Gautama Siddhartha Gautama Siddhartha (623-544 BC) - founder of Buddhism. He was the son of a king from North India. One day, Prince Gautama left the palace and saw in the world a sick old man, a beggar and a dead man. Shocked, he decided to give up his wealthy life. For several years he lived in poverty. When Gautama was once sitting at the Bodhi tree in the village of Uruvela, enlightenment suddenly descended on him: he learned the secret of suffering. Gautama died without considering himself God. But after his death they began to worship him. The new religion began to be called Buddhism (from the Sanskrit word buddha, which means enlightened one).
Historical Dictionary. 2000 .
See what “Gautama Siddhartha” is in other dictionaries:
Gautama Siddhartha- (. BC) founder of Buddhism. He was the son of a king from North India. One day, Prince Gautama left the palace and saw in the world a sick old man, a beggar and a dead man. Shocked, he decided to give up his wealthy life. For several years he lived in poverty... Encyclopedic Dictionary"World History"
Gautama, Gotama: Buddha Gautama Siddhartha Gautama, Buddha, founder of Buddhism (VI-V centuries BC). Akshapada Gautama Indian philosopher of the 2nd century BC. e., founder of Nyaya philosophy. Gautama in... ... Wikipedia
BUDDHA (6-5 centuries BC) Life of Buddha. The founder of Buddhism is Buddha (Enlightened One). At birth, Buddha was given the name Siddhartha, and the name of his clan or family was Gautama. The biography of Siddhartha Gautama is known only as presented by his followers. These… … Collier's Encyclopedia
Siddhartha. Indian poetry Genre: novel Author: Hermann Hesse Publication: 1922 “Siddhartha. Indian Poetry,” an allegorical novel by Hermann Hesse, was first published by the Berlin publishing house S. Fischer Verlag in 1922 ... Wikipedia
- (Siddhartha) name of the founder of Buddhism. More often he is called Buddha (“Awakened One”), Gautama (Gotama after one of the clans of the Shakya tribe, to which he belonged) or Shakya Muni “Sage from the Shakya tribe.” It is conventionally considered that he was born... Literary encyclopedia
This term has other meanings, see Siddhartha. Siddhartha. Indian poetry Genre: novel
- ... Wikipedia
SIDDHARTHA GAUTAMA- see Buddha... Atheist Dictionary
Siddhartha Gautama Date of Birth: Around 563 BC or 623 BC Place of birth: Lumbini, now in Nepal... Wikipedia
- (Lumbini), locality in the south of Nepal (see NEPAL), near the border with India (see INDIA), 250 km southwest of Kathmandu (see KATHMANDU). It is believed that it was here in 623 BC. e. the founder of Buddhism (see BUDDHISM) Prince Gautama was born... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary
Books
- Fable. Monology at twelve, Moshchuk Igor. What genre should we classify as a conversation between two not entirely sober young people spending a Sunday night in an ordinary St. Petersburg apartment talking about love, God, creativity and friendship? Yes, if besides...
- Life of Buddha, Butromeev Vladimir Petrovich. Founder of Buddhism - real historical figure. In any case, this is what most scientists working on the history of this religion think, based on written documents that have survived to this day...
SIDDHARTHA GAUTAMA
The name and face were born from knowledge,
As a grain grows into a sprout and into a leaf,
Knowledge comes from the name and face,
These two become one;
Some incidental reason
The name gives birth, and with it the face;
And with another incidental reason
A name with a face leads to knowledge...
Ashvaghosha. Life of Buddha
Factual and legendary biography of Buddha. - “The Life of Buddha” by Ashvaghosa. - Dream of Queen Maya. - Vishnu and Buddha Shakyamuni. - Childhood and youth of Siddhartha. - Leaving the palace. - Meditation under the Bodhi tree. - Temptations of Mary. - Finding enlightenment. - First sermon. - Spreading the Dharma. - Nirvana of Buddha. - Buddha and buddhas.
“First of all, Buddhism is a teaching about a person, a person shrouded in legend... Buddhism is a teaching about a person who acquired absolute wisdom without any Divine revelation, through his own reflections. In this regard, Buddhism clearly differs from Christianity, the teaching of which was also created by man, but by the God-man, called to convey Divine revelation. Buddhism also differs from Islam, whose Prophet, Muhammad, was a man chosen by God to convey the revelation of the Qur'an."
These words of the French religious scholar Michel Malherbe are the best fit as an epigraph to the biography of Siddhartha Gautama - “a figure shrouded in legend,” a royal son whose historical existence is not in doubt, and a man who transformed the world.
However, when it comes to the actual biography of the Buddha, it must be remembered that although the historical existence of this person is not in doubt, real facts his biographies are nothing more than essentially metaphysical speculation. As E. A. Torchinov rightly noted, “at present it is completely impossible to reconstruct scientific biography Buddha. Simply cutting off mythological subjects and elements of a folklore character is completely ineffective, and there is no material for genuine biographical reconstruction. modern science clearly not enough. Therefore, we will not even try to engage in this hopeless task and will present not a biography, but a completely traditional biography of the Buddha based on a synthesis of a number of Buddhist hagiographic texts (such as “The Life of the Buddha” by Ashvaghosa or the Mahayana “Lalitavistara”).”
Buddha with an alms bowl. Bas-relief on the stupa. Maharashatra, India (2nd century).
The legendary biography of Siddhartha Gautama is much more extensive and replete with colorful details. According to it, Buddha, before being born as Siddhartha, experienced hundreds of rebirths, performing virtuous deeds and gradually approaching the state of a sage, capable of breaking the chain of deaths and births. Thanks to his virtue, he achieved the state of a bodhisattva (for more information about bodhisattvas, see the chapter on the Mahayana) and resided in the Tushita heaven, from where he surveyed the earth, choosing a place for his last birth: as a bodhisattva, he could already choose. His choice was the kingdom of the Shakya people in northeastern India (today the territory of Nepal), ruled by the wise king Shuddhodhana; the bodhisattva decided that when he began to preach, the words of his son would be so ancient family people will listen sooner than to the words of a peasant son.
Ashvaghosha describes the legend of the birth of Buddha as follows: the bodhisattva miraculously “materialized” in an embryo that matured in the body of the king’s wife, Maya.
The spirit descended and entered her womb,
Having touched the one whose face is the Queen of Heaven,
Mother, mother, but free from torment,
Maya, free from delusions...
And then Queen Maya felt
That the hour has come to give birth to her child.
Lying calmly on a beautiful bed,
She waited with trust, and around
One hundred thousand female employees stood.
It was the fourth month and the eighth day,
Quiet hour, pleasant time.
While she was in the midst of prayers
And in observing the rules of abstinence,
A bodhisattva was born from her,
Through the right side, for the deliverance of the world,
Motivated by great compassion,
Without causing the mother pain.
From the right side he emerged;
Gradually coming from the womb,
He streamed rays in all directions.
Like one who is born from space,
And not through the gates of this life,
Through an uncountable series of cycles,
Carrying out virtue with oneself,
He entered life on his own,
Without a shadow of the usual embarrassment.
Concentrated in yourself, not rushing,
Decorated impeccably, popping out
Brilliantly, he radiates light,
Arose from the womb as the sun rises.
Straight and slender, not shaky in mind,
Consciously he took seven steps,
And on the ground, while he walked so straight,
Exactly those traces were imprinted,
They remained like seven brilliant stars.
Walking like the king of beasts, a mighty lion,
Looking in all four directions
The gaze is directed towards the center of truth,
He said this and spoke authentically:
“Born this way, Buddha was born here.
For this reason, there are no more new births.
Now I was born only this time,
To save the whole world with my birth.”
And here from the center of Heaven
Two currents of clear water descended,
One was warm, the other was cold,
They refreshed his whole body
And they consecrated his head.
First of all, in this description, attention is drawn to the serenity with which Queen Maya awaits childbirth, her detachment - and the painlessness of the very process of giving birth to a child; Thus, from the first moment of his earthly incarnation, Buddha makes it clear that he truly came to save the world from suffering.
