The Life & Teachings of the Buddha

-the Greatest Scientist of Mind

P.L.Dhar

Birth

• Full Moon day of Vesakha (~May) 623 BC in Lumbini Park at Kapilvatthu (Indo-Nepal Border)

• Father King Suddhodhana of Sakya clan• Mother Maha Maya died seven days after his birth

too sacred for more woe• Foster mother : Maha Pajapati Gotami• Named Siddhartha: predictions of his future

Upbringing

• Childhood-Ploughing festival• Tending the hurt swan - Devdatta• Education• Married at the age of eighteen to Princess

Yasodhara• Married life : Luxuries , no exposure to any

suffering • Stifling effect of luxuries : An excursion out

of the Palace

The Four Sights

• Decrepit old Man• Diseased person• Corpse is this the end which comes to all ?• Mendicant• Realized the worthlessness of sensory

pleasures and decided to seek abiding freedom from suffering, the perfect security, the Eternal Peace.

The Night of Great Renunciation

• Birth of Son• Leaves the palace ( age 29 yr)

my soul is full of pity for the sickness of this world ;Which I will heal, if healing may be found,By uttermost renouncing and strong strife. ………………………………………………..Wearing for all men’s sake the yellow robe,eating in beggar’s guise the scanty mealchance gathered from the charitable; at nightcrouched on the grass, homeless alone

The Search

• Learning meditation from Alara Kalama• The next teacher : Uddaka Ramputta• Attained the highest stage in worldly

concentration : when consciousness becomes so subtle and refined that it can not be said whether it exists or does not exist.

• But this was not his goal : He was seeking the complete cessation of suffering, the total eradication of all forms of craving

Spiritual Experiments

• Practice of severe austerities– attempts at purifying mind through breath

control– abstinence from food

• eye-balls appeared deep sunk in their sockets , intending to touch my belly’s skin, would instead seize my backbone

•Didn’t attain the goal & wondered•Might there be another path for enlightenment?

The Middle Path

• Avoid both the extremes : self indulgence & self-mortification

• Took food from a village lass• The companions desert him :….ascetic Gotama

has ceased from striving..

• Not discouraged-knew he had to find his path himself

• Sits below a tree in reflection with a solemn vow

• Bodhi Tree• ( fourth generation)

The Dawn of Truth

• Recalls his childhood experience of contemplation of his own breath & quickly attains deep absorption of mind : jhana

• By degrees develops these jhanas -gains perfect one-pointedness of the mind

• Spontaneously arise three supernormal knowledges– reminiscence of the past births– knowledge of death and rebirth of beings– knowledge of cessation of all defilements

The Enlightenment• He directly realized the Four Noble Truths

– the Truth of suffering birth is suffering, old age is suffering, sickness is suffering, death is suffering, the association with something that one does not like is suffering, the dissociation from something that one does like is suffering, not to get what one desires is suffering

– the Truth of origin of suffering ...it is this craving that gives rise to repeated rebirth and is bound up with pleasure and lust and finding enjoyment now here and then there……where does this craving arise & get established?... Wherever in this world there is something enticing and pleasurable, there this craving arises and gets established

The Enlightenment• He directly realized the Four Noble Truths

– the Truth of the Eradication of Suffering..it is the complete eradication of this very craving, forsaking it and giving it up…where may this carving be annihilated and destroyed? Wherever in this world there is something enticing and pleasurable; there this craving may be annihilated and destroyed.

– the Truth of the path leading to the eradication of suffering It is this noble eight-fold path, namely: {Right Understanding, Right Thought} {Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood},{Right Effort, Right Awareness and Right Concentration}

• Such was the vision, insight, wisdom, knowing and light that arose in me about things not heard before…..….

His Benediction• Enlightened at the Age of 35• Reflected whom to teach what he had

discovered• Recalled with gratitude

– his meditation teachers : both had passed away– his erstwhile companions ; went to Sarnath to

initiate the process of transmitting this path• Continued this for next 45 years till passing

away at the ripe age of 80 years.

