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Gautama Buddha
BUDDHA GOTAMA[1] (621-543 BC)
A great sage from India.
The founder of Buddhism
Place and time of birth.
Family.
Legends.
Place of birth – the north of India, the Himalayan principality of Nepal with its capital Kapilavastu.
Time of birth: an urn was found with the ashes of the Buddha and the dates on it: 621-543 BC, according to which the Buddha lived for 78 years.
Oral traditions say that he lived for 100 years, and 78 taught.
Gotama was born in the first days of May, on the full moon.
His parents are from the royal family of Shakya: father Shuddhodan and mother Maya.
The full name of the prince: Gotama (victorious) Shakya muni (Shakya is a generic name, muni is powerful in mercy, solitude and silence) Prince Kapilavastu Siddhartha (who fulfilled his appointment).
Buddha is not a name.
It means the state of consciousness of one who has grasped the Truth and mastered the supreme Wisdom.
"Buddha in the exact translation means illuminated" (Letters of E. Roerich, Vol. 1, p. 447).
The name of the Buddha, like other Great Sages, is surrounded by legends.
One of the legends tells that the Buddha chose Maya as his mother as the purest of women and entered her body in the form of a wonderful white elephant.
The image of a white elephant in Indian legends is a symbol of the birth of the divine Avatar of Vishnu (Avatar is a Divine Incarnation).
Another legend tells that the great Rishi Atisha, a hermit who lived in the Himalayas, came to greet the newborn Bodhisattva (the Son of the Heavenly Buddha).
According to the customs of that time, on the fifth day after the birth of the Bodhisattva, 108 brahmin sages gathered in the king's palace to give the prince a name and predict his fate.
The most learned of them predicted that the prince would retire from the world after seeing four signs – an old man, a sick man, a dead man and a hermit that he would eventually become a Buddha.
Prince Siddhartha was raised as the heir to the throne.
He enjoyed all the joys that beauty, health, power, wealth give.
When he reached the age of his husband, he married a beautiful girl.
He was protected in every possible way from troubles and suffering.
Four predicted meetings introduced him to human suffering and forced him to change his fate.
Feeling an irresistible desire to discover the cause of human suffering, he decided to leave the palace, his parents, his beloved wife, and his newborn son.
The main milestones of life.
At the age of 24 (according to other sources – at the age of 29), the prince left the palace and went to wander around the world.
He followed the path of the purest life, deep reflection, a colossal strain of the mind.
At that time, many people in India were worried about spiritual pursuits.
Hundreds of people, old and young, left their homes for spiritual insights and became hermits in search of sages who would help them find true life.
Among the hermits, the prince found experienced mentors.
They introduced him to philosophical teachings, to methods of contemplation and control of his body, but he did not find the highest truth from anyone that gives deliverance from suffering.
For several years he lived as ascetics usually lived, wandering through the forests, going from one village to another, eating alms.
These were years of severe austerity.
He subjected himself to the most difficult trials in order to achieve enlightenment and find the Highest Truth.
He did not protect himself from the scorching sun, from the rain, from insects.
He refused even a minimum of food until he lost consciousness.
Convinced by experience that asceticism has no value, Gotama identified it as a false path, which caused hostility from the ascetics.
Like other great ascetics, the Buddha, according to legend, was subjected to terrible temptations, with which the prince of demons, the evil spirit Mara, tried to destroy his efforts.
Legions of evil geniuses whispered words of doubt to Siddhartha.
Terrible monsters surrounded the ascetic.
A charming crowd of Apsaras, the daughters of Mara, tried to captivate Gotama with voluptuous movements and promises.
The head of the demons himself promised the Buddha all the kingdoms of the earth and their glory if he gave up the search for wisdom.
Having won the victory over temptations, Sakya Muni achieved supreme wisdom, achieved enlightenment.
In Bodhi Gaya, in a sacred grove on the bank of the river, in a place called Uruvella, the Supreme Insight that he had been obtaining for so long occurred.
At the age of 29, he gained perfect Knowledge and True Wisdom, becoming a Buddha.
The thought became pure and rushed to the work that he had to do.
Buddhist legends also tell about the Teacher's going outside of India – to Tibet, Khotan, to the Altai.
Ancient legends tell about the great secret journey of the Buddha along the roads of Asia, about his visit to the White Mountain (Belukha) in the Altai.
There is evidence in the hidden books that before the sermon in Benares, the Buddha comprehended the secrets of wisdom in a Himalayan Monastery.
The Buddha delivered his first famous sermon on the fundamental principles of his teaching in a park near Benares.
Soon a community formed around him, which grew rapidly.
Everyone was accepted into the community – without distinction of caste, gender and property status.