There is a widely known legend about a vision that visited the queen on the eve of the birth of Buddha: Maya dreamed that a white elephant with six tusks entered her side. According to another version, the elephant did not enter the queen’s side, but pointed with its tusks at a shining star in the sky. The English poet Edwin Arnold, the author of the hagiographic poem “The Light of Asia”, based on “Lalitavistar”, conveys this legend as follows:
Maya's dream. Bas-relief from Amaravati.
“That night, Queen Maya, the wife of King Shuddhodana, who shared his bed, saw a wondrous dream. She dreamed of a star in the sky, shining with six rays in a pink radiance. An elephant with six tusks, white as milk, pointed out to her that star. And that star, flying through the airspace, filling it with its light, penetrated into its depths.
Having awakened, the queen felt bliss unknown to earthly mothers. The gentle light drove away the darkness of night from half the earth; the mighty mountains trembled, the waves subsided, the flowers that open only during the day bloomed as if at noon. The queen’s joy penetrated to the deepest caves, like a warm ray of sunshine trembling in the golden darkness of the forests; a quiet whisper reached the very depths of the earth: “O you who have died, waiting for a new life, you who are living, must die, arise, listen and hope: Buddha was born!“
And from these words, unspeakable peace spread everywhere, and the heart of the universe began to beat, and a wonderfully cool wind flew over the lands and seas.
When the next morning the queen spoke about her vision, the gray-haired dream interpreters announced: “The dream is good: the constellation Cancer is now in conjunction with the sun: the queen, for the benefit of humanity, will give birth to a son, a holy child of amazing wisdom: he will either give people the light of knowledge, or will rule the world, if he doesn’t despise the authorities.”
Thus the holy Buddha was born.”
In the ancient Indian tradition, from which Buddhism took a lot, the elephant was considered a riding animal (vahanoi) thunder god Indra; this god patronized warriors, kings and royal power, and therefore personified power and greatness. Therefore, the sages interpreted Maya’s dream as a harbinger of the birth of a great man (in Buddhism, the elephant acquired the meaning of a symbol of spiritual knowledge).
In the description of Ashvaghoshi, attention is drawn to the mention of the seven steps that the Buddha took after birth. It is quite possible that this is a Buddhist “reinterpretation” of the mythological story about the three steps of the god Vishnu. According to the Rigveda, a collection of ancient Indian religious hymns, Vishnu was the creator god and with his three steps he measured (that is, created) all earthly spheres:
Here Vishnu is glorified for his heroic strength,
Terrible, like a beast roaming (unknown) where, living in the mountains,
In three steps of which
All creatures live.
Let (this) hymn-prayer go to Vishnu,
To the far-walking bull who settled in the mountains,
Which is a vast, sprawling common dwelling
I measured one in three steps.
(He is the one) whose three traces, full of honey,
Inexhaustible, intoxicated according to their custom,
Who is the triune of heaven and earth
One supported...
Just as the three steps of Vishnu create the ancient Indian world, so the seven steps of the baby Buddha create and organize the Buddhist universe, a space in which from now on everything is subordinated to the great goal - deliverance from suffering. To a certain extent, Buddha repeats the act of Vishnu, but he also surpasses his “predecessor”, since he takes seven steps: three steps of Vishnu create three spheres of existence - heaven, earth and the underworld, and seven steps of Buddha are the creation of seven heavenly spheres, personifying spiritual development, ascension above the earthly, going beyond the “vale of suffering.”
There are other parallels between Vishnu and the legendary Buddha. This is especially true of the “late” Vishnu, whose image is depicted in the Brahmanas and Puranas. In the Brahmanas, Vishnu gradually acquires the status of the supreme deity, which receives final design in the Puranas, especially in the Vishnu Purana, where, for example, it is said: “He who pleases Vishnu gains all earthly joys, a place in heaven and, best, final release(emphasis added - Ed.). Yama, the king of the dead, pronounces the following words in the same Purana: I am the lord of all people except the Vaishnavites. I was appointed by Brahma to curb people and balance good and evil. But he who worships Hari (Vishnu. - Ed.), is beyond my control. One who worships the lotus feet of Hari with his holy knowledge becomes freed from the burden of sins.” Like the “many-faced” Buddha, who was reborn many times (according to legend, before his last incarnation, Buddha was born 550 times - 83 times as a saint, 58 times as a king, 24 times as a monk, 18 times as a monkey, 13 times as a merchant, 12 times as a chicken, 8 times as a goose, 6 times an elephant, as well as a fish, a rat, a carpenter, a blacksmith, a frog, a hare, etc.), Vishnu has many hypostases, not counting avatar, about which below. There is a section in the Mahabharata called “Hymn to the Thousand Names of Vishnu”; each name of a deity means one or another incarnation of it.
Buddhist motifs can also be heard in the well-known myth about the sage Markandeya, who for many thousands of years indulged in pious meditations, performed sacrifices and ascetic deeds, and as a reward wished to know the secret of the origin of the universe. His wish was instantly fulfilled: he found himself at the primordial waters, stretching as far as the eye could see; on these waters slept a man, whose huge body shone with its own light and illuminated the darkness. Markandeya recognized Vishnu and approached him, but at that moment the sleeper opened his mouth to take a breath and swallowed the sage. He found himself in the visible world, with mountains, forests and rivers, with cities and villages, and decided that everything he had seen before was a dream. Markandeya wandered for several more thousand years and walked around the entire universe, but never learned the secret of its origin. And one day he fell asleep and again found himself at the primordial waters, where he saw in front of him a boy sleeping on a banyan tree branch; a dazzling radiance emanated from the boy. Having awakened, the boy revealed to Markandeya that he was Vishnu and that the entire universe is a manifestation of the deity: “O Markandeya, from me comes everything that was, is and will be. Obey my eternal laws and roam the universe contained in my body. All gods, all holy sages and all living beings reside within me. I am the one by whom the world manifests itself, but whose maya (illusoryness of being. - Ed.) remains unmanifested and incomprehensible."
As for the avatars of Vishnu, that is, the incarnations of God in people, the most important of them are ten, including Krishna; The ninth of these avatars in Vaishnavism is considered to be Buddha. It is obvious that this avatar of the deity is a kind of artificial phenomenon, a forced introduction into the pantheon of the head of another religion, which could not be ignored. In the Buddha avatar, Vishnu spreads “heretical” teachings among those who deny the Vedic deities. The Puranas speak about the essence of this teaching as follows: “In the form of Buddha, Vishnu taught that the universe has no creator, therefore the statement about the existence of a single universal supreme spirit is incorrect, since Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and all the others are only names of carnal beings similar to us. Death is a peaceful sleep, why be afraid of it?.. He also taught that pleasure is the only heaven, and pain is the only hell, and bliss lies in liberation from ignorance. Sacrifices are meaningless." Of course, this Vaishnava presentation of Buddhist doctrine is largely true, however, as the English researcher P. Thomas rightly noted, the Buddha was never a hedonist.
It would hardly be an exaggeration to say that Vaishnavism, as a religious and philosophical “offshoot” of Hinduism, borrowed a lot from Buddhist teachings, and the latter owes no less to the ancient Indian tradition, embodied in the Vedas and developed in the Brahmanas, Puranas and sermons of ascetic shramans.
But let's return to the legendary biography of Buddha. The king’s court sage predicted a great future for the newborn, having discovered “thirty-two signs of a great man” on the boy’s body. In Lalitavistar these signs (lakshana) are listed in detail, Ashvaghosha mentions the most important of them:
Such a body, with a golden color,
Only a teacher given by Heaven has.
Will achieve enlightenment completely,
Who is endowed with such signs?
And if he wants to be in the worldly,
He will remain a global autocrat...
Having seen the prince, on the soles of his feet
Those children's feet seeing the wheel (the wheel of Dharma. - Ed.),
The line is revealed a thousandfold,
Seeing a white sickle between the eyebrows,
Fiber tissue between the fingers
And, as happens with a horse,
The hiddenness of those parts that are very secret,
Seeing the complexion and shine of the skin,
The wise man cried and sighed deeply.
Buddha is the ninth avatar of Vishnu. Indian miniature.
After this prophecy, the baby was given the name Siddhartha Gautama, that is, “He who has completely achieved the goal, from the race of Gautama”; Meanwhile, the court sage, according to Ashvaghosa, warned the king:
Your son - he will rule the whole world,
Having been born, he completed the circle of births,
Coming here in the name of all living.