Distinguishing Features of his Teachings

• Rational & not Speculative or based on any authority–“ even as the wise would test gold by burning, cutting, and rubbing it on a piece of touchstone so are you to accept my words after examining them and not merely out of regard for me”

• One has to work out his own emancipation : the teacher can only show the way : be a lamp unto yourself atta dipa viharatha ;dhamma dipa viharatha

• No rites, no ceremonies, no intermediaries

Distinguishing Features of his Teachings

• Emancipation is the outcome of perfect purity of mind

• Every human being can work towards purification of his mind : no distinction of caste,creed,sex, race, language, nationality

by birth is not one an outcaste, by birth is not one a brahmin;by deeds is one an outcaste, by deeds one a brahmin

Distinguishing Features of his Teachings

• Faith & worship of conventional religions replaced ‘confidence based on knowledge’ and practice - no deliverer ……...dhamma sarana, ananna sarana

• by walking on the path of Dhamma, from the first step to the final goal, Thus I worship the Buddha

• Essence of his teaching

Sabba papassa akaranam kusalassa upsampadasacittapariyodapanam etam buddhana sasanam

Unique features of his teaching• The Fundamental Truths of our existence

– anicca dukkha anatta ( the sense of self is an illusion based upon conditioning exerted by somatic sensations upon the mind)

• Paticca samuppadasankhara vinnana nama rupaSala yatana

phassaJara.maranam.

soka..dukha

bhava upadana tanha vedana

avijja

jati

His Unique Contribution- The Art of Self Observation

• Rediscovery of Vipassana : the technique of purifying the mind

• Vipassana : To observe, in a special way• Kaye kayanupassi viharati• vedanasu vedananupassi viharati• citte cittanupassi vihrati• dhamme dhammanupasi viharati

………………. vineyye loke abhijja domanasam

His Unique Contribution- The Art of Self Observation

• Yatha bhuta gyana darshanam• Observing whatever happens in the body - mind

complex from moment to moment : without any reaction of craving or aversion

• Gave a graduated scheme of training to develop this ability

• Observing the body => breath => the sensations and feelings => the mental states and mental contents

His Unique Contribution- The Art of Self Observation

• To appreciate the importance of this self observation we need to understand how does the mind become impure i.e. full of fear, anger, revenge, deceit, greed, lust,pride, ego, etc...

Why does the mind become impure ……….…...1

• General perception : when we come in contact with anything unpleasant, what we dislike……anger, despair, ill will etc. arise

• when we come in contact with anything pleasant, which we like…..greed, desire to have more, jealousy etc. arise

• If this be the ultimate truth Change the surroundings

Not alwayspossible

Take the mind away from unwholesome mental states

Contradiction inherentin this process of suppression

Why does the mind become impure ……......….2

Cognition Evaluation

Sensation

Blind reaction Bare Observation

Transformation in habit patternMind more impure

Purification of Mind

His Unique Contribution- The Art of Self Observation

• How does it happen ? => Akin to the influence of process of observation on the “observed” as postulated by Quantum Theory….

• Upajitva nirujjhante tesam vupsamo sukho

Mindfulness ofsensations & mind

Practice of Non-identification with body

Practice of Non-identification with mind

EgoReduced

Benefits of the practice…….1

• Self control pausing before action=> look before you leap ....mindfulness acts like the brakes on a car …seize that decisive moment when the mind is still open to receive skillful directions

• Increase in concentration & efficiencyreduced digressive thoughts & day dreams… practice of living in the present

• Proper self appraisal-knowledge of strengths and weaknesses….mindfulness is like a mirror

Benefits of practice………2• Ability to face the vicissitudes of life with

equanimity– reduction in escapist tendencies: smoking,

drinking, drugs • Increased selfless love and compassion -

improvement in relationships …. .mental impurities are the enemies which besiege our inner household and destroy our peace and harmony.

• Development of Scientific Temper essentials of bare observation tally with scientific attitude

• Manifestation of higher ‘needs’ - increased self fulfillment bare observation reduces attachment to ‘self’

Benefits of practice………3

• Intimations of liberationpractice of detached observation => stepping back from things and people => less entanglement ..the art of letting go =>serenity, contentment, freedom < in the world, but not of the world >

• Insight into Life, its goal, the way to achieve it,and the confidence that it can be done.

An Empirical Framework for Universal Human Values

Root Cause of Suffering..ditthi

• Ignorance : Distorted perception of Reality

Arising of Ego--Me and mine,they and thine

Seek happiness in sensory domain which, by its very

nature, is impermanent

Craving and Aversion

Suffering

Accumulation of ego’spossessions & defending the ego

The Tree of Suffering

Extinction of Suffering….. sammaditthi

• Wisdom : Perception of ‘Reality’ as it is

Experience of Anicca, Dukha, Anatta

Abiding Peace and tranquility

contentment, metta,wisdom

Equanimity towards pleasant and unpleasant

sensory experiences

Established in Mindfulness

Extinction of All Suffering

An Empirical Framework for Universal Human Values

• Basis of Universal Human Values : Empirical observation

Craving, Aversion, Delusion

Contentment, Metta, Wisdom

SufferingBondage

BlissFreedom

An Empirical Framework for Value Inculcation

Craving, Aversion, Delusion

Contentment, Metta, Wisdom

Yatha bhuta gyan

darshanam.LET GO !

Thank You !