TRUTH AS AN ISLAND

BUDDHA'S LAST WORDS TO HIS DISCIPLE ANANDA

These last words clearly show the difference between Buddhism and Hinduism and are quite famous. These are: "Be island to yourself, Ananda! Be a refuge to yourself; do not take to yourself any other refuge. See truth as an island, see truth as refuge. Do not seek refuge in anyone but yourselves. Have done, Ananda! Do not weep, do not distress yourself! Have I not often told you that it is in the very nature of things that we must eventually be parted from all that is near and dear to us ? For how, Ananda, can it be other wise ? Since everything born evolved, and organized contains within itself the germs of disintegration, how can it be otherwise then that a being should pass away ? No other condition is possible !

For long you, Ananda, have been very near to me by acts of devotion, faithfulness and affectionate, ever loyal beyond all reckoning."

As mentioned earlier, Lord Buddha went to Sarnath to give his first sermon to the wise men. Sarnath was near the holy city of Varanasi and within the Koshal Kingdom.

BUDDHA'S FIRST TEACHING

TURNING THE WHEEL OF DHARMA

Lord Buddha's teachings were simple and of practical nature unlike Vedantic philosophy. He spoke in the Pali language which was the language of the common masses. He did not concern himself with the problem of God or the Soul since he believed such discussions were of no use in the moral progress. He declared that everything was impermanent or transitory. He proclaimed Four Noble Truths: ( a) sorrow, ( b ) cause of sorrow, ( c ) cessation of sorrow, and ( d ) the path leading to the cessation of sorrow. These are discussed in slight details below:

1. Noble Truth of Suffering According to him, life is full of suffering, miseries, sickness, death, unhappiness, etc. People go after pleasure which is transitory and the end result is pain.

2. Noble Truth of the Cause of Suffering When our mind is full of desire and greed, then suffering is bound to happen.

3. Noble Truth of the End of Suffering If we remove all cravings and desires from our mind, suffering will also end. We will experience peace and happiness as a result.

4. Noble Truth of the Path If we take the path of avoid harming all other living beings; if we sharpen and focus our mind; and if we gain wisdom then we will end all our misery. This noble path is also called the Eightfold Path, and it is:

1. Right Views - Seeing life as it is, i.e. realizing the three characteristics:

a. change or impermanence,

b. sorrow, and

c. unsubstantiality or non-egoism

2. Right Mindedness - Having friendly thoughts towards fellow human beings.

3. Right Speech - Speaking kindly, truthfully,and narrating incidents accurately.

4. Right Action - Acting skilfully and sympathetically, while avoiding vain or violent effort.

5. Right Livelihood - Practising a means of living that does not cause oneself nor others to infringe lawful morality (abstaining from killing, stealing, adultery and lying).

6. Right Endeavour - Self-perception by avoiding and rejecting lower qualities, while accepting noble qualities.

7. Right Mindfulness - The cultivation and practice of self-awareness and compassion, resulting in self-reliance and equanimity.

8. Right Concentration - Contemplation resulting in Samadhi.

Lord Buddha's idols were not used until 400 to 500 years after his death. There were only stupas (topes) built in his memory which was in practice in Jainism before Lord Buddha's time. Another symbol that was used by his followers was a wheel called `Dharma Chakra'. It has eight spokes out of which four are thick. The thick ones represent the noble truths whereas the eight of them combined represent the paths.

BUDDHISM AND GOD

Lord Buddha denied the existence of both the Dynamic God as well as the Atman as the Individualized Soul, which were respectively, the concepts of Truth in Hinduism and Jainism. This is also known as the Sunyavaada. His thinking is quite clear in his last words to Ananda where he mentions that the germs of disintegration are existent in our bodies and that Ananda should take refuge in `truth' only, knowing it is an island whereby completely contradicting the infinite nature of God in Hinduism.

He was against animal sacrifice and approachability practised by the Hindus. He took the middle path between Hinduism and Jainism. The Jains saw life in practically everything, so they practised extreme form of non-violence, on the other hand the Hindus used animal sacrifice and were quite violent in relative terms. Lord Buddha did eat meat but only if the animal was not killed for him. He did emphasize non-violence, but not to the extent done in Jainism.