Buddhism 101 Read online

  Myth and Metaphor

  The myth of the Buddha is colorful and strains our contemporary scientific view of reality. For example, Siddhartha Gotama was not the first Buddha nor will he be the last. The traditionalist Buddhist cosmology does not adhere to a linear sense of time, such that there have been an infinite number of Buddhas from the past and will be into the future. Taken literally such a view would violate the laws of physics that say time only moves in one direction—forward—and that the age of the universe is a finite amount of time. Fortunately, here and in every other place where myth meets metaphors, a literal belief in traditional ideas does not have to be held to derive benefit from the Buddha’s teaching or from the example of his life.

  Noble or Not?

  * * *

  While Siddhartha Gotama is often described as a prince and his parents Queen Mahamaya and King Suddhodhana, it is more likely that his parents were part of the nobility but not monarchs. His father was a magistrate of a smaller state in the Himalayan foothills. The elevation of the family to the highest royalty may be part of the mythology that has developed around the life of the Buddha.

  * * *

  As with the man himself, the life story of the Buddha can likewise be seen from different perspectives. Taken literally, it speaks of magic, wonder, and prophecy; viewed metaphorically it is a parable of sacrifice in the service of ultimate attainment. Certain elements of the narrative appear to provide drama to the story, but probably little in the way of historical fact. Siddhartha Gotama was born to a noble family in the Himalayan foothills, on the border of northern India and southern Nepal. His mother was Mahamaya, his father Suddhodhana, and he was a blessing to the childless couple as they would now have a prince and an heir to rule over the Shakya clan, their small but prosperous region of the kingdom. The Buddha is popularly known as Siddhartha, which means “every wish fulfilled.”

  The Birth of the Buddha

  Myth says that the Buddha’s mother, Mahamaya, dreamed of a white elephant who entered her womb from the right side of her body. According to the legend, Mahamaya experienced a virtually pain-free delivery with the assistance of a tree that bent to offer its branches. The future Buddha exited the womb unbloodied and able to walk and talk. In some accounts, Gotama emerged from her right side, avoiding the “pollution” of the birth canal. The infant proclaimed, “I am the king of the world.” His mother died a week later.

  What Is a Brahmin?

  * * *

  The Brahmins were the priests, the highest class in the hereditary caste system of India. According to the caste system of Hinduism in ancient India, there were four classes of people: rulers and warriors (the Kshatriyas), business people and artisans (the Vaishyas), the Brahmins, and finally the unskilled laborers or untouchables (the Shudras).

  * * *

  It is generally agreed upon (with some variation) that when Siddhartha was but days old, his father, Suddhodhana, invited a large group of Brahmins to a feast at the palace so that they could tell the future of the newborn baby. Eight of the Brahmins concurred on the prediction that Siddhartha would either become a great and powerful ruler of all the land, or a great spiritual teacher.

  They warned that if Siddhartha left the palace and saw what the real world was like he might have an existential crisis and turn toward a spiritual life. If he remained within the cloistered palace walls, he would become a great ruler of the world. One of these Brahmins, Kondanna, was convinced, however, that the young boy would become an enlightened one and warned of four signs that would influence the young Siddhartha and spur him to leave his home and commence a spiritual journey.

  The Raising of the Would-Be King

  Suddhodhana had no wish for his son to become a spiritual teacher, but longed for a son who would rule over the land. He decided to protect Siddhartha from the possibilities of a hard but spiritual path and vowed to keep him cloistered in the palace, lavishing riches and luxuries beyond imagination on the young boy.

  YOUTH OF LUXURY AND PLEASURE

  According to the legend, young Siddhartha was surrounded by beautiful things and kept captive within the palace grounds so he would not be subjected to the sicknesses and poverty of the people of the kingdom. He had everything he could ever want. His life was pleasure and luxury. He grew into a talented athlete, and an intelligent and charming young man.

  One afternoon, when Siddhartha was eight years old, he sat under the shade of a rose apple tree watching the plowing of the fields as the town prepared for the new crop. He noticed that the plowing had upset the ground and that insects had been harmed in the process. The young boy felt sadness come over him as if he were attached to the insects. Yet the day was beautiful and the shade of the rose apple tree wonderfully cool. Joy rose inside him and he experienced a moment of meditative bliss. The compassion and love he felt for the insects took him outside himself and he was momentarily free, a foreshadowing of what was to come later in his life.

  The Mother of Buddhism

  * * *

  Because his mother died, Siddhartha was subsequently raised by her sister, Prajapati. She is often called “the Mother of Buddhism” because she played a pivotal role in bringing women into the Buddha’s circle. Eventully the Buddha allowed her to start an order of nuns, thus allowing women to enter in the realm of Buddhist practice.

  * * *

  When Siddhartha was sixteen he married his cousin, the beautiful Yasodhara. At age twenty-nine, his life was as much the life of luxury as it had been before, except his wife was pregnant with their first child. Indisposed and unable to entertain him, she beseeched her husband to find his own diversion. So Siddhartha wandered outside the gates of the kingdom.

