About the Buddha and his Dhamma

Buddha means the Enlightened One, the Awakened One.  He who has completely  eradicated defilements and reached the state of human perfection.  The Buddha, Sakyamuni Gautama is called 'Sammasambuddha' meaning 'Self Awakened One' because he attained Enlightenment unaided.  This means his Enlightenment is not something that was given by a supernatural or superficial power like an invisible God. 

According to the Buddha himself, the Buddhas are born after long long periods, eons and eons of time. They are the Perfect Ones in the world. Once the Buddha said, "Birth as a human is rare, leading a life as a human is rare, listening to the Sublime Teachings of the Budddha is rare, and the birth of the Buddhas is rare". 

Again, on another occasion the Buddha  said," Happy is the birth of the Buddhas, happy is the listening of the Dhamma, happy is the unity of the Fourfold Sangha, happy is the discipline of the united ones".

The Buddha, Sakyamuni Gautama is the Buddha of our era who was born  623 years before Jesus was born. While he was in  the  heaven named Tushita, Contented, he foresaw the place, mother, time, country, and the family in which he would be born.  In the month of May, on the Full Moon Day of Vesak, he was born as a prince. His mother was Queen Maya and father was the then king of Kapilavatthu, King Suddhodana.

 It was customary that after the birth of a Buddha his mother would pass away within seven days of the birth so that no other child would be born in that womb. She was reborn as a deity in the heaven called Tavatimsa, meaning Group of Thirty Three.

The prince was named "Siddhartha" and he grew up in the lap of luxury. At the age of sixteen, he was married to a beautiful princess named Yasodara who was also sixteen. They led a successful wedded life and had a baby,son. On the day of the baby's birth, the father, Siddhartha, decided  to renounce his worldly life to become an ascetic. After becoming an ascetic, just as a lion or a lone bull elephant, he went from place to place seeking to understand  what is wholesomeness(kusala) and the path to emancipation. He met some teachers who taught him different absorptions. The course was completed with the accomplishment of the attainment of the eight absorptions. Eventually, he realized that it was not the path  for  the complete eradication of defilements and the attainment of 'Inner Peace'( Nibbana). 

Therefore, deviating from them he went forth and met another group of ascetics who were practicing severe austerities for the attainment of enlightenment. As he was also advised to do so he practiced rigorous austerities for six years. With this practice, he  gained nothing but almost became a skeleton.  He finally came to realize that this was another extreme. So having abandoned such austerities he made up his mind to practice the middle way. For this purpose, he started to practice with mindfulness of breathing. He then  understood that things in the world  end with unsatisfactoriness; the cause of unsatisfactoriness is craving; the cessation of craving is the cessation of unsatisfactoriness; the path leading to this cessation of unsatisfactoriness is, the "Middle Path". 

Thus, he praticed mindfulness of breathing as a means to attain enlightenment. On the Full Moon Day in the month of May, 588 BCE,  realizing the real nature of beings and the whole system of the world he became the Buddha of our era.  Since then he was called " Buddha". The Buddha did his unparalleled service for men and gods for 45 years and passed away not to be born again in Samsara. This occured 543 years before Jesus was born.         

 Thousands of people visit this place everyday to respect the Buddha. This is situated in ancient sacred city of Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. This Pagoda was built by King Dutthagamini (Dutugemunu) 2nd Century AD.

The base of the pagoda depicts faith or confidence, at about five feet further up there are  three lines represent the Triple Gem. The body of the pagoda(dome shape) represents the entire teaching of the Buddha. The four Bodhi leaves just below the square shape structure on the top represent lovingfrindliness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimy. Then, the square shape structure named 'devata kotuwa', represents the four Noble Truths followed by the pinnacle that represents the eightfold path and the Gem on the very top of the pinnacle symbolizes the ultimate bliss of Nibbana. That is the philosophy of the Sthupa or pagoda in Sri Lanka. 

Dhamma means the Real Teachings of the Buddha. Espesiality of the Buddha's teaching  is that it was not something given by an outside agent,such as a supernatural and invisible God.  Siddhartha, as a recluse went from place to place seeking after truth. On that particular day in  the month  of May 588 BCE, he sat under a tree with a firm determination to attain Enlightenment.  In the first watch of that   night he agained  knowledge,a power to recollect his previous births.He recollected many eons of  lives he lived in the past. These life stories of the Buddha are known as the "Jataka katha"(Birth Stories of the Buddha).

During the second watch of the night, he gained another knowledge, this  to see how beings come to this plane  to be  born as different beings; also how they depart from here and are born in other planes of the world.  This is one of the main reasons that all Buddhists, without hesitation,  accept rebecoming (rebirth).  The Buddha very clearly saw and revealed to us how beings are born in superior states such as, heavenly worlds and inferior states like hungry ghosts. 

Then at dawn, in the third watch of that night, the Buddha gained a further knowledge which is known as the  "Asavakkhaya gnana" which means knowlege of destruction of all defilements. This knowledge  is the uniqueness of Buddhism. In other religions we do not find this knowledge.  It is by realizing this knowledge one becomes an Enlightened One (Arahant).  Thus, on that day, the Buddha   gained the "Triple Knowledge" and became the Buddha in the world.

Together with these three kinds of knowlege he realized the 37 factors of Enightenment. This is the revelation of the Real Dhamma.  The Buddha said, " Frineds, the Dhamma which I discovered and proclaimed should be thoroughly leanrned by you, practiced and realized by you for the benefit and happiness of the multitudes of gods and humans". The entire  teaching of the Buddha (37 factors) could  be condensed in to three principles.         They are:

1. The Four Noble Truths

2.The Dependent Origination

3. The Three Characteirstics of Existence.

Once, addressing the  monks, the Buddha said, " Whether the Buddhas appear or do not appear in the world, this Dhamma appears in the world". So if one wants ot understand and realize the real teaching of the Buddha one has to understand the above three principles. 

In  order to understand them as they are one has to practice one important thing. That is " Mindfulness". Mindfulness is the key word in Buddhism. When one practices and develops mindfulness one can develop and cultivate the four foundations of mindfulness; when one develops and cultivates  the four foundations  of mindfulness one can develop and cultivate the seven factors of enlightenment; and when one practices and develops  the seven factors of mindfulness one can realize true knowledge and delivarance. That is  the way to the attainment of Nibbna, the highest Bliss. 

May we all attain Nibbana !