Buddhism - birth, rise, spread, impact and decline in India

Buddhism (The Path to Enlightenment) Historically, Buddhism began in North India in the 6th or 5th century BC, when Siddhartha attained "enlightenment". autama Buddha - The !ight o" #sia

Gautama Buddha was born in 566 B$C$ as Prince %iddhartha, in the !umbini grove of Sal trees near &apila'astu. The site of his birth lace is mar!ed by the celebrated (ummindei Pillar o" #so)a$ To turn %iddharth*s mind to+ards +ordly matters his father had him married at the age o" ,6 to a beauti"ul princess, -ashodhara. He had also a son named (ahul born to him.

.hat are the "our reat %igns that are turning point in autama Buddha !i"e/ "n se arate occasions he saw # $. %n old man burdened with age, wal!ing with great difficulty. &. % very sic! man shivering with ain and fever. '. % funeral rocession with the relatives wee ing loudly. (. %n ascetic clad in sim le yellow robe with an e) ression of eace on his face. These four events, !nown as the *our Signs, led to Gautama+s inner struggle to search for a meaning in life. .hat is reat (enunciation in Buddha*s !i"e0 .hy did he lea'e (oyal !i"e0 Gautama set his mind on finding a solution to the roblem before him. "ne night while his wife and child were slee ing he too! a last loo! at them and left his home riding on his horse &antha)a. He was 12 years old at that time. Gautama+s decision to leave his family is !nown as the reat (enunciation$

He left home in The %earch "or &no+ledge uru*s and disciples o" autama Buddha0

.ho are the

*or the ne)t si) years Gautama lived as a homeless ascetic see!ing instruction from two sages, #lara &alama and then +ith (amaputta #lara. But he did not find answers to the ,uestions that troubled him. He s ent the years in 3ra'ela "orest near aya, where he sub-ected his body to strict ascetism, with ractices such as severe fasting and holding of the breath. This reduced his body to a s!eleton. He realised that sel"-torture +as o" no help in reaching his goal and gave u his strict ascetism after reali.ing that per"ection comes by obser'ing the middle path bet+een the e4tremes o" sel"-morti"ication and hedonism. The "i'e Brahmins who had followed him, deserted him thin!ing that Gautama had left the ath of right !nowledge.

Enlightenment - autama becomes the Buddha Gautama sat under a pipal tree in aya in dee meditation. /hile meditating under the Bodhi tree light and truth dawned on him and he saw a way out of suffering and sadness. He learnt 5the 6our 7oble Truths5$ *rom that time onwards he was !nown as the Buddha 0or one who became enlightened1. He was then '2 years old.

Gautama reached his "irst sermon, or we may say "set in motion the +heel o" dharma (la+)5 at the 8eer Par) near %arnath, and went about from lace to lace teaching his gos el to the rinces and the eo le. The first five Brahmins who had deserted him were so im ressed that they became his "irst disciples. Thus was laid the foundation of the Buddhist %angha (Buddhist 9rder)$ 3ing 4resan-it of 3osala became his disci le. /hen he returned to &apila'astu his +i"e and son +ere also admitted into the %angha. Besides 5agadha, he visited 3ashi, 3osala, 6a-i, %vanti and made many disci les. Gautama reached continuously for :5 years winning the heart and mind by his noble teachings, moral grandeur and dee sym athy. His sangha which started with -ust "i'e Bhi)shus (mon)s1 became a mighty organisation. Buddha died at &usinagara at the age o" ;<$

Buddha*s Teachings The religion he reached !new no barriers of caste, creed and colour. His ideas were sim le and he s o!e in the language of the common man.+

Buddha realised that all life is suffering7 that the cause of suffering is desire, that the end of desire means the end of suffering7 that desire can be sto ed by following the 8ightfold 4ath.

.hat are The 6our

reat (or 7oble) Truths in Buddhism0

Buddha laid em hasis on the four great truths # $.8verything is misery and everything is im erfect. &.9esire 0trishna1 or craving for individual satisfaction is the root cause of this misery. '.To esca e the eternal wheel of 3arma this desire must be curbed and only then one can find eace. (.This can be done by ta!ing the middle course 0marg1 between e)treme asceticism and self: indulgence. This is the famous 8ightfold 4ath. The Buddha and "our 8isciples %t the first sermon in Sarnath, Buddha taught the *our Noble Truths as well as the 5iddle 4ath between the e)tremes of self:indulgent leasures and self:denial. *our of the five ascetics traditionally believed to have attended the sermon.

