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The Buddha's Ancient Path

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The Buddha's Ancient Path The Buddha’s Ancient Path By PIYADASSI THERA Offered by VenerabilisOpus.org Dedicated to preserving the rich cultural and spiritual heritage of humanity. CONTENT Preface Chapter 1 The Buddha Chapter 2 The Buddhist Standpoint Chapter 3 The Central Conception of Buddhism (The Four Noble Truths). The First Noble Truth- Dukkha; Suffering Chapter 4 The Second Noble Truth - Samudaya: The Arising of Suffering Chapter 5 The Third Noble Truth - Nirodha: The Cessation of Suffering Chapter 6 The Threefold Division of the Noble Eightfold Path Chapter 7 The Fourth Noble Truth - Magga: The Path Right Understanding (Samma-ditthi) Chapter 8 Right Thought (Samma-samkappa) Chapter 9 Right Speech (Samma-vaca) Chapter 10 Right Action (Samma-kammanta) Chapter 11 Right Livelihood (Samma-ajiva) Chapter 12 Right Effort (Samma-vayama) Chapter 13 Right Mindfulness (Samma-sati) Chapter 14 Right Concentration (Samma-samadhi) Chapter 15 Conclusion Abbreviations Two thousand five hundred years ago, in the Deer Park at Sarnath, India, close to the ancient city of Baranasi (Benares), was heard the Message of the Buddha which was to revolutionize the thoughts and life of the human race. Though this Message was first heard by just five ascetics, it has now penetrated peaceably to the remotest corners of the world, and the demand for better and deeper understanding of its meaning is great. Many expositions of the Buddha’s Teaching in English have appeared in recent years, but a great number of them lack authenticity and do not represent the Buddha-word correctly. I have in all humility undertaken to set out as accurately as possible the Teaching of the Buddha as it is found in the Pili Canon, the Tipitaka, of the Theravada which has preserved the oldest and most faithful tradition. This book, therefore, gives a comprehensive account of the central conception of Buddhism-the Four Noble Truths-- with special emphasis on the Noble Eightfold Path which is Buddhism in practice. I have named the book The Ancient Path (purana maggam), the very words used by the Buddha in reference to the Eightfold Path. As an introduction, the first chapter gives a concise account of the life of the Buddha, while the second sets out the correct standpoint of Buddhism. The Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path are discussed at full length in the following chapters. A good deal of space is devoted to Buddhist meditation, as found in the attar, the discourses of the Buddha, in chapters 12, 13 and 14. I now express my sense of gratitude first to Nyanaponika Thera, who invited and encouraged me to write this book while I was staying at the Senanayaka (Forest) Hermitage, Randy, Ceylon for the many interesting discussions I. had with him on the subject and for information on special points, and to Mr. Francis Story, the Anagarika Sugatananda, who with much kindliness read through the type-script and made useful and valuable suggestions. To Bhikkhu Jinaputta, Messrs. V. F. Gunaratna, the Public Trustee of Sri Lanka, R. Abeysekara and D. Munidasa, also, I am grateful for much help and encouragement. I would also like to record here my deep gratitude to four distinguished members of the Order, the Theras: Metteyya, Soma, Kassapa and Nanamoli with whom I have been associated for more than a decade. Many a lively discussion that I have had with them on the Dhamma has inspired me. They are no more. Meetings end in partings (samyoga viyoganta). Last, but far from least, to Mr. K. G. Abeysingha, who so tirelessly typed the whole script, I am grateful. PIYADASSI Vajirarama, Colombo 5, Sri. Lanka (Ceylon) CHAPTER 1 THE BUDDHA THE Buddha, the founder of the great religion1 Buddhism, lived in North India over 2500 years ago and is known as Siddhattha (Skt. Siddhartha, one whose purpose has been achieved). Gotama (Skt. Gautama) was his family name. His father, Suddhodana, ruled over the land of the Sakyas at Kapilavatthu on the Nepalese frontier. Mahamaya, princess of the Koliyas, was Suddhodana’s queen. On a full-moon day of May--vasanta-tide, when in India the trees were laden with leaf, flower and fruit, and man, bird and beast were .in joyous mood, Queen Mahamaya was travelling in state from Kapilavatthu to Devadaha, her parental home, according to the custom of the times, to give birth to her child. But that was not to be, for halfway between the two cities, in the Lumbini grove, under the shade of a flowering Sal tree, she brought forth a son. Lumbini or Rummindei, the name by which it is now known, is 100 miles north of Baranasi (Benares) and within sight of the snow-capped Himalayas. At this memorable spot where Prince