Life Of Siddhartha

Question 1

What is more important to Buddhism, the Buddha or his teachings:

Answer 1

The teachings, because that is how one actually becomes enlightened - the Buddha is an example, and whoever sees him, sees the Dhamma and vice versa

Question 2

What are five of the main sources for the life of the Buddha:

Answer 2

The buddhacarita, the dhammapada, the Pali canon, the Milindapanha and the Baracakra. All are hagiographies and not necessarily in chronological order.

Question 3

What is the life story of the Buddha considered to be useful for:

Answer 3

To be used as a teaching aid to support the central ideas, and as a vessel for some of the teachings - the Buddha is seen less as a person and more as a principle, he is the Dhamma and the Dhamma is him

Question 4

What are five of the main sources for the life of the Buddha:

Answer 4

The Buddhacarita, the Pali Canon, the Dhammapada, the Milindapanha, and the Bhavacakra, all as hagiographies in non-chronological order. None were written within a few hundred years of the death of the Buddha

Question 5

What is the function of the Jataka Tales:

Answer 5

Found within the Pali Canon, they serve to demonstrate the thousands of lives necessary to achieve enlightenment, and specific virtues - an example is a prince who gave away all he had, even his family and the most precious possession in the kingdom, although he got his family back thanks to a god

Question 6

How many Buddhas have there been:

Answer 6

24, according to the Buddhavamsa - whenever the Dhamma is completely forgotten, a new Buddha appears to reteach the world again - Siddhartha met them all in past lives and vowed to each of them that he would attain Buddhahood

Question 7

Who is the next Buddha:

Answer 7

Maitreya, who is waiting in Tusita heaven until the Dhamma is forgotten so he can teach it again. When he comes, it is expected to be a ‘Golden Age’ where life will be better and it will be easier to attain enlightenment

Question 8

The birth story of the Buddha:

Answer 8

Born in North-East India to the Shakya people as a kshatriya, a member of the ruling class to king Suddhodana and queen Mahamaya (Maya), at the time of conception Maya received a vision/dream in which an elephant with a lotus flower entered her side, and 32 miraculous signs were seen/heard, it was forseen that he’d be a world ruler/renouncer depending on whether he had suffering, Maya went home to give birth but on the way stopped to see some flowering trees, when the Buddha was born with her still standing - a tree bent for her to hold, was fully conscious and stated it was his last rebirth

Question 9

Life of the Buddha before the 4 sights:

Answer 9

Maya died a week after he was born, the prophecy was made again, he was a nice guy despite living life in absolute luxury, one time refused to let his cousin kill an injured swan, one time he achieved the first state of meditation unintentionally, he noticed that the peasants suffered, got married age 16 to his companion of many previous lives Yasodhara, had a son called Rahula (fetter/bondage) age 29

Question 10

The 4 sights:

Answer 10

He eventually left the palace with his chariot driver Channa, and saw first an old man, and realised that he and all he loved would grow old, then a man with a disease and he and all he loved could get sick, then a dead person, then a holy man who seemed calm throughout it all, and so the Buddha decided to try and find that peace, and an answer to suffering, so he left the palace with just a robe and a bowl

Question 11

What happened to his family after he left:

Answer 11

Rahula became a monk, Mahajapati (step mother) became a nun and an Arhat, Yasodhara got higher knowledge live of her past lives.

Question 12

First teachers:

Answer 12

First - Alara Kalama - taught the sphere of nothingness in meditation - where the mind goes beyond any thoughts to focus on nothing. The Buddha surpassed him and was offered a leading role in the community, but rejected it
Second - Uddaka Ramaputta - taught the sphere of neither perception or non-perception, where consciousness is lowered to almost not exist - again offered joint leadership but refused
Still incorporated the techniques into his teaching

Question 13

Extreme ascetic period:

Answer 13

With 5 other ascetics, he started to practice the most extreme asceticism - starving himself, not moving, pulling out his hair, not breathing - trying to break his attachment to existence to achieve peace - eventually heard a saying - if a bow is too slack it won’t play, but if it’s too tight it will snap - and accepted milk rice from a woman and washed in the river - the other ascetics shunned him as they thought he had betrayed them and given up

