Buddha and Buddhism

The Daibutsu Buddha, a bronze statue, stands in Kamakura, Japan. The statue's restful expression reflects the Buddhist ideal of detachment from all desires and worldly things.

The Wheel is an important symbol of Buddhism.

Buddhist monks chant before a statue of Buddha on an altai decorated with flowers. The monks chant in rhythm to the sound of a metal drum played by the monk standing.

Buddha (563?-483? B.C) is the title given to the founder of Buddhism, one of the world's great religions. It means Enlightened or Awakened One. The Buddha was Siddhartha Gautama. Another of his titles is Shakyamuni, which means "the wise man of the Shakya clan."

Scholars agree that Siddhartha Gautama lived.in northern India over 2,000 years ago, but there is still some debate about his exact birth and death dates. Most scholars think he lived from about 563 to 483 B.C How­ever, some scholars claim he lived from about 448 to 368 B.C

Buddhists believe that there were at least six other Buddhas before Gautama. Buddhists believe there is an­other one to come, whose name will be Maitreya.

Birth and early life. Buddhists believe in rebirth, and many tales are told about Gautama's previous births. There are over 500 of these jataka tales. The tales de­scribe how, through human and animal forms, Gautama attained the moral perfections needed for a final birth. These moral perfections are qualities such as generos­ity, patience, and loving kindness. The stories are part of the folklore of India. The accounts of Gautama's last birth are set in the upper Ganges Valley of northern India, in the foothills of the Himalaya. Siddhartha Gautama was born near the town of Kapilavastu, in what is now Nepal. Gautama was from the warrior caste in Indian society. His father was Suddhodhana, a local ruler and prince of the Shakya people. His mother's name was Maya. She is often re­ferred to as Mahamaya, or Great Maya.

As the stories go, Maya dreamed that a white ele­phant entered her womb when Gautama was conceived. White elephants are very rare, so Buddhists take this as a sign of the child's future greatness. When the time came for her child to be born, Maya was on her way to her parent's home. She stopped near Kapilavastu in a grove of trees called the Lumbini grove. This site now attracts many Buddhist pilgrims. The story describes how Gautama was born, without pain, from Maya's side. This may have been a way of describing an early Caesar­ian section, or an emphasis on the miraculous. Maya died quite soon afterward and the future Buddha was brought up by his aunt, Prajapati.

At the traditional naming ceremony of the new child, one of the court astrologers, or wise men, predicted that the baby would become either a great world ruler or a great religious teacher. The astrologer said that if Gautama became a religious teacher, it would be as a result of seeing great suffering. Gautama's father tried to prevent his son from seeing suffering. He kept the child within the royal palace and its park.

When Gautama reached marrying age, about 20, he won an archery competition and the right to marry a princess called Yasodhara. They had a son, Rahula, and lived a pleasant life within the royal palace.

The four signs. When he was about 29, Gautama persuaded his charioteer, Channa, to drive him outside the palace grounds and into the neighbouring villages. There he saw an old man, a sick man, a corpse being carried in a funeral procession, and a holy man. In some accounts these four signs appear as visions, or dreams, rather than actual encounters. Whatever their origin, they had a profound effect on Gautama. For the first time he faced the reality of old age, sickness, and death. Gau­tama could not forget these experiences. He became restless and dissatisfied, and decided to leave home to seek religious enlightenment.

The great renunciation. In the middle of the night, the prince left his sleeping wife and baby son in the pro­tection of his family. He crept out of the palace, accom­panied by Channa. He cut off his long black hair, took off his fine clothes, and put on the clothes of a wandering monk. He sent Channa back to the palace with his horse, to tell his family what he had done.

Gautama went into the forest. For six years he learnt about meditation with some of the famous teachers of the time, such as Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta. Gautama tried to learn about the true nature of life, and how to be freed from suffering. He practised strict phys­ical asceticism (self-denial), living on just a grain of rice a day. He became so thin that he could feel his backbone through his stomach and all his ribs stuck out. This sceneis often represented in Buddhist art. Gautama found that self-denial brought him no closer to the end of his search than had the life of luxury in the palace. He began to eat moderately, and some of the other ascetics

thought he had given up his quest for enlightenment. In fact, Gautama had found that the middle way, between luxury and self-indulgence as a prince and extreme self-denial as a hermit, was the most helpful for his spiritual quest.

