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 man¬hood 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 en¬deavours 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 renuncia¬tion 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 .  This was the great renunciation. 

Dedicating himself to the noble task of discovering a remedy for life's universal ill, he sought guidance from two famous sages, Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta, hoping that they, being masters of meditation, would show him the way to deliverance. He practised concentration and reached the highest meditative attain meats possible thereby, but was not satisfied with anything short of supreme enlightenment. Their range of knowledge, their ambit of mystical experience, however, was insufficient to grant him what he earnestly sought.  He, therefore, left them in search of the still unknown.

In his wanderings he finally reached Uruvela, by the river Neranjara at Gaya. He was attracted by its quiet and dense groves and the clear waters of the river. Finding that this was a suitable place to continue his quest for enlightenment, he decided to stay. Five other ascetics who admired his determined effort waited on him. They were Kondanna, Bhaddiya, Vappa, Mahanama and Assaji.

There was, and still is, a belief in India among many of her ascetics that purification and final deliverance from ill can be achieved by rigorous self-mortification, and the ascetic Gotama decided to test the truth of it. And so there at Uruvela he began a determined struggle to subdue his body, in the hope that his mind, set free from the shackles of the body, might be able to soar to the heights of liberation. Most zealous was he in these practices. He lived on leaves and roots, on a steadily reduced pittance of food, he wore rags collected from dust-heaps; he slept among corpses or on beds of thorns. The utter paucity of nourishment left him a physical wreck.

'Rigorous have I been in my ascetic discipline. Rigorous have I been beyond all others. Like wasted, withered reeds became all my limbs: ...' In such words as these, in later years, having attained to full enlightenment, did the Buddha give his disciples an awe¬-inspiring description of his early penances. 5

Struggling thus for six long years, he came to death's very door, but he found himself no nearer to his goal. The utter futility of self-mortification became abundantly clear to him by his own ex¬perience; his experiment for enlightenment had failed. But un¬discouraged, his still active mind searched for new paths to the aspired-for goal.  Then it happened that he remembered the peace of his meditation in childhood under a rose-apple tree, and confi¬dently felt: 'This is the path to enlightenment.' He knew, however, that, with a body so utterly weakened as his, he could not follow that path with any chance of success. Thus he abandoned self-¬mortification and extreme fasting and took normal food. His emaciated body recovered its former health and his exhausted vigour soon returned. Now his five companions left him in their disappointment; for they thought that he had given up the effort to live a life of abundance.

Nevertheless with firm determination and complete faith in his own purity and strength, unaided by any teacher, accompanied by none, the Bodhisatta 6 (as  he is known before he attained enlightenment) resolved to make his final search in complete solitude. Cross-¬legged he sat under a tree, which later became known as the Bodhi tree, the 'Tree of Enlightenment' or 'Tree of Wisdom', 7 on the : ¬Bank of the river Neranjara, at Gaya (now known as Buddha Gaya)-- 'a pleasant spot soothing to the senses and stimulating to the mind'--making the final effort with the inflexible resolution: 'Though only my skin, sinews and bones remain, and my blood and flesh dry up and wither away, yet will I never stir from this seat until I have attained full enlightenment (samma-sam-bodhi).' So indefatigable in effort, so unflagging in his devotion was he, and so resolute to realize Truth and attain full enlightenment.

Applying himself to the ‘Mindfulness on in-and-out Breathing’ (ana + apana sati), the meditation he had developed in his childhood, 8  the Budhisatta entered upon and dwelt in the first meditative absorbtion (jhana skt. dhyana, 9  a term difficult to translate).  By gradual stages he entered upon and dwelt in the second, third and the fourth jhanas. Thus cleansing his mind of impurities; with the mind thus composed, he directed it to the knowledge of recollecting past births (pubbenivasanussatinana). This was the first knowledge attained by him in the first watch of the night (6 p.m. to 10 p.m.). Then the Bodhisatta directed his mind to the knowledge of the disappearing and reappearing of beings of varied forms, in good states of existence, and in states of woe, each faring according to his deeds (cuti + upapata nana). This was the second knowledge attained by him in the middle watch of the night (10 p.m. to 2 a.m.). Next he directed his mind to the knowledge of the destruction of the taints (asavakkhayanana).

