| By : Ajit Hari Sahu | Previous | Next |
| Posted on : 16 Dec, 2005 | Total Views : 575 |
In his first sermon the Dharmachakrapravrtana (Turning of the Wheel of Law) at Sarnath the Buddha put forth, The Middle Way, The Four Noble Truths and The Eightfold Path.
The message of the Buddha spread rapidly, penetrating caste and class barriers. The Buddha preached that the way to salvation was not dependent on God of Divine Grace but on understanding the way things really are. It is essentially concerned with all living, suffering beings caught in the treadmill of desire and craving.
Sakyamuni's message encapsulated complex issues of existence in a lucid manner, punctuated with anecdotes from day-to-day life.
One day the Buddha encountered a woman who begged the Lord to save her dead child. The Lord asked the woman to get a mustard seed from a household that had not experienced death. The woman came back after a while, unsuccessful but sobered and fell at the feet of the Master. The Buddha then expounded to her the transitory nature of human existence.
The path to salvation
By the time the Buddha attained Mahaparinirvana (final extinction) at the age of 80 years, the teachings he had propounded had a large following in north India, especially between the warrior and the merchant classes. Buddhism's appeal lay in its vision of a world where deliverance from the caste-ridden and ritualistic Brahmanical Hindu order was possible. Above all, the enlightened one preached that salvation was in one's own hands, possible in this world, by freeing oneself from desire.
The first Buddhist Council
A few months after the Mahaparinirvana a great gathering of monks, popularly known as the first Buddhist Council, took place at Saptaparni caves near Rajagriha. The teachings of the master were codified for the first time and the Vinaya Pitaka and the Sutra Pitaka were compiled. A second Buddhist Council was held at Vaishsali a hundred years later, where schisms arose between the orthodox Sthaviravadins (elders) and the Mahasanghikas (the great community) regarding points of monastic discipline and philosophy. The Third Council at Patalipurta was held under the patronage of the Mauryan emperor, Ashoka. His son, Mahendra, and daughter, Sanghamitra, went to Sri Lanka to spread the teachings of the Great Master there.
Emperor Ashoka embraces Buddhism
Emperor Ashoka whose reign spanned from 268 to 239 BC, converted to Buddhism after experiencing a crisis of conscience following his bloody victory at the Kalinga war where he was responsible for the ruthless massacre of tens and thousands of innocent victims.
After embracing the Faith in 260 BC, Ashoka attempted to rule by the principles of dharma, justice and non-violence associated with Buddha's teaching. Ashoka took major steps to popularize Buddhism throughout his vast empire.
As early as in the first hundred years after the Lord's Mahaparinirvana, different schools of thought arose within Buddhism. This was a result of the intense debates within the monastic order. The influence of rituals and the devotional philosophy that pervaded Hinduism was also a factor. The most significant result was the rise of the Mahayana (meaning great vehicle), while the older school was called Hinayana (meaning little vehicle).
The Mahayana
Mahayana doctrine represented a great ferryboat that would take humanity across the sea of suffering and rebirth to the shore of Nirvana. The Mahayana school shifted the focus from Arhat to Boddhisattva. The Arhat was the person seeking Nirvana for his personal salvation, while the Boddhisattive was one who postponed his entry into Nirvana until he could lead all other beings to Nirvana as well. It laid emphasis on salvation for all. This was a departure from the ideal of the earlier school. To the Mahayana school, the Buddha was not only a teacher but also a saviour.
In Sri Lanka, the school of the elders held its own against the Mahayana tide and was known as the Theravada. Under the patronage of powerful kings like Parakkramabahu (1153-86), Sinhalese monks took Theravada to Burma. The Dharma was established in Thailand a century later, while Cambodia and Laos adopted Buddhism in the 14th century.
From the famed mahaviharas (monastic universities) of North India, Buddhism reached China by way of traders as early as 50 BC, and from there to Korea, and later to Japan from Korea in the 6th century AD.
Zen Buddhism
Zen Buddhism was introduced in Japan in the mid-12th century but its strict stipulations and subtleties, with emphasis on personal effort, did not attract many followers in the beginning.
The crux of Zen philosophy is the Mahayana theory of universal Buddhahood. Zen is Japanese for Chinese Ch'an, which is derived from Sanskrit dhyana (meditation).
Buddhism comes to Tibet
In the 8th century AD Santarakshita from Nalanda Mahavihara went to Tibet to spread Buddhism. Facing hostilities from the local populace, he was forced to return. Soon after, Acharya Parmasambhava, the great Buddhist Tantric Master from Kashmir, was more successful, and established Buddhism in Tibet. Tibetan Buddhists revere him as Guru Rinpoche.
A new school of Buddhism, Vajrayana (vajra meaning thunderbolt), arose in Tibet around the 8th century. It is often described as the 'completed Dharma' because it absorbed the doctrines of both Theravada and Mahayana and also embraced tantra.
From Tibet, Buddhism spread to Mongolia and the fierce Mongols were converted to one of the gentlest faiths ever propagated. The genius of Buddhism was that local specificities were taken into account and thus Buddhist Dharma became thoroughly integrated into the culture of each country, from the islands of Japan to the landlocked mountains of Tibet and Mongolia.
The Buddhist faith in India
The resurgence of devotional Hinduism, incorporating popular cults and Buddhist practices like ahimsa, puja worship and vegetarianism, narrowed the differences between Hinduism and Buddhism in everyday life. The Turkish invasions beginning in the 10th century dealt a further blow to Buddhism in India and the major monasteries of India were wiped off the map. Thereafter, Buddhism has never come back as major force in the land of Sakyamuni's birth.
In modern India, Buddhism survives only in isolated pockets among the peoples of Ladakh, Lahaul, Spiti, Kinnaur in the western Himalayas and the Monpas, Shedukpens, Lepchas, Bhutias and Chankmas in the eastern Himalayas. The conversion of some sections of depressed class Hindus under the leadership of Dr B R Ambedkar in the late 1950s and 1960s is an instance of Buddhist revival in India.
The flight of his Holiness the XIVth Dalai Lama from Tibet in 1959, led to the establishment of his government in exile in Dharamsala in North India, where there is a thriving Tibetan Buddhist community. The Tibetan influence has led to the founding of more than a hundred monasteries all over India, besides reviving older ones, especially in the Western Himalayas.
Buddhism in Europe
Europe was initiated into Buddhist philosophy with early 19th century colonial administrators, linguists and scholars taking an active interest in the ancient texts of the Orient. The works of Col Henry Olcott, the American co-founder of Theosophical Society, and Edwin Arnold's poem, 'The Light of Asia' , published in 1879, further spurred this intellectual curiosity. However, it was not till the middle of this century that Buddhism as a religion espousing non-violence was firmly entrenched in the consciousness of post-war Europe. Travellers who had been to the East returned to Europe and North America immersed in Buddhist philosophy. Asian teachers arrived in Europe, often on teaching visits. Some of them established Buddhist centres with communities of monks and lay people living under the guidance of Dharma masters.
Written By : Ajit Hari Sahu
