A Caricature of Buddha

Buddha lived for 80 years. He experienced it all – princely hedonisms to a hermit’s asceticism. Then he chose the middle path and changed the world forever. Buddhas’s greatness lies not in any miracles – he performed none. Instead, he is considered great because he delivered wisdom; every day and to everyone he met. In his simplicity, he was able to teach people to live in harmony and be of service to each other. He was humanism personified.

Buddha was born as Siddhartha Gautama, in the Shakya clan. He had one son, Rahula, who he eventually brought to his sangha as a upasak (novice disciple). Buddha was charming but never stood out. When King Ajatshatru came to meet him for the first time, he wasn’t able to identify Buddha in the gathering of bhikshus (monks).

Buddha had a stature like none else. So much so that there were multiple attempts on his life by those who were jealous of the impact and following he had. There are well-documented instances of at least four attempts on Buddha’s life by Devadatta (his cousin, a disciple, and later a competing monk) alone, including shooting him with an arrow and poisoning.

Post enlightenment Buddha came to be known with two prominent names – Shakyamuni and Tathagata. The most widely known name for him is Gautama Buddha. Buddha identifed himself with ten titles. It is not quite clear who gave him these titles. But each of these titles signifies Buddha achievements during his lifetime.

1. the Worshipful
2. the All-Wise
3. the Perfectly Enlightened in Conduct
4. the Well Departed
5. the Understander of the World
6. the Peerless Leaders,
7. the Controller
8. the Teacher of Gods and Men
9. the Buddha
10. the World-Honored One

It took Gautama six years to attain enlightenment. He devoted the next 45 years of his life to preaching. Every day he meditated for five hours, and then he preached what he meditated and contemplated. His sermons attracted many, sometimes as many as 5000 people. At one point, at Mount Ghradakuta, he gave his sermon to 12,000 bhikshus (monks).

Buddha loved numbers. His love of numbers was so great that he’d explain the concept of the endlessness of time (asankhya kalpas) and asankhya (infinity) in his sermons. And, he codified and shared all his knowledge in groups of numbers. Most things in his teachings have numbers associated with them:

• Six realms of existence
• Four laws
  • Eightfold path
• Six perfections
• Five decays
• Four illusions
• Fourteen sins
• Four vows
• Precious three

Shakyamuni gave his first sermon to a group of five fellow mendicants in Varanasi (Sarnath). He traveled quite a bit and spoke wherever he went. There are no records of him ever getting angry. The nearest he’d come to that emotion was when he’d say “Enough!” to bring the attention of his arguing disciples back to him. He influenced his numerous bhikshus to travel and take his teachings far and wide, in his own lifetime. That’s a commentary on how effective he was as a teacher.

Shakyamuni never attempted to persuade anyone. He never said, “Believe it”. Rather he chose the words, “Behold it” when he wanted his disciples to investigate and understand what he said. Written records abound of him using tact and stories in his sermons. Buddha was perhaps the biggest storyteller of his time. He was so good at it that a significant portion of his sermons are the parables that he told which were later scribed by his followers. He told those stories in the local language – Pali. And people loved them and understood his message easily through them. Many of Buddha’s cousins ultimately joined Buddha’s sangha either as upasaks or bhikshus. Buddha’s wife Yashodhara, his father Suddodhana, his aunt Gautami (who raised him) became his disciples. That’s a testament to his tact.

Swami Vivekananda described Buddha as the ideal Karma-Yogi. Swamiji said, “He was, in the conduct of his life, absolutely without personal motives; and what man worked more than he?. He thought Buddha was “the greatest combination of heart and brain that ever existed.”

Tathagata died a somewhat troubling death. He was quite old (about 80 years) and fell ill in his last days. It’s believed that he had food poisoning. He did not leave behind a successor. Perhaps, that was a part of his plan – his last tact.