The lotus shown at the base 0u on which the Buddha sits in meditation in lotus ose1 has come to be the symbol of the doctrine of Buddhism.

.hy did Buddha "ollo+ed =iddle Path0 The Buddha called it the =iddle Path as it a'oided both the e4tremes o" gross lu4ury and se'ere penance. Buddha also as!ed his disci les to follow five moral rules which rohibited# $. !illing 0or in-ury1 in thought,word and deed7 &. ta!ing what is not given7 '. wrongful indulgence in the assions7 (. s ea!ing untruth, and 2. consum tion of into)icants. .heel o" E4istence or .hat is )arma according to Buddhism0 %ccording to the Buddha+s teaching, when people die, they are reborn into one of the si4 realms o" e4istence. /hich realm de ends on how they have behaved in their revious life. This is called !arma : the law by which actions are rewarded or unished as they deserve. 3arma is the law of cause and effect in moral life. ;our !arma decides whether your ne)t life will be better or worse than this one. 8id Buddha accept or re>ect the e4istence o" od0 In his teachings, Buddha may be called an agnostic, because he neither acce ts nor re-ects the e)istence of God. He refused to be drawn into any theoretical discussion about God or nature of the soul. /henever he was ,uestioned he either maintained silence or remar!ed that Gods were also under the eternal law of !arma. He was concerned with the deliverance of man from suffering. ?o+ Buddhism spread "rom India a"ter its Birth0

Causes o" the rapid spread o" Buddhism $. Buddha had a magnetic ersonality. &. His teachings were sim le and they were reached in the o ular language of the region : 4ra!rit, from which develo ed the 4ali language of the early Buddhist scri tures. '. He admitted everyone into his fold without any caste distinction. (. The Buddhist Sangha was a very disci lined and democratic organisation. 2. The Buddhist mon!s travelled all over reaching Buddhist doctrines. <. The most im ortant factor for the ra id s read of Buddhism was that it received atronage from some of the greatest !ings of India, for e)am le, Bimbisara, %-atasatru, %so!a, 3anish!a and Harsha. =. Im ortant re ublics of the time, the Sa!yas, >ichhavis, 5allas of 4ava and 3ushinagara were also great atrons of the religion. ?. 9uring 3anish!a+s time the first Indian Buddhist mission went to @hina to reach Buddhism. It was due to these missionary actvities that $?< Buddhist monasteries came to be erected and there were nearly ',=AA Indian mon!s in @hina by the end of the third century. B.5r. Havell has summed u the causes of the s read of Buddhism in the following words# "The success of Gautama+s mission must have been artly due to his own magnetic ersonality and the dee human feelings which ins ired his teachings and artly the fact that he o ened wide the doors of the %ryan religion and satisfied the s iritual desires of the masses by offering them a religious law easy to understand, accessible to all, free from elaborate and costly ceremonies raising the social status of the lower orders, giving them the s iritual freedom, ma!ing the life of the whole community healthier and ha ier". Buddhist Councils - Total : +ere held$

/hen Buddha was on his death:bed, he said to his favourite desci le %nanda, "the truths and rules of the "rder which I have set forth and laid down for you all : let them, after I am gone, be the teacher to you". 6irst Buddhist Council Shortly after his death, the *irst Buddhist @ouncil was held in (?' B.@ near (a>griha in Bihar to com ile 8harma (religious doctrines) and the @inaya (monastic code) - the t+o pita)as$ %econd Buddhist Council/ '?' B.@ at 6aisali 0Bihar1. Third Buddhist Council/ 4atali utra during #so)a*s reign to revise the scri tures. 6ourth Buddhist Council/ 8uring the reign of 3anish!a in 3undalvana in &ashmir under the leadershi of the elder @asumitra and the great scholar #s'aghosha. Here three large commentaries of the three pita)as +ere composed. .hat are the causes o" decline o" Buddhism in India0 /hile we discuss the causes of the decline of Buddhism we must remember that Buddhism had flourished in India for nearly seventeen centuries before its decline began. Some of the im ortant causes of decline of Buddhism are as follows# $. 5any bhi!shus became wordly and lived a life of lu)ury. The viharas became centres of corru tion. &. The s lit into 5ahayana and Hinayana wea!ened Buddhism. '. Buddhism ceased to receive su ort from the state. (. "rthodo) religious reachers li!e 3umarila Bhatt and Shan: !aracharya 0during the ?th and Bth centuries1 revived Brahman: ism. 2. The invading armies of the Huns and then the armies of Islam gave a death blow to Buddhism.