CHAPTER 3
THE BUDDHAHOOD
"The Tathāgatas are only teachers".
-- DHAMMAPADA
Characteristics of the Buddha
After a stupendous struggle of six strenuous
years, in His 35th year the ascetic Gotama, unaided and unguided by
any supernatural agency, and solely relying on His own efforts and wisdom,
eradicated all defilements, ended the process of grasping, and, realizing
things as they truly are by His own intuitive knowledge, became a
Buddha -- an Enlightened or Awakened One.
Thereafter he was known as Buddha Gotama,[1]
one of a long series of Buddhas that appeared in the past and will appear
in the future.
He was not born a Buddha, but became a Buddha
by His own efforts.
The Pāli term Buddha is derived from "budh",
to understand, or to be awakened. As He fully comprehended the four Noble
Truths and as He arose from the slumbers of ignorance He is called a
Buddha. Since He not only comprehends but also expounds the doctrine and
enlightens others, He is called a Sammā Sambuddha -- a Fully
Enlightened One -- to distinguish Him from Pacceka (Individual)
Buddhas who only comprehend the doctrine but are incapable of enlightening
others.
Before His Enlightenment He was called
Bodhisatta[2]
which means one who is aspiring to attain Buddhahood.
Every aspirant to Buddhahood passes through the
Bodhisatta Period -- a period of intensive exercise and development of the
qualities of generosity, discipline, renunciation, wisdom, energy,
endurance, truthfulness, determination, benevolence and perfect
equanimity.
In a particular era there arises only one Sammā
Sambuddha. Just as certain plants and trees can bear only one flower even
so one world-system (lokadhātu) can bear only one Sammā Sambuddha.
The Buddha was a unique being. Such a being
arises but rarely in this world, and is born out of compassion for the
world, for the good, benefit, and happiness of gods and men. The Buddha is
called "acchariya manussa" as He was a wonderful man. He is called
"amatassa dātā" as He is the giver of Deathlessness. He is called
"varado" as He is the Giver of the purest love, the profoundest
wisdom, and the Highest Truth. He is also called Dhammassāmi as He
is the Lord of the Dhamma (Doctrine).
As the Buddha Himself says, "He is the
Accomplished One (Tathāgata), the Worthy One (Araham), the
Fully Enlightened One (Sammā Sambuddha), the creator of the
unarisen way, the producer of the unproduced way, the proclaimer of the
unproclaimed way, the knower of the way, the beholder of the way, the
cognizer of the way."[3]
The Buddha had no teacher for His
Enlightenment. "Na me ācariyo atthi"
[4]
-- A teacher
have I not -- are His own words. He did receive His mundane knowledge from
His lay teachers,[5]
but teachers He had none for His supramundane knowledge which He himself
realized by His own intuitive wisdom.
If He had received His knowledge from another
teacher or from another religious system such as Hinduism in which He was
nurtured, He could not have said of Himself as being the incomparable
teacher (aham satthā anuttaro).[6]
In His first discourse He declared that light arose in things not
heard before.
During the early period of His renunciation He
sought the advice of the distinguished religious teachers of the day, but
He could not find what He sought in their teachings. Circumstances
compelled Him to think for Himself and seek the Truth. He sought the Truth
within Himself. He plunged into the deepest profundities of thought, and
He realized the ultimate Truth which He had not heard or known before.
Illumination came from within and shed light on things which He had never
seen before.
As He knew everything that ought to be known
and as He obtained the key to all knowledge, He is called Sabbannū --the
Omniscient One. This supernormal knowledge He acquired by His own
efforts continued through a countless series of births.
Who is the Buddha?
Once a certain brahmin named Dona,
noticing the characteristic marks of the footprint of the Buddha,
approached Him and questioned Him.
"Your Reverence will be a Deva?[7]"
"No, indeed, brahmin, a Deva am I not," replied
the Buddha.
"Then Your Reverence will be a Gandhabba?
[8]"'
"No, indeed, brahmin, a Gandhabba am I not."
"A Yakkha then?[9]"
"No, indeed, brahmin, not a Yakkha."
"Then Your Reverence will be a human being?"
