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1. Qualities of the Buddha He- A

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1. Qualities of the Buddha He- A Prescribed by the National Curriculum and Textbook Board as a Textbook for class VIII from the academic year 1998 BUDDHIST RELIGIOUS STUDIES For class Eight Writen By Dr. Shumangal Barua Translated by Dr. Bhikkhu Sasanarakkhita Edited by D.P. Barua National Curriculum and Textbook Board, Dhaka. Published by National Curriculum and Textbook Board, 69-70, Motijheel Commercial Area, Dhaka [All rights reserved by the Publisher] First Edition : 1998 Reprint: 2007 Computer Compose Ananda Printers Cover Design Md. Abdul Halim Illustrator Sardar Joynul Abedin Design NCTB, Dhaka For free distributionfrom academic year 2010 by the Government of Bangladesh Website version developed by: MARS Solution Limited Preface New textbooks at Junior Secondary and Secondary levels were introduced in the early 80's in the light of the recommendations of the National Curriculum and Syllabus Committee formed in 1975. Although more than a decade has elapsed, no major attempts were made to modify and revise the curriculum and develop new textbooks to meet the changing socio-economic needs of the country and to incorporate advanced scientific and technological knowledge of the contemporary world. In this context, the Government took a comprehensive programme to modify and reform the time- old curricula and syllabi of Junior Secondary, Secondary and Higher Secondary stages of education in 1994⎯1995. The broad aims and objectives of the modified curriculum are: to raise the standard of our education upto international level, to enable the students to acquire newer knowledge, to inculcate in them religious, moral and social values, and equip them with such skills that hell them in self-employment. New textbooks for classes VI to X were developed in accordance with the modification and renewed curriculum and syllabus. These books were first introduced in classes VI and IX in 1996 and those for classes VII and VIII were introduced in 1997. As usual these textbooks are written in Bangla. In compliance with the Government decision of allowing the students to study in English medium also, National Curriculum and Textbook Board, for the first time in its history, undertook the task of preparing English version of the existing textbooks of different subjects for classes VI to X. 'This book ‘Buddhist Religious Studies' for class VIII is the English version of the original textbook entitled "Buddha Dharma Shiksha " written in Bangla. The work of translation, editing and printing were done rather in haste so as to make the book available to the students in time. Inspite of sincere efforts some inadvertent errors and omissions may be found in the book. As curriculum development is a continuous process, our efforts will continue to make the book free from these errors and improve accordingly in the next edition. In this respect positive advice and constructive suggestions from any quarter will be highly appreciated. My sincere thanks and gratitudes are due to those who were involved in translating, editing and printing the book. My thanks are also due to Higher Secondary Education Project for their financial assistance and cooperation in this work. All efforts will be deemed fruitful if the teachers and students are benefited by the book. Professor Md. Mostafa Kamaluddin Chairman National Curriculum and Textbook Board, Dhaka. Content Chapter Subject Page One Moral Teachings of Gautam Buddha 1 Two Vandana (Adoration) 16 Three Shil (Precepts) 25 Four Sutras and the Moral Teachings 35 Five Nirban 48 Six Doctrinal Rules and Ceremonies 57 Seven Pilgrimage and Historical Places 72 Eight Biographies 81 Nine Jatak 94 Ten Grihi Vinay 110 Eleven Samgiti (Council) 121 Twelve The Bouddha-dharma : The ancient age 129 CHAPTER ONE MORAL TEACHINGS OF GAUTAM BUDDHA The birth of Siddhartha Gautam took place in the Lumbini garden of the ancient kingdom of Kapilavastu. He was the son of king Saddhodan and queen Mahamaya. The sacred full -moon day of Baishakh was the auspicious moment of His birth. The year was 623 B.C. The Royal family was possessed of limitless wealth. There was no deficiency in the affectionate bond of relationship with Gopa and son Rahul. Still it appeared to Him that the social system, ethical life, sense of human values were bound under the Seven-fold wheel of life. Men were deeply sunk in the whirlpool of falsehood. Not being averse to the worldly life, but for the compassion to all beings of the universe he renounced the world. He was worried about sorrows, distresses and birth decay (.old age)-death of human life. Emancipation of the human beings was thousand times better to him than the self pleasures in the family life. His great sacrifices through many births and rebirths were aimed at development of human life. He appeared in the problem ridden age of Brahmanism. The austerity