He understood as it really is: This is suffering (dukkha), this is the arising (cause) of suffering, this is the cessation of suffering, this is the path leading to the cessation of suffering.10 He understood as it really is: These are the taints (asavas), this is the arising of the taints, this is the cessation of the taints, this is the path leading to the cessation of the taints.

Knowing thus, seeing thus, his mind was liberated from the taints: of sense-pleasures (kamasava), of becoming (bhavasava) and of ignorance (avijjasava). 11  When his mind was thus liberated, there came the knowledge: `liberated' and he understood :

Destroyed is birth, the noble life (brahma cariyam) has been lived, done is what was to be done, there is no more of this to come (meaning, there is no more continuity of the mind and body, that is, no more becoming, rebirth). This was the third know¬ledge attained by him in the last watch of the night (2 a.m. to  6 a. m.) 12

Thereon he spoke these words of victory:

'Being myself subject to birth, ageing, disease, death, sorrow and defilement; seeing danger in what is subject to these things; seeking the unborn, unageing, diseaseless, deathless, sorrowless, undefiled, supreme security from bondage--Nibbana, I attained it (literally I experienced it). Knowledge and vision arose in me; unshakable is my deliverance of mind. This is the last birth, now there is no more becoming, no more rebirth.' 13

Thus did the Bodhisatta Gotama on another full moon of May, at the age of thirty-five, attain Supreme Enlightenment, by com¬prehending in all their fullness the Four Noble Truths, the Eternal Verities, and become the Buddha, the great Healer and Consum¬mate Master-Physician (bhisakko) who can cure the ills of beings.

For a week, immediately after this enlightenment, the Buddha sat at the foot of the Bodhi tree experiencing the bliss of deliverance. Then he thought over the Dependent Arising or causal genesis (paticca samuppada). 14 The Blessed One then spent six more weeks in lonely retreat at six different places in the vicinity of the Bodhi tree. 15 At the end of the seven weeks, he made up his mind to proclaim the Dhamma--his discovery of the Ancient Path-(puranam maggam), to his former friends, the five ascetics.

Knowing that they were living at Baranasi in the deer park at Isipatana, the Resort of Seers (modern Sarnath), still steeped in the unmeaning rigours of extreme asceticism, the Buddha left Gaya for distant Baranasi, India's holy city, walking by stages some 150 miles. There at the deer park (migadaya) he rejoined them.

Now on a full moon day of July, at eventide, when the moon was rising in a glowing Eastern sky, the Blessed One addressed the five ascetics:

`Monks, these two extremes ought not to be cultivated by the recluse, by one gone forth from the house-life. What two? Sensual indulgence and self-mortification which lead to no good. The middle path, understood by the Tathagata, 16 the Perfect One, after he had avoided the extremes, gives vision, and knowledge, and leads to calm, realization, enlightenment, Nibbana. And what, monks, is that middle path? It is this Noble Eightfold Path, namely: right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration.' 17

Then the Buddha explained to them the Four Noble Truths.18 Thus did the Enlightened One proclaim the Dhamma and set in motion the matchless `Wheel of Truth' (anuttaram dhammacakkam).

With the proclamation of the Dhamma, for the first time, and with the conversion of the five ascetics, the deer park at Isipatana became the birth place of the Buddha's Dispensation (Buddha-sasana), and of the Sangha, the community of monks, the ordained disciples. 19

Before long, fifty-five others headed by Yasa, a young man of wealth, joined the Order of the Sangha. When the Rains (vassana, July-October) ended, the Buddha addressed his disciples, the Accomplished Ones (arahats,) now sixty in number and said:

`Released am I, monks, from all ties whether human or divine. You also are delivered from fetters whether human or divine.  Go now and wander for the welfare and happiness of many, out of compassion for the world, for the gain, welfare and happiness of gods and men.  Let not two of you proceed in the same direction. Proclaim the Dhamma (doctrine) that is excellent in the beginning, excellent in the middle, excellent in the end, possessed of meaning and the letter and utterly perfect.  Proclaim the life of purity, the holy life consummate and pure.  There are beings with little dust in their eyes who will be lost through not hearing the Dhamma. There are beings who will understand the Dhamma. I also shall go to Uruvela, to Senanigama to teach the Dhamma.' 20

Thus did the Buddha commence his sublime mission which lasted to the end of his life. With his disciples he walked the highways and byways of Jambudipa, Land of the rose apple (another name for India), enfolding all within the aura of his boundless compassion and wisdom.