  THE FOUR SIGNS

  When Siddhartha wandered outside he saw happiness, health, and good cheer everywhere he went. Then suddenly an old decrepit man with white hair, withered skin, and a staff to lean on crossed his path. Leaning over to his companion and servant, Chandaka, Siddhartha asked, “What is this?”

  Chandaka explained that before them was an old man, and he told Siddhartha that everyone would age similarly one day. Siddhartha was saddened and shocked by the sight of the old man and wondered how he could continue to enjoy such sights as his garden when such suffering was to come later.

  A second trip outside the palace grounds brought before the young prince the sight of a sick man with oozing sores. Chandaka had to tell him that sickness and pain befalls everyone. A third visit outside his sanctuary found him confronting a funeral procession and a corpse. Chandaka explained death to Siddhartha and told him it was inevitable for everyone.

  The Sage

  * * *

  Buddha is also sometimes referred to as Shakyamuni, which means “Sage of the Shakya Clan,” as he hailed from Shakya.

  * * *

  Finally, on another excursion with Chandaka, Siddhartha came upon a yogi in yellow robes with a shaven head and an empty bowl. Chandaka explained that this ascetic had renounced all worldly goods and gained peace by doing so. Siddhartha began to think this might be the thing for him. That night the opulence of the palace disturbed him deeply. The four signs had left their mark and the veil of luxury and riches had been removed. The world now seemed a place of suffering and pain.

  GOING FORTH

  After Yasodhara had borne Siddhartha a son, the cycle of birth and death seemed endless and oppressive to Siddhartha—life after life and death after death (or samsara: the endless cycle of becoming). Despite his love for his family and the birth of his new baby boy, he decided to “go forth” into the world the night he was born. Legend has it that he snuck out of the palace when everyone fell asleep, including, mysteriously, the palace guards.

  His faithful companion Chandaka followed him out into the night but was soon sent back by Siddhartha to the palace. Siddhartha was now on his way, and once outside the palace grounds, he cut off his long beautiful hair, jettisoned his jewels and royal silks, and wore the assembled rags of a wandering holy man.

>   Another incident that propelled him forth happened at the palace after a night of partying with the beautiful consorts. He woke up in the middle of the night to see the beauties sleeping, mouths agape, drooling, and gnashing their teeth. In this moment, he recognized the impermanence of all things, especially beauty.

  Truth or Parable?

  * * *

  The future Buddha’s excursion outside the walls of the palace where he witnessed sickness, old age, and death for the first time, strains credulity. Even if his father tried to protect him from these things, family members and servants would have aged, died, and gotten sick at some point in Gotama’s first twenty-nine years. This story is better viewed as a literary device to show his shock at the existential realities of life that motivated him to find a better way of living.

  * * *

  He vowed to live an unfettered existence. Family was not part of the life of a spiritual seeker; he had to go forth alone. He was motivated to find an end to suffering, by whatever means necessary, for the benefit of his family and for all of humanity.

  Finding the Way

  The forests in the kingdom of Kosala were fertile and green, and housed many seekers of truth called shramanas. Siddhartha became one of them. These ascetics were not seen as beggars and dropouts; to seek a holy life was a worthy cause. The young prince set out to find himself a teacher, and wandered far and wide over the Ganges plain, learning what he could from the available gurus (teachers). He spent time with two well-known gurus of the time, Alara Kalama and Udraka Ramaputra, and learned everything that these men had to teach.

  Siddhartha was a meditation prodigy and quickly reached very high states of meditation (called dhyanas or jhanas in the Pali text). However, once he left the profound state of meditative absorption he found himself back in the realm of suffering. He had not gone beyond.

  Siddhartha joined five ascetics and practiced the principles of asceticism to achieve enlightenment and discover liberation. Asceticism was believed to burn up negative karma and free one from samsara. It was the ascetics’ belief that if they suffered enough in this life they could perhaps save themselves in the next. They sought to overcome the desires of the body through the power of the mind. Siddhartha practiced self-denial, mortification, meditation, and yogic exercises, searching for liberation from the ties of the material world. Siddhartha believed that if he could transcend the self he could free himself of the endless cycles of samsara and become enlightened—finally free from rebirth.

  THE MIDDLE WAY

  The Path to Enlightenment

  Just as he had demonstrated himself to be a meditation prodigy, Siddhartha attempted to be an ascetic prodigy, only taking a grain of rice or drinking mud for sustenance each day. Together with his five companions he wore little or no clothing, slept out in the open no matter the weather, starved himself beyond measure, and even ingested his own waste matter. He lay on the most uncomfortable surfaces possible and inflicted severe deprivation on himself, convinced that external suffering would banish the internal suffering forever. He became very ill—his ribs showed through his skin, his hair fell out, and his skin became blotched and shrunken. But still he was plagued with desires and cravings. After seven long years of effort he was close to death.

