In the year 623 BCE on a full moon day in the month of Vesak( Apr / May) a noble Prince of Sakya clan was born in Lumbini Park at Kapilvastu presently in Nepal. The parents King Shuddhodana & Queen Mahamaya & the people of the the Sakyan country rejoiced over the new arrival. The mother however fell sick and handed over the child to her sister Queen Maha Pajapati Gotami & died on seventh day after the birth of the Prince.
News of the birth reached ascetic Asit who was also tutor of the King & he reached the palace to see the baby. King Suddodhana was pleased to welcome him. Asita on seeing the child was overjoyed and at the same time sad also. Puzzled, the King asked reason for this strange behaviour to which Asit replied that the Prince would eventually gain enlightenment but he, Asit would not be there to share the wisdom.
Siddhartha
On fifth day of the birth, naming ceremony was held. Brahmins attending the ceremony were of the opinion that the child may become a great Raja or a great Rishi. The child was named Siddhatha( in Pali, Siddhartha in Sanskrit) with family surname Gotama / Gautama.
The plough fest
During his childhood Siddharth attended a agricultural festival organised by the King. This was attended by ladies in colourfull attire singing folk songs, lot of ministers & onlookers watching. Hundreds of bullocks yoked to the plough were in fields & so were the birds. Prince Siddhartha along with his nurse sat under a tree keenly observing the wonderful scene. The Prince young in years but matured with wisdom, sat cross legged & looked joyful and at peace. This meditative posture surprised everyone there.
Education
Soon it was time to start getting education & training befitting a future King. Prince aged eight was handed over to eight Brahmins for learning various philosophic & religious ideas of the period. Distinguished teachers like Sabbamitta & one Bhardwaj were engaged for educating the Prince. Prince proved to be an excellent learner.
Palaces
King Suddodhana built three palaces for Siddhartha for winter, summer & rainy seasons. These palaces had all the luxuries & had young musicians, maidens & attendants. This was done to keep him diverted from his contemplative nature. King wanted him to see only pleasures of life & apprehended that Siddhartha might stray away from being a future King.
Sangha
As Sakyan Prince Siddhartha reached the age of twenty he was required to join the Sangh at Kapilvastu & take part in various debates on security & welfare of Sakyans. Sakyans had Koliyas as their neighbours with river Rohini serving as border between the two states.
Use of the river water was often a cause of conflict between the two states. Sakyan general the Senapati wanted to settle the dispute by crushing the Koliyas in war once for all. However Prince Siddhartha Gotama resisted the war cry saying that solution lies in peaceful negotiations & not killings. He said that in every war seed of next war is sown. For the sake of peace between the two states he offered himself to be on self exile.
Marriage
Yashodhara a young daughter of a Sakyan named Dandapani was sixteen years of age, beautiful, educated & well mannered. Dandapani was arranging invitations to many young men including Siddhartha for Swayamvar ceremony of his daughter wherein she was to pick up her husband herself. Despite many competitors Yashodhara chose Siddhartha as her husband. Both were sixteen years of age at the time of marriage. King Suddodhana, Queen Maha Pajapati were happy at this marriage.
After sometime Siddhartha & Yashodhara were blessed with a son. He was named Rahula.
Four Sights
Living in palaces in luxury & comfort Siddharth ventured out once in a while on his royal chariot driven by Channa, to see the outside world. Once he saw a dead body being carried for cremation, another time he saw an old man walking with the help of a stick and on third outing he saw a sick man. On enquiring from Channa the Prince was told such things happen with most of human beings as the age advances. The body decays & dies. May be Prince will also go through such stages. Siddhartha felt that such sufferings were too harsh for human beings. On one occasion he saw an ascetic wearing yellow robes content & peaceful in bearing. He felt that perhaps it is wise to discard worldly pleasures & live like this hermit.
Renunciation
After much deliberations he decided to abandon the palace life & opted for finding out the true meaning of life & to find out solution to overcome sufferings & grief. One evening he ordered Channa to saddle his favourite horse Kanthka. Meantime he went to the chamber of his wife. She was sleeping blissfully with Rahul. Without disturbing them he waived goodbye & went out of the place. Along with Channa he went to the river bank. There he shaved off his beautiful long hair, cast off all royal jewelary, discarded the expensive clothes & handed them over to Channa. He donned yellow clothes of a hermit and proceeded towards the jungle in search of a solution of human sufferings. In an instant twenty nine year old handsome rich Prince became an ascetic wanderer in yellow robes with no home, no money, no power and no helper.
