Buddha

Indian religious leader and philosopher

• Born: c. 566 b.c.e.
• Birthplace: Lumbinī, near Kapilavastu (now Rummindei, Nepal)
• Died: c. 486 b.c.e.
• Place of death: Kuśinagara (now in India)

Early Life

The historical Buddha (BEW-duh)—known variously as Gautama, Siddhārtha, and Śākyamuni—was born in Lumbinī, in the Himālayan foothills of what is now Nepal. His father, Śuddhodana, was king of nearby Kapilavastu, a town whose archaeological remains have yet to be found. His mother, Māyā, died seven days after giving birth to the young prince; Śuddhodana then married her sister, who brought up the boy.

According to legend, the infant’s conception and birth were accompanied by unusual signs, and he walked and talked at birth. Legend also has it that an ancient sage prophesied that the young prince would become either a Buddha (an enlightened one) or a universal monarch. Śuddhodana, determined on the latter career, kept his son confined within the palace walls to prevent him from seeing unpleasant sights that might cause him to renounce the world and take up the religious life of a wandering mendicant.

The Buddha’s given name was Siddhārtha (he who has achieved his goal). Later, he was called Śākyamuni (Sage of the Śākyas), because his family was part of the warrior (kśatriya) Śākya clan, which also used the Brahman clan name Gautama (descendant of the sage Gotama). He is described as a handsome, black-haired boy.

The oldest Buddhist canon is in the Pāli language and was transmitted orally for several hundred years after the Buddha’s death; it was written down on palm leaves on the orders of the Sri Lankan king Vattagamani (d. c. 77 b.c.e.). The Pāli Canon records few details about Siddhārtha’s early years, but it does mention that he spontaneously entered a state of meditation while sitting under a tree watching his father plowing. It also recounts his becoming aware of the inevitability of old age, illness, and death, supposedly by seeing his first old man, ill man, and corpse on clandestine trips outside the palace gates.

When he came of age, Siddhārtha was married to Yaśodharā. They had a son who was named Rāhula (“fetter”), perhaps because Siddhārtha was already turning away from householder life. Indeed, at the age of twenty-nine, he left home forever to seek enlightenment, initially by studying with two teachers, then through extended fasting and other austerities, in which he was joined by five other ascetics. At the age of thirty-five, having failed to attain his goal, he ate enough to regain strength and sat under a tree (later known as the Bodhi Tree) at Uruvelā, near Benares (modern-day Varanasi), vowing to stay there until he reached enlightenment.

The Pāli Canon includes several different descriptions of the enlightenment that followed, “as though one were to describe a tree from above, from below and from various sides, or a journey by land, by water and by air” (Ñāṇamoli, Life of the Buddha According to the Pali Canon, 1972). What these accounts have in common is Śākyamuni’s claim of having attained direct knowledge of the final nature of mind itself.

Examining the mind via meditation, Śākyamuni found it empty of independent existence. In combination with compassion (an altruistic attitude toward everyone, especially one’s “enemies”), this knowledge led to Buddhahood. It was this discovery that Gautama Buddha would spend the rest of his life setting forth to those who came to listen to him teach.

Life’s Work

The newly enlightened Buddha’s first impulse was not to disseminate the truth that he had worked so diligently to uncover. He realized that every human being had the potential to attain enlightenment, just as he himself had done, but he also knew that enlightenment could not be bestowed by anyone else; each person had to reach it himself. Thus the Buddha is said to have hesitated to propagate his dharma (“truth” or “law”), thinking that it would be too difficult for beings still deluded by craving to understand. Only his compassion for the suffering of all beings eventually convinced him to do so.

Accordingly, the Buddha set out to find the five ascetics with whom he had practiced austerities. They were not immediately convinced of his enlightenment, so he elucidated the Middle Way of avoiding both sensual and ascetic extremes. At this point the Buddha is said to have first taught the Four Noble Truths —namely, that life inevitably involves suffering or woefulness (dukkha), that the cause of suffering is craving or grasping, that there is a way for craving to cease, and that the way consists of the Eightfold Path of right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.

During this talk, which took place 4 miles (6.5 kilometers) north of Benares, in the Deer Park at Isipatana, one of the five ascetics realized that all conditioned (interdependent) things are impermanent, and he became enlightened. The remaining four soon followed suit; other wanderers and householders from all walks of life, including Rāhula and Śākyamuni’s stepmother/aunt, did the same.

