Buddha is who? Gautam Buddha

In recent decades, interest in religions has been reviving in our country. People who try to understand the meaning of life and find answers to questions about how to achieve harmony and get rid of suffering turn their gaze not only to Christianity as the main traditional faith in our state, but also to the wise ancient truths of the East. One such religion is Buddhism.

The Doctrine of Consciousness

Buddhism as an ethical teaching, religion, philosophy and cultural tradition originated in the sixth century BC in the northeast of ancient Indian civilization. Subsequently, Buddhism became one of the three world religions along with Christianity and Islam and is the oldest of them.

Christianity appeared later than five centuries, and Islam - by twelve. Buddhism is recognized by different peoples of the world and is the main religion of many countries of the East: India, China, Nepal, Japan, Thailand, Korea, Mongolia and others. In our country, his followers are the residents of Kalmykia, Buryatia and Tuva. More and more followers find this teaching in Western countries, attracting not only their exoticism, but also the possibility of developing the many hidden abilities that each person possesses.

Buddhism is defined not only as a religion, but also as a philosophical teaching about the awakening and liberation of consciousness, spiritual enlightenment. It was founded by the Buddha Shakyamuni, who is known to all as the Indian prince Siddhartha Gautama.

The Unusual Prince

On the territory of modern Nepal is the ancient city of Lumbini, which before our era was one of the Indian provinces. Presumably in 563 BC, it was here that Tsarevich Gautama was born in the royal family, to which he inherited the throne of his father-raja. But despite the fact that the prince did not need anything and lived in luxury, he always felt his inner dissatisfaction with his position. He endlessly indulged in vague dreams and dreams, he could sit for hours in the shade of trees, meditating on the meaning of life. When immersed in deep contemplation, he was visited by extraordinary moments of enlightenment of consciousness.

Raju began to disturb the character of his son, and he tried to protect him from knowledge of human suffering and from religious instruction. But even at the birth of the prince, one of the fortunetellers predicted that Gautama should become either a great ruler or a saint. Despite all his father's efforts to make his son king, the prince was prepared for the second path - spiritual enlightenment. And this was determined by one incident that occurred with Gautama on a walk.

Life truth

According to legend, the prince wanted to learn more about the life of ordinary people, and he went outside the palace. There he alternately met a sick man, a decrepit old man, a funeral procession and a wandering hermit. From conversations with the servant and the people he met, he realized that diseases, aging, anguish and death are inevitable, and people have accepted it. Gautama realized that no one can control his destiny, that as a result, the pleasures of even the rich turn to dust, and life does not make sense. From these moments, they completely lost the serenity of childhood and adolescence, and life in such a form became unacceptable for him. Gripped with aversion to the whole world around him, he decided to abandon the inheritance, the family, the property and the house, in order to take the monastic life, to devote his life to learning how to get rid of suffering and overcome them.

The Path to Awakening

At the age of 29, now the former prince began to study all the philosophical systems known in the East and the yogic practices of meditation, becoming a disciple of yogis-mentors. He managed to reach high levels of consciousness, but he was not satisfied with it, since the issues that tormented him and the problems of life's misery remained unresolved.

Therefore, he decided to leave his mentors and retire into the jungle of southeastern India, choosing the path of severe self-torture. Becoming a hermit and leading a severe ascetic life, six years later he discovered that such methods more exhaust the body and cloud the consciousness, and do not bring to the truth the liberation from suffering.

Then Gautama focused on deep meditation and, staying in it, realized that one should avoid extremes and not engage in self-torture or excessive self-indulgence, but follow the middle path. Sitting under the Jambu tree, which later became known as the Bodhi tree, he gave his word that he would not rise and leave the state of meditation until Truth came to him.

Awakening

One May night at the full moon of Gautama, concentrating on the rising of the morning star, reached full enlightenment. At the moment when, finally, Truth visited him in all its splendor, he attained the awakening and liberation of his consciousness. The former prince Gautama became a Buddha. "Buddha" is "awakened," "absolutely enlightened."

At the moment of enlightenment, Gautama not only saw with his extraordinary clarity all his life, but also felt the universal connection of all mankind with the invisible world. The universe appeared before his eyes in its fluidity and infinity. No peace nowhere. Everything is carried away to unknown distances. Everything in the world is connected, and some events come from others. All beings are destroyed and reborn again. The thirst for life and life disturbs peace in the soul of man and leads him along the path of suffering - now he clearly realized this. Buddha Gautama now knew exactly what he had to fight to find peace and get rid of the realities of this terrible and imperfect world, full of suffering, tears, sorrow and pain.

Transformation and birth of teaching

Seeing the universe in its true light and emerging from the darkness of ignorance, Gautama completed the search for Truth and achieved spiritual transformation. He changed and gained great wisdom and compassion for all living things. Later, teaching his disciples, he argued that compassion is a necessary quality that a true awakened Buddha must possess. This property can only be understood by the enlightened mind, it is not accessible to the soul wandering in ignorance.

Having changed internally, the Buddha realized that his purpose is not only to enjoy the fruits of his enlightenment himself, but also to bring to people the great Truth that he revealed. This was the main reason for the creation of his teaching. It is based on the statement that life is suffering. The Buddha pointed to the main causes of this imperfection. He argued that for liberation from all suffering, it is necessary to attain enlightenment and the awakening of consciousness. The path necessary for spiritual exaltation and liberation from suffering is the path to nirvana. Nirvana is the highest state of enlightenment and bliss that the Buddha could attain. This, he claims, is accessible to every living being, and any person should strive for such liberation. Thus, the former prince was created the doctrine of the four noble truths and the eightfold way to reach the higher states of consciousness.

The wandering preacher

Many ignorant people believe that the Buddha is a god. But he himself denied this, claiming that he is only a mentor for those who decided to go through enlightenment and achieve awakening. Gautama himself faced the choice of whether he would enjoy his own liberation or pass on his experience to other people. "Compassion is one of the most important qualities," said the Buddha. This was the decisive factor in order to lead a further life as a wandering preacher. He accepted his mission - to teach people the way out of suffering.

For 45 years, the first awakened Indian Buddha traveled all over the country, passing his experience to people of all different castes and classes. His teachings were open to all, even to adherents of other religions and philosophies. To preserve the teaching, the Buddha and his followers created a monastic community, in which thousands of converts joined.

For many centuries the teachings of Gautama have not lost their relevance. Also in the world there are suffering, disease, poverty, death and tears. Also, people are looking for ways to get rid of misfortunes and troubles and find solace in faith. Many of them turn to Buddhism as a religion, indicating the path to change in life. And they all seek to know those states of consciousness that the Buddha could comprehend. In philosophy, this is the ultimate goal of comprehending the mystery of the meaning of life and revealing the basic questions of being.