The enlightenment. One day, Gautama came to the outskirts of a village called Gaya. He sat down to medi­tate under a sacred tree. He accepted food from a vil­lage girl, and decided he would stay under that tree until he had found the answer to his quest.

Gautama meditated in a lotus (cross-legged) posture throughout the night, using the methods he had been taught. He overcame various obstacles and temptations which had obstructed his path to enlightenment. The Buddha is said to have asked Mother Earth to bear wit­ness to his worthiness to enlightenment. In Buddhist art Buddha is shown touching the earth with his right hand.

At the heart of this spiritual experience was an under­standing of how everything changes all the time. Gau­tama believed that the root of all suffering caused by change is desire and ignorance. Knowing this is what it means to be enlightened.

The tree under which Gautama was sitting when this happened came to be known as the bodhi or enlighten­ment tree, or Bo tree (see Bo tree). Buddhists call the place of his enlightenment Bodh Gaya. It is in Bihar, India, and has become a centre of Buddhist pilgrimage since the Buddha's death. From the time of this enlight­enment, Gautama came to be called The Buddha.

Teaching. Gautama knew that other people would find it difficult to make the disciplined search he had made, and experience the truths he had experienced. Therefore, he did not immediately think of teaching oth­ers. Finally, he went into a deer park at Sarnath, near the city of Varanasi (Benares). There he met five holy men, whom he had known before his enlightenment. The holy men realized there was something different about the Buddha and were prepared to listen to what he had to say. At the deer park, the Buddha preached his first ser­mon. Buddhists often call this the "turning of the wheel of the law." The English word law here is a translation of dharma, which also means teaching the truth. The con­tents of the sermon are the basis of all Buddhist teach­ing. They are called the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path.

Followers of the Buddha. The five holy men be­came the Buddha's first followers. The Buddha was then 35. He spent the next 45 years travelling round northeast India, teaching all kinds of people, and debating with many other religious teachers. The main body of sacred writings, called the Tripitaka or Pali Canon, is concerned with the teachings of the Buddha. Buddhists believe these teachings are more important than the life story of the Buddha. The Buddha always based his teachings on what people already understood and on what was good in their lives. Many people became his followers, but stayed with their jobs, homes and families. These lay fol­lowers provided food and shelter for others who de­cided, like the Buddha, to give up ordinary life and be­come wandering monks wearing saffron robes. The community of monks and nuns became known as the sangha.

Buddha's death. At the age of 80, the Buddha be­came ill and died. His death took place at Kusinara, and is called the pari or final nirvana. Buddhists believe that the Buddha attained eternal peace and happiness at his enlightenment, when all greed, hatred, and ignorance were overcome in his life. But they believe that he had to wait until the natural death of his body for this state of nirvana to be fully realized. (See Nirvana).

The Buddha told his followers not to be sad. He had taught them that he was only human, and would die like everyone else. His followers gave him a ceremonial cre­mation, and buried his bones as relics in burial mounds called stupas. These mounds are the characteristic mon­uments of Buddhism all over the Buddhist world.

The place where the Buddha died, as well as the places of his birth, enlightenment, and first sermon, have become important places of pilgrimage for Bud­dhists. Such places generally have two kinds of statue. One shows the Buddha in his enlightenment, sitting in a lotus posture. The other shows his death, lying peace­fully on his right side.

Traditional lives of the Buddha. The oldest com­plete collection of Buddhist scriptures in an Indian lan­guage is the Pali Canon. This collection does not contain a continuous life of Gautama Buddha, but describes some of the most important parts, such as his enlighten­ment and his death. It also includes long sections of his teachings.

Books on the traditional, life of the Buddha, such as the Lalitavistara and Buddhacarita, were written later in the Sanskrit language. These contain many tangled lay­ers of history, legend, and myth. They have been told and retold, and have inspired paintings and sculptures in the Buddhist world for centuries.

Buddhism

Buddhism is one of the major religious and philo­sophical traditions in the world. It began over 2,000 years ago in northeast India, with the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha (the founder). Buddhism spread all over India, and then northward through the Himalaya mountain passes into China, Tibet, Korea, and Japan. Southward, it reached Sri Lanka, Thai­land, Burma, Cambodia, and Vietnam. During the 1900s, it spread to Europe, the United States of America, and Australia.