The Buddha made no distinction of caste, clan or class when communicating the Dhamma. Men and women from different walks of life -- the rich and the poor; the lowliest and the highest; the literate and the illiterate; brahmins and outcasts, princes and paupers, saints and criminals--listened to the Buddha, took refuge in him, and followed him who showed the path to peace and enlightenment. The path is open to all.

Caste, which was a matter of vital importance to the brahmins of India, was one of utter indifference to the Buddha, who strongly condemned so debasing a system. The Buddha freely admitted into the Order people from all castes and classes, when he knew that they were fit to live the holy life, and some of them later distinguished themselves in the Order. The Buddha was the only contemporary teacher who endeavoured to blend in mutual tolerance and concord those who hitherto had been rent asunder by differences of caste and class.

The Buddha also raised the status of women in India. Generally speaking, during the time of the Buddha, owing to brahminical influence, women were not given much recognition. Sometimes they were held in contempt, although there were solitary cases of their showing erudition in matters of philosophy, and so on. In his large-heartedness and magnanimity, the Buddha treated women with consideration and civility, and pointed out to them, too, the path to peace, purity and sanctity. The Buddha established the Order of Nuns (Bhikkhuni Sasana) for the first time in history; for never before this had there been an Order where women could lead a celibate life of renunciation. Women from all walks of life joined the Order. The lives of quite a number of these noble nuns, their strenuous endeavours to win the goal of freedom, and their paeans of joy at deliverance of mind are graphically described in the `Psalms of the Sisters' (Theri- gatha). 21

While journeying from village to village, from town to town, instructing, enlightening and gladdening the many, the Buddha saw how superstitious folk, steeped in ignorance, slaughtered animals in worship of their gods. He spoke to them:

‘Of life, which all can take but none can give,
Life which all creatures love and strive to keep,
Wonderful, dear, and pleasant unto each,
Even to the meanest...' 22

Thus when people who prayed to the gods for mercy, were merciless, and India was blood-stained with the morbid sacrifices of innocent animals at the desecrated altars of imaginary deities, and the harm¬ful rites and rituals of ascetics and Brahmins brought disaster and untold agony, the Buddha, the Master of merciful wisdom, pointed out the Ancient Path, the path of the Enlightened Ones, of righteous¬ness, love and understanding. Being one who acted in constant conformity with what he preached, the Four Sublime States (brahma-vihara) 23 always dominated his acts.

The Buddha never encouraged wrangling and animosity. Addressing the monks he once said: 'I quarrel not with the world, monks, it is the world that quarrels with me. An exponent of the Dhamma quarrels not with anyone in the world. 24

Though the Order of the Sangha began its career with only sixty disciples, it expanded into thousands, and in those early days an adherent sought entry into it by pronouncing the threefold formula known as the 'Three Refuges' (ti-sarana):

'Buddham saranam gacchami
Dhammam saranam gacchdmi
Sangham saranam gacchami

Dutiyampi Buddham saranam gacchami
Dutiyampi Dhammam saranam gacchami
Dutiyampi Sangham saranam gacchami

Tatiyampi Buddham saranam gacchami
Tatiyampi Dhammam saranam gacchami
Tatiyampi Sangham saranam gacchami'

'I go for refuge to the Buddha (the Teacher)
I go for refuge to the Dhamma (the Teaching)
I go for refuge to the Sangha (the Taught)

For the second time I go for refuge to the Buddha
For the second time I go for refuge to the Dhamma
For the second time I go for refuge to the Sangha

For the third time I go for refuge to the Buddha
For the third time I go for refuge to the Dhamma
For the third time I go for refuge to the Sangha.' 25

As a result of the increasing number of monks, monasteries came into being, and in later times  monastic Indian universities like Nalanda, Vikramasila and Odantapuri became cultural centres which gradually influenced the whole of Asia, and, through it, the mental life of mankind.

