Sixth century B.C. was an important era in history. This
was the period when a great benefactor of mankind was born and became renowned
as Gotama the Buddha. The Buddha rediscovered the path of Dhamma leading to the
eradication of universal suffering. With great compassion he spent forty-five
years showing the path and this helped millions of people to come out of their
misery. Even today this path is helping humanity, and will continue to do so
provided the teachings and practice are maintained in their pristine purity.
History tells us that in 624 B.C. King Suddhodana ruled
the kingdom of Sākya. He had two queens: the chief queen was Mahāmāyā and the
younger queen was Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī, the sister of Mahāmāyā. When Mahāmāyā
was travelling from Kapilavatthu, the capital, to Devadaha, her parents’ home,
to have her first child, she gave birth along the way to a son under a large
sāla tree in the Lumbinī grove on the full moon day of Vesākha (month of
April-May). An old sage, Asita, visited the palace, and on seeing the marks of
greatness (mahāpurīsa lakkhaṇa) in the child,
first expressed joy and then shed tears. He was joyful at seeing that a great
being had come to earth to teach suffering humanity how to eradicate its
misery, yet he shed tears because he would not live long enough to be able to
benefit from this.
Five days after the birth the name-giving ceremony was
held to which a number of brāhmans were invited. All, except Koṇḍañña, foretold: either the child would be a great Emperor (Cakkavatti Rājā)
or an Enlightened One, a Buddha. Koṇḍañña, however,
said quite decisively that the boy would be a Buddha. The boy was given the
name of Siddhattha, meaning one whose aim is accomplished.
Just seven days after the birth, Queen Mahāmāyā passed
away and the young Siddhattha Gotama (Gotama being his family name) was then
raised by his stepmother Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī. As he grew, the young prince
preferred solitude and a meditative life to the games and pranks natural for
his age. This was observed by his father who, fearing the prophecy, tried his
best to divert the attention of the young Siddhattha towards worldly things,
while at the same time shielding him from the sight of any worldly suffering.
At the young age of sixteen, Siddhattha was married to
Yasodharā, a beautiful princess. It was his father’s hope that she would bind
him to the family life. Until the age of twenty-nine he lived the life of a
householder amidst great luxury and ease.
One day, as Siddhattha was going out in his chariot, he
saw along the way a decrepit old man, then a sick man, then a dead body, and
finally an ascetic radiating with a glow of peace and tranquillity on his face.
These four incidents made a distinct impression on him. He began reflecting on
the misery inherent in existence; at the same time he felt drawn to renounce
the world and seek a way of liberation.
When Prince Siddhattha and Princess Yasodharā bore a son,
Siddhattha saw the event as a bondage and decided to call the child Rāhula,
meaning an obstacle. Ultimately, however, the child did not prove to be a
bondage, as Siddhattha thought it better to renounce the worldly life before
his attachment grew stronger. He decided to adopt the life of a wanderer in
quest of truth. One night, he left the palace along with his attendant Channa.
After going some distance he discarded his royal robes and ornaments, giving
them to Channa, and then cut off his hair and became an ascetic. He was
twenty-nine years of age.
For six years he wandered in search of truth. First he
met the spiritual teachers Āḷāra Kālāma and
Uddaka Rāmaputta, and learned from them deep absorption concentrations (the
seventh and eighth jhānas) that were practised at that time. Despite this
practice Siddhattha wasn’t satisfied. Although his mind was more calm and
peaceful, and now purified to a great extent, still at the deepest level of his
mind there remained latent defilements. His mind was not totally pure.
At this stage in his search he proceeded to Senānigāma in
Uruvelā. There he practised rigorous austerities along with five other
mendicants—the pañcavaggiya bhikkhus. By fasting he was reduced to a mere
skeleton, yet total purification still eluded him. As a result of all these
experiences he realised that as the life of ease and physical luxury was one
extreme and not the way to eradicate suffering, so also the life of physical
torture and severe penance was another extreme. This realisation brought him to
the middle path. He decided to take food again, and was offered rice gruel by
Sujātā, a young maid living nearby. At this point his five companions left him,
as they were still convinced that the path of self-mortification led to
enlightenment.
Siddhattha continued on alone. On the full moon day of
Vesākha (April-May), after refreshing himself in the Nerañjarā River, he was
drawn towards a pleasant grove of trees. There he sat down with a strong
determination (adhiṭṭhāna) not to leave until attaining enlightenment. He
spent that night in deep meditation, exploring the truth within, and
rediscovered the long-lost technique of vipassanā.