Buddhism has always adapted well to other cultures, and has developed distinctive forms in different coun­tries. The number of Buddhists in the world is estimated at well over 300 million.

The three jewels of Buddhism

People become or are counted as Buddhists if they "take refuge" in the Buddha, the dharma (the teaching), and the sangha (the community). These three refuges are also called the three jewels or precious things of Bud­dhism. In the Sanskrit language the word for the three jewels is triratna. At the beginning of most Buddhist gatherings and on special occasions, people say three times: "I go to the Buddha for refuge, I go to the dharma for refuge, I go to the sangha for refuge."

The Buddha was the founder of Buddhism. He was a religious teacher who lived in northeast India. Most scholars think he lived from about 563 to 483 B.C How­ever, some scholars claim he lived from about 448 to 368 B.C By his own effort he attained enlightenment (a state of understanding truth) and then taught others how to do the same. The title Buddha means Enlight­ened One. Buddhists follow Buddha by following this path to enlightenment in one of its forms. But Buddhists believe that taking refuge in the Buddha means more than just following him. It also means that a person has confidence in the nature of enlightenment, whether it is manifest in one's own life or in other beings. See Bud­dha.

Dharma means teaching, especially the teaching of the Buddha and his followers. Dharma also involves the wider idea of truth, especially the truth about the way things are. This idea is taught in various summaries, such as the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, the Three Marks of Existence, and the Twelve-Linked Chain of Dependent Origination.

The sangha is the Buddhist religious community. It consists of four groups of people: laymen, laywomen, bhikkhus (monks), and bhikkhunis (nuns). These people are called the sons and daughters of the Buddha. The laypeople support monks and nuns with gifts of food, shelter, and clothing. In return the monks and nuns give to the laypeople the example of lives lived close to the example of the Buddha. Monks and nuns also have a special task to preserve and pass on the dharma. Often the word sangha is used to mean just the monastic com­munity. In most Buddhist countries, monks are expected to live a life of poverty, meditation, and study. Some Buddhists become monks for life. Others serve in the sangha for short periods of time. The monks wear spe­cial orange or red robes, and are a common sight in Buddhist countries.

The Four Noble Truths. The starting point for Bud­dhists is dukkha, the realization that life is unsatisfactory.

This is summarized in the first of the Four Noble Truths— that all is suffering. Gautama's encounter with old age, sickness, and death started his quest for en­lightenment. He then discovered the teaching that is ex­pressed in the second Noble Truth—that suffering origi­nates in people's desire, greed, or attachment to things. Greed, hatred, and ignorance are like three fires which must be blown out.

Buddhism is not, however, pessimistic. Having stated the problem of suffering and its cause, the third Noble Truth says that suffering can be stopped. The Buddhist greeting "May all beings be happy" is optimistic. Happi­ness, in this sense, is a permanent state of peace and calm, which Buddhists say is too profound to be de­scribed. It is usually called nirvana, a Sanskrit word that conveys the image of stopping, or "blowing out." What needs to be blown out in this case are the flames of greed, hatred, and ignorance. A Buddhist believes that trying to describe this state to anyone is as difficult as describing to a fish what it is like to live on dry land, or describing the colours of the rainbow to someone who is colour-blind.

The fourth Noble Truth is that there is a path to the happiness of nirvana. This path involves morality, medi­tation, and wisdom. The eight stages on the path are spelled out in more detail in the Noble Eightfold Path, which starts with two stages of wisdom, goes on to four essential types of morality, and ends with two stages of meditation.

The Noble Eightfold Path. A person can start any­where on the Noble Eightfold Path, and progress to dif­ferent stages at different times.

The eight stages of the Noble Eightfold Path are: (1) right knowledge and understanding, seeing the world and life as it really is; (2) right intention and thoughts, re­sisting evil, thinking with kindness and compassion; (3) right speech, saying nothing to hurt others; (4) right ac­tion, not harming living things, not taking what is not given, not having harmful sexual relationships, not tak­ing drugs or drink which cloud the mind; (5) right liveli­hood, earning a living in a fair and honest way that does not injure others; (6) right effort, using what energy you have in the right way; (7) right mindfulness, being atten­tive to what is going on inside you and around you; (8) right concentration, applying the mind to meditation and concentrating on what you are doing. The word right means what is appropriate to help a person prog­ress toward enlightenment.