He will renounce his kingdom,
He will escape from five wishes,
He will choose a harsh lifestyle
And he will grasp the truth when he awakens.
Therefore, in the name of all who have the flame of life,
He will crush the barriers of ignorance,
He will destroy the obstacles of the darkness of the blind
And the sun of true wisdom will burn.
All the flesh that drowned in the sea of sorrow,
Piling up in the boundless abyss,
All ailments that foam, bubble,
Old age, damage like a breaker,
And death, like an ocean that embraces everything, -
Having connected, he is a shuttle in wisdom,
In his boat, he will load everything fearlessly
And he will save the world from all dangers,
Having thrown away the boiling current with a wise word.
Shuddhodhana saw in his son’s dreams a great chakravartin king, and not a hermit destroying “the obstacles of the darkness of the blind,” so he settled Siddhartha in a luxurious palace, fenced off from the outside world, in abundance and bliss, so that the boy would never know pain and suffering and I would have no reason to think about life at all. In such an environment, the prince grew up, got married on time, and had a son; nothing foreshadowed the radical change that happened when Siddhartha turned twenty-nine.
As befitted an aristocrat, Siddhartha went hunting, and along the way he had four encounters that completely changed the prince’s view of the world: he saw funeral procession(and realized: all people are mortal, including himself), leper(and realized that the disease can affect anyone, regardless of titles and wealth), beggar(and guessed that earthly blessings are fleeting) and a sage immersed in contemplation(this sight made the prince understand that self-knowledge and self-deepening are the only road leading to deliverance from suffering). According to a later legend, these meetings were sent down to Siddhartha by the gods, who themselves inhabit the wheel of suffering and rebirth and long for liberation.
Siddhartha leaves Kapilavastu.
These meetings forced Siddhartha to break with his previous way of life: he could no longer stay in his luxurious palace and one night he left the palace boundaries and, at the border of his domain, cut off his “honey-colored” hair as a sign of renunciation of worldly joys.
For six years, the former prince wandered through the forests, indulging in asceticism (according to in my own words Gautama, he reached such a degree of exhaustion that, touching his stomach, he could feel his spine with his finger), he joined the followers of various sramana preachers, but neither sermons nor ascetic deeds brought him closer to comprehending the truth. He decided to abandon asceticism and accepted rice porridge with milk from a peasant woman from a nearby village, after which five ascetics (bhikkhus), who practiced with Siddhartha, considered him an apostate and left, leaving Gautama in all alone. He sat down under a banyan tree - which in the Buddhist tradition is called the Tree of Enlightenment (Bodhi)- and plunged into contemplation with the firm intention not to get up until he gained enlightenment.
In Ashvaghosa we read:
There were celestial Nagas
The joys are full of life.
The wind has moved,
It only blew softly,
The grass stalks did not tremble,
The sheets were motionless.
The animals watched silently,
Their gaze was filled with miracles,
These were all signs
That enlightenment will come.
Strong Rishi, kind of Rishi,
Sitting firmly under the Bodhi tree,
I swore an oath - to the full will
The perfect path to break through.
Spirits, Nagas, Hosts of Heaven
They were filled with delight.
The immersion in himself was so deep that Siddhartha came very close to enlightenment - and then the evil spirit Mara, who from the beginning of the world had created obstacles for bodhisattvas seeking to find the highest truth, tried to stop him. The poem “Light of the East” says: “But he who is the king of darkness - Mara, knowing that Buddha, the redeemer, had come, that the hour had come when he must reveal the truth and save the worlds, gathered all those under his control evil forces. They flew from deep abysses, they are these enemies of knowledge and light - Arati, Tripsha, Raga, with their army of passions, fears, ignorance, lusts - with all the spawn of darkness and horror; they all hated Buddha, they all wanted to confuse his soul. No one, not even the wisest of the wise, knows how the fiends of hell fought that night just to prevent Buddha from revealing the truth. They either sent a terrible storm, shaking the air with menacing peals of thunder, then from the cleft of the sky they showered the earth with red arrows of rage, then, insidiously whispering sweet-sounding speeches, they took on images of enchanting beauty that appeared among the enchanting rustle of leaves in a quiet breeze, then they captivated with voluptuous singing, whispers of love , now tempted by the lure of royal power, now confused with mocking doubt, proving the futility of the truth. Whether they were visible, whether they took on an external form, or maybe the Buddha fought with hostile spirits in the depths of his heart - I don’t know, I’m rewriting what is written in ancient books, and that’s all.” Siddhartha was not frightened by the demonic hordes of Mara and was not seduced by the charms of the daughters of the evil deity, one of whom even took the form of the wife recently abandoned by the former prince. On the 49th day of his stay under the Bodhi tree, Siddhartha comprehended the Four Noble Truths, saw the essence of samsara and managed to achieve nirvana; at that moment Siddhartha Gautama disappeared - and Buddha, that is, the Awakened One, the Enlightened One, finally came into the world. As “The Light of the East” says: “In the third watch, when the legions of hell were flying away, a gentle wind rushed from the setting moon, and our teacher, he saw, by a light inaccessible to our human senses, the series of all his long-past existences in all the worlds; plunging further and further into the depths of time, he saw five hundred and fifty separate existences. As a man who has reached the top of a mountain sees the entire path he has traversed, meandering past precipices and rocks through densely overgrown forests, through swamps shining with deceptive greenery, over hills that he climbed breathlessly, along steep slopes on which his foot slipped, past sunlit plains, waterfalls, caves and lakes all the way to that gloomy plain from where his path to the heavenly heights began; so Buddha saw a long staircase human lives from the first steps, on which existence is unchangeable, to the highest and highest, on which sit the ten great virtues that facilitate the path to heaven.
Buddha also saw how new life reaps what was sown by the old one, as its flow begins where the flow of the other ends, it uses all the acquisitions, is responsible for all the losses of the previous one; he saw that in every life, good gives birth to new good, evil - new evil, and death sums everything up, and the most accurate account of advantages and disadvantages is kept, not a single given is forgotten, everything is transmitted faithfully and correctly to the newly emerging life, which inherits all the past thoughts and actions, all the fruits of struggle and victory, all the features and memories of previous existences.
In the middle watch, our teacher achieved broad insight into areas that lie outside our sphere, into spheres that have no names, into countless systems of worlds and suns, moving with amazing regularity, myriads upon myriads, united in groups, in each of which the luminary is independent whole and at the same time part of the whole... He saw all this in clear images, cycles and epicycles - the whole series of kalpas and mahakalpas - the limits of time, which no person can grasp with his mind, even if he could count drops of Ganges water from its origins to the sea; all this is elusive to the word - how their increase and decrease occurs; how each of the heavenly travelers completes his radiant existence and plunges into the darkness of non-existence.
And when the fourth watch came, he learned the secret of suffering, together with evil, perverting the law, like steam that does not allow the blacksmith’s fire to flare up.
The first rays of dawn illuminated the victory of Buddha! The first lights came on in the east have a bright day, breaking through the dark covers of the night. And all the birds sang. So magical was the breath of this great dawn, which appeared along with the victory, that an unknown peace spread everywhere, near and far, in all the dwellings of people. The killer hid his knife; the robber gave back the loot; the money changer counted out the money without deception; All evil hearts became kind when the ray of this divine dawn touched the earth. The kings, who had waged a fierce war, made peace; the sick rose cheerfully from their sickbeds; the dying smiled, as if they knew that the joyful morning had spread from a source of light that shone beyond the easternmost borders of the earth. The spirit of our teacher rested on men, birds and beasts, although he himself sat under the Bodhi tree, glorified by the victory won for the benefit of all, illuminated by a light brighter than the light of the sun.
Finally he stood up, radiant, joyful, powerful, and, raising his voice, said in the hearing of all times and worlds:
Many abodes of life held me back, constantly searching for the one who erected these prisons of sensuality and sorrow. My tireless struggle was hard! But now, O builder of these abodes, I know you! You will never again be able to erect these shelters of suffering, you will never be able to once again strengthen the arches of deception, you will never be able to put new pillars on dilapidated foundations! Your home has been destroyed and its roof has been swept away! Seduction raised them up! I emerge unharmed, having found salvation.”
