buddha: August 2011

Saturday, 27 August 2011

Life of the Buddha

Birth and Early Life

Gautama was born in northern India about 2500 years ago. The exact place of his birth is understood to be the Lumbini garden, which nowadays lies just inside the border of the Himalayan Kingdom of Nepal.
Gautama’s father, Suddhodana, was the ruler of the tiny kingdom of the Sakyas. Naturally, he was delighted to have an heir who could follow him on to the throne. Naturally he was not very pleased when a wise man predicted, upon seeing the new arrival, that if he did not become a great world ruler he would become a great religious teacher.
King Suddhodana knew that it would be experience of the hard, painful things of life that would turn Gautama's mind in the direction of religion, so he did everything in his power to keep them out of the young prince's life. Gautama was thus brought up in a sealed world of security and luxury. He lived in beautiful palaces, wore clothes of the most splendid materials, ate only the finest foods, and was generally entertained and waited upon in the best style.

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BUDDHA TO AMBMBEDKAR STRUGGLE for SOCIAL JUSTICEEDKAR STRUGGLE for SOCIAL JUSTICE, ONGING AND ENDLESS

Many saints have come and gone over the millenniums, preached and perished like Gandhi, but only Reinforcing existing Establishment and decaying Indian Social System, Class Structure and Exploitations, all in the name of reasonable responsible exploitations, tolerable work load, with a human face and good sweet smile! But at times came the real great ones, who broke many barriers of evil practices injustices, and opened the paths to liberation and justice, for the ultimate liberty of the suffering downtrodden people.read more

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[edit] Origins

Buddhism was once dominant through much of India, it had however begun to decline by the 12th century (see Decline of Buddhism in India). The Buddhist revival began in India in 1891, when the Sri Lankan Buddhist leader Anagarika Dharmapala founded the Maha Bodhi Society^[3] The Maha Bodhi Society mainly attracted upper-caste people.,^[4] most of whom did not identify themselves specifically as Buddhists, seeing no significant difference between Buddhism and Hinduism.

[edit] South India

In 1890, Pandit C. Ayodhya Dasa (1845–1914), better known as Iyothee Thass, founded the Sakya Buddhist Society (also known as the Indian Buddhist Association). The first president of the Indian Buddhist Association was the German born American Paul Carus, the author of The Gospel of Buddha (1894).
Thass, a Tamil Siddha physician, was the pioneer of the Tamil Dalit movement. He argued that Tamil Dalits were originally Buddhists. He led a delegation of prominent Dalits to Henry Steel Olcott and asked for his help in the reestablishment of "Tamil Buddhism." Olcott helped Thass to visit Sri Lanka, where he received diksha from Bhikkhu Sumangala Nayake. After returning to India, Thass established the Sakya Buddhist Society in Madras with branches in many places including Karnataka.^[5] Thass established a weekly magazine called Oru Paisa Tamizhan ("One Paisa Tamilian") in Chennai in 1907, which served as a newsletter linking all the new branches of the Sakya Buddhist Society. The magazine discussed traditions and practices of Tamil Buddhism, new developments in the Buddhist world, and the Indian subcontinent's history from the Buddhist point of view.
Bhagya Reddy Verma (Madari Bagaiah), a Dalit leader of Andhra Pradesh, was also fascinated by Buddhism and promoted its adoption among the Dalits.

Why Dr. Ambedkar renounced Hinduism?

Dr. Ambedkar's role as a prominent constitution maker of India is quite well known. However, his views on religion, particularly his reasons for renouncing Hinduism, the religion of his birth, are not as widely known. Ambedkar who was born in an "untouchable" family carried on a relentless battle against untouchability throughout his adult life. In the last part of his life, he renounced Hinduism and became a Buddhist. What were his reasons for doing so?

A detailed answer to this question can be obtained by studying his The Buddha and His Dhamma, Annihilation of Caste, Philosophy of Hinduism, Riddles in Hinduism etc. Nonetheless, some of his articles, speeches and interviews before and after his conversion to Buddhism throw some light on this question. http://buddha4world.blogspot.com

THE BUDDHA AND HIS DHAMMA by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar

BOOK ONE: SIDDHARTH GAUTAMA — HOW A BODHISATTA BECAME THE BUDDHA

*Part I — From Birth to Parivraja*
*Part II — Renunciation for Ever*
*Part III — In Search of New Light*
*Part IV — Enlightenment and the Vision of a New Way*
*Part V — The Buddha and His Predecessors*
*Part VI — The Buddha and His Contemporaries*
*Part VII — Comparison and Contrast*http://buddha4world.blogspot.com