After a successful ministry of forty-five years the Buddha passed away at the age of eighty at the Sara Grove 26 of the Mallas at Kusinara (in modern Uttara Pradesh about 120 miles north-cast of Baranasi), with a final admonition to his followers:

'Vayadhamma samkhara, appamadena sampadetha’ 27 

¬'Subject to change are all component things. Work out your deliverance with heedfulness.' 28

With only a few followers at the beginning, Buddhism pene¬trated into many a land, 29 and is today the 'religion' of over 500,000,000, more than one-fifth of the world's population.

Buddhism made such rapid strides chiefly due to its intrinsic worth and its appeal to the reasoning mind, but there were other factors that aided its progress: never did the messengers of the Dhamma (Dhammaduta) use any iniquitous methods in spreading the doctrine. The only weapon they wielded was that of universal love and compassion. Furthermore Buddhism penetrated to these countries peaceably without disturbing the creeds that were already there.

Buddhist missions to which the annals of religious history scarcely afforded a parallel were carried on neither by force of arms nor by the use of any coercive or reprehensible methods. Conversion by compulsion was unknown and repugnant to the Buddha and his disciples.

`There is no record known to me,' wrote Professor T. W. Rhys Davids, `in the whole of the long history of Buddhism throughout the many centuries where its followers have been for such lengthened periods supreme, of any persecution by the Buddhists of the followers of any other faith.'

Buddhism was thus able to diffuse itself through a great variety of cultures throughout the world.

1. The term religion is used here in the sense of & 'Way of Life' and not in the sense in which it is commonly understood. See chapter 2.

2. Yobhanamada, drogyamada, jivitamada.

3. See A. i. 146, sutta 38. 

4. M. i. 163, sutta 26.

5. For a detailed account see M. 36, translation by I. B. Horner in The Middle Length Sayings, Vol. I (Pali Text Society, London).
6. A Bodhisatta (Skt. Bodhisattva) is one who adheres to or is bent. on (satta)  the ideal of enlightenment, or knowledge of the four noble truths (bodhi). In this sense, the term may be applied to any one who is bent on enlightenment. But it is specially applied to an aspirant for full enlightenment (samma-sam-bodhi). A Bodhisatta fully cultivates ten perfections or parami which are essential qualities of extremely high standard initiated by compassion, and ever tinged with under¬standing or quick wit, free from craving, pride and false views (tanha, mana and ditthi) that qualify an aspirant for Buddhahood. They are: generosity, morality, renunciation, wisdom, effort, forbearance, truthfulness, determination, loving¬kindness and equanimity (dana, sila, nekkhamma, panna, viriya, khanti, sacra, adhitthana, metta and upekkha).

7. It appears to be rather strange that no mention of the Bodhi tree is made in the two discourses (nos.26 and 36 of the Majihima Nikaya) which graphically describe the Bodhisatta's struggle and search for enlightenment.
    The Account given in the two discourses is as follows:
    'Then I, monks, seeking for whatever is good, searching for the incomparable, matchless path to peace, walking on tour through Magadha in due course arrived at Uruvela, the camp township. There I saw a delightful stretch of land and a lovely woodland grove, and a clear flowing river (the Neranjara) with a delightful ford, and a village for support nearby. It occurred to me, monks: "Indeed, it is a delightful stretch of land... ” "Indeed this does well for the striving of a young man set on striving." So I, monks, sat down just there, thinking: "Indeed this does well for striving." (Miss I. B. Horner's translation The Middle Length Sayings, i. 210).
     Perhaps the Buddha felt it was not necessary for him to mention that be sat under a tree at it was well known then that recluses and ascetics sat cross-legged in the open under trees for their meditation.
     In the Mahapadhana-sutta (D. ii. 4), however, the tree is mentioned. It is an Assattha, the sacred fig tree, ficus religiosa. Mention of the tree was made by the Buddha Gotama when he referred to the lives of the previous six Buddhas, his predecessors. Addressing the monks he said: 'I, now, monks, am an Accom¬plished One (araham), a. Supremely Enlightened One (samma-sam-buddho). I attained supreme enlightenment under the fig tree (assatthassa mule abhisam-buddho).'

