Life And Teaching Of Gautam Buddha




Life of Buddha: The Buddha, or "enlightened one", was born Siddhartha ( which means "he who achieves his aims"). Gautama was born in the year 624 B.C. in Lumbini (Nepal) as a prince. His father was king Suddhodana and his mother was Queen Mahamaya. Gautama Buddha was a spiritual leader on whose teachings Buddhism was founded.  Born as a prince, he spent his childhood in the lap of luxury. Once on a trip through the city on a chariot he witnessed on old man, a diseased person, and a corpse. This new knowledge  about the sufferings in the world gave rise prince soon renounced all his worldly affairs in order to embark on a journey of self-discovery. Siddhartha then made his way to place near Bodh Gaya (Bihar) in India, where he found a suitable site for meditation. Finally after years of rigorous contemplation and meditation, he found Enlightenment, and became the Buddha, meaning "awakened one" or "the enlightened one".



Buddha Teachings: The earliest available source of Buddha's teachings is the Pali Sattapitaka consisting of Five Nickayar. Buddha was a reformer who took note of the realities of life.The religion of Buddha is famous as Buddhism. The followers of that religion are known as Buddhist. In his teachings, Buddha showed a new path. In his religious mission, he did not give value to the so-called sacred rites and rituals. Instead, he showed the way for a life of ethics and spirituality. His doctrines were simple as well as practical for adoption. He preached against the extreme means of worldly life which lead to man's self indulgence, pleasures, and unending desires. At the same time, he did not prescribe for the common man extreme hardship of ascetic life by physical punishment and self-torture. He was the noble 'Middle Path' which was possible for every man to follow. Between the two extremes of pleasures and penance, he showed the path of really virtuous life. Buddha in his own word says, Learn from the earth, whether people spread pure and fragrant and flowers, perfume, or fresh milk on it, or discard filthy and foul-smelling fees, urine, blood, mucus, and spit on it, the earth receives it all equally without clinging or aversion. When pleasant or UN-pleasant thought arise, don't let them entangle or enslave you.

Learn from the water. When people wash dirty things in it, the water is not sad or disdainful. Learn from fire. Fire burn all things without discrimination. Learn from the air. The air carries all fragrances whether sweet or foul.

Practice loving kindness to overcome anger. Loving kindness has the capacity to bring happiness to others without demanding anything in return. Practice compassion to overcome cruelty. Compassion has the capacity to remove the suffering of others without expecting anything in return. Practice sympathetic joy to overcome hatred. Sympathetic joy arises when one rejoices over the happiness of others and wishes others well-being and success. Practice non-attachment to overcome prejudice. Non-attachment is the way of looking at all things openly and equally.

Loving kindness, compassion,sympathetic joy, and non-attachment are beautiful and profound states of mind. Practice them and you will become a refreshing source of vitality and happiness for others.

Buddha explain what self-sufficiency and what is the better way to live alone. A self-sufficient person is a person who dwells in mindfulness. He is aware of what is going on in the present moment, what is going on his body, feelings, mind, and objects of mind. He knows to look deeply at things in the present moment. He does not pursue the past nor lose himself in the future, because the past no longer is and the future has not yet come. Life can only take place in the present moment. If we lose the present moment, we lose life. This is the better way to live alone.

To pursue the past means to lose yourself in thoughts about what you looked like in the past, what your feelings were then, what rank and position you held, what happiness or suffering you experienced the giving rise to such thoughts entangles you in the past.

Learning yourself in the future means to lose yourself in thoughts about the future. You imagine, hope, fear, or worry about the future, wondering what you will look like, what your feelings will be, whether you will have happiness or suffering. Giving rise to such thoughts entangles you in the future.

If you are ruled by worry, frustration, anxiety, anger, or jealousy, you will lose the chance to make real contact with all the wonder of life. At the time of his enlightenment he gained complete insight into the cause of suffering, and the steps necessary to eliminate it. He called these steps the "FOUR NOBLE STEPS"

The following main doctrines constitute the substance of his teachings.

Four Noble Truths or the Arya Satya.



This documentary tells the story of the Buddha’s life, a journey especially relevant to our own bewildering times of violent change and spiritual confusion. It features the work of some of the world’s greatest artists and sculptors, who across two millennia, have depicted the Buddha’s life in art rich in beauty and complexity.

