History of Buddha and Buddhism - Term Paper Example

History of Buddha and Buddhism Submitted by: XXXXX XXXXXX Number: XXXXXXXX of XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX Subject Code: XXXXX Date of submission: XX – XX – 2009 Number of Words: 2002 words Buddhism is one of the most renowned religions in the world. This religion has been adopted by a number of people worldwide. Buddhism is one of the oldest religions and the start dates back to over 2500 years ago. There have been a number of contradictions about the history, and the major teaching of Buddhism. This essay analyses some very important aspects of Buddhism and provides for a clear understanding of the history of Buddhism. A deep discussion of the history and birth of Buddha has been discussed. Also the history of Buddhism and the various teachings of Buddhism have also been discussed here. It is important to also understand the various places that Buddhism was started in and how the reiligion has made its way through the country. History of Buddha: Over 2500 years ago, the country named Lumbini (current Nepal) was ruled by warriors belonging to a clan called Kshatriyas. At the time, the country was ruled by King Shuddhodhana and Queen Mayadevi. Queen Mayadevi gave birth to Prince Siddhartha in 563 B C (Before Christ). Many sources mark the birth of Siddhartha at 563 B C whereas some still put the birth of the Prince in the 4th century B C. Unfortunately the Queen passed away after seven days of giving birth to the Prince. Hence Siddhartha was brought up by his step mother Gautami and hence he was also called as Siddhartha Gautam (Chodron, 2001). In his childhood, many astrologers predicted that Siddhartha Gautam will either be a King or become a Sadhu (Saint), giving up his worldly and materialistic life. The only way to prevent him from becoming a Sadhu was to keep Siddhartha away from the miseries of life. King Suddhodhana was very keen on this and ensured that Siddhartha was not exposed to the miseries of mankind. Hence the Prince was literally kept within the Palace for most of his childhood. However Siddhartha Gautham grew up to be a very intelligent and active young man (Chodron, 2001). After a few years, Prince Siddhartha ventured out of Palace and into his Kingdom. He witnessed the many miseries in the daily life of an average human being. He came across, what was later contemplated as ‘The Four Sights’, which include an old man who was barely able to walk, a diseased man who was in severe pain, a decaying corpse and an ascetic. These sights disturbed him a lot and made him wonder the purpose of life and the reason for existence of mankind. King Suddhodhana noticed that the Prince was going through a tough time and immediately arranged for his marriage (Chopra, 2008). Siddhartha Gautam was married to a young and beautiful Princess Yasodhara. Though after that, he indulged in his worldly pleasures, the Four Sights, the miseries of life and the reason for existence were all on the back of his head. After a few years, Siddhartha and Yasodhara had a son named Rahula. His search for the purpose of mankind increased a lot after the birth of his son. When he was just 29 years old, i.e., around 534 B C, one night, he left the Palace, his wife and son, and went in search for his answers. Siddhartha Gautam travelled to many places within the country and met a number of saints in his search for the truth and purpose of mankind and also his inner peace. Initially, he involved himself in ‘tapasya’, a form of meditation without food and water and sometimes involves, holding one’s breathe for a very long time. After practicing ‘tapasya’ and starving himself, he gave up the practice and took some food from a girl named Sujatha. He then realized that the ascetic practices which involved torturing oneself brought no spiritual benefit. He then denunciated ‘tapasya’ and started practicing a form of breathe meditation termed as ‘anapanasati’(Chopra, 2008). On reaching the town of Bodh Gaya, India, Siddhartha Gautam decided to meditate under the a fig tree until he attained the state of Nirvana. After a number of days of meditation, he got the vision of the divine light and finally attained enlightenment. It was a form of a spiritual awakening. He was then called Buddha and the tree under which Ho got His enlightenment was termed as Bodhi (Hanh, 1999). Buddhism: As has been discussed the start of Buddhism was when Lord Buddha, attained enlightenment in 528 BC. The knowledge attained was under the Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya in India. Post the attainment of enlightenment, Lord Buddha used the rest of his life to make other aware of the truths of life. The first meet for Buddha was in Rajagriha in India. Here a total of as many as 500 monks were present. This also was the place where the teachings of Buddha were compiled by his chief disciples (Chopra, 2008). Here the Ananda which was in the form of a holy Pali canon and Tripitaka which meant the three baskets were compiled. India has a very long and strong history and dealing with Buddha and Buddhism. Between the years of 483BCE and 250BCE, there was the second Buddhist council that was held. This was almost a hundred years after the death of Buddha. There was a strong conflict among the Buddhist ideologists. There was the formation of two different groups within Buddhism. These were known as Sthaviravadins and Mahasanghkas (Hanh, 1999). These groups were later known as Theravadins and Mahayanas. The first of the two were very conservative and the views were orthodox with the aim of leading an ascetic’s life. However the latter of the two were more of liberal view and believed in Buddhism however preferred to live more liberal lives. These conflicts grew as the days passed by and at one point reached a position where the Emperor Ashoka sent out for the Buddhists sects to be reconciled (Das, 1998). During 269 BCE and 232 BCE i.e., Emperor Asoka’s reign, Buddhism saw a drastic rise in the number of followers. King Ashoka had made ‘Dhamma’ his state religion. This was a religion based on the teachings of Lord Buddha. King Ashoka followed Buddhism very strictly and this was seen in the fact that he sent his son and daughter out to various other countries like Greece, Egypt and many more to spread the word of Buddhism. The attempt by King Ashoka however was not as successful in terms of the third Buddhist council. The development