, feelings, habits, experiences, moves to a significantly deeper level. Here the quiet of meditation is unassailed by outside world. Distractions can disturb the thread of concentration but not so easily and not so often. Gradually; all distractions start appearing more and more distant. The claims of "I" and "Mine" become smaller and true nature of situations start appearing with clarity. One starts going easily against self will, especially in personal relations. This clarity helps gaining detachment from self-centred conditioning that burden every normal human being. This is swimming against the current.
This is quite a painful process but brings along satisfaction in mastering some of the strongest urges in human personality. Sitting in meditation, at this stage, one descends down step by step into the depth of unconsciousness like a deep sea diver at the bottom of deep sea. The surface seems so far away. Asleep to one's body, thoughts, feelings, desires, separate identity; we are intensely awake in the inner world—deep in unconsciousness, near the very threshold of personality.
Personality Described
Buddha describes personality as a blend of five skandhas or heaps of ingredients—Rupa form, Vedana sensation, Samajhana perception, Samskar the focus or impulses of mind and Vijnan consciousness. As per Buddha, coming together of these is birth and their breaking apart is death. (Contrary to Vedic thinking, there is no Atman.)
Form is merely a wrapper as most important identity of a person is his mind print: his big ego. All these Skandhas are not substances but ever-changing processes. Samskar here means conditioned habit of liking or disliking. These are thoughts, speech or behaviours motivated by the desire to get some experience for oneself. This Skandha prompts action, the Karmas. The last Skandha means appropriation of each unit of experience to a mass of conditioning formed by the past. It is like a river carrying the accumulated Karma of previous thoughts and action.
What we call personality is accumulation of everything one has done, thought and said. It follows wherever one goes. As per Buddha, no one can escape the consequences of one's actions — you can run but not hide. All of us necessarily have Karmic scores to settle.
General: Our life is shaped by our mind, for we become what we think. Normal human being suffers ignorance of thinking 'Self' as permanent. Then he clings to what it wants it to be (real, separate and permanent). From this root ignorance arises Trishna—craving for personal satisfaction which is followed by Dukha.
The whole theme of Dhammapada is "our life is shaped by our mind. If we can get hold of the thinking process, through meditation, we can actually redo our personality, remake ourselves. Destructive ways of thinking can be rechanneled; constructive channels can be deepened, all through following eightfold life behaviour and meditation but it requires serious work as irrigators lead water to their fields, as archers make their arrows straight, as carpenters carve wood, the wise shape their lives."
Selected Clauses from Dhammapada
The idea here is to give a flavour of the simple language with direct meaning and straight understanding being the basis of most ancient Buddhism scriptures. This was a direct contrast to Vedic Sanskrit Sutras popular around the same time which could be comprehended only by best in business. The selection of clauses is just on random basis and interested reader is advised to complete book on Dhammapada for detailed reading.
19. Those recite many scriptures but fail to practise their teachings are like cowherd counting cows belonging to other person.
24. If you meditate earnestly; pure in mind and kind in deeds, leading a disciplined life in harmony with the Dharma, you will glow in glory.
50. Do not give attention to what others do or fail to do; give it to what you do or fail to do.
94. Even the Gods envy the saints whose senses obey them like trained horses and who are free from pride.
124. If you have no wound on your hand, you can touch poison without any harm. No harm comes to those who do not do harm.
133. Speak quietly to everyone and they too will be gentle in their speech. Hard word hurts and comes back to the speaker.
150. Around the bones is built a house, plastered with flesh and blood, in which dwell pride and pretense, old age and death.
185. Do not find faults with others. Be moderate in eating and sleeping and meditate. This sums up the teachings of the Buddha.
202. There is no fire like lust, no sickness like hatred, no sorrow like separateness, no joy like peace.
204. Health is the best gift, contentment is the best wealth, trust the best kinsman, nirvana the greatest joy.
210. Not seeing what is pleasant brings pain; seeing what is unpleasant brings pain. Therefore, go beyond both pleasure
211. Don't get selfishly attached to anything, for trying to hold on to it will bring you pain. When you have neither likes nor dislikes, you will be free.
