SRI BUDDHA AND HIS TEACHINGS
Sri budha has millions of followers all over the world for the simplicity
and elegance of his teachings. His doctrines were of the nature that common
men to the more intellectual ones were attracted to his ideas. His
preaching’s taught that “We will have to find out the cause of sorrow and the
way to escape from it. The desire for sensual enjoyment and clinging to
earthly life is the cause of sorrow. If we can eradicate desire, all
sorrows and pains will come to an end. We will enjoy Nirvana or eternal
peace. Those who follow the Noble Eightfold Path strictly, viz., right
opinion, right resolve, right speech, right conduct, right employment,
right exertion, right thought and right self-concentration will be free
from sorrow. This indeed, O mendicants, is that middle course which the
Tathagata has thoroughly comprehended, which produces insight, which
produces knowledge, which leads to calmness or serenity, to supernatural
knowledge, to perfect Buddha hood, to Nirvana.
“This
again, indeed, O mendicants, is the noble truth of suffering. Birth is
painful, old age is painful, sickness is painful, association with
unloved objects is painful, separation from loved objects is painful,
the desire which one does not obtain, this is too painful – in short,
the five elements of attachment to existence are painful. The five
elements of attachment to earthly existence are form, sensation,
perception, components and consciousness.
“This
again, indeed, O mendicants, is the truth of the cause of suffering. It
is that thirst which leads to renewed existence, connected with joy and
passion, finding joy here and there, namely, thirst for sensual
pleasure, and the instinctive thirst for existence. This again, indeed,
O mendicants, is the noble truth of cessation of suffering, which is the
cessation and total absence of desire for that very thirst, its
abandonment, surrender, release from it and non-attachment to it. This
again, indeed, O mendicants, is the noble truth of the course which
leads to the cessation of suffering. This is verily the Noble Eightfold
Path, viz., right opinion, etc.”
BUDDHA CAN BE CONSIDERED AS A TRUE AVATAR
Born a
man, living as a mortal, by His own exertion; Buddha
has attained the supreme consciousness
and without keeping His Enlightenment to Himself, He proclaimed to the
world the latent possibilities and the invincible power of the human
mind. Instead of placing an unseen Almighty God over man, and giving man
a subservient position in relation to such a conception of divine power,
He demonstrated how man could attain the highest knowledge and Supreme
Enlightenment by his own efforts. He thus raised the worth of man. He
taught that man can gain his deliverance from the ills of life and
realize the eternal bliss of uniting with the supreme
consciousness, without depending on an external God or mediating
priests.
He taught the egocentric, power
seeking world the noble ideal of selfless service. He protested against
the evils of caste-system that hampered the progress of mankind and
advocated equal opportunities for all. He declared that the gates of
deliverance were open to all, in every condition of life, high or low,
saint or sinner, who would care to turn a new leaf and aspire to
perfection. He tried to raise the status of
down-trodden female society of India, and not
only enlightened them to a realization of
their importance to society but also founded the first religious order
for women. For the first time in the history of world,
Sri Buddha attempted to abolish slavery. He banned the sacrifice
of unfortunate animals and brought them within His compass of loving
kindness.
He did not force His followers to be slaves either to His
teachings or to Himself, but granted complete freedom of thought and
admonished His followers to accept His words not merely out of regard
for Him but after subjecting them to a thorough examination,
“… as the wise would test gold by burning, cutting, and rubbing
it on a piece of touchstone.”
He comforted the bereaved mothers like Patacara and Kisagotami by
His consoling words. He ministered to the deserted sick like Putigatta
Tissa Thera with His own hands. He helped the poor and the neglected
like Rajjumala and Sopaka and saved them from an untimely and tragic
death. He ennobled the lives of criminals like Angulimala and courtesans
like Ambapali. He encouraged the feeble, united the divided, enlightened
the ignorant, clarified the mystic, guided the deluded, elevated the
base, and dignified the noble. The rich and the poor, the saint and the
criminal, loved Him alike. His noble example was a source of inspiration
to all. He was the most compassionate and tolerant of teachers.
His will, wisdom, compassion, service, renunciation, perfect
purity, exemplary personal life, the blameless methods that were
employed to propagate the Dhamma and His final success — all these
factors have compelled about one fifth of the population of the world to
hail the Buddha as the greatest religious teacher that ever lived on
earth.
Paying a fitting tribute to the Buddha,
Mr. Sri Radhakrishnan writes:
“In Gotama the Buddha we have a master mind from the East second
to none so far as the influence on the thought and life of the human
race is concerned, and sacred to all as the founder of a religious
tradition whose hold is hardly less wide and deep than any other. He
belongs to the history of the world’s thought, to the general
inheritance of all cultivated men, for, judged by intellectual
integrity, moral earnestness, and spiritual insight, he is undoubtedly
one of the greatest figures in history.”
In the Three Greatest Men in History H.
G. Wells states:
“In the Buddha you see clearly a man, simple, devout,
lonely, battling for light, a vivid human personality, not a myth. He
too gave a message to mankind universal in character. Many of our best
modern ideas are in closest harmony with it. All the miseries and
discontents of life are due, he taught, to selfishness. Before a man can
become serene he must cease to live for his senses or himself. Then he
merges into a greater being. Buddhism in different language called men
to self-forgetfulness 500 years before Christ. In some ways he was
nearer to us and our needs. He was more lucid upon our individual
importance in service than Christ and less ambiguous upon the question
of personal immortality.”
In admiration of the Buddha,
Fausboll, a Danish scholar says — “The more I know Him, the more I love
Him.”