Siddhattha, the future Buddha, was born, Emperor Asoka, 316 years after the event, erected a mighty stone pillar to mark the holy spot. The inscription engraved on the pillar in five lines consists of ninety-three Asokan (brahmi) characters, amongst which occurs the following: ‘Hida Budhe jate Sakyamuni’, ‘Here was born the Buddha, the sage of the Sakyas’. The mighty column is still to be seen. The pillar, ‘as crisp as the day it was cut’, had been struck by lightning even when Hiuen Tsiang, the Chinese pilgrim, saw it towards the middle of the seventh century after Christ. The discovery and identification of the Lumbini park in 18% is attributed to the renowned archaeologist, General Cunningham. Queen Mahamaya, the mother, passed away on the seventh day after the birth of her child, and the baby was nursed by his mother’s sister, Pajapati Gotami. Though the child was nurtured till manhood in refinement amidst an abundance of material luxury, the father did not-fail to give his son the education that a prince ought to receive. He became skilled in many a branch of knowledge, and in the arts of war easily excelled all others. Nevertheless, from his childhood the prince was given to serious contemplation. When the prince grew up the father’s fervent wish was that his son should marry, bring up a family and be his worthy successor; but he feared that the prince would one day give up home for the homeless life of an ascetic. According to the custom of the time, at the early age of sixteen, the prince was married to his cousin Yasodhara, the only daughter of King Suppabuddha and Queen Pamita of the Koliyas. The princess was of the same age as the prince. Lacking nothing of the earthly joys of life, he lived knowing naught of sorrow. Yet all the efforts of the father to hold his son a prisoner to the senses and make him worldly-minded were of no avail. King Suddhodana’s endeavours to keep life’s miseries from his son’s inquiring eyes only heightened Prince Siddhattha’s curiosity and his resolute search for Truth and Enlightenment. With the advance of age and maturity the prince began to glimpse the woes of the world. As the books say, he saw four visions: the first was a man weakened with age, utterly helpless; the second was the sight of a man mere skin and bones, supremely unhappy and forlorn, smitten with some pest; the third was the sight of a band of lamenting kinsmen bearing on their shoulders the corpse of, one beloved for cremation. These woeful signs deeply moved him. The fourth vision, however, made a lasting impression. He saw a recluse, calm and serene, aloof and independent, and learnt that he was one who had abandoned his home to live a life of purity, to seek Truth and solve the riddle of life. Thoughts of renunciation flashed through the prince’s mind and in deep contemplation he turned homeward. The heart-throb of an agonized and ailing humanity found a responsive echo in his own heart. The more he came in contact with the world outside his palace walls, the mere convinced he became that the world was lacking in true happiness. In the silence of that moonlit night (it was the full moon of July) such thoughts as these arose in him: ‘Youth, the prime of life, ends in old age and man’s senses fail him when they are most needed. The hale and hearty lose their vigour and health when disease suddenly creeps in. Finally death comes, sudden perhaps and unexpected and puts an end to this brief span of life. Surely there must be an escape from this unsatisfactoriness, from ageing and death.’ Thus the great intoxication of youth, of health, and of life 2 left him. Having seen the vanity and the danger of the three intoxications, he was overcome by a powerful urge to seek and win the Deathless, to strive for deliverance from old age, illness, misery and death 3 to seek it for himself and for all beings that suffer. It was his deep compassion that led him to the quest ending in Enlightenment, in Buddhahood. It was compassion that now moved his heart towards the Great Renunciation and opened for him the doors of the golden cage of his home life. It was compassion that made his determination unshakable even by the last parting glance at his beloved wife asleep with their baby in her arms. Now at the age of twenty-nine, in the flower of youthful manhood, on the day his beautiful Yasodhara, giving birth to his only son, Rahula, made the parting more sorrowful and heart-rending, he tore himself away-the prince with a superhuman effort of will renounced wife, child, father and a crown that held the promise of power and glory, and in the guise of an indigent ascetic retreated into forest solitude to seek the eternal verities of life, ‘in quest of the supreme security from bondage--Nibbana’ 4 .
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