Who was the Buddha?

A man struggling for existence will naturally look for something of value. The Prince brought up in the lap of luxury, waited on hand foot; his every need catered for. He lived in the palaces, one each for summer, winter and the monsoon, with pools full of lotus flowers. All day long he was shielded from sun, rain and dust by white parasol. One day, while visiting a nearby town he noticed four events which impressed him deeply: old age, sickness, death and renunciation of the world. After seeing these four events he thought "An untrained common person is exposed to old age, sickness, and death. I'll have the same destiny too". He became aware of the danger and decide to renounce everything to find a solution for these sufferings. At the age of 29 he decided to leave the palace and search for the answers in the homeless life of a mendicant, and to finally choose between his 2 destinies. He left the Palace one night, on the 14th day of .Asali, with only his groom, Chandaka and his favourite horse, the snow-white Kanthaka.

Didn't the sovereignty tempt the prince to stay in the palace?

No, this life of luxury could do nothing to ease the Prince's mind. His contemplative nature and boundless compassion and love did not lend him the fleeting material pleasures of a Royal household. Though he knew no hardship, he deeply pitied the suffering of others. Amidst great comfort and prosperity he conceived the universality of pain, suffering and sorrow. The palace, for all its luxuries and worldly temptations, was not so pleasing and enjoyable for the saviour of humanity. Realising the worthlessness of these sensual pleasures so highly esteemed by wise men, and the value of renunciation, he set forth in search of ultimate truth. He'd learned much in his youth about the different schools of philosophy of that time, such as Vedantas and Upanishads, and had debated with their philosophers and thinkers.

What did he eventually discover?

The most important thing he discovered was Suffering and how to free oneself from it. He believed that suffering is caused by craving. He could show the people how to cut the root of greed, hatred, and ignorance and to reach perfect peace and indescribable bliss. He discovered Nirvana (Pali: Nibbana) which is absolute calmness.

Who was Siddharta's teacher?

Siddharta learned from many great teachers. The Buddhist texts show us that there were other schools that time which practised meditation (Bhavana). Two ascetics, Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramputta, practised the supreme form of meditation which appears to be the 3rd or possibly 4th, stage of Arupa Jhana, the state of "No Form". This kind of concentration training was similar to the present system of the Buddha's meditation. He also mets 5 great ascetics known as the Five Weaved Tress Ascetics in the Deer Park and subjected himself the most severe self-mortification, an experience unique in the history of mankind. He spurred himself on with the thought: "no ascetics in the past, none in the present and none in the future, ever has practised or ever will practise more earnestly than I do". The Bodhisattva was able to surpass all his teachers, but still could not find the answers he sought. After 6 years in the forest he gave up his ascetic practices.

What did the Prince do next?

The Bodhisattva decided to rely on himself and seek the answers within. After a superhuman struggle of strenuous years, unguided and unaided by any supernatural agency and solely relying on his own efforts and creativity, he sat under the Bodhi tree with unshakeable determination (Adhitthana) and vowed to remain there until he reached perfect Enlightenment. In the 1st part of the night he attained the knowledge of past lives, in the 2nd part, the understanding of heavenly intuition, and in the last part, the Understanding of dependent origination. Finally, on the 7th day, while the morning star shone in the sky, a flash of light was seen and perfect understanding came to him. He attained the most perfect awakening: Anutara Samyak Sambudhi. On 8December, at the age of 35, Siddharta Gautama became the Buddha.

How did the Buddha transmit his awakening to the people?

The Bodhisattva returned to the people with pure love and compassion to awaken them from their "sleep” and to show them the way of remedy from the pain they had accumulated for centuries. He showed them how to find their true nature and not to be the puppet of the so-called clergies and "paradise sellers". In his famous sermon, the Kalama Sutra, he advised his followers to depend upon themselves and not to obey the commands of some false attitude and creeds. He taught the people how to control themselves from within, how to change their own destinies and not to be so inactive, inadequate, obedient like lambs to the shepherd.

What is the Kalama Sutra?

It is a sermon which encourages the Buddha's followers to experiment for themselves. In the Kalama Sutra, the Buddha emphasises that one should not blindly accept anything based upon:

1. Report, custom, tradition or rumour

2. Inference and deduction

3. Guesswork or conjecture

4. Argument, logic or plausible reasoning

5. Things which appear to be real

6. Consideration that the Buddha is my teacher

 7. What the Buddha tells you

So this Sutra teaches non-attachment to both human authorities and gods?

Exactly. The teaching of the Buddha is based "Come and See" and not come and believe. He invites all of us to come and experience the truth for ourselves with our own eyes and observation and not to believe what the legends say. As a scientist proves his theories through experimentation, so the Buddha believes, similarly, that his way of awakening is open to everyone and can be experienced by everyone and this direct intuition is not monopolised by the Buddha. This claim has never been declared by any other religion’s authorities or the religionists.

In his sermons, the Buddha always emphasised that "awakening should be obtained in this world and not the next”. He never called himself a supreme being or the messenger of God. In obtaining the truth, the Buddha observed things analytically just as a scientist would do.