8. Read M. 36 with the Commentary, MA. ii. 291 and Anapana Samyutta no. 8 (S. v 317).

9. See chapter 14. Right Concentration (samma-samadhi).

10. For details see chapter 3 on The First Noble Truth. dukkha.

11. Elsewhere we see taint of false view (ditthasava) added to these as the fourth taint.

12. M. 36.

13. M. 26. 

14. This deeply profound doctrine is discussed in chapter 4 . 

15. Vinaya, i. p. 1.

16. Even before the advent of the Buddha the word Tathagata was used, but in the sense of ‘being’ (satta) as in the saying: 'hoti tathagato parammarana—will there be a being after death?'. The Venerable Sariputta used it in this sense when explaining a point to the Venerable Yamaka. See S. iii. 111 and commentary. After the advent of the Buddha, however, it was used as an epithet for the Buddha, and the Master frequently used it when referring to himself. The commentary to the Anguttara Nikaya (P.T.S. i.103) gives the following meanings to the word. `One attained to Truth.'  'One who understands things as they are and not otherwise.'  'Thus gone' (Tatha + gata).

17. Vinaya, i. 10; S. v. 420.

18. The Path and the Four Noble Truths which outline the basis of the entire teaching will be discussed in later chapters.

19. The Emperor Asoka came on pilgrimage to this holy spot and caused a series of monuments and a commemorative pillar with the lion capital to be erected. This capital with its four magnificent lions upholding the 'Dharma-Cakra', 'the Wheel of Dharma', now stands in the museum of Sarnath, and is today the official crest of India. The 'Dharma-Cakra' festival is still maintained in Sri Lanka.
       Jawaharlal Nehru writes: ‘At Sarnath near Benares, I would almost see the Buddha preaching his first sermon, and some of his recorded words would come like a distant echo to me through two thousand five hundred years. Asoka's pillars of stone with their inscriptions would speak to me in their magnificent language and tell me of a man who, though an emperor, was greater than any king or emperor.'
       The Discovery of India (The Signet Press, Calcutta), p. 44.

20. Vinaya, i. 21.

21. Psalms of the Early Buddhists--The Sisters, translated by C.A.F. Rhys Davids. P.T.S.  Translation Series.

22. Sir Edwin Arnold, The Light of Asia.

23. The Four Sublime States are: unbounded loving kindness (metta), compassion (karuna),  sympathetic joy (mudita), equanimity (upekkha). See chapter 8 and passim.

24.  S. iii. 138.

25. Vinaya Mahavagga, Khandaka.

26. In a way it is interesting to note that this greatest of Indian Rishis (seers) was born under a tree in a park, attained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree (a cutting from the south branch of which brought by Sanghamitta, the Arahat Theri, daughter of Emperor Asoka of India, third century B.C., still flourishes at Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka, and is the oldest recorded tree in the world), set in motion the 'Wheel of Truth' Dhammacakka, Skt. Dharma-cakra) at the deer park under trees, and finally passed away under the twin sala trees.  He spent most of time in the open, in the forests and villages of India.

27. D. 16. The discourse on the passing away of the Buddha (Parinibbana-sutta), wherein are recorded in moving detail all the events that occurred during the last months and days of the Master's life.

28. The words diligence, vigilance, watchfulness are some renderings for the pali word ‘appamada’.

29. Today Buddhism is found in Sri Lanka (Ceylon), Burma, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Nepal, Tibet, China, Japan, Mongolia, Korea, Taiwan, in some parts of India, Bangladesh, Malaya and in some parts of Indonesia. Several Western countries with Buddhist Sangha are now qualifying to be included in this list.