Who was the Buddha? Essential views in Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism

 

The Buddha: Theravada View

·        The life of the historical Buddha is commonly accepted by all sects of Buddhism. It is impossible to date the Buddha exactly, but he lived approximate 2,500 years ago in rural Northern India (modern day Nepal). His father was a king or clan leader, of the Shakya tribe. In the traditional story, the Buddha had a miraculous birth to his mother Mahamaya, he was born from her side in Lumbini Park and immediately walked and talked, proclaiming he had come to the world to end suffering. It was then predicted by a fortune teller (Asita) that the Buddha would either grow up to become a great military leader or a religious leader, so his father protected him from suffering to ensure that he would become the next king. For this reason, the Buddha grew up to be sheltered from all suffering and lived a life of total luxury until the age of 29. For example, he had an excellent education, a harem of women and 4 palaces (one for each season).

·        The Four Sights: it is said that at the age of 29 the Buddha ventured outside the palace for the first time, and despite his father’s best efforts to clear the streets, he saw 3 sights of an old man, a sick man, and a dead man. This made him realise that life is full of suffering, which he had never known before due to his luxurious upbringing. After that, he saw a fourth sight: a monk (likely following one of the philosophical traditions of the day) and that made him realise that he must give up his lifestyle to find the end of suffering. He then renounced his throne, leaving behind his wife and new-born son (who he names “Rahula” meaning bond) and sought about following different ascetic traditions to try and find the end of suffering.

·        Asceticism: there were many philosophical traditions at the time of the Buddha, including Hindu traditions and other philosophical schools. The Buddha adopted different ascetic practices to try and overcome suffering, which allowed him to perfect meditation and yoga practices. However, he also spent a period of time practicing extremely strict asceticism and self-mortification (including eating ash, starving himself and eating excrement). Despite the extreme nature of these practices he still did not find the answer to suffering, and decided to eat and drink normally again – he was near starvation when a woman offered him a bowl of rice and milk. It was then that he meditated and gained enlightenment (nirvana whilst alive) on his own, making him the first Buddha. During his enlightenment, he was tempted by the demon Mara (the Lord of Death) and overcame the temptation, escaping Samsara by attaining Bodhi and entering nirvana.

·        As soon as the Buddha gained enlightenment, he taught his first sermon to his five ascetic companions, teaching them the Four Noble Truths, which included the Eightfold Path, the way to overcome suffering. The Fourth Noble Truth is the way of the Noble Eightfold Path. They then became the first arhats (those who reach enlightenment with the help of someone else).

·        The Buddha is seen as being a role model, particularly to Theravada Buddhists, because he is the first person to reach enlightenment in this time cycle and thus has opened the way for others to become enlightened. He also had lived both extremes between luxury and strict asceticism and this brought credibility to his claim that the middle way (Magga) is the only way to overcome dukkha and escape samsara. People may debate this view however, as the Buddha did not necessarily act in a “moral” way according to today’s standards – abandoning his son could be seen as immoral, although for the Buddha it was the only way to save others.

·        At death, the Buddha became inaccessible to his followers as he left samsara and entered the state of pari-nirvana. Pari-nirvana is outside of samsara, it is an unknown state and Buddhists cannot know what it is like as it is impossible for a being to return from.

The Buddha: Mahayana View

·        The Buddha is expressed in 3 forms: earthly (nirmanakaya), heavenly (samboghakaya) and ultimate truth body (dharmakaya). This means that the Buddha is still available to his followers whilst he is in pari-nirvana, as he is in his heavenly form. This means that the Buddha himself is considered to be a semi-divine being within Mahayana Buddhism, who can be experienced in many ways. The dharmakaya suggests that anyone who encounters the truth or teachings of Buddhism are in fact encountering the Buddha himself, so the concept of the Buddha becomes much wider. The earthly body is regarded in the same way as the Theravada tradition, although it was designed to show upaya kusala.

·        The Buddha’s life was designed to introduce the concept of upaya kusala, “skilful means”, to his followers – he pretended to die and enter pari-nirvana as his followers were not yet prepared to hear about the Trikaya doctrine yet. The Buddha had preached the arhat path to his followers when he was alive as he knew, through Upaya Kusala, that his followers were not yet ready to hear about the Bodhisattva path. Upaya Kusala refers to the idea that the Buddha knew that his followers could not cope with the “greater teaching” of the bodhisattva path when he first started teaching. He therefore taught the arhat path to encourage people to try and escape suffering, knowing they would be able to handle that first teaching.

·        The Buddha knew that once people were following the 8FP they would realise that it is better to become a bodhisattva than to become an arhat. This is explained through the Parable of the Burning House in the Lotus Sutra – the story where a father offers his children different rewards to get them to escape from the house that they do not realise is burning down. When the children escape, the father gives them all the best reward – in the same way, the Buddha offered all of his followers the bodhisattva path once he had persuaded them to escape suffering through following the Buddhist path.

·        This is why he delayed the bodhisattva teaching until after his death, appearing to his followers from pari-nirvana. This hinges on the Trikaya doctrine and the idea that the Buddha is still accessible in pari-nirvana.