For a Buddhist, this analysis of the way the world is starts from the experience of dukkha. It develops into a practical path for leaving dukkha behind. Another possi­ble starting point for Buddhists is also based on the ex­perience of the Buddha. This is the truth that everything is changing all the time, that all that we experience here in the world is impermanent (anitya in Sanskrit).

The Buddha saw old age, illness, and death. This ex­perience made him realize that nothing in the world is permanent. Buddhists believe that a person is a chain of life, a continuity from baby to child, to young adult, to old adult. Every part of each individual changes physi­cally and mentally in one lifetime. This realization led the Buddha to teach anatman (not-self). This is the belief that there is no ultimate, unchanging essence in anyone or anything.

According to anatman, human beings are part of an ever-changing pattern that runs through all life.

When a person no longer grasps after a sense of self, there is no feeling of sepa­rateness from others, no fear for the self, no fear of dying. People become self­less persons. They experi­ence a mental state of lov­ing kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equa­nimity (calmness of mind).

The wheel of life. The Three Marks of Existence are suffering, impermanence and not-self. They are the distinctive features of what Buddhists call samsara. Samsara is the endless round of birth, change, death, and rebirth. The changes that occur in one lifetime continue through many lives, in human and animal forms. These truths are often represented in Buddhist art by a wheel, of life. This wheel has at its centre symbols of greed, hatred, and ignorance. Next come representations of the different realms in which beings live. On the outside is the Twelve-Linked Chain of Dependent Origination. This shows how one thing leads to another, or how one state comes into existence as result of another. For example bad habits may depend on ignorance, or desire may lead to clinging. Two points where the chain can be broken most effectively are at the links that concern desire and ignorance. Then samsara is transformed into nir­vana and the endless round of suffering is changed into happiness. See Nirvana.

Buddhism in practice

The middle way. The Buddhist way of life is one of moderation. Buddhists believe in the middle way. This based on the Buddha's discovery that happiness is found neither in self-indulgence nor extreme self-denial.

There is a strong belief in karma (see Karma). Karma means deeds, but the teaching of karma is a law of cause and effect. Karma influences how people behave. However unfair life seems at any given moment, nothing is ever wasted. The present is the fruit of the past, and the seed of the future. Thoughts and actions bear fruit in our lives, according to the intentions behind them, though this is not always obvious to other people.

The five precepts. The basis of all Buddhist practice is morality. The Buddha recommended certain ways of living as helpful on the path toward nirvana. Buddhists undertake these as rules of training, and follow five pre­cepts as a part of their daily lives. These are listed under right speech and right action in the Eightfold Path. At many Buddhist ceremonies and meetings, people recite the three refuges and five precepts. Members of the monastic sangha undertake a further five precepts, mak­ing ten in all. They undertake rules of training to refrain from: (1) harming any living thing; (2) taking what is not given; (3) misuse of the senses, such as unchastity; (4) wrong speech; (5) taking drugs or drink which cloud the mind; (6) taking food at unseasonable times, such as after midday; (7) dancing, music, singing, and unseemly shows; (8) the use of garlands, perfumes, unguents, and things that tend to beautify and adorn the person; (9) using high and luxurious seats and beds; (10) accepting gold or silver.

Members of the monastic sangha add to these ten rules another 227 rules of life. These rules are intended to make their community life work as it should.

Buddhist images. Buddhists have images of Gau­tama and other Buddhas in their homes and temples, as a reminder of these teachers' lives and teachings. They show their respect by making offerings such as flowers, incense, and light in front of the image. These offerings remind Buddhists of impermanence (the delicacy and fragility of flowers), the way in which the dharma can penetrate the whole world (like incense pervading the air), and the illumination of the Buddha's life and teach­ing in the world (a lighted candle).

Meditation. Buddhists meditate in ways that are ap­propriate to their character and stage along the path.

The aim of Buddhist meditation is to understand the truth about the way things are. Different Buddhist groups use slightly different methods, but all emphasize that it is important for a person to have a meditation teacher. One important kind of meditation is samatha, or calming, which relaxes and calms the mind. It may also depend on the body being relaxed, which is why Bud­dhists often meditate sitting in a lotus posture.