Buddha and the army of Mara. Indian bas-relief.
Having achieved enlightenment, the Buddha spent another seven days under the Bodhi tree, during which he enjoyed his newfound state. Evil spirit Mara tried to seduce him for the last time: he offered to stay under the tree forever, basking in bliss, and not divulge the truth to other people. However, Buddha adamantly rejected this temptation and moved to the nearby city of Varanasi (Benares), one of the most important religious centers in India.
It is curious that, according to Ashvaghosa, the Buddha decided to preach not entirely on his own, but also at the request of the supreme deity Brahma:
Joyfully the great Brahma stood up
And, clenching your palms in front of Buddha,
This is how he made his petition:
“How great is the happiness in the whole world,
If with someone who is dark and not wise,
I will meet such a beloved teacher,
Illuminate the confusing swamp!
The oppression of suffering yearns for relief,
Sadness, which is easier, also waits for an hour.
King of people, you have come from births,
He escaped countless deaths.
And now we beg you:
You save others from these abysses,
Having received shiny booty,
Give a share to others who live here.
In a world where everyone is inclined towards self-interest
And they don’t want to share the good,
You are filled with heartfelt pity
To those others who are burdened here.”
Buddha, having heard that call,
I rejoiced and became stronger in my plans...
In Sarnath - Deer Park Varanasi - Buddha delivered his first sermon, and the first listeners were the same five ascetics who had once abandoned the “apostate” Gautama. These five became the first disciples of the Buddha and the first Buddhist monks. Two gazelles also listened to Buddha, so subsequently images of these animals began to symbolize Buddhist preaching and Buddhism in general. In his sermon, the Buddha spoke about the Four Noble Truths and the turning of the Wheel of Learning (Dharma). On this day, Buddhists found the famous Three Jewels (Triratna) - the Buddha himself, the teaching (Dharma) and monastic community (sangha).
According to Ashvaghosha, the Buddha concluded to his disciples:
Shores of another
You have reached by crossing the stream.
Done, what was waiting to be done.
Accept mercy from others
Going through all the regions and countries,
Convert everyone in your path.
In a world that we burn with sorrow everywhere,
Scatter teachings everywhere,
Show the way to those who walk blindly,
Let pity be your torch.
For forty-five years, Buddha and his disciples preached a new teaching in the principalities of India. The number of Buddha's followers eventually reached 500 people, among whom stood out his favorite disciples - Ananda, Mahakashyapa, Mahamaudgalyayana, Subhuti; His cousin Devadatta also joined the Buddha's disciples. However, the latter’s faith turned out to be a pretense: in fact, he first tried to destroy the Buddha, and then, when these attempts failed, he decided to destroy the religion from the inside, proving that the Buddha himself was violating the commandments of the Sangha. But Devadatta’s intrigues were discovered, and he was expelled from the community in disgrace (and in the Jatakas there are many legends about how Devadatta sought to harm the Buddha in past lives).
Buddha's wanderings once brought him to the lands of the Shakyas, where the former prince was joyfully greeted by relatives and former subjects. He found many followers among the Shakyas, and King Shuddhodana took an oath from him that he would never accept the only son in the family into the community without the consent of his parents (this oath is still observed in Buddhist countries).
When Buddha (more precisely, his earthly incarnation) reached eighty years of age, he decided to leave this world and go to the final nirvana (paranirvana). He explained this decision to his disciple Ananda as follows:
Ananda is one of the Buddha's first disciples.
Everything that is alive knows death.
There is liberation in me
I showed you all the way,
Whoever plans it will achieve it, -
Why should I save my body?
An excellent Law has been given to you,
It will last for centuries.
I made up my mind. My gaze looks.
This is it all.
In the stormy current of this life
Having chosen the focus,
Keep your mind strong
Raise your island.
Bones, skin, blood and sinews,
Don't think of it as "I"
This is the fluency of sensations,
Bubbles in boiling waters.
And, realizing that at birth
Only sorrow, like death, is sorrow,
Cling only to Nirvana,
To the Serenity of the Soul.
This body, the body of Buddha,
Also knows his limit.
There is one universal law,
Exceptions - no one.
The Buddha chose the place of Kushinagara, not far from Varanasi, as his place of departure. Having said goodbye to the students, he lay down in the lion pose (on his right side, head to the south and face to the east, right hand under his head) and plunged into contemplation. When the Buddha's breath had departed, the disciples cremated the body according to custom; legend says that one of the students pulled out a Buddha tooth from a fire - the greatest shrine of Buddhism, kept in India for eight centuries, and later transported to the island of Sri Lanka. Now this tooth is kept in the temple of the Sri Lankan city of Kandy.
When the funeral pyre went out, they were found in the ashes sharira- “balls of flesh” that proved the holiness of Buddha. These sharira were divided among the eight best disciples of the Buddha, and over time, special cult repositories were built for them - stupas. According to E. A. Torchinov, “these stupas became, as it were, the predecessors of Chinese pagodas and Tibetan chortens (Mongolian suburgans). It must also be said that Buddhist stupas are among the earliest architectural monuments of India (in general, all the earliest monuments of Indian architecture are Buddhist). The walled stupa at Sanchi has survived to this day. According to legend, there were one hundred and eight such stupas (a sacred number in India).”
Offering to the Bodhi tree. Relief of the Sanchi stupa.
This is how it ended earthly life the legendary Buddha - and thus began the spread of Buddhism. At the same time, the legend about the Buddha itself, of course, became richer over the years and spread literally all over the world: it even reached Byzantium - naturally, all the names were subject to inevitable distortion - where it became known as the legend about Prince Jehoshaphat (that is, the Bodhisattva) and his father his Avenir. Moreover, under the name Jehoshaphat Buddha Shakyamuni was canonized byzantine church- and found himself included in the Orthodox calendar!
In its “filling”, a significant role was played not only by rumor and sharira relics, but also by the texts of the sutras, which were also placed in stupas and revered as records of the original words of the Buddha: the sutras represented, with such perception, the essence of the Buddha’s teachings, the Dharma, and since Dharma is the essence of the Buddha, thus the sutras became a kind of “spiritual relics” of the Enlightened One. And later, as the number of adherents grew new religion and dedications to the Teacher who had achieved paranirvana became more and more diverse, his sculptural and pictorial images began to appear. Initially, the memory of the Buddha was visually embodied in symbolic objects - steps, thrones, trees, images of the wheel of Dharma, etc. With the advent of the first sculptural and pictorial portraits - there are still discussions about where and when exactly this happened - the legend received “visual reinforcement” (and rumor, of course, began to claim that the earliest of these images were lifetime ones) . There is a known case in which a sandalwood statue of King Udrayana, mistakenly believed to be an image of the Buddha, was credited with the ability to “replace” the Buddha while he was in heaven preaching the Dharma to his mother and the heavenly deities. According to contemporary American Buddhist scholar John Strong, "such portraits were apparently seen as temporary substitutes for the Buddha in the latter's absence and were considered to be somehow alive."
Worshiping the Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya.
If we agree with a fairly common point of view (going back to the Mahayana) that Shakyamuni Buddha is only one of the innumerable number of Buddhas living in different worlds and at different intervals, it turns out that the reverence with which the figure of the former prince Siddhartha Gautama is surrounded is incomprehensible. But if you remember that he was a Teacher - he not only discovered the Path, but also explained how to use it - then the veneration becomes understandable. Unlike many other Buddhas - for example, Amitabha, Vairochana or the Buddha of the future Maitreya - Shakyamuni taught, and it is not surprising therefore that only for him alone the epithet “Buddha” is a proper name.
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From the author's book] (621 – 543 BC)
Great sage from India. Founder of Buddhism
Place and time of birth. Family. Legends. Place of birth - northern India, the Himalayan principality of Nepal with the capital Kapilavastu. Time of birth: an urn was found with the ashes of Buddha and the dates on it: 621 – 543 BC. e, according to which Buddha lived 78 years. Oral traditions say that he lived for 100 years and taught for 78. Gotama was born in the first days of May, on the full moon. His parents are from the Shakya royal family: father Shuddhodan and mother Maya. Full name prince: Gotama (victorious) Shakya-muni (Shakya is a family name, muni is powerful in mercy, solitude and silence) Prince Kapilavastu Siddhartha (who has fulfilled his purpose).