The entrance and exit were free.
The visitor only expressed his willingness to serve the teachings of the Buddha.
If the departed returned, he was asked only one question: "Do you deny it?"
By expelling negation, the teaching did not enslave anyone.
There were few rules, and they were aimed at protecting the independence of students.
The Buddha wanted life in the community to be joyful.
The training began with the purification of the heart and consciousness from prejudices and bad qualities.
Moral purity and renunciation of personal property were required from the students.
"The sense of ownership is measured not by things, but by thoughts.
You can have things and not be the owner."
The Buddha advised to have fewer things, so as not to devote much time to them.
Families also came to the community.
The prerequisite was to have one wife and be faithful to her.
The Buddha tried to avoid prohibitions.
There was no ban on those who wanted to eat meat.
There was a ban on alcohol.
The Buddha commanded to refrain from everything negative and promote everything beautiful.
"I teach, Sinha, the performance of such actions that are righteous in deeds, in words and in thoughts;
I teach the manifestation of all those states of the soul that are righteous and do not bear evil."
His goal was the growth and development of the soul of the students.
The Buddha sought to make friends with his disciples, to create the best conditions for them to achieve higher knowledge.
When the student mastered his feelings, giving up everything personal, the Teacher gave him a task and allowed him to the depths of knowledge.
The Buddha sought to educate workers of the common good, creators of a new consciousness and heralds of the community, ready to carry a New Teaching.
He sent them into life as teachers and founders of new communities.
For 45 years, the Buddha taught and built communities in the Ganges Valley, near Benares.
The legend tells about Gotama's visit to his native city, about a meeting with his father, with his wife, about the conversion of his brother and son to a new Teaching, as well as about many new conversions of kings and ordinary mortals, rich and poor.
At the age of 80, the Buddha reached Nirvana[2], and therefore he was considered as dead to the world of the living.
In fact, the Buddha lived for 100 years.
He completed his teaching career in Kushinagar.
The remains of the Buddha were burned.
The Inner Appearance of the Buddha.
"There has never been such a great religious reform that was not pure at the beginning.
The first followers of the Buddha, as well as the disciples of Jesus, were all people of the highest morality" (Raz. Isis. vol. 2, p. 282).
"I do not hesitate to say," says Bartolomeo Saint Hilaire in his turn, " that with the sole exception of Christ, there is no figure among the founders of religions that is either purer or more touching than the figure of Buddha.
His life is perfect.
His constant heroism is equal to his conviction…
He himself is a perfect example of all the virtues that he preaches; his self denial, his mercy, his unchanging complacency do not change him for a moment... and when he dies in the arms of his disciples, he dies with the serenity of a sage who has applied virtue throughout his life" (Raz. Isis. vol. 2, p. 291).
Teaching.
The main idea of Buddhism: everything in the Cosmos strives for constant renewal.
There is no unchangeable soul, it is constantly changing.
Everything in the Cosmos is subject to the Law of Causality: neither people nor Gods are exceptions to this universal law.
The being who generates the causes must be responsible for them in this or in a new birth, which he will receive in accordance with his karma: good or evil thoughts and deeds.
"I donot teach anything other than the Law of Karma."
The Buddha taught that there is no independent "I", separate from life.
And since there is no separate "I", it cannot be said that something belongs to me.
Awareness of the law of unity in the Cosmos undermines the concept of property.
Gotama Buddha gave the world the Teaching of Life, which was designed to teach people to use the Great Truths in everyday life.
He taught the ethics of life.
The Buddha claimed that the source of suffering and all the ills of humanity is the clouding of consciousness, desire and lust.
Ignorance is the greatest evil and crime.
He discovered that the way to get rid of suffering is to enlighten consciousness, to gradually improve oneself.
Having opened the way to this Truth, the Buddha divided it into eight correct stages: recognition based on the knowledge of the Law of Causality, thinking, speech, action, life, work, vigilance and self discipline, concentration.
The noble Path of the eight stages is the path of harmonizing the feelings and achieving the perfections of an Arhat: compassion, morality, patience, courage, concentration and wisdom.
On the path of self knowledge, a person is trapped by 10 obstacles, or shackles: the illusion of personality, doubt, superstition, bodily passions, hatred, attachment to the Earth, the desire for pleasure and comfort, pride, complacency, ignorance.
Only by breaking all these fetters, one can gain higher knowledge and achieve liberation – Nirvana.
It is not enough just to recognize the teaching.
It needs to be followed in life.
Everything is achieved only by personal efforts, by human hands and feet.
"Immortality can only be achieved by constant good deeds; and perfection is achieved only through compassion and mercy."