"No, indeed, brahmin, a human being am I not."
"Who, then, pray, will Your Reverence be?"
The Buddha replied that He had destroyed
Defilements which condition rebirth as a Deva, Gandhabba, Yakkha, or a
human being and added:
"As a lotus, fair and lovely,
By the water is not soiled,
By the world am I not soiled;
Therefore, brahmin, am I Buddha.[10]"'
The Buddha does not claim to be an incarnation
(Avatāra) of Hindu God Vishnu, who, as the Bhagavadgitā
[11]
charmingly sings, is born again and again in different periods to protect
the righteous, to destroy the wicked, and to establish the Dharma (right).
According to the Buddha countless are the gods
(Devas) who are also a class of beings subject to birth and death;
but there is no one Supreme God, who controls the destinies of human
beings and who possesses a divine power to appear on earth at different
intervals, employing a human form as a vehicle[12].
Nor does the Buddha call Himself a "Saviour"
who freely saves others by his personal salvation. The Buddha exhorts His
followers to depend on themselves for their deliverance, since both
defilement and purity depend on oneself. One cannot directly purify or
defile another.[13]
Clarifying His relationship with His followers and emphasizing the
importance of self-reliance and individual striving, the Buddha plainly
states:
"You yourselves should make an exertion. The
Tathāgatas are only teachers.[14]"'
The Buddha only indicates the path and method
whereby He delivered Himself from suffering and death and achieved His
ultimate goal. It is left for His faithful adherents who wish their
release from the ills of life to follow the path.
"To depend on others for salvation is negative,
but to depend on oneself is positive." Dependence on others means a
surrender of one's effort.
"Be ye isles unto yourselves; be ye a refuge
unto yourselves; seek no refuge in others.[15]"
These significant words uttered by the Buddha
in His last days are very striking and inspiring. They reveal how vital is
self-exertion to accomplish one's ends, and how superficial and futile it
is to seek redemption through benignant saviours, and crave for illusory
happiness in an afterlife through the propitiation of imaginary gods by
fruitless prayers and meaningless sacrifices.
The Buddha was a human being. As a man He was
born, as a Buddha He lived, and as a Buddha His life came to an end.
Though human, He became an extraordinary man owing to His unique
characteristics. The Buddha laid stress on this important point, and left
no room for any one to fall into the error of thinking that He was an
immortal being. It has been said of Him that there was no religious
teacher who was "ever so godless as the Buddha, yet none was so god-like.[16]"
In His own time the Buddha was no doubt highly venerated by His followers,
but He never arrogated to Himself any divinity.
The Buddha's Greatness
Born a man, living as a mortal, by His own
exertion He attained that supreme state of perfection called Buddhahood,
and without keeping His Enlightenment to Himself, He proclaimed to the
world the latent possibilities and the invincible power of the human mind.
Instead of placing an unseen Almighty God over man, and giving man a
subservient position in relation to such a conception of divine power, He
demonstrated how man could attain the highest knowledge and Supreme
Enlightenment by his own efforts. He thus raised the worth of man. He
taught that man can gain his deliverance from the ills of life and realize
the eternal bliss of Nibbāna without depending on an external God or
mediating priests. He taught the egocentric, power-seeking world the noble
ideal of selfless service. He protested against the evils of caste-system
that hampered the progress of mankind and advocated equal opportunities
for all. He declared that the gates of deliverance were open to all, in
every condition of life, high or low, saint or sinner, who would care to
turn a new leaf and aspire to perfection. He raised the status of
down-trodden women, and not only brought them to a realization of their
importance to society but also founded the first religious order for
women. For the first time in the history of the world He attempted to
abolish slavery. He banned the sacrifice of unfortunate animals and
brought them within His compass of loving kindness. He did not force His
followers to be slaves either to His teachings or to Himself, but granted
complete freedom of thought and admonished His followers to accept His
words not merely out of regard for Him but after subjecting them to a
thorough examination "even as the wise would test gold by burning,
cutting, and rubbing it on a piece of touchstone." He comforted the
bereaved mothers like Patācārā and Kisāgotami by His consoling words. He
ministered to the deserted sick like Putigatta Tissa Thera with His own
hands. He helped the poor and the neglected like Rajjumālā and Sopāka and
saved them from an untimely and tragic death. He ennobled the lives of
criminals like Angulimala and courtesans like Ambapāli. He encouraged the
feeble, united the divided, enlightened the ignorant, clarified the
mystic, guided the deluded, elevated the base, and dignified the noble.
