Chapted I Chapter 1

CHAPTED I CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER LAYOUT § 1 FIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF BUDDHISM 21 § 2 ASOK- THE GREAT UPSSAKA 25 § 3 THE TEACHING OF LORD BUDDHA 36 § 4 THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS 42 4.1 THE FIRST NOBLE TRUTH: DUKKHA 42 4.2 THE SECOND NOBLE TRUTH, THE ARISING OF DUKKHA-SAMUDAYA 46 4.3 THE THIRD NOBLE TRUTH. THE CESSATION OF DUKKHA: DUKKHA-NIRODHA 49 4.4 THE FOURTH NOBLE TRUTH: THE PATH: MAGGA 52 § 5 THE DOCTRINE OF NO-SOUL; ANATTA 54 §6 THE THIRD VERSE SAYS; 57 § 7 MENTAL CULTURE-BHAVANS 59 § 8 THE BUDDHA'S TEACHING FOR THE WORLD TODAY 62 § 9 THE RELIGIOUS PERSONALHT 71 § 10 SHORT - TERM MONKS 72 § 11 NOVICES 73 § 12 LONG TERM MONKS 75 § 13 THE EIGHT REQUISITES; POSSESSIONS OF A MONK 75 § 14 THE MONK AND THE LAITY 76 § 15 LAY BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS MONKS 78 § 16 THE RELIGLOUS OBJECTS 79 § 17 AN OVERVIEW OF THE BUDDHIST SCRIPTURES 81 § 18 THE BUDDHIST SCRIPTURES 84 § 19 WILAT ARE THE PURPOSES OF THE PREACHING OF THE BUDDHA? 93 §20 ORDINATION 94 20.1 MSGHA PDJA DAY 100 20.2 VISAKHA PUJA DAY 101 20.3 ASANHA PCTJA AND BUDDHIST LENT 102 20.4 TAK BAT DEVO AND CHAK PHRA FESTIVAL 104 20.5 KATHIN CEREMONY 105 §21 BUDDHISM AS PHILOSOPHY 107 §22 BUDDHIST ECONOMICS 114 ^)J^^¥¥ ea )J()«()^ )«()«( 21 CHAPTER I § 1 FIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF BUDDHISM The Buddha's personal name was Siddhattha (Siddhartha in Sanskrit), and family name was Gotama (Skt. Cautama). Eighty years before the commencement of the Buddhist Era a great man was bom into the world. He was the son of king Suddhodana and queen Siri Maha Maya of Kapilavastu of the Sakkha Country which is now within the boundaries of Nepal. His name was SiddhSlha. Thirty-five years later Prince Siddhartha attained Supreme Enlightenment and thereafter became known as the "Enlightened One" or the "Lord Buddha". He proclaimed the "Dhamma" or Dharma as in Sanskrit or Universal Truth to the people. After his Enlightenment, Gotama the Buddha delivered his first sermon to a group of five ascetics, his old colleagues in the Deer Park at Isipatana (modem Sarnath) near Benares. "From that day, for 45 years, he taught all classes of men and women - kings and peasants. Brahmins and outcasts, bankers and beggars, holymen and robbers - without making the slightest distinction between them. He recognized no differences of caste or social groupings, and the Way he preached was open to all men and women who were ready to understand and to follow it."' Venerable Dr. W. Kahula; yVhat the Buddha taught; Printed in Thailand, by Kumsapha Press, 1990. P.XV. 22 The exact dates of his birth and Parinirvana 'Physical death' are still the subject of controversy. In all probability, those given by the Ceylon Chronicles, the Dipavamsa and the Mahavamsa (excluding its continuation the Culvamsa, the dates of which are sixty years out), equivalent to 563-483 B.C. are not too far wrong. C > "His personality, as it emerges from the ancient was a unique combination of dignity and affability, wisdom and kindliness. Together with a majesty that awed and daunted kings he appears to have possessed a tenderness that could stop to comfort the bereaved and console the afflicted. His serenity was unshakable, his self-contldence unfailing, ever mindful and self-possessed he faced opposition and hostility, ev^n personal danger, with the calm and compassionate smile that has lingen d down the face. In debate he was urbane and courteous, though not withoui a vein of irony, and almost invariably 2 succeeded in winning over his opponent." It is well known that the Buddha himself wrote nothing, spiritual influence and personal example apart. His teaching was communicated entirely by oral means through discourses to, and discussions with his disciples and members of the public, as well as through inspired spontaneous utterance. As far as the language part was concerned he rejected the more "Classical" Sanskrit in favour of the vernacular, especially the dialects of Kosala and Maghadha. The Buddha never allowed his discourses to be put into Vedic verse. He commissioned his disciples (monks) that his message should be taught in his own dialect. The Buddha lived 80 years of life he was enlightened at the age of Bhikshu Sangharakshita; "A Cultural History of India"; Clarendon Press Oxford, 1975 p. 83. 