of class difference and caste hatred was then prevalent. Sacrifices and offering rites and rituals were dominated by priests. On the one side was the lowest class working people and on the other side was the higher class with terrible powers. At that very moment the compassionate Buddha preached his doctrine. He emphasized on morality. He gave pre-eminence on deeds. He proclaimed Vinay rules in accordance with the Dharma. He taught restraint. He opposed pleasures and luxuries and acqusition of personal properties in the life of a monk. The goal of moral teaching the Buddha was to inspire men as social beings to acquire self restraint and idealism. A man can achieve emancipation through Four Noble Truths. He advised Middle path i.e. the Noble Eightfold path. Causal relationship between act and its result is the root of births and deaths. The distressed women became free from the narrowness of the so called religions. Sudra received the same status. They were inspired with the human liberalism. Priority was given to Judgement and reationalism. Ananda, born in the race of Forma – 1: Buddhist 2 Buddhist Religious Sdudies Kshatriya, the barbar Upali, the Brahmin son Mahakasyapa, the murderer Angulimal, Kshatriya house wife Mahaprajapati Goutami, courtesan Amrapali were Buddha's chief disciples. This is the direct example of human love and respect. Herein lies the sense of values inspired by teachings of the Buddha. Relation Between the Dharma and the Morality Dharma means nature, good law, virtue, good deed, way of meditation and path leading to the truth. Morality means discipline, rules and regulations and means or ways. Dharma and morality are the roots of happiness of human beings. These two are the great virtues and complimentary to each other. The main faculty of the Dharma is to develop humanism. Because human-beings are social beings. There exists a close relationship between the social code and the doctrinal code. Many social codes are followed as doctrinal codes. Dharma and morality differ from the point of ideology. The basic object of morality is to serve for the welfare of the society. The social ethic and the good ideals are meant for the welfare of the society. The dishonest aspects devoid of morality are unsocial. By doctrinal discipline is meant super-humanity and emancipation. The Dharma is related to the emancipation of the beings. The basis of morality lies in the relations between man and woman. The only difference in doctrine (Dharma) it is a sin, in morality it is unjust. But despite difference in idealism, both Dharma and morality are inter- related and mutually bound to each other. But even though there is a difference between the Dharma and the morality, yet both provide foundations to each other. Such as, there is no Dharma without an honest man, similarly without Dharma the social system cannot run smoothly. The doctrinal consciousness depends on moral actuality. The society upsets the doctrinal consciousness. Significance of Morality on Human Life Except the human beings all other beings are born with their own habit or nature. The beastly nature of the animals is inherent. They do not have any effort. They have nothing to do except eating and sleeping. They remain as they are. But a human child is not born with humanity. They have to acquire humanity through great zeal. The specialty of a human being lies in his Dharma, Dharma and character, these two are complimentary to each other. In the rules and regulations of a family, social code and in doctrinal discipline the rationality of a human being gradually up. The character of a human being has two sides, one is humanity, another is beastly. The Moral Teachings of Gautam Buddha 3 humanly qualities develop with the enrichment of character. Formation of the character depends on self efforts. The rules laid down by the Buddha for the formation of character are known as Shil (Precept). Another name of Shil is character. It is also called 'good law.' Honest character is known as 'Vinay'. The Vinay Pitak is compiled on the basis of Shils. It is the law book for the development of humanity. It is a basket of humanly virtues. These are rules lead the human beings to the path of goodness and prosperity. These rules of conduct are not only for the order of monks and lay disciples-but also for all human beings of all ages. He who abides by these rules, possesses the real humanity. These rules are the moral instructions by the Buddha. This is like the nectar bowl. For the full blossoming of humanity, the beastly character is also inherent. It has been compared with the ferocious animal. Sometimes, it surpasses the ferocity of animal. But character is its symptom. Greed, antipathy illusion, egoism, arrogance- these bad tendencies are inherent in beastly character. As a result, being influenced by falsehood, anger and jealousy killings, theft, adultery, terrorism etc. misdeeds are committed.
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