Buddism: The Life of Gautama Buddha and His Philosophy


“BUDDISM, that wonderful teaching which declares life to be sorrow and yet is free from pessimism; which apparently inculcates the profoundest egotism and yet is extolled for its loftiest morality; which denies the “I”, the soul, and yet teaches absolute responsibility for our deeds through rebirth; which is without God, or prayer and yet offers the most certain salvation- this wonderful teaching was founded by Gautama, of the aristocratic Sakya clan.” (Sacred Complexes of Deoghar and Rajgir)


Early age and observation of life
From his early age, Siddhartha was quiet, retiring and contemplative and full of compassion and pity. Having observed his spiritual inclination, his father, the king tried his best to protect the young prince from worldly sufferings, and provided all sorts of pleasures and merriment, and prohibited all not to mention before him death, old age, sorrow, pain, or sickness. In addition, he was married to a girl, Yashodhara in royal splendour. But he was dissatisfied and he pined for a change. In his early twenties, he became acquainted with human suffering. On the way, the prince saw a shriveled old man, a sick man, a dead man each symbolizing different types of sufferings of human life. Then he saw an ascetic, tranquil, full of grace having a fixed glance as if he had attained the path that brings peace of mind. “He loathed the first three sights and for the first time felt the miseries to which humanity is subjected, to decay and ultimate destruction.” “Siddhartha felt that he was living in death in the midst of life.”

Leaving home, the great Renunciation
In the meantime, his wife had given birth to a new baby boy. The King named it Rahula or fetter, wishing that it would be fetter to Shidhartha, but it did not prove to be a fetter, because “he tore himself away from worldly attachments and left his palaces, became homeless, begged for food and necessities and wandered in search of the light of knowledge. The going forth of the Buddha into voluntary exile is called the great Renunciation.”

Finding out his own way of attaining spirituality
After self-mortification and self-torture for seven years, “he realized that it was impossible to attain spiritual enlightenment and peace by following austere asceticism or by following the path of knowledge as shown by the ancient schools of thought.”

In order to find the Eternal Wisdom Gautama sat under a ‘Bodhi tree’ steadfast and firm. He says “Never from this seat will I stir until I have attained the supreme and absolute wisdom.”  Thus after the constant fight with Mara, the goddess of evil, for seven weeks under the tree, subsequently called Bodhinada or the seat of intelligence, he got enlightened.


Main issues of what Buddha attained
The knowledge regarding human existence attained by Buddha in his meditation, passed before his mental eye is as follows
Ø  “If living creatures saw the results of all their evil deeds they would turn away from them in disgust.”
Ø  “But consciousness of the self blinds them and they cling to their base desires.”
Ø  They crave for pleasure and they cause pain.
Ø  When death destroys their individuality, they find no peace, their thirst for existence abides and the ‘self’ reappears in new births.
Ø  The world is full of sin and sorrow.


After getting enlightened, the Buddha presented his philosophic thought regarding the sufferings of human life, causes of suffering, the ultimate goal of human life, how to reach the goal or the paths to that goal.

Four noble truths
At first the Buddha expresses “four noble truths” regarding our existence and suffering. It is remunerable that suffering is the starting point of Buddhism. We can mention these truths from “Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy by Simon Blackburn.
“The first says that all existence is afflicted with suffering. The second truth identifies desire, thirst, or craving as the source of suffering, that bind beings to the cycle of existence (samsara). The third truth asserts that through the elimination of craving, suffering can be brought to an end. The fourth truth identifies the eightfold path as the means to eliminate suffering and escape from ‘samsara’.”

Eightfold path
According to the last of the four noble truths, the ‘eightfold path’ is the key to get released from suffering. It is the Middle path which tends to calm, to higher knowledge, enlightenment, Nirvana. They are –
Ø  Right view
Ø  Right aspiration
Ø  Right speech
Ø  Right action
Ø  Right livelihood
Ø  Right effort
Ø  Right mindfulness
Ø  Right connection

The philosophy of ‘karma’ and the cycle of rebirth or ‘samsara’  
Buddha himself was a Hindu by birth. He receives some aspects from Hinduism in his doctrine. Such as the philosophy of ‘karma’ and the cycle of rebirth or ‘samsara’.
Simon Blackburn in his Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy says regarding ‘karma’ –

“In Hindu and Buddhist philosophy, the universal law of cause and effect, as applied to the deeds of people. A (deliberate) good or bad deed leads a person’s destiny in the appropriate direction. The ripening of the deed may take more than one lifetime, tying the agent to the cycle of rebirth or ‘samsara’; only deeds free from desire and delusion have no consequences for ‘karma’.”

Nirvana, the salvation for human suffering
According to Buddhist philosophy, starting with suffering of human being, all suffering of a man can cease, if he is able to attain ‘Nirvana’. Thus he suggests salvation for human suffering and it is the highest stage of his doctrine by which one’s cycle of rebirth can cease. Now, what is Nirvana?

Nirvana is “the perfect or beatific state, characterized by the extinction of desires and passions, and the transcending of the separate existence of the self” 

The Buddha has declared – “Nirvana is where precepts of justice and morality are followed: when fires of greed, of hatred and of delusion and the flames of all other passions are extinguished then Nirvana is reached.”

Evils and roots of evil
“His doctrine is not of despair and dejection nor of inaction and indolence.” He advised us to keep ourselves away from evil and to know the root of evil. He says –
“Killing is evil, stealing is evil, yielding to sexual passion is evil, lying is evil, slandering is evil, abuse is evil, gossip is evil, envy is evil, hatred is evil, to cling to false doctrine is evil” and “desire is the root of evil, hatred is the root of evil, illusion is the root of evil.”

Pure acts and impure acts
In Buddhism all acts are divided into two categories – pure acts and impure acts.
The pure acts are those in which there is absence of desire, passion, ignorance, lust, hatred, and which lead one to conquer all these. On the other hand, acts, contrary to these pure acts are impure acts. In fact, pure acts “prepare the path of an individual to Nirvana.”

Meditation
Meditation including on the four Noble Truths are also stressed as pure acts. The Buddha has said – “Meditation on transitoriness leads to victory over greed; meditation on suffering leads to the annihilation of hatred; meditation on the non existence of an immortal soul leads to cessation of selfishness.”

Ideal virtues
“According to Buddhist doctrine the path of knowledge is narrow. It is possible for every man to achieve Eternal Salvation.” So one should cultivate ten ideal virtues. They are –
Ø  Charity
Ø  purity of thought
Ø  patience
Ø  strenuousness
Ø  meditation
Ø  intelligence
Ø  employment of right means
Ø  resoluteness
Ø  strength and
Ø  Knowledge.   

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