Lord Buddha’s teaching

We know that the founder of Buddhism, Sakyamuni Buddha was a humanistic Buddha. He was born as a human and cultivated himself and attained enligntment and preached to others in the world. The humanistic Buddhism that the Buddha developed has the following characteristics.

Buddha is neither a spirit coming and going having a trace nor he is a creator of God. The Buddha was fully a human, like all of us. He had parents, a family and a life. He showed his “pragna”, hence he is a human Buddha. In his teachings Buddha placed a great importance on daily life. He provided lessons and guidance on everything from how to eat, work and live. He gave clear instructions on every aspect of life from family relationships to social and political participation.

Buddha was born into this world entirely to set examples and to teach how to bring benefit and joy. Through his ideal compassion the Buddha aimed to relive the suffering of all beings. The Buddha was born for a great reason, to build up a special relationship with us who are living in this world.

As everyone knows the five percepts are Humanistic Buddhism. The five percepts are no killing, no stealing, no sexual misconducts, no lying and no intoxication. Abstain from killing is to show love and respect for all. If we abstain form stealing there can be freedom of wealth. By abstain from sexual misconduct, shows the good behaviors and good habits. If we refrain from lying and cheating no one’s name is harmed. By abstaining from intoxicants avoid the harm to our bodies, our wisdom or to others.

The five percepts have indeed a great impact upon individual societies and nations. Humanistic Buddhism is the teaching of five percepts and ten virtues. The ten virtues are the extension of five percepts. In one’s speech does not lie, slander, cheat or be offensive. In one’s thoughts do not be greedy, angry or have evil views. The evil views are those erroneous thoughts that cause harm to himself and others, so that all of our lives become unbearably painful. In Buddhism the elimination of erroneousness views is called wisdom studies, the ultimate goal of which is to awake the wisdom of self nature.

Although the Buddha has already entered Nirvana, he has left the seeds of emancipation for all subsequent generations. Even today the Buddha’s teachings serve us as exemplary guide.

SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA'S LIFE STORY

Prince Siddharta Gautama was born some 2,500 years ago as a prince in what is now called Lumbini in Nepal. At his birth, many special signs appeared. His father asked a sage living in his kingdom for advice on his son. The sage predicted that Gautama would become either a great King or a great spiritual teacher.

The King wanted his son to be his successor and tried to keep him far away from all matters of life that could incline him to a spiritual life. Gautama usually spent his life in his father's palace, surrounded by all the possible luxuries of the time. He proved to be a special child, being quite intelligent as well as an excellent sportsman. He married to a beautiful woman he loved, and they had a son.

When Gautama was 29 years old, he discovered there was much suffering in the world around him. Traditionally it is explained that he suddenly recognised the problems of sickness, old age and death when visiting the city. Being shocked by the suffering of all living beings, he decided to search for way to end it. He left his wife and child, the palace and even his royal clothes, and started out on a spiritual quest.

Gautama studied under various teachers and followed their practices until he mastered them all. His first teacher was Alara Kalama who taught a form of meditation leading to an exalted form of absorption called "the state of no-thingness", a state without moral or cognitive dimension. Gautama saw this was not going to solve suffering, and continued his search.
The next teacher was Udraka Ramaputra who taught him meditative absorption leading to "the state of neither perception nor non-perception". Again, Gautama realised this was not the state he was looking for. (Both Alara and Udraka are by some scholars considered to be Jain followers.)
Next, he tried extreme ascetic practices at Uruvilva in North India, with five other ascetics who turned into his followers. In the end, Gautama nearly died of starvation.
After about six years of searching, he realised that just wearing down his body did not generate new insights, but rather leads to weakness and self-destruction. When he decided to give up extreme asceticism, his five students left him.

	The 'Bodhi' tree in Bodhgaya
	The Sarnath stupa, at the place of the first teachings

He then sat down in a place now called Bodhgaya (North India) under a Bodhi-tree and decided not to get up anymore until he discovered the truth. Just a short time later, he became a fully enlightened Buddha. This means that he actualised all positive potentials of a sentient being and rid himself of all negative qualities. With this, he realised the true nature of existence and suffering (emptiness), and how suffering can be ended. (On the right is a descendant of the original Bodhi tree in Bodhgaya.)

Seven weeks after enlightenment, the Buddha gave his first discourse in Sarnath, near Varanasi (see image below right). Here he taught the 4 Noble Truths. The Buddha continued to teach during his life, until passing away at the age of  81.

The Buddha once summarised his entire teachings in one sentence:

"I teach about suffering and the way to end it".

The main disciples of the Buddha are also known as the Great Arhants: Shariputra, known for his understanding of the Abidharma teachings; Maudgalyayana, known for his psychic powers; Mahakashyapa, the great ascetic; and Ananda, the personal attendant of the Buddha who recalled every word the Buddha spoke.

The Buddha's life is also sometimes summarized in the so called 'Twelve Deeds of the Buddha'. 

People often wonder if it was not selfish from the Buddha to leave his wife and child, and the rest of his family on his spiritual quest. Of course, on the short-term it may have caused especially his wife much sorrow, however, all his family members achieved enlightenment. One of the important annual Buddhist festival days celebrates the Buddha's returning from the 'Heaven of the 33'; he went there to teach the devas of that realm, including his mother, so that she achieved enlightenment. So, it is easy to see that whatever suffering the Buddha caused to his family members turned into more then a blessing in the end.

Introduction to Lord Buddha's Life

The word Buddha is a title, not a name. It is derived from the Sanskrit: “Budh,” to know. It means “one who is awake” in the sense of having “woken up to reality.” This title was first given to a man named Siddartha Gautama, who lived 2,500 years ago in northern India.

Siddartha Gautama was son of the Rajah (ruler) of the Sakya tribe of Kapilavastu, Nepal. When he was about 35 years old Siddartha left the luxuries of his father’s court, his beautiful wife, and all earthly ambitions for the life of an ascetic. He saw in the contemplative life the perfect way to self-enlightenment.

For six years he struggled by the traditional methods of meditation and asceticism, to penetrate the cause of man’s “clinging to life.” His efforts were in vain. The more he contemplated his own mind, the more he found only his own effort to contemplate. The evening before his enlightenment, Siddartha gave up. He relaxed his diet and ate some nourishing food. At once he felt a profound change coming over him. He sat down under a bodhi tree, vowing not to rise until he had obtained “supreme awakening.”

According to Buddhist tradition, he sat through the night until a glimpse of the morning star suddenly provoked a state of perfect clarity and understanding. He experienced unexcelled, complete, awakening. For the next 40 years he taught the principles of his teaching, gaining many disciples and followers. He died at the age of about 80 in Kusinagara, Oudh.

Buddha’s teaching is summarized in the Four Noble Truths, the last of which affirms the existence of a path leading to deliverance from the universal human experience of suffering. The goal is Nirvana, which means “the blowing out” of the fires of all desires, and the absorption of the self into the infinite.

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