The path he suggested is a code of practical ethics which has a rational outlook. Buddhism was more social than religious. It advocated for social equality.He was more conceived to worldly problem. In his enlightenment, Buddha discovered the real causes of the miseries of human existence. He also discovered the way to escape from those miseries which followed endlessly in the wheel of karma, birth and rebirth. These discoveries were called the Four Noble Path.

  1.  Dukkha -The existence of suffering.
  2.  Samudaya -The cause of suffering.
  3.  Nirodha -The cessation of suffering, and
  4.  Marga -The path which leads to the cessation of suffering.

1. The First is the existence of Suffering:  Birth, Old age, Sickness, and Death are suffering. Sadness, Anger, Jealousy, Worry, Anxiety, Fear, and Despair are suffering. Separation from loved ones is suffering. Association with those you hate is suffering. Desire, attachment and clinging to the five aggregates are suffering.

2. The Second Truth is the Cause of Suffering:  Because of ignorance, people cannot see the truth about life, and they become caught in the flames of desire, anger, jealousy, grief, worry, fear, and despair.

3. The Third Truth is the Cessation of Suffering: Understanding the truth of life brings about the cessation of every grief and sorrow and gives rise to peace and joy.

4. The Fourth Truth is the Path which leads to the Cessation of Suffering.

Buddha said, "Life can be found only in the present moment, but our mind rarely dwell in the present moment. Instead we chase after the past or long for the future. We think we are being ourselves, but in fact we almost never are in real contact with ourselves. Our mind are too busy chasing after yesterday's memories or tomorrow's dreams. The only way to be in touch with life is to return to the present moment. Once you know how to return to the present moment, you will become awakened, and at the moment, you will find your true self.

The cause of suffering is ignorance, a false way of looking at reality. Thinking the impermanent is permanents that is ignorance. Thinking there is a self when there is not, that is ignorance. From ignorance is born greed, anger, fear, jealousy, and countless other sufferings. The path of liberation is the path of looking deeply at things in order to truly realize the nature of impermanence, the absence of a separate self, and the interdependence of all things. This path is the path which overcomes ignorance. Once ignorance

Noble Eight fold Path of Buddha: After describing the chain of causes that lead to suffering Buddha suggested the Eight-Fold Path (Arya Ashtanga Marga) as the means of deliverance from these sufferings. This path was the real path to end the cycle of karma and the re-birth.
  1. Right Understanding.
  2. Right Action.
  3. Right Thought
  4. Right Speech
  5. Right Livelihood
  6. Right Effort.
  7. Right Mindfulness and
  8. Right Concentration. 
The first three practices lead to sila or physical control, the second three lead to samadhi or mental control, the last two lead to prajna or development of inner sight. Buddha call it the right path because it does not avoid or deny suffering but allows for a direct confrontation with suffering as the means to overcome it. The noble eight fold path is the path of living in awareness. Mindfulness is the foundation. By practicing mindfulness you can develop concentration which enables you to attain understanding. Right concentration, you realize right awareness, thoughts, speech, action, livelihood, and effort. The understanding which develops can liberate you from every shackle of suffering and give birth to lure peace and joy.

Buddha also prescribed a code of conduct for his followers.

These are called the 'Ten Principles' consisting of......
  1. Do not commit violence.
  2. Do not steal.
  3. Do not involve in corrupt practices.
  4. Do not tell a lie.
  5. Do not  use intoxicants.
  6. Do not use comfortable bed.
  7. Do not attend dance and music.
  8. Do not take food irregularly.
  9. Do not accept gifts or covet other's property.
  10. Do not save money.

By following these ten principles, one can lead a moral life.

Law of Karma: Buddha laid great stress on the law of karma and its working and the transmigration of souls. According to him the condition of man in this life and the next depends upon his own actions. Man is the maker of his own destiny not any god or gods. One can never escape the consequences of his deeds. If a man does good deeds in this life, he will be reborn in a higher life, and so on till he attain nirvana. Evil deeds are sure to be punished. We are born again and again to reap the fruit our karmas. This is the law of karma.

Ahimsa or Non-Violence: One of the important tenants of Buddha's teaching is ahimsa. Non-violence towards life is more important than god deeds. He advised that one should not kill or injure others either man or animal. Buddha attached great importance to non-violence, he permitted his followers to take a meat when no other food is available to keep them alive.

God: Buddha neither accepts nor rejects the existence of God. He remarked that Gods or Gods were also under the eternal law of karma. He was only concerned with the deliverance of man suffering.