219. As your family and friends receive you with joy when you return from a long journey, so will your good deeds receive you when you go from this life to the next.
249. Some give out of faith, others give out of friendship. Do not envy others for the gifts they receive or you will have no peace of mind by day or night.
250. Those who have destroyed the roots of jealousy have peace of mind always.
252. It is easy to see faults of others; we win now them like chaff (phusa ki taraha fatakna). It is hard to see our own; we hide them like a gambler hides his losing draw.
258. One is not wise because he talks too much. They are wise who are patient and free from hate and fear.
262. Neither pleasant words nor a pretty face can make a person beautiful who is jealous, selfish or deceitful.
280. Now is the time to wakeup when you are young and strong. Those who wait with a weak will and a divided mind, will never find a way to pure wisdom.
281. Guard your thoughts, words and deeds. These three disciplines will speed you along the path to pure wisdom.
286. "I will make this my winter home, have another for monsoon and dwell in a third during the summer. Lost in such fancies, one forgets his final destination.
287. Death comes and carries off a man absorbed in his family as the monsoon flood sweeps away a sleeping village, (height of unpreparedness)
292. Do not fail to do what ought to be done, and do not do what ought not to be done. Otherwise your burden of suffering will grow heavier.
295. The true Brahmin has killed mother lust and father self-will; He has killed the king of carnal passions (kamuk bhavna) and the ego that obstructs him on the path. Such a person is free from sin.
302. It is hard to leave this world and hard to live in it, painful to live with the worldly and painful to be wanderer. Reach the goal; you will wander and suffer no more.
305. Sitting alone, sleeping alone, going about alone, conquering the ego by yourself alone. Abiding joy will be yours when all selfish desires end.
329. If you cannot find a friend who is good, wise and loving, walk alone like a king who has renounced his kingdom or an elephant roaming at will in the forest.
406. That one is a Brahmin who is never hostile towards a person who is hostile towards him, who is detached among those who are selfish and at peace among those at war. From whom passion, hatred, arrogance and deceit have fallen away like a mustard seed from the point of a needle.
Concept of Nirvana in Buddhism
Nirvana is not like Moksha which is supposed to be available upon death and results in end of the cycle of birth and death. Nirvana does not mean death. It is only the extinction of the special condition of mind which gives rise to Trishna for life and for its pleasures which, in turn, continue the cycle of new birth. Speaking conversely; once a person has been able to extinguish his Trishna for life and its pleasures from his mind, he will be said to have achieved Nirvana. Nirvana is something very much attained in this very life. It is the sinless and calm state of mind. It is the freedom from all desires. It is the freedom from all passions. It is the perfect peace of mind. And all this is achievable by any person with continuous and sustained self-culture of his mind. As per Buddha, this is the highest aim of human life and there is nothing beyond Nirvana.
Concept of Bodhisattva
The concept Bodhisattva is an interesting part of Buddhism with multiple meanings and explanations surrounding it. Initially; it was referred for Gautama to represent his earlier lives and his own life before he got enlightenment. Later it got used for someone who has started his journey on the path of liberation but he is still not there. It got referred to the time when a person is about to reach the Nirvana stage like someone who is just in the process of reaching the height. Later still it came to denote the monks who have dedicated themselves to become fully enlightened soul and have taken necessary vows to adhere themselves with the requisite life style prescribed by scriptures. Bodhisattva is also called a person who has sacrificed his own Nirvana and has taken vows to help other beings for their relief and liberation.