Buddha is not a name. It means the state of consciousness of one who has comprehended the Truth and mastered the supreme Wisdom. “Buddha in exact translation means illuminated” (Letters of E. Roerich. T. 1, p. 447).
The name of Buddha, like other Great Sages, is surrounded by legends. One of the legends tells that Buddha chose Maya as his mother as the purest of women and entered her body in the form of a wonderful white elephant. Image of a white elephant Indian legends- symbol of the birth of the divine Avatar of Vishnu (Avatar - Divine Incarnation). Another legend tells that the great Rishi Atisha, a hermit who lived in the Himalayas, came to greet the newborn Bodhisattva (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 withdraw from the world after seeing four signs - the old man, the sick, the dead and the hermit - that he would eventually become a Buddha.
Prince Siddhartha was raised as heir to the throne. He enjoyed all the joys that come from beauty, health, power, and wealth. Having 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.
Life milestones. At the age of 24 (according to other sources - at the age of 29), the prince left the palace and went to wander the world. He followed the path of the purest life, deep reflection, and colossal mental effort. At that time in India, many were concerned about spiritual quests. Hundreds of people, old and young, left their homes for the sake of 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, with methods of contemplation and control of his body, but from no one he found the highest truth that would grant deliverance from suffering. For several years he lived as ascetics usually lived, wandering through the forests, walking from one village to another, eating alms. These were years of severe asceticism. He subjected himself to the most severe trials in order to achieve enlightenment and find the Supreme Truth. He did not protect himself from the scorching sun, from rain, from insects. He refused even the minimum amount of food until he lost consciousness. Convinced from experience that asceticism has no value, Gotama defined it as a false path, which aroused hostility from the ascetics.
Like other great ascetics, Buddha, according to legend, was subjected to terrible temptations, with which the prince of demons, the spirit of evil 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, daughters of Mara, tried to captivate Gotama with voluptuous movements and promises. The head of the demons himself promised Buddha all the kingdoms of the earth and their glory if he gave up the search for wisdom. Having won victory over temptations, Sakya Muni achieved supreme wisdom and enlightenment. At Bodhi Gaya, in a sacred grove on the bank of a river, in a place called Uruvella, the Supreme Insight, which he has been extracting for so long. At the age of 29, he acquired perfect Knowledge and True Wisdom, becoming a Buddha. The thought became pure and rushed towards the work that he had to do.
Buddhist legends also speak of the Teacher's journey beyond India - to Tibet, Khotan, and Altai. Ancient legends talk about the great hidden journey of Buddha along the roads of Asia, about his visit to the White Mountain (Belukha) in Altai. There is evidence in the sacred books that before preaching in Benares, the Buddha comprehended the secrets of wisdom in the Himalayan Abode.
Your first famous sermon Buddha spoke about the fundamental principles of his teaching in a park near Benares. Soon a community formed around him and grew rapidly. Everyone was accepted into the community - without distinction of caste, gender or property status. Entry and exit were free. The visitor only expressed his readiness to serve the teachings of the Buddha. If the person who had left returned, he was asked only one question: “Don’t you deny it?” By driving out denial, the teaching did not enslave anyone. There were few rules, and they were aimed at protecting the independence of students. Buddha wanted life in the community to be joyful. The training began with the cleansing of the heart and consciousness from prejudices and bad qualities. Students were required to have moral purity and renunciation of personal property. “The sense of ownership is measured not by things, but by thoughts. You can have things and not be the owner.” The Buddha advised having fewer things so as not to spend a lot of time on them.
Families also came to the community. The indispensable condition was to have one wife and be faithful to her. Buddha tried to avoid prohibitions. There was no ban on those who wanted to eat meat. There was a ban on alcohol.
Buddha commanded to refrain from everything negative and promote everything beautiful. “I teach, Sinha, to perform 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 bring evil.” His goal was the growth and development of the souls of his students. Buddha sought to make friends with his students and create the best conditions for them to achieve higher knowledge. When the student mastered his feelings, abandoning everything personal, the Teacher gave him a task and admitted him to the depths of knowledge. The Buddha sought to educate workers for the common good, creators of a new consciousness and heralds of the community, ready to carry the 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 hometown, his meeting with his father, his wife, and his conversion. sibling and son into the new Teaching, as well as about many new conversions of kings and mere mortals, rich and poor.
At the age of 80, Buddha achieved Nirvana and was therefore considered dead to the world of the living. In fact, Buddha lived 100 years. He completed his teaching in Kushinagar. The remains of the Buddha were burned.
Inner Image of Buddha.“There has never been such a great religious reform that was not pure in the beginning. The first followers of Buddha, like the disciples of Jesus, were all human the highest morality"(Raz. Isis. T. 2, p. 282).
“I do not hesitate to say,” Bartolomeo Saint-Hilaire notes in turn, “that with the sole exception of Christ, among the founders of religions there is no figure purer or more moving 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 those virtues that he preaches; his self-denial, his mercy, his unfailing complacency do not betray 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 unchanging soul, it is constantly changing. Everything in Cosmos is subject to the Law of Causality: neither people nor Gods are exceptions to this universal law. The being who gives rise to 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 teach nothing other than the Law of Karma.” 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. Gautama Buddha gave the world the Teaching of Life, which was designed to teach people to use the Great Truths in everyday life. He taught ethics of life.
The Buddha argued that the source of suffering and all the ills of mankind is the obscurity of consciousness, desire and lust. Ignorance is the greatest evil and crime. He discovered that the way to get rid of suffering lies in the enlightenment of consciousness, in the gradual improvement of oneself. Having opened the path to this Truth, the Buddha divided it into eight correct steps: discrimination based on 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 feelings and achieving the perfections of the Arhat: compassion, morality, patience, courage, concentration and wisdom.
On the path of self-knowledge, a person faces 10 obstacles, or fetters: the illusion of personality, doubt, superstition, bodily passions, hatred, attachment to the Earth, desire for pleasure and tranquility, pride, complacency, ignorance. Only by breaking all these shackles can one gain higher knowledge and achieve liberation - Nirvana. It is not enough to simply acknowledge the teaching. He needs to be followed in life. Everything is achieved only through personal efforts, human hands and feet. "Immortality can only be achieved by constant good deeds; and perfection is achieved only through compassion and mercy.”
Doing good and learning for the sake of achieving immortality is not related to the Noble Path. Nirvana is a symbol of selflessness. “Life must be lived without thought of any rewards or achievements, and such a life is the greatest.” The basis of the Noble Path is moral purity. You can achieve the highest goal - Nirvana - by following the path of virtue.
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 beneficial action, to independently comprehend the Truth, to honor one’s faith and not to blaspheme others, not to deny, to share knowledge with others. He taught fearlessness in thought and action. “Above all else is thought.” “Everything is done by thought.” She does both good and evil. He taught to embrace opposites.
The Buddha taught that teaching should be presented in vernacular, use comparisons, famous stories and legends. His speech convinced by the power of simplicity and clarity.
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 creature.”
Buddha rejects personal worship. “The Teaching saves not because the Buddha gives it, but because it is liberation.” The main principle of the Teaching is to seek the truth yourself. Don't 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 into the future, commanding his disciples to revere him less than the Teacher who would come in the future. History knows 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 rise in the world, the Hidden One, of supreme illumination, endowed with wisdom, happy, containing the entire Universe, the incomparable Leader of the nations... He will proclaim a righteous life, perfect and pure, which I preach now... His name will be “Maitreya.”
Religious treatises of Buddhism (Pratimoksha Sutra, etc.) contain “the following ten commandments. 1. You must not kill any living creature. 2. You shouldn't steal. 3. You must not break your vow of chastity. 4. You shouldn't 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 covet the wealth of others. 8. You must not utter offensive or 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).