Opposition to Vedas: The Buddha opposed the authority of Vedas. He also denied the utility of vedic and complex Brahaminical practices and rituals for the purpose of salvation. He criticized the Brahmanical supremacy.

Opposition of cast systems: The Buddha opposed vaina order or caste system. According to him a man is to be judged not by virtue of his birth but by his qualities.

Gautama Buddha spent the rest of his life traveling, teaching a diverse range of people from nobles to criminals.He had ten thousands of disciples and accumulated a large public following. He later established an order of monks and a corresponding order of nuns.

His health began to fail when he was in this late 70s. After forty-five years of teaching, he died in a small town named Kushinagar (Now modern town in Utter Pradesh-INDIA), at the age of 80, apparently of natural causes. His final words were, "Decay is inherent in all things. Be sure to strive with clarity of mind." for Nirvana.

He did not choose a successor. He felt that the Dharma.....his teachings.....plus the Vinaya......his code of rules for the monks and nuns....would be sufficient guide. Two and a half centuries later, a council of Buddhist monks collected his teachings and the oral traditions of the faith into written form, called the Tripitika. This included a very large collection of commentaries and traditions; most are called Sutras (discourse).

5 Precepts Of Buddha for living peace and harmoney



 Image result for buddha precepts



Most religions have moral and ethical rules and commandments. Buddhism has Precepts, but it's important to understand that the Buddhist Precepts are not a list of rules to follow.

In some religions, moral laws are believed to have come from God, and breaking those laws is a sin or transgression against God. But Buddhism doesn't have a God, and the Precepts are not commandments. However, that doesn't exactly mean they're optional, either.

The Pali word most often translated as "morality" is sila, but sila has many connotations that go beyond the English word "morality." It can refer to inner virtue such as kindness and truthfulness as well as the activity of those virtues in the world. It can also refer to the discipline of acting in a moral way. However, sila is best understood as a kind of harmony.

Buddhism is not just a religion, but also a discipline and way of life that encourages people to follow certain guidelines to help them conquer suffering. Buddha teachings are about about peaceful, righteous and thoughtful. The Five Precepts of Buddhism are actually the gist of the teachings and a moral guidelines that people can follow. These precepts, if followed can help people to build up their moral strength and live peacefully with their fellow. Buddhism places a great emphasis on 'mind' and it is mental anguish such as remorse, anxiety, guilt etc, which is to be avoided in order to cultivate a calm and peaceful mind.



Five Precepts of Gautama Buddha


As the way to create peace and happiness for one's family and all the Kingdom.

1. The First Precepts is do not kill: Observing this precept nourishes compassion. All living being fear death. As we cherish our own lives, we should cherish the lives of all other beings. Not only should we refrain from taking human life, we should strive to avoid taking the lives of other species, We must live in harmony with people, animals and plants. If we nourish a heart of love, we can reduce suffering and create a happy life, the kingdom will have peace. When the people respect each other's lives, the Country will prosper and be strong and it will be safe from invasion by other countries. When if the Kingdom possesses great military force, there will be no reason to use it.

2. The Second Precept is do not steal: No one has the right to take away the possessions that another has earned by his own labor. Attempting to seize an-other's goods violates this precept. Do not cheat others or use your influence and power to encroach on other's goods. Making profits from the sweat and labor of others violates this precept, as well. If the Citizens observe this precept, social equality will flower and robbing and killing will quickly cease.

3. The Third Precept is avoid Sexual Misconduct: Sexual relations should only take place with your spouse. Observing this precept builds trust and happiness in the family, and prevents unnecessary suffering to others. If you want happiness and the time and will to help your country and people, abstain from having several concubines.

4. The Fourth Precept is do not lie: Do not speak words that can create division and hatred. Your words should be in accord with the truth. Yes means Yes.. No means No. Words have the power to create trust and happiness, and they can create misunderstanding and hatred and even lead to murder and war. Use words with great care.

5. The Fifth Precept is do not Drink Alcohol or Use Other Intoxicants: Alcohol and Intoxicants rob the mind of clarity. When someone is intoxicated he can cause untold suffering to himself, his family, and others. Observing this precept is to preserve health for the body and mind.

Buddha said. "In addition to the sufferings of Birth, Old Age, Sickness and Death, human beings endure other sufferings which they themselves create. Out of ignorance and false views, people say and and do things that create suffering for themselves and others. Anger, Hatred, Suspicion, Jealousy, and Frustration cause suffering. All these arise from lack of awareness. People are caught are caught in a house on fire, and most of our suffering we create ourselves. You can not find freedom by praying to some God. You must look deeply into your own mind and situation in order to uproot the false views which are the root of suffering. Once you understand the nature of suffering it can no longer bind you.