of peace and harmony among the two sects was not possible and both the sects agreed to work on the purification of Buddhism (Buddist Tourism, 2007). Post the reign of Ashoka and after his death, Buddhism saw a steep decline and was suppressed by the Sunga rulers. The following eras post this until the 8th century was another glorious period for Buddhism as well. Buddhism was preached by various Indian emperors and it was given a royal patronage by the various emperors (Das, 1998). This period also convened the fourth Buddhist council and there was a rise of the Mahayana sect. Also the times post the 8th centenary as one which was a dark age for Buddhism. People in these times moved on to Hinduism as their religion in India. The Buddhist schools were considered to be luxurious practices for the Buddhist monks. Buddhism got confined to parts of Indian Himalayan regions until the 20th century. Also leaders like B.R. Ambedkar favored the revival of Buddhism in India. Buddhism was also spread across a number of other countries as well. These include Sri Lanka, China, Tibet, Japan and a number of Western Nations (Katinka, 2009). Learning of Buddhism: As has been understood, the learning of Buddhism is based on the teachings of Lord Buddha. These learning have grown and become a religion by itself. The main aim of Buddhism is to preach the importance of purification of mind and soul by realizing the truth and also giving up worldly desires. The religion teaches people to develop the qualities of awareness. The teachings also helped people develop kindness and wisdom through the Buddhist practice which include a number of practices which need to be followed like the Eight Fold Path, Five Percepts, Four Noble Truths, meditation and yoga (Katinka, 2009). It is essential to understand that the major reason for the increase of the religion across the world was mainly due to the principles of Karma. The Four Noble truths, has been basis for the learning of Buddhism. Of this the first truth is suffering, a condition which is faced by all living beings. The second truth is that the cause of all sadness in life is craving or selfish desire. The third noble truth as per Buddhism is the truth of Nirvana. This is a state which excels all the sufferings. The last of all truths is that of the Noble Eightfold Path. This is Buddha’s teachings to achieve Nirvana. According to Buddhism, there are eight noble ways of the Eightfold path, these include, right view, right intention, right livelihood, tight speech, right action, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration. This is a mental development for people to free their minds from all the worldly pleasures and the attachments and distractions. Following the eight fold path thus leads to happier and healthier people. The religion also mentions that Dhamma which provides a form of moral conduct for the humans to make the world a better place to live, i.e. with integrity, dignity and peace (Tezuka, 2006). The perceptions that are followed by Buddhists are to refrain from, a) incorrect speech, b) Sexual misconduct, c) taking things which are not given, d) killing or destroying living creatures, and e) drinking, or even consumption of drugs and leading a life of carelessness (Buddist Tourism, 2007). Also, last but not the least is the teaching of meditation. The religion has emphasized on the followers to practice meditation. This provides the person to overcome the negatives in life and strengthen the inner self and have a peaceful mind. Meditation provides the person to be able to be there for himself and be constructive in life for both themselves as well as for others. Meditation can be done by everybody. This however needs to be if the person wants to be a part of Buddha, Dharma and Sangha (Tezuka, 2006). Spread of Buddhism outside India: Apart from India, Buddhism spread across many countries including Sri Lanka, China, Japan and Korea. Now, it has even spread to some European and Western countries as well. The main reason for the vast spread of Buddhism in Sri Lanka was Mahindra, the son of Emperor Ashoka. Mahindra and his monks were successful and even the Sri Lankan King became a Buddhist. Mahindra also supervised the translation of Theravada canon from Pali to Sinhala (Buddist Tourism, 2007). In 475 C E, in China, the Buddhist scholar, Bodhi Dharma preached the teachings of Buddha and the essence of Buddhism. In 148 B C, the Buddhist texts were translated to Chinese by An Shih – Kao, a Buddhist monk. As years passed by, the teachings of Buddha travelled from China to the neighboring countries including Japan and Korea. In Tibet, a series of events unfolded, which led to the Buddhist monastery, Samye to be built in 815 B C (Buddist Tourism, 2007). This marked the first dissemination of Buddhism in Tibet which lasted till 836 B C, when the then Tibet King was assassinated. Apart from these countries, Buddhism also spread across to the Western and European countries due to the efforts of leaders including the Dalai Lama, Sogyal Rinpoche, Thich Nhat Hanh and others. This religion is followed and respected across the world and is one which will always have a strong impact on the people across the world. The teachings of this religion provides for people to know the importance of the real things in life rather than living in a world which is full of people ready to cheat, lie and be misled by the worldly pleasures. Bibliography Boeree, C., G., 1999, ‘The History of Buddhism’, Accessed on 25th May 2009, Retrieved from http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/buddhahist.html Buddist Tourism, 2007, ‘Lord Gautham Buddha and His Life’, Accessed on 22nd May 2009, Retrieved from http://www.buddhist-tourism.com/buddhism-information/lord-gautam-buddha.html Chodron, T., 2001, ‘Buddhism for Beginners’, 25th February 2001, Snow Lion Publications Chopra, D., 2008, ‘Buddha: A Story of Enlightenment’, 26th February 2008, Harper One Publishers Das, L.S., 1998, ‘Awakening the Buddha Within: Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World’, 15th June 1998, Doubleday Religion Publishers Hanh, T.N., 1999, ‘The Heart of Buddha’s Teachings’, 8th June 1999, Broadway Publishers Katinka, 2009, ‘History of Buddha and Buddhism’, Accessed on 30th May 2009, retrieved from http://www.katinkahesselink.net/tibet/his.html Tezuka, O., 2006, ‘Buddha, Vol. 2: The Four Encounters’, 11th July 2006, Vertical Publishers Read More