Search
He roamed in the jungles met saints & other ascetics. Hearing about Alara Kalama he approached him as a seeker of truth. He quickly learnt & reached the realm of nothingness - akinchanaaytan. But still not found what he was looking for. Not satisfied he left Alara Kalama to look for another famous guru Uddaka Ramaputta.
Uddaka was pleased & taught him about realm of neither perception & nor non-perception. Siddartha intelligently learnt the idea & mastered the technique. He however felt that no further development is possible here. His thirst for solution of Dukkha remained unquenched. So he decided to leave the place.
Wanderers
He continued his search for ultimate truth & peace. Wandering from one place to another he reached Uruvela. He liked the place for there was forest grove, a flowing river nearby and a village where he could beg food. With a pleasant feeling he decided to spend time in meditation here. Here he was joined by five other ascetics who had also renounced homely life to wanderings. They were Kondannya, Bhaddiya, Vappa, Mahanama and Assaji.
Here Siddhartha proceeded on the belief that for salvation, severe & strictest asceticism must be followed. Even the food intake was reduced to available jungle products like leaves, fruits and nuts that too once a day. Such strictness for long periods reduced him to a skeleton. And yet the salvation was nowhere in sight. This self torture or mortification was not getting him anywhere.
Middle Path
On one side was his princely life full of luxury and now on the other was extreme mortifying painful experience. This led him to abandon both the extremes as futile experiments. A weak and exhausted body could hardly help in finding the solution. He started taking a little food to sustain himself. His five friends disagreed, rebuked & left him when they were needed most.
He recalled the time when he was sitting under the shade of the tree watching ploughing festival & feeling joyful. He then thought of an independent path to follow - the Middle Path.
Enlightenment
Sitting all alone under a Pipal tree near Bodhgaya one night with focused tranquil mind he developed the knowledge. That was first watch of the night.
In the middle watch of the night vision arose as to perception of disappearing & reappearing of beings.
In the third watch he saw the destruction of mental ferments thereby understanding things as they really are. He reached a stage of perfect enlightenment - Samma Sambodhi.
In his thirty fifth year Siddhartha reached Buddhahood.
Seven Weeks
Having achieved the enlightenment, Buddha fasted and spent his time near the Bodhi Tree. During first week he sat under the tree in one posture enjoying the bliss of emanicipation - Vimutti Sukha. As he emerged out he reflected on the principle of Dependent Origination of things & phenomena thus - when this cause is there, this effect is there, with arising of this cause this effect arises.
In the middle watch of the night Buddha reflected on the principle of Dependent Origination in reverse order - when this cause does not exist, this effect does not arise, with the cessation of this cause the effect ceases.
In the third watch of the night he considered both - direct & reverse orders of Dependent Origination of things.
Buddha spent second week gazing at the Bodhi tree with motionless eyes. In third week Buddha paced around a jeweled promenade. In fourth week he meditated on Abhidhamma in Ratnagrah. During fifth week Buddha sat under Banyan Tree enjoying the bliss of emanicipation. As per Jataka commentaries three daughters of Mara, Tanha, Arati & Raga came to tempt Buddha but could not seduce him.
He spent sixth week under the Mucalinda tree. This week had dark clouds & cold winds. Muchalinda the serpent king encircled Buddha & spread his hood to save him from cold & rain. He uncoiled himself after close of the week seeing the clear sky.
Buddha spent seventh week under Rajayatna tree enjoying the bliss of emanicipation.
To teach or not
After seven weeks of solitary meditation Buddha thought, the Dhamma is not easy to apprehend. Dhamma is subtle, profound and goes against stream. Great effort is required to understand. Therefore he decided to abandon the effort to proclaim & teach the Dhamma.
Brahma the celestial being however persuaded Buddha to share the knowledge with world so that people overcome the cycle of birth & decay. Buddha agreed to preach the glorious Dhamma.
Teaching Dhamma
Buddha thought of starting teaching Dhamma but to whom? May be Alara Kalama or Uddaka Ramputta? But they were no more. Or his five friends who were with him during struggle for enlightenment? They had left Gautama after he broke the fast with Kheer given by Sujata. He proceed to Deer Park at Isipatana near Benaras but the five met him with some skepticism & refused to believe him initially.
On hearing the first discourse the Dhammachakkapravartan Sutta Kondanna was first reach sainthood or Sotapatti stage. After hearing Anattalakhanna Sutta on soul-less-ness they all understood & became Arhants.
Yasa
In Benaras, Yasa son of a millionaire, ran away from home at night towards Isipatana. Buddha called him & taught him Dhamma. He later became an Arhant. Father of Yasa while searching for him also reached Isipatana where he met Buddha. On hearing Buddha he became an Upasak. He joined Dhamma and Sangha along with his wife.