Another kind of meditation, which is possible once the mind is calm, develops clear insight into inner thoughts and emotions. This is called vipassana, which means insight or clarity. There is also an emphasis on mindfulness, a total awareness of the present moment, with no distractions. The aim is to be totally alert at all times and in all activities, not just in a quiet room during a meditation session. Another meditation emphasizes loving kindness, or metta, first of all in a person's own heart, and then flowing outward toward the whole world.

Pilgrimage. Buddhists go on pilgrimages to sites as­sociated with Gautama Buddha, such as Bodh Gaya in Bihar, India, the place where he became enlightened.

They also visit living Buddhist teachers such as the Dalai Lama (see Dalai Lama).

Festivals. Buddhists celebrate festivals linked with the Buddha's life, or with some great event in Buddhist history. Perhaps the most famous Buddhist festival is Wesak, or Vesakha-puja. In Sri Lanka, Burma, and Thai­land this is an important annual festival during April and May. It celebrates the birth, enlightenment, and death of Gautama Buddha. Its name is taken from the name of the Sri Lankan month in which it takes place.

Buddhists also mark rites of passage, such as coming of age. They remember the pattern of the Buddhas's life, and so boys and girls reenact his leaving home to re­nounce the world. When people die, their friends and family remind themselves of the Buddha's teaching about impermanence at the cremation ceremony and on anniversaries afterward.

Buddhist schools of philosophy

There are two main schools of Buddhism, the Theravada and the Mahayana.

Theravada Buddhism. The word Theravada in the Pali language means the way or vehicle (vada) of the eld­ers (thera). It is the only surviving school of pre- Mahayana, or old Buddhism. Theravada is sometimes called southern Buddhism, because it was traditionally found in southern Asian countries such as Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Burma.

It is also known as Pali Buddhism, because its scrip­tures, or holy writings, are in the Pali language. These sacred writing are called the Pali Canon or Tripitaka. Tri means three and pitaka means baskets. There are three parts to the scriptures. The scriptures were written sometime between 100 B.C and 1 B.C. They were written on palm leaves and stored in baskets.

The Tripitaka. The first part of the Tripitaka is the Vinaya Pitaka, or Basket of Discipline. This a collection of the rules of discipline for monks and nuns. The second part is the Sutra Pitaka, or Basket of Discourses, the col­lection of the sayings of Gautama Buddha. The third part is the Abhidharma Pitaka, or Basket of the Higher Dharma, the collection of further, more systematic, teachings. Theravada Buddhists believe that the material in these scriptures originated with Gautama himself, and was preserved very accurately in an oral (spoken) form for many years before it was written in the Pali language. They believe that Pali is the language most like that which the Buddha himself spoke. In fact, they often say that it was the language of the Buddha.

Theravada Buddhists believe that Gautama Buddha was only a human being, whose example and teachings help his followers become enlightened. They emphasize his teaching that "You yourself must make the effort. The Buddhas are only teachers'

Theravada society. There are two main groups in tra­ditional Theravada society. These are the monks and the laypeople. There were once Theravada nuns, but they died out and are now being reestablished in Western countries. These monks and the laypeople are reli­giously dependent on one another. The laypeople earn merits, which will help them toward a better rebirth, by offering food, shelter, and clothes to the monks, listen­ing to the dharma, and trying to follow the five precepts. The most important virtue for lay Buddhists is generosity. The great example for lay Buddhists is the Indian em­peror Asoka, who allowed the dharma to be taught and followed throughout his Indian empire in the 200's B.C. (see Asoka). Although Theravada Buddhists are taught that laypeople can become enlightened, they think that it is unlikely. Monks and nuns are much closer to nir­vana because they are free from the practical responsi­bilities of lay life, and can spend their time meditating, studying religious texts, and teaching others.

Mahayana Buddhism. Mahayana means great vehi­cle. Mahayana Buddhism is sometimes called northern Buddhism because it was traditionally found in northern Asia, in countries such as Tibet, China, Korea, and Japan. It is also called Sanskrit Buddhism because its key texts were originally in the Sanskrit language. These writings are now usually in local languages, such as Tibetan or Japanese.