Mission. The Great Teacher synthesized the Testaments of all the Teachers of the Common Good who came before him. He rediscovered the Vedas to people. He indicated the goal of Evolution as creative cooperation with Cosmos and Distant Worlds. Buddha is the first community member of the Fifth Race. He was the first scientific community member. He established the idea of the World Community as a worldwide cooperation of peoples: nothing exists without cooperation and mutual assistance. He was the first to talk about the equality of people and spoke out against castes. He was the first in the history of religions to put preaching into action.
The vitality of His Teachings is confirmed by convincing facts. Buddhism did not disgrace itself by instilling faith with fire and sword, and was less subject to distortion than other religions over 27 centuries.
“Near the mysterious Uruvela, the Buddha approaches the simplest expression of all accumulations. And on the banks of Nairnagara he is illuminated with 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. Establishing a scientific approach to religion was a true feat. To expose the selfishness of the priests and brahmanas was the highest fearlessness. It was incredibly difficult to reveal the true levers of human power. It was extraordinarily beautiful for the king to come in the guise of a mighty beggar.
In the awareness of the evolution of humanity, the image of the community Buddha occupies an undeniably beautiful place” (N. Roerich. Altai - Himalayas, p. 68).
“The Great Individuality of the Buddha, His Fiery Ego, clothed with Lucida matter [the subtlest, but still opaque luminous substance], now resides in the spheres surrounding our planet. In view of the terrible hour of Armageddon, one can meet many Fiery Inhabitants in spheres not so distant from the Earth, for the approach of fiery energies makes such an approach possible. From this you can understand how dangerous the time we are living through is, and what Forces are taking part in saving our planet” (Letters of E. Roerich. Vol. 1, p. 447).
") - spiritual teacher, legendary founder of Buddhism, one of the three world religions.
Given a name at birth Siddhattha Gotama(pali) / Siddhartha Gautama(Sanskrit) (Descendant of Gotama, successful in achieving goals), he later became known as Buddha(literally - “Awakened”, Skt.) and A completely perfect buddha(Sammāsambuddha). It is also called: Tathāgata (“thus come/gone”), Bhagavan ("blessed"), Sugata(“walking in good”) Gina("winner"), Lokajyeshtha(“honored by the world”)
Siddhartha Gautama is key figure in Buddhism. Stories about his life, his sayings, dialogues with disciples and monastic covenants were summarized by his followers after his death and formed the basis of the Buddhist canon - “Tipitaka". Buddha is also a character in the pantheon of many dharmic religions, including Hinduism, as well as the Bon (late Bon) religion. In the Middle Ages, in the later Indian Puranas (for example, in the Bhagavata Purana), he was included among the avatars of Vishnu instead of Balarama.
The birthday of Shakyamuni Buddha is traditionally celebrated (in most schools of Buddhism) in the spring - April 5 is a national holiday in the Republic of Kalmykia, Japan, and in Theravada countries - Thailand, Myanmar, Sri Lanka [ ] Buddha's birthday is celebrated on the day of one of the spring full moons, most often falling in the month of May.
Biography
Modern science does not have enough material for a scientific reconstruction of the Buddha’s biography. Therefore, traditionally, the biography of the Buddha is given on the basis of a number of Buddhist texts: suttas (sutras) written in the Pali language, which contain fragments of the Buddha’s biography, as well as Sanskrit scriptures created, probably at a later time: “Buddacharita” (“Life of the Buddha”) Ashvaghoshi, "Lalitavistara" etc.
However, it should be borne in mind that the first texts relating to the Buddha appeared only four hundred years after his death. By this time, changes were made to the stories about him by the monks themselves, in particular, to exaggerate the figure of Buddha.
In addition, the works of the ancient Indians did not cover chronological aspects, concentrating more on philosophical aspects. This is well reflected in Buddhist texts, in which the description of the thoughts of Buddha Shakyamuni prevails over the description of the time when all this happened.
Previous Lives
The path of the future Buddha Shakyamuni to awakening began hundreds and hundreds of lives before his complete exit from the “wheel of alternating lives and deaths.” It began, according to the description contained in the Mahayana work Lalitavistara, with the meeting of the rich and learned brahman Sumedha with the Buddha Dipankara (“Dipankara” means “Lighting Lamp”, Sanskrit). Sumedha was amazed by the serenity of the Buddha and promised himself to achieve the same state. Therefore, they began to call him “Bodhisattva”.
After Sumedha's death, the strength of his desire for awakening determined his birth in different bodies, both human and animal. During these lives, the bodhisattva perfected wisdom and mercy and was born for the penultimate time among the devas (gods), where he could choose an auspicious place for his last birth on earth. And he chose the family of the venerable Shakya king so that people would have more confidence in his future sermons.
Conception and birth
According to traditional biography, the father of the future Buddha was Shuddhodana, the raja of one of the small Indian principalities, the head of the Shakya tribe with the capital of Kapilavatthu (Kapilavastu). Gautama is his gotra, the equivalent of a modern surname.
Although the Buddhist tradition calls it “raja,” judging by the information contained in some sources, the government in the Shakya country was built on a republican type. Therefore, most likely, he was a member of the ruling kshatriya assembly (sabha), which consisted of representatives of the military aristocracy.
According to the long-standing Shakya tradition, Mahamaya went to her parents’ house to give birth. However, she gave birth along the way, in the Lumbini (Rummini) grove [ ] (20 km from the border of modern Nepal and India, 160 km from the capital of Nepal, Kathmandu), under an ashoka tree [ ] . Andrew Skilton noted that "Buddha denied being merely a man or a god" [ ]
The birthday of Siddhartha Gautama (which is also the day of his Awakening and the day of his final departure from the world, Parinibbana), the May full moon, is widely celebrated in Buddhist countries (Vesak), and in Lumbini, the SAARC countries (Association of Regional South Asian Cooperation) and Japan. A temple was erected at the birthplace, where excavations of Siddhartha’s birthplace - the foundation and a fragment of the walls of the park pavilion - are available for viewing. Near the temple there is a pond in which Mahamaya bathed the newborn.
Most sources (Buddhacharita, ch. 2, Tipitaka, Lalitavistara, ch. 3) claim that Mahamaya died a few days after giving birth [ ] .
Invited to bless the baby, the hermit-seer Asita, who lived in a mountain monastery, discovered 32 signs of a great man on his body. Based on them, he declared that the baby would become either a great king (cakravartin) or a great holy Buddha.
Shuddhodana performed a naming ceremony for the child on the fifth day of his birth, naming him Siddhartha, which means “one who has achieved his goal.” Eight learned Brahmins were invited to predict the future child. They also confirmed Siddhartha's dual future.
Early life and marriage
Siddhartha was raised by his mother's younger sister, Maha Prajapati. Wanting Siddhartha to become a great king, his father did his best to protect his son from religious teachings or knowledge of human suffering. Three palaces were specially built for the boy [ ] . In his development, he was ahead of all his peers in science and sports, but showed a tendency to think.
As soon as the son turned 16, his father arranged a wedding with Princess Yashodhara, a cousin who also turned 16. A few years later, she bore him a son, Rahula. Siddhartha spent 29 years of his life as the prince of Kapilavastu. Although the father gave his son everything he could need in life, Siddhartha felt that material goods- Not final goal life [ ] .
One day, in the thirtieth year of his life, Siddhartha, accompanied by the charioteer Channa, got out of the palace. There he first saw “four sights” that changed his entire subsequent life: an old beggar, a sick man, a decomposing corpse and a hermit. Gautama then realized the harsh reality of life - that illness, suffering, aging and death are inevitable, and neither wealth nor nobility can protect against them, and that the path of self-knowledge is the only way to understand the causes of suffering. This prompted Gautama, in his thirtieth year, to leave his home, family and property and go in search of a way to get rid of suffering.
Withdrawal and ascetic lifestyle
Siddhartha left his palace accompanied by his servant Channa. The legend says that "the sound of his horse's hooves was muffled by the gods" [ ] so that his departure would remain a secret. Having left the city, the prince changed into simple clothes, exchanged clothes with the first beggar he met, and dismissed the servant. This event is called the "Great Departure".
Siddhartha began his ascetic life in Rajagriha, where he begged on the street. After King Bimbisara learned of his journey, he offered Siddhartha the throne. Siddhartha refused the offer, but promised to visit the kingdom of Magadha immediately after he achieved enlightenment.