Buddhism in the Modern World

The entire concept of Buddhism lies in the teachings of Lord Buddha, that He preached to His disciples after attaining enlightenment in 528 BCE in BbodhGaya. After the mahaparinirvana of Gautam Buddha(483 BCE), the whole phase of the timeline of Buddhist history went through various ups and downs. The division of Buddhism into various sects, arrival of Islam in India and other parts of the world, the revival of Hinduism and the Bhakti movement - whatever it had to be, though slowed down the pace of Buddhism for a time being, but could not put an end over it permanently. The existence of Buddhism in today's stage of life proves that the Buddha's teachings still have relevance in our lives.

Buddhism After Buddha

Buddhism is a philosophy based on the teachings of Lord Buddha(563 BCE-483 BCE), who was born as Siddhartha Gautama, a Shakya prince in Lumbini, Nepal. The teachings preached by Lord Buddha subsequently turned into a religion, known as Buddhism.
The core of Buddhism lies in the purification of mind and soul by realising the truth and getting rid of the worldly desires. Basically, it were the principles of Karma in the doctrine of Buddhism that made the religion one of the major ones in the world.

Buddhism After The Buddha - The role of Ashoka
It was after the Buddha's death that the school of Buddhism spread slowly in India and then subsequently, throughout the world. However, it was at the time of the the Indian emperor Ashoka that Buddhism took a pace to reach its height. After the tragic Kalinga war, Ashoka decided to follow the path of non-violence or 'ahimsa' and converted to Buddhism. He promoted the doctrines of Buddhism not only in his empire as Dhamma but in other regions as well. It was his promotional campaign that led to the construction of the Buddhist religious monasteries and stupas, which further facilitated the spread of Buddhism in countries like Sri Lanka, Tibet, China and Japan.

The Buddhist Religion

Preface
Buddhism is a philosophy of life based on the teachings of Lord Buddha, which subsequently turned into a religion. The core of Buddhism lies in the purification of mind and soul by realising the truth and getting rid of the worldly desires. The Buddhist philosophy teaches one to develop the qualities of awareness, kindness and wisdom through Buddhist practices such as practicing Eightfold Path, Five Precepts, Four Noble Truths, meditation and yoga. Basically, it were the principles of Karma in the doctrine of Buddhism that made the religion one of the major ones in the world.

The History of Buddhism

he history of Buddhism traces back to the teachings of Lord Buddha after He attained enlightenment in 528 BCE under the Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya, India. Ater attaining enlightenment, Lord Buddha spent the rest of His life in making others aware of the truth of life. It was after His Mahaparinirvana in 483 BCE , when the first Buddhist council was convened at Rajagriha in India , when 500 monks assembled under the guidance of Mahakashyapa, and the teachings of The Buddha were compiled by His chief disciple, Ananda in the form of a holy Pali canon, Tripitaka, which meant the three baskets.

What is Buddhism

Buddhism is a set of principles or philosophy based on the teachings of Lord Buddha, who was born in 563 BCE at Lumbini, Nepal as Siddhartha Gautam, a Shakya prince. Basically, Buddhism preaches the path of practice and spiritual development, thus, leading an insight into the truth of life. With its realistic base, Buddhism today is one of the major religions of the countries of Central Asia, Sri Lanka, Tibet, China, Korea, Japan and southeast Asia.

The main objective of Buddhism is to end the suffering of cyclic existence or 'samsara' by awakening a being to the realisation of the truth and the achievement of liberation. According to the Buddhist doctrine, there is only one way to reach the destination of reality - One should purify and train the mind and heart and act as per the laws of Karma to purify the soul.

Buddhism, which is considered today more of a religion than a thought, focuses on moral discipline or 'sila', meditation or 'samadhi' and wisdom or 'prajna' rather than that of idol-worship. According to the principles of Buddhism, any being can attain enlightenment by following certain codes and conducts such as Five Preceptions, Eightfold Path and Four Noble Truths.

Lumbini, the Birthplace of the Lord Buddha

Siddhartha Gautama, the Lord Buddha, was born in 623 B.C. in the famous gardens of Lumbini, which soon became a place of pilgrimage. Among the pilgrims was the Indian emperor Ashoka, who erected one of his commemorative pillars there. The site is now being developed as a Buddhist pilgrimage centre, where the archaeological remains associated with the birth of the Lord Buddha form a central feature.

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