23 thirty-five. During his Hfe time, his teaching spread throughout the kingdoms of Magadha and Kosaia, as well as in the Circumjacent principalitites and republics. His disciples were recruited from all classes of society, and included both men and women. Besides instructing an extensive circle of lay adherents, he trained a smaller, more select band of monks and nuns who constituted the Sangha proper and upon whom after parinirvana the responsibilities for carrying on his mission mainly developed. The Buddha had a very definite aim or mission for the world. He realized the unrest of the people, having achieved enlightenment his vision became quite clear about the purpose he got enlightened, the following verses clearly suffice his mission for the world, for the human beings: "Go ye forth O Bhikkhus, on your journey, for the welfare of the many, for the happiness of the many, out of compassion for the world, for the good, the benefit, the bless of gods and men". The above mission was commissioned to first group of sixty disciples to propagate the Doctrine in the second year of his preaching, this shows how and why Buddhism has survived for so long and succeeded in converting a large part of mankind to its cause. "No doubt as long as the Buddha lived on this earth, Buddhism spread rapidly through the great personality of the Buddha himself and through the spirit of renunciation self-discipline and sacrifice of the disciples who formed the Sangha and followed the Buddha's example. After his death, the disciples still living upto these ideals, continued to spread Buddhism far and wide." Phra Kajavaramuni; ''Thai Buddhism in The Buddhist World"; Mahachulalongkom Buddhist University, Bangkok, Thailand. 1987. p.28. 24 In the first century of the Buddhist Era, two Buddhist Councils were held to protect and preserve the purity of the Buddha's teachings. The first Council was held by 500 Arhants at Rajgaha under the royal patronage of king Aja- tasatru of Magadha three months after the death of the Buddha. The purpose of the Council was to fix the Doctrine and the Discipline as taught and laid down by the Buddha. In B.C. 273 or B.E. 218 there came to the throne of India one of the greatest men in history, king Ashoka, the first Buddhist emperor who ruled the Mauryan Empire for 41 years. "In his efforts to establish a kingdom of righteousness after the highest ideals of a theocracy, he has been likened to David and Solomon of Israel in the days of its greatest glory: in his patronage of Buddhism. Would religion, he has been compared to constantine in relation to Christianity."^ In the early years of his reign Ashoka was a fierce king. The Southern legends are far wide of the truth in making Ashoka a fi-atricide, the murderer of 99 brothers for the sake of the throne, for which he is dubbed Chandashoka. The Ashoka-avadana represents him as killing his officers and wives and setting up a hell where some innocent people are subjected to the most refined tortures. Yuan Chwang records the tradition of "Ashoka and his queen, in Succession, making determined efforts to destroy the Bodhi Tree". 4 Radhamuknd Mookerji; ''Ashoka"; Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Pvt. Ltd. 1995. New Delhi. Ashok's hell - is given in greater details by Fa-hien (pp. 56-58 in translation of Giles), p.l 25 § 2 AsHOKA - THE GREAT UPASAKA The most important Buddhist layman in history has been the Emperor Ashoka. who ruled most of India for the middle of the third century B.C. India accepted by recognizing him a great moral and spiritual ruler India ever had, therefore the Wheel of the Dharma which Ashoka erected on the capital of one of the pillars, India chose to adorn the flag of her people, thus India and her people recall their "religious ruler". Before Ashoka Buddhism had spread through the northern half of India, but it was his patronage which made it a world religion. Ashoka had as though only one goal in his mind, he had clearly mentioned in these words, "For I am never satisfied with my efforts and with setting business because I think I must work for the \/elfare of the whole world". This view of his is a solid proof that after embracing Buddhism, his entire personality was changed to humanitarian. His conviction was so strong that he fully believed. People's progress in Dhamma is achieved in two ways, by Dhamma rules and by conviction. Rules count for little, most is by conviction. Rock Edict 24 mentions Ashoka's missions. In it he says that he has won a Dhamma victory by sending messengers to five kings and several other kingdoms, this mission left a great influence on world history. He also established a model for Buddhist rulers who followed his in later years. It is believed that he built 84,000 monasteries and as many stupas. Ashoka was an ardent Buddhist, his inscriptions certainly proves that he took keen interest in the unanimity and purity of the Sangha. The great Sinhalese ^ Rock Edict, I 26 Buddhist reformer Anagarika Dharmapala whose assumed name Dharmapala means "Defender of the Faith" called Ashoka "The greatest democratic empire".

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