Question 14

The night of enlightenment:

Answer 14

Decided to sit under a bodhi tree until he reached enlightenment, was tempted by Mara who is a god who wants people to stay in samsara and uses desire to do that. First he said the Buddha should get more good karma, then he sent evils to kill him which were defeated by his perfections, then flights of arrows which turned to petals, then he sent his daughters which turned into hundreds of beautiful women, then he tried to claim the bodhisattva seat himself - his army would prove his good karma - but the earth itself testified to the good karma of siddhartha so Mara was defeated

Question 15

The four stages of jhana:

Answer 15

First - detached and calm, complete attention to the object of meditation
Second - thought is gone, leaving joy and rapture and concentration
Third - absolute attentiveness but still conscious
Fourth - even joy fades, leaving just pure concentration and clarity - includes what he learnt from his teachers, which aren’t enlightenment but may feel like it

Question 16

The enlightenment:

Answer 16

Went through the 4 stages of jhana from 6-10, which gave him memories of past lives, saw the wheel of samsara and that it was pointless, 10-2 was “the heavenly eye”, seeing all births and rebirths and the suffering they caused themselves, 2-6 was how to escape samsara through the destruction of dukkha (bad stuff), mostly greed, hatred and delusion, and recognition of the three marks - the absence of a soul, suffering and impermanence), and at 6 he became enlightened, sammasambodhi, without a teacher, and the dhamma began again

Question 17

First time teaching:

Answer 17

Immediately after his enlightenment, he spent a few weeks gathering his knowledge, and then debated whether or not to teach others, as he knew it would be difficult. Eventually Brahma, a Hindu god identified in Buddhism as a non-returner taught by a previous Buddha pleaded with him to, so he did. He wanted to teach his old teachers, Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta, but they had died, so he found his old ascetic companions. At first they rejected him, but soon saw the change and he preached his first sermon at the Deer Park. He explained the four noble truths, the middle way, suffering and the noble eightfold path. One ascetic immediately became a ‘stream enterer’ - he would achieve enlightenment within 7 lives and received the Dhamma-eye. After another, more detailed sermon, the other four also attained the Dhamma-eye and all became enlightened - Arhats.

Question 18

Teaching life:

Answer 18

Soon there were 61 arhats in the sangha as well as the Buddha. Some notable people were Sariputta, who became known for his wisdom and teaching, Mogallana, who had great psychic powers, and Ananda, who would become the constant companion of the Buddha. For the next 45 years, the Buddha travelled around the river Ganges, teaching the Dhamma to people of any caste. He also occasionally used his psychic powers, such as water and fire flowing from his hands to prove his enlightenment (the marvel of the pairs). he saw the powers as encouraging attachment and self-glorification. He did occasionally use them for healing. In the early sangha, there were monks, nuns, and laymen/women. Most were Brahmin, many were Vaishya and Kshatriya, and a few were Sudra and Dalit.

Question 19

Ehipassiko:

Answer 19

The Buddha welcomed questions, and insisted that no-one should believe him without testing for themselves to see if it works. He also analysed the motivations of those who questioned him, and so some questions weren’t answered as they came from misconception or there was no appropriate answer. He also thought that the teachings of any that should be followed shouldn’t harm others and should make sense. Blind faith wasn’t good, but trustful confidence was - once you’ve crossed a river, you no longer need the raft (the Dhamma).`

Question 20

The death of the Buddha:

Answer 20

He died at 80 after eating rotten sweetpig, although he would have lived another 1000 years if Ananda had asked. He insisted that the man who made the sweetpig was not to blame, and asked if there were any last questions about the Dhamma from his followers. Finally, he passed into a deep meditation between two trees before finally passing away. His body was treated as a cakkavatti (great king) as per his request, and he was embalmed and cremated. His remains were divided and put into 84 stupas in important locations.