Buddhism Reflection on Origins

Buddhism: Background, Origins, and Pillars
The life of Buddha is directly connected to the teachings of Buddha and reflect some of the main pillars of Buddhism. “Siddhartha Gautama, who would one day become known as Buddha (‘enlightened one’ or ‘the awakened’), lived in Nepal during the 6th to 4th century B.C” (biography.com). There are other religious figures that have made tremendous impacts on society, religion and the belief system of enormous groups of people; with many of these people, there is a lack of clarity regarding whether or not they actually lived. This is not the case with Buddha: most experts agree that he did live on earth for a period of time, though the exact milestones and experiences he had on earth remain under a certain amount of contention. “According to the most widely known story of his life, after experimenting with different teachings for years, and finding none of them acceptable, Gautama spent a fateful night in deep meditation. During his meditation, all of the answers he had been seeking became clear, and he achieved full awareness, thereby becoming Buddha” (biography.com). This story demonstrates one of the central tenets of Buddhism, a religion that stresses the awareness of all that is. Further examination into the life and life events of Buddha can provide deeper clarity regarding the religion as a whole.
Buddha, born with the name Siddhartha Gautama, came from a world of power and opulence. Buddha’s father was a powerful man that ruled the group of peoples and Buddha’s mother died a week after giving birth to him. His father endeavored to shelter him from the painful realities of the world, and thus raised him in a palace of great lavishness and wealth. To continue to spare him pain, Buddha’s father endeavored to seclude him from all knowledge of human suffering. It wasn’t until Buddha’s late twenties, when he was a fully-fledged adult that he was exposed to life outside of the palace and saw how the rest of the world lived. For example, Buddha saw a frail old and dying man, and was forced to confront the realities of human mortality, sickness and the absence of health. “Siddhartha was overcome by these sights, and the next day, at age 29, he left his kingdom, wife and son to lead an ascetic life, and determine a way to relieve the universal suffering that he now understood to be one of the defining traits of humanity” (biography.com).
Finally, being exposed to the outside world had a powerful impact on Buddha and he endeavored to live a life of austere frugality, attracting a few followers, and on a quest of enlightenment which meant that he caused himself much of his own suffering via refusing water, food and meditating for long periods of time (biography.com). Eventually, after all this intense pain and self-inflicted suffering, Buddha “…realized that corporeal austerity was not the means to achieve inner liberation, and that living under harsh physical constraints was not helping him achieve spiritual release. So he had his rice, drank water and bathed in the river… From then on, however, Siddhartha encouraged people to follow a path of balance instead of one characterized by extremism. He called this path the Middle Way” (Biography.com). Hence Buddha made intense, debilitating sacrifices putting himself through extreme harm and discomfort in order to achieve enlightenment and a deeper understanding of some of the mysteries of the universe and of human existence. It was through this intense self-inflicted suffering that Buddha came to understand that such methods and choices were not the best way for him or for anyone really. The harm he inflicted on himself showed him the importance of balance and moderation, one of the major tenets of Buddhism.
When one reflects on the person experiences of monks, wanderers and pilgrims, it seems as though their lives make some of the more common mistakes that Siddhartha made when he self-inflicted so much suffering. It appears as though these people have made a point to give up all of their worldly possessions, worldly comforts, and all the people that they care about, to either live in isolation or wander the earth, looking for hidden secrets. It appears as though these people still buy into the notion of human suffering and sacrifice as a means of experiencing enlightenment or “Bodhi.”
Dharma refers to the instructions and pillars of Buddha in terms of a formal method to be disseminated and explained. “Nirvana literally means ‘quenching’ or ‘blowing out,’ in the way that the flame of a candle is blown out…What is extinguished, in fact, is the triple fire of greed, hatred, and delusion which leads to rebirth” (Keown, 2018). Hence one can very simply define nirvana as the termination of greed, hatred and delusion. This indicates that the role of personal experience within the entire religious experience is interconnected. Once more worldly impulses such as greed and the ego can be eliminated, then one is free to embrace the deeper mysteries of the world and of human existence. Reflective learning is very powerful, but it needs to be done in a manner where the learning is not constantly being blocked against the obstacles of the ego and the human mind. Individual knowledge and communal learning are both powerful things, and there is a place for both along the path to enlightenment. To achieve nirvana, one needs to part with one’s earthly attachments to things like being right, being first or any other of the petty demands of the ego.
References
Biography.com. (n.d.). Https://buddha. Retrieved from https://www.biography.com/people/buddha-9230587
Keown, D. (2018). The Meaning of Nirvana in Buddhism Explained. Retrieved from https://tricycle.org/magazine/nirvana-2/