The Arising OF A Buddha Brings Happiness To All

Over 2566 years ago, Prince Siddhartha was born on the Vesak Full Moon Day in the month of May at the Lumbini Park in Kapilavatthu, North India. His parents were King Suddhodana and Queen Mahamaya. At that time, King Suddhodana ruled the kingdom of the Sakayas. Unexpectedly prince Siddhartha’s mother, Mahamaya passed away seven days after his birth. After that, Maha Prajapati Gotami brought up the child (prince Siddhartha) as entrusting her own son. Prince Siddhartha was educated and was trained by a well-known and well-educated teacher, Sarwamitra.

According to the custom of that time, at the age of 16, prince Siddhartha married the beautiful daughter of king Supprabuddha, princess Yashodhara. After several years princess Yashodhara gave birth to prince Rahula.

As a young prince, Siddhartha had all the riches, comforts, and luxurious facilities at his palace suitable for Summer, Winter, and Spring, and also he was well secured by the guards of the palace.  Though he led a luxurious life at the royal palace, he often thought of the reality of life through his personal experience of seeing the four omens such as an old person, a sick person, a dead body and a recluse while he was going to the royal park.

Likewise, by understanding the reality of life, prince Siddhartha was not content with anything else as he wanted to see the real world outside his royal palace. Thereafter, the young prince discarded enjoying sensual life and left his loving son, Rahula, beloved wife, Yashodhara, and other material comforts in search of the real happiness of life.

 On the contrary, he intelligently came to know about people’s suffering in the world and he was determined to find the solution to this universal suffering of mankind. With a firm determination, at the age of twenty-nine, Prince Siddhartha made his great renunciation (mahabhinikkhamana) in search of the perfect solution to this suffering.

Thereafter, prince Siddhartha became an ascetic himself on the bank of the river Anoma in the presence of his charioteer, Channa. In quest of truth Bodhisatta Siddhartha walked alone and attended on the several teachers namely Bhaggava, Alara Kalama and Uddakaramaputta to find the solution to the universal suffering of mankind. Though he gained the highest mental progress and mental concentration from his teachers by practising their traditional methods of teaching, later he abandoned them all. Finally, the Bodhisatta was determined to seek the solution within himself by practising his own ways and methods.

For six years, he experienced the rigorous ascetic practices by following both extremes (ubho anta) of self-indulgence (kamasukhallikanuyogaya) and self-mortification (attakilamathanuyogaya) but he was unable to find the solution through those methods. After that, by understanding this, the Bodhisatta engaged in the Middle Path (majjhima patipada) and practised the mind gradually towards the Noble Eight-Fold Path (ariyo atthangiko maggo). It consists of the three steps: wisdom (panna), morality (sila) and concentration (samadhi). In the end, this method led him to achieve Enlightenment by completely eradicating all defilements and impurities of mental suffering such as desire, hatred, delusion, ignorance, conceit etc. on the dawn of the Vesak Full Moon Day under the Bo Tree at Buddha Gaya. Since then, he was known as the ‘Buddha’-The Fully Enlightened One.

After two months of his Enlightenment, the Buddha delivered his first Dhamma discourse which he found and enlightened the five ascetics who lived in the Deer Park at Isipatana in Banaras. From that day, for 45 years the Buddha exposed his teaching for human beings; Bhikku, Bhikkuni, Upasaka, Upasika, and divine beings; devas and brahmas, and so on for their betterment in this life and the life after.

 Without any discrimination against any person or group out of compassion, the Buddha delivered his sermons equally for every person such as men, women, kings, peasants, brahmins, outcasts, bankers, beggars, holy men, robbers, rich and poor people, etc. to practise their minds towards the bliss of Nibbana. As well as the Buddha who showed the way he practised for all human beings who were ready to follow and understand his noble teachings. The Buddha himself decided to keep his teachings open for all to practise in day-to-day life. He did not force any person to accept his teachings at the first sight, but he advised the people first to come and see (ehi passiko) them intelligently whether they are suitable or not to be achieved their ultimate goal.

According to the teaching of the Buddha, those who do not study and follow those teachings are like blind men. As the Buddha stated, the most important thing is the actual practice of the Dhamma and its mere learning is unprofitable. The educated ones who do not practise the teachings of the Buddha are like colorful flowers without scent. On the other hand, he or she can be comparable to a library without books and readers in it.

Until the last moment, the Buddha wandered from village to village with great compassion to deliver his noble doctrine to the public for forty-five years with his disciples. In the end, he reminded and encouraged all his Dhamma followers to strive “appamadena sampadetha” (strive on with diligence) to attain emancipation (vimuktti) in this birth.

As we all know as the disciples of the Buddha, the arising of a Buddha to the world and having the opportunity to listen to the teaching of the sublime Truth bring happiness to everyone because the Buddha and his teachings lead us to purify our minds from vivid worries, suffering, defilements and so on. The Buddha said happiness does not mean sensual pleasure, having delicious food, or having riches or glory because all these pleasures cause more suffering in this existence and the life after.

Ending the Buddha’s great and the noble service throughout the forty-five years, remembering his last words “vayadhamma sankhara, appamadena sampadetha” (transient are all conditioned things. Strive on with diligence) to all his disciples at the age of eighty, our great teacher, the Buddha passed away (maha parinibbana) in the Sala Grove of the Mallas between the twin Sala trees in Kusinara on the Vesak Full Moon Day.

Reference

Jinasena, W. (2017), The Buddhist Way of Life, Nedimala:  Buddhist Cultural Centre.

Narada, (2012), The Buddha and His Teachings, Nedimala: Buddhist Cultural Centre.

Rahula, W. (1959), What The Buddha Taught, London: The Gordon Gallery Ltd.

Canonical Texts:

Dighanikaya: Mahavagga, Mahaparinibbana Sutta PTS 2.71.

Khuddaka Nikaya: Dhammapada, Sukha Vagga,

Sanyutta Nikaya: Mahavagga, Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, PTS 5.422.

Dr. Ven. Dodamgoda Sumanasara Thero

Department of English Language Teaching

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

University of Sri Jayewardenepura