Siddhartha left Rajagaha and began to learn yogic meditation from two brahmin hermits. After he mastered the teachings of Alara (Arada) Kalama, Kalama himself asked Siddhartha to join him, but Siddhartha left him after some time. Then Siddhartha became a student of Udaka Ramaputta (Udraka Ramaputra), but after achieving the highest level of meditative concentration, he also left the teacher [ ] .
Siddhartha then headed to southeastern India. There he, along with five companions under the leadership of Kaundinya (Kondanna), tried to achieve enlightenment through severe austerity and mortification. Six years later, on the verge of death, he discovered that harsh ascetic methods did not lead to greater understanding, but simply clouded the mind and exhausted the body. After this, Siddhartha began to reconsider his path. He remembered a moment from childhood when, during the plowing holiday, he experienced a immersion in a trance. This brought him into a state of concentration that he found blissful and refreshing, a state of dhyana.
Awakening (enlightenment)
His four companions, believing that Gautama had abandoned further searches, left him. Therefore, he went on to wander further alone, until he reached a grove not far from Gaia.
After this, the Buddha headed to Varanasi, intending to tell his former teachers, Kalama and Ramaputta, what he had achieved. But the gods told him that they were already dead.
Then the Buddha went to Deer Grove (Sarnath), where he read his first sermon, “The First Turn of the Wheel of Dharma,” to his former ascetic comrades. This sermon described the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. Thus, the Buddha set into motion the Wheel of Dharma. His first listeners became the first members of the Buddhist sangha, completing the formation of the Three Jewels (Buddha, dharma and sangha). All five soon became arhats.
Later Yasa joined the sangha with his fifty-four companions and three brothers Kassapa (Sanskrit: Kashyapa) with disciples (1000 people), who then brought the Dharma to people.
Spreading the Teaching
For the remaining 45 years of his life, the Buddha traveled through the Ganges River valley in central India in the company of his disciples, teaching his Teachings to the most different people, regardless of their religious and philosophical views and caste - from warriors to cleaners, killers (Angulimala) and cannibals (Alavaka). At the same time, he performed many supernatural acts.
The Sangha, led by the Buddha, traveled annually for eight months. During the remaining four months of the rainy season (approximately: July - August [ ]) it was quite difficult to walk, so the monks spent them in some monastery (vihara), park or forest. People from nearby villages themselves came to them to listen to instructions.
In Samskrita-samskrita-vinishaya-nama it is said:
“Our Teacher Shakyamuni lived 80 years. He spent 29 years in his palace. For six years he labored as an ascetic. Having achieved Enlightenment, he spent his first summer at the place where the Wheel of the Law turns (Dharmachakrapravartan). He spent his second summer in Veluwan. The fourth is also in Veluvan. The fifth is in Vaishali. The sixth is at Gola (i.e. Golangulaparivartan) in Zhugma Gyurve, which is near Rajagriha. The seventh is in the Abode of the 33 Gods, on a platform made of Armonig stone. He spent his eighth summer in Shishumaragiri. The ninth is in Kaushambi. The tenth is at a place called Kapijit (Teutul) in the Parileyakawana forest. The eleventh is in Rajagriha (Gyalpyo-kab). The twelfth is in the village of Veranja. The thirteenth is in Chaityagiri (Choten-ri). The fourteenth is in the temple of Raja Jetavana. The fifteenth is at Nyag-rodharam in Kapilavastu. The sixteenth is in Atawak. The seventeenth is in Rajagriha. The eighteenth - in the Jvalini cave (near Gaya). The nineteenth is in Jvalini (Barve-pug). The twentieth is in Rajagriha. There were four summer stays in the Mrigamatri aram east of Shravasti. Then the twenty-first summer stay was in Shravasti. Buddha went into nirvana in the Shala grove, in Kushinagar, in the country of Malla."
Reliability of historical data
Early Western scholarship accepted the biography of the Buddha as presented in Buddhist scriptures as real story, however, at present, “scholars are reluctant to give unconfirmed information about historical facts related to the life of the Buddha and his Teachings.”
The key reference point for dating the life of the Buddha is the beginning of the reign of the Buddhist emperor Ashoka. Based on Ashoka's edicts and the reigns of the Hellenistic kings to whom he sent envoys, scholars date Ashoka's reign to 268 BC. e. Buddha is said to have died 218 years before this event. Since all sources agree that Gautama was eighty years old when he died (eg Dīgha Nikāya 2.100), we get the following dates: 566-486 BC. e. This is the so-called “long chronology”. An alternative "short chronology" is based on Sanskrit sources of North Indian Buddhism preserved in East Asia. According to this version, Buddha died 100 years before Ashoka's inauguration, which gives the following dates: 448-368. BC e. Moreover, in some East Asian traditions the date of Buddha’s death is 949 or 878 BC. e., and in Tibet - 881 BC. e. In the past, the generally accepted dates among Western scholars were 486 or 483 BC. e., but now it is believed that the grounds for this are too shaky.
Relatives of Siddhartha Gautama
The mother of the future Buddha was Maya. In Mahavastu the names of her sisters are given - Maha-Prajapati, Mahamaya, Atimaya, Anantamaya, Chulia and Kolisova. Siddhartha's natural mother died seven days after his birth and her sister Maha-Prajapati (Sanskrit; Pali - Maha-Pajapati), who was also married to Shuddhodana, took care of the child.
The Buddha had no siblings, but had a half-brother Nanda, the son of Maha-Prajapati and Suddhodana. The Theravada tradition says that the Buddha also had a half-sister, Sundara-Nanda. The brother and sister later entered the Sangha and achieved arhatship.
The following cousins of the Buddha are known: Ananda, who in the Theravada tradition was considered the son of Amitodana, and in the Mahavastu is called the son of Shuklodan and Mriga; Devadatta, son of maternal uncle Suppabuddha and paternal aunt Amita.
The identity of Gautama's wife remains unclear. In the Theravada tradition, Rahula's mother (see below) is called Bhaddakachcha, but the Mahavamsa and commentaries on the Anguttara Nikaya call her Bhaddakaccana and see her as the cousin of the Buddha and the sister of Devadatta. Mahavastu ( Mahavastu 2.69), however, names the Buddha's wife Yashodhara and implies that she was not Devadatta's sister, since Devadatta wooed her. Buddhavamsa also uses this name, but in the Pali version it is Yasodhara. The same name is most often found in North Indian Sanskrit texts (also in Chinese and Tibetan translations). Lalitavistara ( Lalitavistara) says that the Buddha's wife was Gopa, the mother of Dandapani's maternal uncle. Some texts [ which?] state that Gautama had three wives: Yashodhara, Gopika and Mrigaya.
Siddhartha had an only son, Rahula, who, having matured, joined the Sangha. Over time he became an arhat. One of the Suttas of the Sutta-nipata, which is part of the Buddhist Pali canon, is dedicated to him: Sutta-nipata, 22:91.
See also
Notes
- The dates of his life are inconceivable precise definition, and different historians date his life in different ways: - gg. BC e.; - Messrs. BC e.; - Messrs. BC e.; - Messrs. BC e.; - Messrs. BC e.; - Messrs. BC e. See also the special section in this article
- Not to be confused with the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism.
- Law of the Republic of Kalmykia dated October 16, 2006 N 298-III-Z “On amendments to the Law of the Republic of Kalmykia “On non-working holidays and memorial days in the Republic of Kalmykia””
- Michael Carriers, The Buddha, 1983, pages 13, 14. Found in Founders of Faith, Oxford University Press, 1986.
- Michael Carriers, The Buddha, 1983, page 15. Found in Founders of Faith, Oxford University Press, 1986.
- Robert C. Lester(trans. Koval A. N.) Buddhism // Religious traditions of the world vol. 2 - M.: KRON-PRESS, 1996 - pp. 308-309 - ISBN 5-232-00313-5;
Buddhavamsa. - Armstrong K. (2000), Buddha, (UK) Orion, ISBN 978-0-7538-1340-9
- Ermakova T.V., Ostrovskaya E.P. Classical Buddhism - St. Petersburg: Petersburg Oriental Studies, 1999. ISBN 5-85803-132-3.
