Western discovery of Buddhism

It is very important to investigate about the teacher if we are trying to practise a system that was introduced by someone. That is why we always look into the capabilities and qualifications of lectures and professors or even institutions before we follow teachings. How many of us have changed our colleges or universities because those are not recognized when we apply for workforce. Likewise it is important to have a look at the concept of Buddha before we step into follow the tradition. Some may argue that it is not important to learn about the Buddha because Buddhism is not about the person who came up with the teaching but about the teachings itself. Fair enough. But in order to have a deep understanding of the teachings why is it not important to learn about the person who came up with the concept?

Surprisingly Buddha is not a name of a person. “Buddha is not in fact a proper name, but a descriptive title meaning ‘Awakened one’ or ‘Enlightened One’. This implies that most people are seen, in a spiritual sense, as being a sleep- unaware of how things really are” (Harvey 1990).

The concept of Buddhism comes from the teachings of the Gautama Buddha who was born to a royal family near the border of present Nepal and India about 250 years before the consecration of emperor Asoka in India. Named Siddhartha at the time of the birth, he then lived a general life like every other human. History texts depict that Siddhartha got married to princes Yasodara at a very young age and renounced the palace to become an ascetic at the age of 29 on the day his Son Rahula was born. After many years of practice he then attained the Buddhahood.

Gautama Buddha is called a ‘Samma-Sam-Buddha’, which means someone who is fully awakened. The Buddhist text Dhammapada verses 153-4 “said to records his words of joyful exultation at this achievement of the carving and spiritual ignorance, and attaining the unconditioned Nibbana, beyond ageing, sickness and death”. Gautama Buddha is freed from all the sufferings and liberated himself from all forms of sufferings.

Gautama Buddha is different from other religious leaders. He is not a God and therefore he is not someone who is living at the moment. Buddhahood totally destroys the reasons to be born again so he does not continue to exist like gods. Hence he becomes someone that is special and becomes someone who should be worshiped. His qualities exceed the qualities of any god. Even gods have carving and attachments to their present status. Gautama Buddha said at his enlightenment to himself that he destroyed the creator of him (carving). Hence there is no creator there is no creation of the atman (rebirth).

Westerners or rather the people living in western countries discover Buddhism as a practise. Most of the western practitioners do not see a difference or rather do not have cultural attachments with Buddhism to choose whether one should follow Mahayana or Theravada traditions. To start off with, Buddhism does not have sections or factions introduced by the Gautama Buddha. They are different traditions that Buddhism has been evolving in the past. Most of Buddhist countries including Sri Lanka still follow the god concepts along with Buddhism. It looks like that a pure Buddhism has never been existed on earth. If you are a beginner to Buddhist practises, I recommend that you leave all your past beliefs behind in order to get the best results out of the teachings of the Gautama Buddha. Let me conclude the article by adding the main teachings of the Gautama Buddha that reads “all conditioned things are subjected to decay. Attain perfection through diligence!” (D.11.156).
May this result to end the suffering!