The formula that distinguishes a Buddhist from a non-Buddhist evolved during this time. The Buddha taught that “oneself is one’s own refuge” and that all beings are, ultimately, manifestations of Buddha nature or enlightened mind. Thus Buddhists take refuge in what is called the Three Jewels or Triple Gem: the Buddha as a representation of enlightenment; the dharma, or teaching of how to attain enlightenment; and the saṅgha, the community of fellow aspirants on the path.

The Buddha continued to teach for the next forty-five years, which he spent journeying around the central Gangetic plain, giving discourses (sutras), establishing monastic guidelines (vinaya) as the need arose for them, and answering any questions put to him.

Śākyamuni was not concerned with metaphysical questions about the origins of the world, explaining that a man with an arrow in his chest is more sensible to address himself to removing it than to ask how it got there. The Buddha had found a way to end mental and physical suffering, by developing inner clarity and peace; to him, questions of how and why were not useful in progressing toward that goal.

According to the law of karma (the law of cause and effect), to which the Buddha subscribed, wholesome actions eventually lead to good results, while unwholesome or harmful deeds result in suffering, in this or a future life. By cultivating wholesome actions of body, speech, and mind, the Buddha maintained that anyone can experience enlightenment. To do this, the Buddha advocated dissolving the obstacles of craving, anger, and ignorance by cultivating ethical conduct, moral discipline, and wisdom.

The Buddha was not immune to death, but he remained fearless and lucid when the time came. Having become ill in his eightieth year, he told one of his foremost disciples, his cousin Ānanda, that he would soon die. He then asked the assembled monks three times whether they had any doubts or questions, but they remained silent. The Buddha’s last words summarized his teaching: “Conditioned things are perishable by nature. Diligently seek realization.” He died in meditation.

Significance

Śākyamuni elucidated seminal ideas and methods whose effect can only be compared to the teachings of Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad. He rejected some key elements of the Hindu worldview of his era—notably the caste system, the idea of a permanent self (ātman), and the practice of austerities—but retained the notions of karma and rebirth. To these he added his unique insight into what is worthwhile: an altruistic aspiration to enlightenment for the sake of all beings.

Although Buddhism declined and eventually disappeared in India (where it is experiencing a revival today), it spread to Southeast and Central Asia, China, Korea, and Japan. Today there are many different schools of Buddhism, whose styles range from the baroque iconography of Tibetan tantrism to the stark simplicity of Zen. All recognize subsequent adepts on the Buddhist path and reflect the different cultures in which they have developed. All Buddhist traditions, however, trace their lineage and the common essence of their teaching to Śākyamuni, the man who, in recorded history, first became an enlightened one, a Buddha.

Bibliography

Davidson, Ronald M. Indian Esoteric Buddhism. New York: Columbia University Press, 2003. Discusses the evolution of Buddhism in medieval India.

Gowans, Christopher. Philosophy of the Buddha: An Introduction. New York: Routledge, 2003. A clear introduction to Buddhist thought. Covers basic concepts, history, theological concerns, comparisons with other religions, and practical aspects of practice. Includes a list of Internet resources and a glossary of Pāli terms.

Heine, Steven, Charles S. Prebish, and David J. Walbert, eds. Buddhism in the Modern World: Adaptations of an Ancient Tradition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. A collection of nine essays that discuss the ways in which Buddhism has maintained its doctrinal purity yet managed to adapt throughout Asia in the face of modern science, philosophy, and lifestyle.

Robinson, Richard H., and Willard L. Johnson. The Buddhist Religion: A Historical Introduction. 5th ed. Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth Publishing, 2004. An overview that traces the antecedents of Buddhism, describes the Buddha’s life, and explains the development of Buddhism both in India and in Southeast Asia, Tibet, East Asia, and the West. Includes a glossary of key Sanskrit terms, an essay on meditation, and a list of selected readings.

Smith, Huston, and Philip Novak. Buddhism: A Concise Introduction. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2003. An overview coauthored by a major religious historian. Covers both the historical development of Buddhism and the evolution of its various forms, and the status and practice of Buddhism in the modern world. A useful chart illuminates the differences between the major schools. Includes an annotated bibliography and index.

Williams, Paul, and Anthony Tribe. Buddhist Thought: A Complete Introduction to the Indian Tradition. New York: Routledge, 2000. Begins by contextualizing Buddha’s life within Brahmanic tradition, and then traces the development of Mahāyāna Buddhism in India. Includes bibliography and index.