  * * *

  “Moderate effort over a long time is important, no matter what you are trying to do. One brings failure on oneself by working extremely hard at the beginning, attempting to do too much, and then giving it all up after a short time.”

  —The Dalai Lama

  * * *

  Fortunately, a young girl named Sujata offered him some rice porridge and he took it, breaking his vows of asceticism. This was the beginning of his awakening and finding the middle path between the extremes of sensual indulgence and the dangerous denial of his physical needs. He recalled his meditation experience under the rose apple tree and realized there was another way to accomplish his goal. With the strength gained from that meal, the emaciated Siddhartha sat beneath a pipal tree and made a new vow: to not get up until he had found what he was looking for.

  AWAKENING

  As he nursed himself back to health, Siddhartha became very conscious of his movements in the world and paid close attention to how he reacted to his environment, watching his thoughts as they passed through his mind. He became aware of the movements he made while he ate, slept, and walked. Siddhartha slowly became mindful of his every gesture and thought. Mindfulness is the process of bringing attention to the present moment, away from thoughts of the future or the past, or judgments about the present. It’s contacting the lived experience of now. Mindfulness made Siddhartha aware of every craving that passed through him and of how transitory these cravings were. Everything changed: Everything came and everything passed.

  He noticed that all things were interrelated. The fruit was attached to the tree that was attached to the earth that received nutrients from the sky when it rained. The earth nourished the insects and animals, which ate the berries that came from the trees that came from the earth that were nourished by the sky. The animals died, the plants died, and so would Siddhartha. Life was filled with interconnectedness and change. All was impermanence. Everything that existed would die. He would die, his thoughts would die, his desires would die. The moment would die, and another would be born in its place.

  Whether he worried about loss, loss was inevitable as change was inevitable. With change came fear. And with fear came dukkha. This word has no direct equivalent in English. It is most commonly translated as “suffering,” like the kind of suffering that Siddhartha saw outside the palace—sickness, old age, and death. Dukkha also refers to something more thoroughgoing and can also be translated as “pervasive dissatisfaction” or a sense of things “being off center,” “out of kilter,” or “awry.” Sometimes it is translated as “stress.”

  The Names of the Buddha

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  The Buddha is known by many names, including Siddhartha Gautama (in Pali his name his Siddhattha Gotoma), his birth and family name; Shakyamuni, sage of the Shakya clan; Buddha, the fully awakened one; and Tathagata, the thus-perfected one or the one who has found the truth.

  * * *

  ENLIGHTENMENT

  As he sat under the pipal tree, meditating and watching his thoughts come and go, his mind started to break free of the constraints of his ego. He entered each moment fully present as his thoughts dropped away. This discovery under the pipal tree is usually described as enlightenment—his final illumination and transcendence of suffering. That moment has also been described as awakening.

  Mara Gives His Best Shot

  During his time under the tree, the Buddha’s arch nemesis, Mara, appeared. Mara, who can be seen as a metaphor for desire, marshaled armies of beautiful women and alluring visions to distract Siddhartha from his path. Undeterred, Siddhartha persisted with his meditation, transforming Mara’s forces into flowers that rained petals down upon his head. Mara’s final ploy was to show Siddhartha a vision of himself, the one called “Siddhartha.” But this self, too, Siddhartha realized was not unchanging, not real, not worth clinging to. Striking a now famous pose, the soon-to-be Buddha reached down with his right hand to touch the earth as witness to his awakening—to his seeing through the illusions provided by Mara. Mara, having used all the tricks in his bag, gave up.

  * * *

  “Only when faced with the activity of enemies can you learn real inner strength. From this viewpoint, even enemies are teachers of inner strength, courage, and determination.”

  —The Dalai Lama

  * * *

  Siddhartha continued to meditate through the night and according to the scriptures first experienced all of his past lives, then the past lives of others, and then finally experienced what is known as dependent origination—the “causally conditioned nature of reality.”

  The Buddha

  The legend says that after his time under the pipal tree (which became known as the Bohdi Tree, the Tree of Enlig
htenment), Siddhartha had changed. When he encountered other people, they could sense this change. Soon after the Buddha attained enlightenment, he walked by a man, a fellow traveler. The man was struck by the Buddha’s unusual radiance and peaceful demeanor.

  “My friend, what are you?” he asked the Buddha. “Are you a god?”

  “No,” answered the Buddha.

  “Are you some kind of magician?”

  “No,” the Buddha answered again.

  “Are you a man?”

  “No.”

  “Well, my friend, then what are you?”

  The Buddha replied, “I am buddho [awake].”

  The name stuck and Siddhartha became the Buddha. At first, he was ambivalent about his discovery and feared that people would not understand it. It took some time and deliberation for him to make the decision to commence his teaching career, a career that would last forty-five years. His first students were his old emaciated ascetic friends, and the first lesson he taught was the Four Noble Truths. This first sermon in the deer park at Isipatana is often referred to as the first turning of the Dharma Wheel.