- Sacred-texts.com (unavailable link)
- Buddhanet.net
- Sarca indica, Ashoka Tree, Ashoka(English) . Retrieved November 6, 2010. Archived February 17, 2011.
Literature
in Russian- Agadzhanyan A. S. Buddha // Encyclopedia of Religions / Ed. A. P. Zabiyako, A. N. Krasnikova, E. S. Elbakyan. - M.: Academic project, Gaudeamus, 2008. - P. 203. - 1520 p. - (Summa). - 3000 copies. -
The founder of Buddhism, Siddhartha Gautama or Buddha Shakyamuni, was born around 500-600 BC in northern India in the family of King Shuddhodana. The story of the enlightened Buddha begins when the wife of King Maha Maya had a dream in which she found herself high in the mountains on a bed of petals, and an elephant descended from the sky, holding a lotus flower in its trunk. The Brahmans interpreted this dream as the coming of a great ruler or sage who would bring a new teaching to the world.
Birth of Buddha Siddhartha Gautama
On the May full moon, Maya gives birth to a baby and soon dies. The legend says that infant tells his mother that he has come to free the world from suffering. He walks through the grass, and flowers bloom around him. Signs are also found on the baby’s body as proof of his being chosen by the gods. Thus begins the story of the enlightenment of Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, one of the greatest teachers ancient world. Here the author believes that the above-described supernatural qualities are nothing more than an exaggeration, an attempt to embellish the story (later you will understand why).
The boy is called Siddhartha (going to the goal), he grows up within the walls of the palace, in abundance, in prosperity and locked up... Raja Shuddhodana knows about the prophecy and intends to make the prince a worthy heir - a great warrior and ruler. Fearing that the prince might fall into a spiritual quest, the king protects Siddhartha from the outside world so that he does not know what illness, old age and death are. He also does not know about monks and spiritual teachers ( here the paradox is obvious - if Gautama is enlightened from the moment of birth, he should know about old age, illness, and even more so about death).
Childhood of Buddha Shakyamuni
From early childhood, the boy is initiated into the secrets of martial art where he shows a special talent. At the age of 16, the young prince wins a military tournament and marries Princess Yashodhara, and a year later their son Rahul is born. Raja sees that Gautama is of little concern for worldly concerns and military affairs. Most of all, the prince's inquisitive mind longs to explore and understand the nature of things in the world. Future Buddha Siddhartha Gautama loves to observe and think, and often unintentionally plunges into meditative states.
He dreams of a world outside the walls of his father's palace, and one day he has such an opportunity. Speaking of the palace, the life story of Gautama Buddha describes the greatest luxury in which the prince literally “bathed.” It talks about lakes with lotuses, rich decoration and three palaces in which the royal family lived during the changing seasons. In fact, when archaeologists found one of these palaces, they found only the remains of a small house.
Let's return to the story of Buddha's enlightenment. The prince's life changes when he leaves father's house and plunges into real world. Siddhartha understands that people are born, they live their lives, their bodies age, they get sick, and soon death comes. He realizes that all beings suffer, and after death they are born again to continue suffering.. This thought strikes Gautama to the very core. At this moment, Siddhartha Gautama comprehends his destiny, he realizes the purpose of his life - to go beyond and achieve the enlightenment of a Buddha.
Teachings of Buddha Gautama
The future Buddha Shakyamuni leaves the palace forever, cuts off his hair, takes off his jewelry and rich clothes. In simple clothes, he sets off on a journey through India. Then the main religion was Brahmanism - early form Hinduism, and the prince-monk begins to comprehend this teaching. At that time there were several meditation techniques. One of them was asceticism, partial or complete fasting to immerse in altered states of consciousness. The future Buddha Siddhartha Gautama chooses the second path and practices asceticism for a long time. His first followers appear. Soon Gautama brings his body to the brink between life and death and realizes that self-restraint destroys a person, just like excess. This is how the thought of the Middle Way is born in him. His companions are disappointed and leave the teacher when they find out that he has abandoned asceticism.
Siddhartha Gautama finds a tree in the forest and makes a vow to himself that he will remain under its shadow until he achieves enlightenment. The prince-monk monitors his breathing, concentrating on the tip of his nose as he inhales, observing how the air fills his lungs and just as carefully follows the exhalation. Such meditation calms the spirit and precedes a state where the mind is clear and very strong in the process of cognition. Perhaps he remembers his previous lives, looks at his birth, childhood, life in the palace, the life of a wandering monk. Soon he mentally comes to a long-forgotten state from childhood, when he spontaneously plunged into meditation.
It is worth noting here that when a person relives situations from the past, he regains the expended energy. In the teachings of Don Juan Carlos Castaneda, this technique of remembering is called recapitulation.
Let's return to the story of Buddha Siddhartha's enlightenment. Under the crown of the Bodhi tree, the demon Mara, who personifies the dark side of man, comes to him. He tries to make the prince feel fear, lust or disgust, but Shakyamuni remains serene. He indifferently accepts everything as part of himself and passions subside. Soon the Buddha Siddhartha Gautama comprehends the Four Noble Truths and achieves enlightenment. He calls his teaching the Eightfold or Middle Path. These truths go something like this:
- There is a place for suffering in life
- The desire to possess is the cause of suffering
- Harmful desires can be pacified
- Following the Middle Path Leads to Buddhahood Enlightenment
These are humility, generosity, mercy, abstinence from violence, self-control and rejection of extremes. He learns that if desire is eliminated, suffering can be eliminated. The desire to possess is a direct road to disappointment and suffering. It is a state of consciousness free from ignorance, greed, hatred and delusion. This is an opportunity to go beyond samsara - the endless cycle of rebirth. The path to Buddhahood begins with following a few precepts: morality, meditation and wisdom. It also means not killing, not stealing, controlling your sex life (but not giving it up), not lying and not intoxicating the mind.
The Rise of Siddhartha Gautama
Buddha Shakyamuni begins to preach the Four Noble Truths to all who wish to achieve enlightenment. After eight years of wandering, Buddha Siddhartha Gautama returns to the palace to his abandoned family. His father forgives him with all his heart, and his stepmother begs to be accepted as a disciple. Siddhartha agrees, she becomes the first nun in history, and his son becomes a monk. Soon Gautama leaves his land again and continues to preach the truth that he comprehended under the Bodhi tree. Siddhartha founded the Sangha meditation school, where he taught meditation to everyone and helped them take the path of enlightenment.
He dies on the May full moon at the age of 80, perhaps from illness or poisoning, it is not known for certain. Before leaving, Buddha Shakyamuni plunges into a deep trance on the path to nirvana - eternal bliss, freedom from new births, from suffering and death... The body of Buddha Siddhartha Gautama is cremated, and his ashes are preserved. Thus ends the story of the Buddha's enlightenment, but not his teaching. After death, Buddhism spread massively with the help of King Ashoka of India, but most of all thanks to wandering monks. A council is convened to preserve the Buddha's legacy, thus sacred texts were immortalized and partially survived to this day in their original form. Modern Buddhism has about 400 million followers around the world. This is the only religion in the world without violence and blood.
Buddhism symbol
The symbol of Gautama Buddha is the lotus, a beautiful flower that grows from mud, but always remains pure and fragrant. Likewise, the consciousness of every person is capable of opening up and becoming as beautiful and pure as a lotus. Closing at sunset, the lotus takes refuge in itself - a source of enlightenment and purity, inaccessible to the filth of the earthly world. Buddha Shakyamuni sought and found his path. He attained Knowledge, which is the opposite of possessing things and satisfying desires. Buddhism is the only religion that does not include the worship of God. Through the teachings of the Buddha, a person learns to control his mind, he can become the master of his mind and achieve nirvana. Siddhartha was a man, he taught that every person, with due diligence, can achieve enlightenment and be freed from the endless cycle of rebirth.
The story of Buddha's enlightenment, Siddhartha Gautama, teaches that life is a union of body and mind, continuing as long as there is unsatisfied desire. Desire is the cause of rebirth. The thirst for pleasure, power, wealth plunges us into the circle of samsara. To find relief from this scary world Full of sorrow, you need to get rid of your desires. Only then will the soul of the enlightened one enter Nirvana, the sweetness of eternal silence.
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