Vipassana means to see things as they really are, and not
just as they appear to be. In the Brahmajāla Sutta he states how he practised
this to achieve enlightenment: Having experienced as they really are the arising of
sensations, their passing away, the relishing of them, the danger in them, and
the release from them, the Enlightened One, O monks, has become detached and
liberated.
Practising Vipassana, he penetrated the veils of
ignorance, delusion, and illusion. He discovered the law of dependent
origination (paṭiccasamuppāda), the chain of cause and effect
conditioning the universe. Whatever arises,
arises due to a cause; when the cause is eradicated there can be no resulting
effect. Therefore, by totally eliminating the cause of suffering one can attain
real happiness, real liberation from all misery. With this realisation, he
penetrated the illusion of solidity in mind and matter, dissolved the tendency
of his mind to cling and crave, and realised the unconditioned truth. The
darkness of ignorance was dispelled and the light of wisdom shone forth in all
its brilliance. The subtlest defilements of his mind were washed away. All the
shackles were broken. No craving remained for the future; his mind became free
from all attachments. Siddhattha Gotama attained supreme enlightenment,
experiencing the ultimate truth in all its purity, and became a Sammāsambuddha.
The tree under which he sat became known as the Bodhi tree and the area as
Bodhagayā.
With the experience of total liberation the following
words of joy (udāna) came forth:
Anekajātisaṃsāraṃ sandhāvissaṃ anibbisaṃ,
gahakārakaṃ gavesanto dukkhā
jāti punappunaṃ.
Gahakāraka diṭṭho’si puna gehaṃ na kāhasi,
sabbā te phāsukā bhaggā gahakūṭaṃ visaṅkhitaṃ,
visaṅkhāragataṃ cittaṃ taṇhānaṃ khayamajjhagā.
Through countless births I wandered in saṃsāra, seeking, but not finding, the builder of the house. I have been
taking birth in misery again and again. O builder of the house you are now
seen! You cannot build the house again. All the rafters and the central pole
are shattered. The mind is free from all the saṅkhārā. The craving-free stage is achieved.
After his enlightenment the Buddha spent several weeks
enjoying nibbānic peace. At the end of this period Tapassu and Bhallika, two
merchants of Ukkala offered him rice cakes and honey. These two became the
first lay disciples (upāsakā) taking refuge only in the Buddha and the Dhamma,
as the Saṅgha had not yet come into being. The Burmese
tradition maintains that both these merchants were from Okkala, an ancient city
near present day Rangoon. The Burmese take pride in the fact that the first
people to give respect to the Buddha and the Dhamma were from Burma, and that
the first food that the Buddha took after enlightenment was Burmese rice and
honey.
With infinite compassion the Buddha decided to teach the
profound Dhamma. His two previous teachers Āḷāra Kālāma and
Uddaka Rāmaputta, who could both have understood the Dhamma, had passed away.
So he decided to go to the Isipatana-migadāya at Sāranāth, the deer park near
Vārāṇasī, to teach his five companions who had left him just
before his enlightenment. It was on the full moon day of Āsāḷha (June-July) that the Buddha set in motion the Wheel of the Dhamma by
teaching the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta explaining the middle path to them.
They became his first five bhikkhu disciples and therefore the first members of
the Bhikkhu Saṅgha (Order of Monks). This sermon was later followed by
the Anatta-lakkhaṇa Sutta, at the end of which all five became fully
liberated (arahant) by the practice of Vipassana. They realised the truth of
the impermanent, substanceless, and unsatisfactory nature of reality (anicca,
dukkha, and anattā) at the experiential level.
Not long after this, Yasa, the depressed and mentally
disturbed son of a wealthy merchant of Vārāṇasī who could not
find peace in his riches and way of life, approached the Buddha and received
ordination. He was followed by his fifty-four friends who also became monks.
Having tasted Dhamma, they soon gained the peace which they sought and with
continued practice they all attained the stage of arahant. Yasa’s father and mother became the first lay
disciples to take refuge in the Triple Gem, since now there were three
qualities in which to take refuge: the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Saṅgha.
The next months were the rainy season and the Buddha
spent them in retreat (vassāvāsa) at Sāranāth with the Saṅgha, which had grown to sixty arahant bhikkhus. As the rainy season ended
he instructed them as follows: Wander forth, O monks, for the benefit of many, for the
happiness of many. Shower compassion on the world for the good, benefit, and
happiness of gods and men. Let no two go in the same direction.
