Buddhism is a religion that was founded by Siddhartha Gautama around 500 B.C.E. It gets the name from the word ‘budhi’ which means ‘to awaken’. The followers of this religion do not believe or pray to a supreme deity, instead focus on attaining enlightenment. Buddhism and Jainism have a lot in common and are often referred to as sister religions. Both these religions place high importance in the concepts of non-violence and peace.
Siddhartha Gautama
Siddhartha was born in the royal Shakya clan of the Kosala kingdom of Mahajanapadas. His birth year is considered to be between 624 B.C.E and 563 B.C.E., and birth place is considered to be Lumbini or Kapilavastu in Nepal. Very little information is available on the early life of Siddhartha, it is believed that he lived a luxurious life and had also mastered combat skills. At the age of sixteen, Siddhartha married a princess, Yasodhara. The king lavished them with luxuries and they passed their days in enjoyment and never thought about life outside the palace.
According to Buddhist history, around the age of twenty-nine Siddhartha stepped out of the palace for a few days and it is said that on his first day out, he saw a suffering old person. On the second day he encountered a man suffering from a disease and on the third day he saw a dead person. Siddhartha had never seen such suffering of people during his life in the palace and was deeply affected by it. On the fourth day, he encountered a man deep in meditation and realized that the answer to get rid of the sufferings in this world existed in the mind of the human.
Leaving his kingdom and loved ones behind, Siddhartha became a wandering monk. He cut off his hair to show that he had renounced the worldly lifestyle and called himself Gautama. He wore ragged robes and wandered from place to place. In his search for truth, he studied with the wisest teachers of his day but none of them knew how to end suffering, so he continued the search on his own. For six years he practiced severe asceticism thinking this would lead him to enlightenment. He sat in meditation and ate only roots, leaves and fruit. He could endure more hardships than anyone else, but this did not take him anywhere. He thought, "Neither my life of luxury in the palace nor my life as an ascetic in the forest is the way to freedom. Overdoing things cannot lead to happiness". He began to eat nourishing food again and regained his strength.
Enlightenment
According to the Buddhist texts, Gautama attained enlightenment while meditating under a Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya on a full-moon day. It is believed that during that night, he was put to various tests by evil forces and he defeated them with his virtue. He had gained supreme wisdom and understood the truth of life. From then on, he was called Shakyamuni Buddha.
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| Enlightened Buddha |
After his enlightenment, he went to the holy city of Benares and shared his understanding with five holy men, who understood immediately and became his disciples. This marked the beginning of the Buddhist community. For the next forty-five years, the Buddha and his disciples went from place to place in India spreading his teachings. Buddha had become a symbol of patience and peace.
Buddha's Teachings
3 Universal Truths of Buddha and its relation with Science
- Nothing is lost in the Universe
- Everything Changes
- Karma - The law of Cause and Effect
Buddha said that the first truth of the Universe is that nothing is lost, he gives an example of how a dead leaf turns into soil and a new plant grows on this soil. Is this the same as the Law of Conservation of Energy / Law of Conservation of Mass?
The second universal truth of the Buddha is that everything is continuously changing. Life is like a flowing river, sometimes it flows slowly and sometimes swiftly. It is smooth and gentle in some places, but later on snags and rocks crop up out of nowhere. Is this similar to the Second Law of Thermodynamics?
Buddha said that nothing ever happens to us unless we deserve it. Good things happen if you do good things and bad things happen if you do bad things. Our thoughts and actions determine the kind of life we can have. Is this Newton's Third Law of Motion?
Buddha's teachings on suffering and how to end it
Buddha taught about four Nobel Truths on the sufferings of the world and also provided an eight-fold path to overcome the suffering and attain enlightenment
- The truth of suffering (dukkha)
- The truth of the cause of suffering (samudaya)
- The truth of the end of suffering (nirhodha)
- The truth of the path that frees us from suffering (magga)
The fourth Nobel Truth is further explained in terms of the eight-fold path to enlightenment
- Right understanding (Samma ditthi)
- Right thought (Samma sankappa)
- Right speech (Samma vacha)
- Right action (Samma kammanta)
- Right livelihood (Samma ajiva)
- Right effort (Samma vayama)
- Right mindfulness (Samma sati)
- Right concentration (Samma samadhi)
Spread of Buddhism
Buddhism spread southwards from its place of origin in Northern India to Sri Lanka, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Indo-China and other South East Asian countries. It also moved Northwards into the Himalayan kingdoms (Sikkim, Bhutan, Nepal), Tibet, Mongolia and other parts of Central Asia, and also into China, and later Korea and Japan.
What's next in the series?
In the next part, we will look at the various kingdoms that were starting to take shape after the period of Mahajanapadas.
Foot notes
The information provided here is based on my research of various sources. If you feel like this information is inaccurate, let me know and I would love to correct myself and learn more. In my encounter with various books I have seen that the history of India is mainly concentrated around the Indus valley and Delhi and very little information is provided of the southern and north-eastern parts, in this series I plan to cover all parts of India equally to the best of my efforts.
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Also let me know what topics you would want me to cover in the comments below. :)
- Aniruth
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