Yasa had fifty four friends who also joined the Sangha taking the number to sixty Arhants. Buddha asked them to move in different directions & spread the word about Dhamma. Thus the wheel of Dhamma started rolling.
Kasappa brothers
In Uruvela there lived three ascetics known as Uruvela Kassapa, Nadi Kassapa and Gaya Kassapa with a thousand disciples between them. Buddha preached to elder Kassapa first & then later all brothers along with their disciples joined the order. Buddha then proceeded to meet king Bimbisar as promised earlier. Bimbisar noted that Kassapa brothers & their followers had joined Buddha. He offered them meals & use of his Bamboo Grove as well.
Family Meeting
News of Buddha teaching at Rajgaha reached King Suddodhana. He sent nine courtiers on nine occasions with messages that the King wanted to see his son but all of them joined the order & attained Arhantship. None of them returned. The King sent a childhood friend of Siddhartha who did convey the message & asked Buddha to see his ailing father. Buddha started towards Kapilvastu preaching on the way & reached in two months.
Arrangements were made in a park of a Sakyan named Nigrodha where Buddha was to preach. After listening to Buddha everyone was impressed and slowly they all left. No arrangements for food was made for next noon. Therefore Buddha & his disciples went to city for alms. This hurt the King. But Buddha told him that royal lineage was his and that of Siddhartha was Buddha lineage. 'Lead a righteous life & be happy'. Later the King & Queen Maha Pajapati Gotami joined Sangha And attained Sainthood.
Buddha met Yashodhara in her chamber & was introduced to Rahula. After the death of Suddodhana, Maha Pajapati became Bhikhuni along with Princess Yashodhara.
Bhikhunis
During the fifth year of teachings Buddha was approached by Maha Pajapati & many other Sakyan ladies with a wish to join Bhikhuni Sangha. Buddha declined & proceeded to Vesali. Ladies cut off their hair donned the yellow robes and marched to Vesali with great difficulties. This time Venerable Ananda, disciple of Buddha, took up the matter with Buddha & finally Bhikhunis were admitted in the Order. They were to follow certain additional rules applicable to Sangha.
Angulimala
Angulimala hailed from a distinguished family and was called as Ahimska. His friends deceived him and implicated him in a false story out of jealousy. His teacher believing the concocted stories punished him and ordered him to bring a thousand fingers as present or else. Angulimala went in to hiding in jungle & started killing travelers & saving their fingers. Later he made a garland of fingers & hung around his neck due to which he was nicknamed Angulimala. He had 999 fingers & needed just one more to reach the desired mark. Buddha could be last of his victims thought Angulimala. He tried to kill Buddha but instead came under the influence of Buddha and learnt Dhamma.
His daily routine
Early in the morning Buddha went around and assisted needy people. Thereafter went for alms singly or with fellow Bhikhus and had meals. In the forenoon he gave sermons keeping in view the level of audience. Late afternoon he would address assembly of Bhikhus have discussions & then retire to the monastery. After a short siesta he would again join Bhikhus & attend to their individual questions. Towards the evening lay people will flock. He would talk, listen to their questions and problems and instruct suitably. He always advised the people to exercise their own logic and reasoning to judge for themselves what is wrong and what is not. Period of night that is six PM to ten PM was reserved for Bhikhus.
He was compassionate, tolerant, energetic and persuasive in teaching all types of people. Rich & poor, young & aged, artisans & kings all received attention and patient hearing. No one was ever rebuked or humiliated by him.
Women
Buddha saw the inherent goodness in all men & women and gave them due place & respect. The wife (or husband) is regarded as best friend(paramsakha) in his preachings. Though initially reluctant to admit women in the Order, he later allowed them. He made Sariputta & Moggallana chief disciples of Order of Monks or Bhikhu Sangha. Similarly Khema & Uppalavanna were made chief disciples of Order of Nuns or Bhikhuni Sangha.
Last meal
Once Buddha was staying in a mango grove in Pava. Cunda the smith heard this & went to listen sermons. After the sermons he invited Buddha & his disciples for noon meal. Buddha assented. Next day taking his bowl along Buddha went to house of Cunda with Bhikhus. Food including Sukarmaddava was ready. Buddha had food but later felt sick with severe stomach pains & dysentery.
Parinirvana
After a little recovery Buddha proceeded to Kusinara along with Venerable Ananda. He was eighty by now & week. He asked Ananda to arrange his bed under the trees where he breathed his last. Buddha was eighty and the the year was 483 BCE. His last words to the disciples were:
"Behold O disciples, I exhort you. Subject to decay are all compounded things. Strive on with diligence."
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