Buddhism is practiced in many countries all over Southeast Asia, but it was first established in India. Buddhism was a major religion in India two thousand years ago. The present number of Buddhist in India is approximately 6.5 million. Siddharta Gautama, who later became known as the Buddha, appeared around 563 BC (the Mahabodhi Society accepts 624 BC) in a warrior caste. He was married when he was sixteen, and his wife had one son. He left home when he was twenty-nine in search of the answer to life. After about six years, he traveled to Bodh Gaya and sat under a bo tree. While meditating, he was tempted by the demon Mara, who offered him all the pleasures of the world. Not accepting the temptations, he became enlightened. These scenes have been depicted in Buddhist art and carvings throughout India. Buddha then went to Sarnath and preached his first sermon. Gautama Buddha was not the first Buddha but the fourth. Buddhists believe that everyone can become enlightened and reach the stage of Buddhahood. There are two major schools of thought in Buddhism. Under the Theravada (doctrine of the elders) or Hinayana ("lesser vehicle") school of thought, Buddha's form cannot be displayed as a human, but is instead shown through symbolism-footprints, the wheel of life, the bo tree under which he sat to attain enlightenment, an elephant (his mother saw an elephant in a dream before he was born), and stupas. Mahayana ("greater vehicle") Buddhism, in which statues and pictures of Buddha are shown, became popular around 100 AD. Hinayana Buddhism started to decline at this time and lost popularity around 400 AD. Buddha is often seen sitting on a lotus and wearing yellow cloth. His hands are in the protective and boon-giving positions. Hinayana followers say that the path to nirvana is an individual quest. Mahayana followers believe that everyone can attain nirvana, and they aspire to reach the state of Buddhahood not for themselves, but in order to help other living entities. There are four important places connected with Buddha's life: his birth site in Lumbini, Nepal; the site of his enlightenment in Bodh Gaya, Bihar; the site of his first sermon in Sarnath, near Varanasi; and the place of his death in Kushinagar, UP. When Buddha died, his body was cremated and the ashes given to people to whom he had preached. Some of these ashes were buried under stupas throughout India. At Rajgir, Buddha converted King Bimbisara to Buddhism, and the First Buddhist Council was held there. At Vaishali, Buddha preached his last sermon and announced his approaching nirvana. At Nalanda are the remains of an ancient Buddhist University. These three places are all in Bihar near Patna. Other places in India are famous Buddhist places because of monuments, temples, or cave temples built there. The finest of these are at Ajanta and Ellora in Maharashtra, Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh, and Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh. Buddha preached Four Noble Truths: (1) life is painful because nothing in this material world is permanent or reliable; (2) suffering is caused by desire, attachment, and ignorance; (3) there is a state beyond suffering called nirvana; and (4) nirvana is reached by following the eight-fold path of right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. By following this path for a series of birth, an aspirant eventually attains nirvana and freedom from the cycle of birth and death. Buddhists teach about the law of karma in which our actions in this life determine our next birth. Lord Buddha is considered to be one of the ten major incarnations of Lord Vishnu by Hindus. He rejected the teachings of the Vedic scriptures and the Vedic gods in order to stop people's use of the Vedas to justify animal slaughter in the name of performing sacrifice. Thus even though followers of the Vedas accept Buddha as an incarnation of Vishnu, they reject his atheistic philosophy. Buddhism spread over a good part of India during the time of Emperor Ashoka (272-32 BC), after the emperor's conversion. Ashoka sent people all over South Asia to preach Buddhist doctrine. He later sent his son to Sri Lanka to establish Buddhism there. From the 7th to 12th centuries AD, Buddhism began to decline in India due to the influential preaching of Sankaracharya, Ramanujacarya, and Madhvacarya, all of whom gradually reintroduced the Vedic conclusions. As a final blow to Buddhism, the Muslims carried out a large-scale slaughter of monks, destroying their monasteries and temples. |
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