The rich and the poor, the saint and the criminal, loved Him alike. His
noble example was a source of inspiration to all. He was the most
compassionate and tolerant of teachers.
His will, wisdom, compassion, service,
renunciation, perfect purity, exemplary personal life, the blameless
methods that were employed to propagate the Dhamma and His final success
-- all these factors have compelled about one fifth of the population of
the world to hail the Buddha as the greatest religious teacher that ever
lived on earth.
Paying a glowing tribute to the Buddha, Sri
Radhakrishnan writes:
"In Gautama the Buddha we have a master mind
from the East second to none so far as the influence on the thought and
life of the human race is concerned, and sacred to all as the founder of a
religious tradition whose hold is hardly less wide and deep than any
other. He belongs to the history of the world's thought, to the general
inheritance of all cultivated men, for, judged by intellectual integrity,
moral earnestness, and spiritual insight, he is undoubtedly one of the
greatest figures in history.[17]"
In the Three Greatest Men in History H.
G. Wells states:
"In the Buddha you see clearly a man, simple,
devout, lonely, battling for light, a vivid human personality, not a myth.
He too gave a message to mankind universal in character. Many of our best
modern ideas are in closest harmony with it. All the miseries and
discontents of life are due, he taught, to selfishness. Before a man can
become serene he must cease to live for his senses or himself. Then he
merges into a greater being. Buddhism in different language called men to
self-forgetfulness 500 years before Christ. In some ways he was nearer to
us and our needs. He was more lucid upon our individual importance in
service than Christ and less ambiguous upon the question of personal
immortality."
The Poet Tagore calls Him the Greatest Man ever
born.
In admiration of the Buddha, Fausboll, a Danish
scholar says -- "The more I know Him, the more I love Him."
A humble follower of the Buddha would modestly
say: The more I know Him, the more I love Him; the more I love Him, the
more I know Him.
[1]
His disciples addressed Him as Buddha, Bhagavā (Exalted One),
Sugata (Well-gone One) etc, while alien followers addressed Him as
Bho Gotama, (Venerable Gotama), Samana Gotama (Ascetic Gotama),
etc., Referring to Himself the Buddha used the term "Tathāgata"
meaning "He who hath thus come", "He who hath thus gone."
[2]
Samskrit --
Bodhisattva.
[3] Samyutta Nikāya
part iii, p. 66; Kindred Sayings, part iii, p. 58.
[4] Majjhima Nikāya,
Ariyapariyesana Sutta N. 26.
[5] Such as Kondañña,
Alāra Kālāma, Uddakka Rāmaputta etc.
[6]
Majjhima Nikāya,
Ariyapariyesana Sutta, N. 26.
[7]
A celestial
being who resides in heavenly planes.
[8]
A heavenly
musician.
[9]
A demon.
[10]
Gradual
Sayings, Pt. ii, pp. 44-45, Anguttara Nikāya Pt. ii -- p.37.
[11] Paritrānāya
sādhūnām vināsāya ca duskrtām.
Dharmsamsthāpanārthāya sambhavāmi yuge yuge.
[12] Hindu teachers,
however, with the object of bringing within the fold of Hinduism the
increasing adherents of Buddhism, have unjustly called the Buddha God's
incarnation (Avatāra) -- an idea which He repudiated in His own
time.
[13]
Suddhi
asuddhi paccattam n'añño aññam visodhaye. Dhammapada v. 165.
[14] Tumhehi kiccam
ātappam akkhātāro tathāgatā.. Dhammapada v. 276
[15] Attadipā
viharatha, attapatisaranā anaññasaranā. Dīgha Nikāya, Mahāparinibbāna
Sutta Vol. 2, p. 100.
[16]
Dwight Goddard
-- Buddhist Bible, p. 20.
[17]
(Gautama the
Buddha, p. 1.)
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