FROM SIDDHARTHA TO BUDDHA

FROM SIDDHARTHA TO BUDDHA

Siddhartha, also known as Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, was born about 2500 years ago. This was a time of rapid change in the lives of people. As you saw in Chapter 5(KINGDOMS, KINGS AND AN EARLY REPUBLIC), some kings in the mahajanapadas were growing more powerful. New cities were developing, and life was changing in the villages as well (see Chapter 9(TRADERS, KINGS AND PILGRIMS)). Many thinkers were trying to understand these changes in society. They also wanted to try and find out the true meaning of life.

The Buddha belonged to a small gana known as the Sakya gana and was a Kshatriya. When he was a young man, he left the comforts of his home in search of knowledge. He wandered for several years, meeting and holding discussions with other thinkers. He finally decided to find his own path to realisation, and meditated for days on end under a peepal tree at Bodh Gaya in Bihar, where he attained enlightenment. After that, he was known as the Buddha or the Wise One. He then went to Sarnath, near Varanasi, where he taught for the first time. He spent the rest of his life travelling on foot, going from place to place, teaching people, till he passed away at Kusinara.

More to know

Panini, the grammarian

This was also the time when other scholars were at work. One of the most famous was Panini, who prepared a grammar for Sanskrit. He arranged the vowels and the consonants in a special order and then used these to create formulae like those found in Algebra. He used these to write down the rules of the language in short formulae (around 3000 of them!).
 

Source: This topic is taken from NCERT TEXTBOOK

BUDDHA TEACHINGS

BUDDHA TEACHINGS

The Buddha taught that life is full of suffering and unhappiness. This is caused because we have cravings and desires (which often cannot be fulfilled). Sometimes, even if we get what we want, we are not satisfied, and want even more (or want other things). The Buddha described this as thirst or tanha. He taught that this constant craving could be removed by the following moderation in everything.

He also taught people to be kind and to respect the lives of others, including animals. He believed that the results of our actions (called karma), whether good or bad, affect us both in this life and the next. The Buddha taught in the language of the ordinary people, Prakrit, so that everybody could understand his message.

He also encouraged people to think for themselves rather than to simply accept what he said.

A Buddhist text tells us:

Just as the waters of rivers lose their names and separateness when they flow into the mighty ocean, so are varna and ranks and family forgotten when the followers of the Buddha join the order of monks.

Elsewhere

Find Iran in your atlas. Zoroaster was an Iranian prophet. His teachings are contained in a book called the Avesta. The language of the Avesta and the practices described in it are very similar to those of the Vedas. The basic teachings of Zoroaster are contained in the maxim “Good thoughts, Good Words, and Good Deeds.” Here is a verse from the Zend Avesta:

“Lord, grant strength and the rule of truth and good thinking, by means of which one shall create peace and tranquillity.”

For more than a thousand years, Zoroastrianism was a major religion in Iran. Later, some Zoroastrians migrated from Iran and settled down in the coastal towns of Gujarat and Maharashtra. They were the ancestors of today’s Parsis

Source: This topic is taken from NCERT TEXTBOOK

THE STORY OF KISAGOTAMI

THE STORY OF KISAGOTAMI

Here is a famous story about the Buddha.

Once there was a woman named Kisagotami, whose son had died. She was so sad that she roamed through the streets of the city carrying the child with her, asking for help to bring him back to life. A kind man took her to the Buddha.

The Buddha said: “Bring me a handful of mustard seeds, and I will bring your child back to life.”

Kisagotami was overjoyed and started off at once, but the Buddha gently stopped her and added: “The seeds must come from the house of a family where nobody has died.”

Kisagotami went from door to door, but wherever she went, she found out that someone or the other — father, mother, sister, brother, husband, wife, child, uncle, aunt, grandfather, grandmother — had died.

Activity:

What was the Buddha trying to teach the sorrowing mother?

Source: This topic is taken from NCERT TEXTBOOK