To do good and learn for the sake of achieving immortality is not related to the Noble Path.
Nirvana is a symbol of selflessness.
"Without the thought of any rewards and achievements, a life must be passed, and such a life is the greatest."
The basis of the Noble Path is in moral purity.
One can achieve the highest goal – Nirvana by following the path of virtue.
The Buddha taught to know the Laws of Nature and one's own soul, not to put oneself in chains, to see the causes of suffering and be able to correct them with a beneficial action, to comprehend the Truth independently, to honor one's faith and not to blaspheme others, not to deny, to share knowledge with others.
He taught fearlessness of thoughts and actions.
"Above all, there is thought."
"Everything is done by thought."
It does both good and evil.
He taught to accommodate opposites.
The Buddha taught that the teaching should be presented in the vernacular, using comparisons, well known stories and legends.
His speech convinced by the power of simplicity, intelligibility.
The Buddha's teaching does not contain any violence.
"He leads others without resorting to violence."
"He is called noble if he does not commit violence against any living being."
The Buddha rejects personal worship.
"The teaching saves not because the Buddha gives it, but because it is liberation."
The basic principle of the Teaching is to seek the truth yourself.
Donot believe just because others believe.
Explore.
Therefore, questions and free discussion of what was taught were welcomed.
Truth is freedom.
The Buddha directed his disciples to the future, commanding his disciples to honor him less than the Teacher who will come in the future.
History knows of no other example of such self denial.
"I am not the first Buddha to come to Earth, nor will I be the last.
In due time, another Buddha will arise in the world, the Innermost, the highest enlightenment, gifted with wisdom, happy, embracing the entire universe, the incomparable Leader of the peoples…
He will proclaim a righteous life, perfect and pure, such as I am preaching now...
His name will be "Maitreya".
The religious treatises of Buddhism ("Pratimoksha Sutra", etc.) contain " the following ten commandments.
1. You must not kill any living being.
2. You should not steal.
3. You must not break your vow of chastity.
4. You must not lie.
5. You should not betray the secrets of others.
6. You should not wish for the death of your enemies.
7. You should not desire the wealth of others.
8. You should not utter offensive and abusive words.
9. You should not indulge in luxury (sleeping on soft beds or being lazy).
10. You must not accept gold or silver" (Raz. Isis. Vol. 2, p. 136).
The mission.
The Great Teacher synthesized the Precepts of all the Teachers of the Common Good who came before him.
He rediscovered the Vedas to people.
He pointed out the goal of Evolution as creative cooperation with the Cosmos and Distant Worlds.
The Buddha is the first community member of the Fifth Race.
He was the first scientific community member.
He approved the idea of the World Community as a worldwide cooperation of peoples: nothing exists outside of cooperation and mutual assistance.
He was the first to speak about the equality of people, spoke out against castes.
He was the first in the history of religions who turned sermons into action.
The vitality of His Teaching is confirmed by convincing facts.
Buddhism has not disgraced itself by instilling faith with fire and sword, and has been distorted less than other religions for 27 centuries.
"Near the mysterious Uruvela [3], the Buddha approaches the simplest expression of all accumulations.
And on the banks of the Nairnagar, he is illuminated by the determination to say words about the community, about the renunciation of personal property, about the meaning of work for the common good and about the meaning of knowledge.
To establish a scientific approach to religion was a true feat.
To expose the self interest of the priests and brahmins was the highest fearlessness.
It was incredibly difficult to reveal the true levers of human forces.
It was extremely beautiful for the Tsar to come in the guise of a mighty beggar.
In the awareness of the evolution of mankind, the image of the communal Buddha occupies an undeniably beautiful place" (N. Roerich. Altai Himalayas, p. 68).
"The Great Personality of the Buddha, His Fiery Ego, clothed with the matter of Lucida [the thinnest, but still opaque luminous substance], now resides in the spheres surrounding our planet.
In view of the terrible hour of Armageddon, many Fiery Inhabitants can be found in spheres not so far from the Earth, because the approach of fiery energies makes such an approach possible.
From this, you can understand how terrible the time we are experiencing is, and what Forces are taking part in saving our planet" (Letters of E. Roerich, Vol. 1, p.447).
[1] The text of the biography is published from the book "Great Moralists" by V. I. Polyan.
[2] " Nirvana is a state of perfection of all the elements and energies of individuality that have reached the highest intensity available in this cosmic cycle."
This is one of the many definitions of the concept of Nirvana, taken from the book"Fundamentals of Buddhism".
[3] More correctly – Uruvilva, on the bank of the Nairnagara River, near the present Bodh Gaya in northeastern India; here, according to legend, the Buddha achieved enlightenment.
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