The key texts that Mahayana Buddhists use, in addi­tion to their own versions of the Tripitaka, are the Prajnaparamita (perfection of wisdom); the Lotus Sutra (true doctrine); the Vimalakirti (the name of a person); and the Sukhavati (land of purity or happiness). These texts date from between 100 B.C and A.D. 200. Mahayana Bud­dhists believe these are the Buddha's teachings regard­less of whether or not they originated during the life­time of the historical Buddha.

Scholars have argued about the origins of the Maha­yana traditions. In the centuries after Gautama's death, some monks claimed they could offer more possibility of enlightenment than others, whom they called the Hi- nayana (little vehicle). This was the term they used for those who followed the way modern Buddhists call Theravada. These monks saw themselves as represent­ing Mahayana. They emphasize certain important ideas, which they think are also taught in the Pali Canon.

Cosmic Buddhas andbodhisattvas. Accordingly to Mahayana Buddhists, people do not have to rely on their own efforts to become enlightened. Nor do they have to become monks and nuns. They can be helped toward nirvana by cosmic Buddhas (Buddhas from other worlds), and bodhisattvas. A bodhisattva is a person who strives to become a Buddha by leading a life of vir­tue and wisdom.

A bodhisattva vows that he or she will take all beings to nirvana with them. He or she may even postpone at­taining nirvana in order to relieve suffering through acts of love and compassion. The bodhisattva Avalokitesh- vara is particularly compassionate toward all beings. The ideal in Mahayana Buddhism is to be a bodhisattva, and care more about the enlightenment of others than about your own. Faith in a cosmic Buddha like Amitabha can help people to become reborn in the cosmic Buddhas pure land. From there, the cosmic Buddha will assist them to nirvana.

Bodhisattvas and cosmic Buddhas teach in many dif­ferent contexts and to people of all levels of ability. Ma­hayana Buddhists use many kinds of practices, from the use of mantras (sacred formulas repeated frequently) to koans (puzzling sayings or riddles which startle people into reflection).

Other schools of Buddhism. There are many differ­ent schools in the Mahayana tradition. One of the best- known is Zen. Zen is the Japanese form of ch'an, a Chi­nese word meaning meditation. The Zen schools of

Buddhism originated in China, but are now very strong in Japan and in Western countries. Zen Buddhists believe that everyday activities are right material for meditation. This is seen particularly in the Zen emphasis on the religious use of gardens, flower arrangements caligraphy, and archery. Zen also emphasizes a close relationship between a teacher, or master, and his followers. (See Zen).

Followers of the Pure Land school repeat the name of Amitabha (Amida in Japanese) with faith. They believe that their subsequent rebirth in his pure land will enable them to attain nirvana because his teaching is so good.

Tibetan Buddhism developed alongside many of the north Indian religious traditions known as the tantra. The tantra is a secret set of teachings linked closely to a guru, a spiritual leader or teacher. In the Tibetan tradition, there are three types, or levels, of Buddhist practice. The Hinayana is based on morality and self- sufficiency. The Mahayana emphasizes the bodhisattva vow to help all other beings to attain enlightenment out of compassion. The Vajrayana, like the tantra, puts-great emphasis in a living lama, or guru, a teacher who can lead a person through the quickest way to enlighten­ment.

Related articles

Bodhisattva 

Nirvana

Buddha         

Religion

India, Arts of           

Religious life (Buddhism)

Karma           

Sculpture

Lamaism      

Zen

Outline

The three jewels of Buddhism

The Buddha 

Dharma        

The sangha  

The Four Noble Truths

The wheel of life

Buddhism in practice

The middle way      

The five precepts

C Buddhist images

Meditation

Pilgrimage

Festivals

Buddhist schools of philosophy

Theravada Buddhism

Mahayana Buddhism

Other schools of Buddhism

Questions

In what do Buddhists "take refuge?"

What are the four groups that make up the sangha?

How many Noble Truths are there?

What lies at the centre of the wheel of life?

What do Buddhists mean by the middle way?

What are the five precepts?

Why do Buddhist pilgrims visit Bodh Gaya?

Which are the two main schools of Buddhism?

Why is the Tripitaka also known as the Three Baskets?

What is a bodhisattva?