Branches of Buddhism
Over the centuries after departure of Buddha, the faith had already broken frontiers of the land where it came into existence. Within about six centuries of its inception, Buddhism had expanded across boundaries and soon became one of the main religions in entire Asia. The geographical expansion coupled with passage of time resulted, as elsewhere, in developments of many sects or branches with their own unique features. It developed its own multiple sects and sub sects, different sects worked on their own theologies, geographical diversity also brought it sharp contrasts in the way of worship were conducted. The shapes and systems of places of worship changed from Stupas to Pagodas. These developments in Buddhism are exactly in line with most other religions worldwide. Finally; as we see it today; Buddhism has got three main branches which are briefly touched here:
Mahayana Buddhism
This is the largest branch surviving today accounting for about sixty per cent of followers of Buddhism worldwide. It is also called as path of Bodhisattva This is the most practised faith in countries like India, China, Japan, Vietnam, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Tibet, Bhutan, Malaysia and Mongolia. This branch considers Buddha as one of the highest Superior Souls or High Being. Their traditions have gone through a lot of geographical impacts and some of their practices are even against the teachings by Buddha himself. For example, this branch worships, including bowing, making offering and chanting to all Buddha and Bodhisattva.
Theravada Buddhism
Its translated meaning is 'Teaching of Elders' and this is the oldest surviving branch of the faith. This is also considered more conservative and the principles followed are more near to what were taught by Buddha himself with not much dilutions and mixing on the way. This branch considers the scriptures as approved at the third Buddhist conference arranged in 250 BC by King Ashoka. Soon after his death, it was first recognized as Sri Lankan lineage as it was in Sri Lanka that its theology and other traditions and practices got final shape. Theravada followers today account for in the approximate of forty per cent.
Vajrayana Buddhism
The last and the smallest of branch of the faith is a complex and multifaceted system. It is suffice to say that, like in Hinduism, this is Tantra part of Buddhism and accounts for only a very minuscule number of followers adopting it now. Their practices are full of secrets as applicable to Tantra in general.
Buddhism and Hinduism
It is said that an apple doesn't fall far from the tree to which it belongs. There cannot be a better example of this proverb other than effect of Hinduism on Buddhism. Gautama was a devout Hindu by birth and for first thirty-five years of his life. And he had acquired maximum knowledge of Vedic doctrines, rituals, rites, philosophies and every other part of the system called Hinduism. Even at the time that Gautama came up with his new doctrine, there was no love lost, as it was common at that time that thinkers were free to hold their own line of thinking which was different from the main line Vedic system.
So, even after Buddha declared his own faith and started preaching it vigorously and started getting acceptance, it was still taken as an integral and significant part of complex religious character of the subcontinent. At best it was yet another stream of the religious thought. But couple of centuries down the history, situation started to change. When Buddhism started snowballing attracting ever increasing followership, Vedic followers started feeling the heat and started taking it as an active competition and proper lines got drawn as two separate religions called Hinduism and Buddhism. Their comparative position on key tenets is as under:
• Hinduism accepts Brahman and Atman under the Vedic supremacy principles while Buddhism does not believe in these concepts.
• Hindus believe in four aims of life namely Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha while Buddhism believes only in Dharma and revised moksha called Nirvana.
• Both believed in Gods but their relative importance in Buddhism is rather low as it keeps human enlightenment higher than seeking blessings from Gods.
• Hinduism believes in Atman as the centre point of human existence which remains same over the births until the Samsara remains. But Buddhism believes in transmigration without accepting the theory of soul.
• Hinduism believes in four classes and four ashramas for humans while Buddhism does not segregate among humans based on caste creed or castes. But there is enough evidence to suggest his marked preference for Brahmins whom he considered as higher in spiritual quest.
• Buddha's distinguishing among persons was based on their learning and wisdom unlike Hinduism where it is by birth.
• Buddha spoke against Vedic rites and advised a benevolent life and conquest over passions and desires.
• Buddha strongly recommended retirement from the world as the most efficacious means of achieving aims of life. This is what started the famous monastic system. But Hinduism accepts most people to aim for renunciation only after having fulfilling their obligations to society by living through the Grihasth ashram.
• Hinduism accepted teachings of Upanishads as the basis of their philosophy but Buddha believed in Upanishads partly as for him what remained supreme in life was only Holy Life.
• Actually, Buddha accepted bulk of Hindu pantheon of the day but with necessary modifications in line with his cardinal idea.
• But truth, compassion, non-violence are areas where there is complete agreement between both the faiths. On the whole, there are more common grounds than the differences.
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