If someone is angry at you, you can get angry back at him, but that only creates more suffering. If you follow the way of awareness, you will not react with anger. Instead, you will quiet your mind in order to discover why that person is angry at you. By looking deeply, you can uncover the caused that led to the person's anger. If you see that you bear responsibility for angering the person, you will not angry, but you will accept that your own misconduct has contributed towards creating his anger. If you are without blame, you can try to see why the person has misunderstood you. Then you can find true intention. In this way, you will avoid causing more suffering to both yourself and the other person.

Only with understanding can we love. All suffering can be overcome by looking deeply into things. On the path of awareness, we learn to follow our breath to maintain mindfulness. We follow the precepts in order to build concentration and attain understanding. The precepts are principles of living which foster peace and joy. Practicing the precepts our ability to concentrate develops, and we are able to live with great awareness and mindfulness. Mindfulness nurtures the capacity to illuminate the true nature of our mind and our environment. With that illumination comes understanding.

Buddha speaks "But suffering is only our face of life. Life has another face, the face of wonder. If we can see that face of life, we will happiness, peace and joy. We are hearts are unfettered, we can make direct contact with the wonder of life. When we have truly grasped the truths of impermanence, emptiness of self, and depend co-arising. We see how wondrous our own hearts, minds and bodies are. Because we imprison ourselves in our suffering, we lose the ability to experience the wonders of life, when we can break through ignorance, we discover the vast realm of peace, joy. liberation, and nirvana. Nirvana is the uprooting of ignorance, greed, and anger. It is the appearance of peace, joy, and freedom.



Buddha said that the more a person loves, the more he will suffer and despair. Life has a great need of the presence of love, but not the sort of love that is based on lust, passion, attachment, discrimination and prejudice. There are another kind of love, sorely needed, which consists of loving kindness and compassion, or Maitri (Friendship) and karuna (Compassion). Usually when people speak of love they are referring only to the love that exists between parents and children, husbands and wives, family members, or the members of one's cast or country. Because the nature of such love depends on the concepts of 'ME' and 'MINE'', it remains entangled in attachment and discrimination. People want only to love their parents, spouse, children, grandchildren, their own relatives and countrymen. Because they are caught in attachment, they worry about accidents that could befall their loved ones even before such things actually take place, when such accidents do occur, they suffer terribly.

People become indifferent or even hostile to those outside their own. Circle of love, attachment and discrimination are source of suffering for ourselves and others. Love for which all beings truly hunger is loving kindness and compassion. Maitri (Friendship) is the love that has the capacity to bring happiness to another. Karuna (Compassion) is the love which has the capacity to remove another suffering. Maitri (friendship) and Karuna (compassion) do not demand anything in return. Loving kindness and compassion are not limited to one's parents, and countrymen. They extend to all people and all beings. In 'MAITRI' (Friendship) and 'KARUNA' (Compassion) there is no discrimination, no 'me' or not 'mine'. And because there is no discrimination, there is no attachment. Maitri (Friendship) and Karuna (Compassion) bring happiness and ease suffering. They do not cause suffering and despair. Without them, life would be empty of meaning. With loving kindness and compassion, life is filled with peace, joy, and contentment.

According to the way of Enlightenment, love cannot exist without understanding. Love is understanding. If you cannot understand, you cannot love. Husbands and wives who do not understand each other cannot love each other. Brothers and Sisters who do not understand each other cannot love each other, cannot love each other. Parents only want children who do not understand each other cannot love each other. If you want loved ones to be happy, you must learn to understand their sufferings and their aspiration. When you understand, you will know how to relieve their sufferings and how to help them fulfill their aspirations. That is true love. If you only want your loved ones to follow your own ideas and your remain ignorant of their needs, it is not truly love. It is only a desire to posses another and attempt to fulfill your own needs, which cannot be fulfilled in that way.

In the way of liberation, there is no cost. To the eyes of an enlightened person, all people are equal. Every person's blood is read. Every person's tears are salty. We are all human beings. We must find a way for all people to be able to realize their full dignity and potential.

Note: If you think this article or message from Buddha can put some impact on our life and mind. Then Please share it with your friends and the world as much as you can! Because we can spread the love and harmony to the world!! Thanks