The Buddha sent these sixty bhikkhus to various places to
teach the Dhamma. Because they had realised the truth of the path to liberation
themselves, they became shining examples of what they taught. Their teaching
did not consist of mere discourses, mere words. Their success lay in enabling
the people to practise what was taught. The nature of the Dhamma is that it is
beneficial in the beginning, beneficial in the middle, and beneficial in the
end. The results of the practice (paṭipatti) started to
manifest. People from different sects, castes, and classes were attracted.
Leaders of various sects started practising the Dhamma. While the Buddha was on
his way to Senānigāma at Uruvelā, the thirty Bhaddavaggiya received ordination.
At Uruvelā, the three Kassapa brothers with their thousand followers became
monks. Also the two brāhmans Sāriputta and
Moggallāna took ordination, and later became the chief disciples of the Buddha.
Many other important people of that time also became
attracted to pure Dhamma: the Kings Bimbisāra, Suddhodana, and Prasenajita; the
wealthy merchants Anāthapiṇḍika, Jotiya, Jaṭila, Meṇḍaka, Puṇṇaka, and
Kākavaliya; and important women such as Visākhā, Suppavāsā, and Khemā. They
donated various monasteries to the Saṅgha with the
wholesome volition that the Dhamma might spread throughout society. These
facilities enabled people to learn and practise the Dhamma, and thereby come
out of their suffering.
The Buddha spent his second, third, and fourth rainy
seasons at Rājagaha in the Bamboo Grove donated by King Bimbisāra. The Buddha
always remained at one place for the rains and moved around northern India
teaching Dhamma during the rest of the year. One of these journeys was to
Kapilavatthu at the invitation of King Suddhodana. The Buddha was received with
honours by the native Sākyans. During this visit thousands of them joined the
Saṅgha, including his son Rāhula and stepbrother Nanda.
Others such as Anuruddha, Bhaddiya, Ānanda, Bhagu, Kimbila, Devadatta, and even
the royal barber Upāli, also joined.
The fifth rainy season was spent in Vesāli. It was in
that year that King Suddhodana, the Buddha’s father, died. His widow,
Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī, requested the Buddha to allow women to join the Saṅgha. Ānanda interceded on their behalf and their request was granted. This
was the beginning of the Order of Nuns (Bhikkhunī Saṅgha). The Buddha spent the next rains retreat at Maṅkulapabbata, and the seventh at Tāvatiṃsa preaching
Abhidhamma (higher teachings) to Mahāmāyā and other devas.
Subsequently, the eighth to the nineteenth rains retreats
were spent at the following places: Bhesakalāvana, Kosāmbī, Pārileyyaka Forest,
the brāhman village of Ekanāḷā, Verañjā,
Cālikapabbata, Jetavana in Sāvatthi, Kapilavatthu, Āḷavī, and Rājagaha.
In the twentieth year the Buddha transformed the life of
the ferocious Aṅgulimāla who had earlier killed 999 people. Coming into
contact with the Dhamma, Aṅgulimāla became a
saintly person and later on became an arahant. The Buddha spent the twentieth
retreat at Rājagaha.
From the twenty-first up to the forty-sixth, his final rains
retreat, the Buddha spent his time at Sāvatthi in the Jetavana Vihāra and
Pubbārāma Vihāra.
Throughout his life he continually faced opposition from
those espousing old superstitions and beliefs based on birth, caste, class,
animal sacrifice, etc. At times he faced great opposition from sectarians who
tried to discredit him and his teaching by trying to create scandals. One monk,
Devadatta, tried to create a schism in the Saṅgha, and even tried to kill the Buddha by various means. In all instances the
Buddha used his infinite wisdom, love, and compassion to overcome these
opposing forces, and continued to serve more and more suffering beings. At the age of
eighty the Buddha visited Vesāli where the courtesan Ambapālī offered him a
meal and made a gift of her Ambalaṭṭhikā Grove to the
Saṅgha. Through the practice of Dhamma she came out of
immorality, established herself in truth, and became an arahant. Later in the
same year he visited Pāvā and stayed in the mango grove of Cunda. Here he took
what was to be his last meal, and became ill. In this weakened condition he
continued on to Kusinārā. There he instructed Ānanda to spread his upper robe
between twin sāla trees, and informed him that the end of his life had come. A
large number of monks, lay followers, and devas assembled around him to pay
their last respects. The Buddha gave them his last admonition, known as
pacchimā-vācā: Vaya-dhammā saṅkhārā, appamādena sampādetha.
Decay is inherent in all compounded things,
work out your own salvation with diligence.
work out your own salvation with diligence.
Thus teaching the Dhamma as he himself practised it, the
Buddha attained Mahāparinibbāna in his eightieth year, on the full moon day of
Vesākha in 544 B.C
