BUDDHA BEYOND BORDERS

Last week, I was overjoyed to witness the celebration of Buddha Purnima across the globe. It made me feel nostalgic and the fond memories of my recent visit to a couple of neighboring countries like Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Bhutan, flashed back, assuring me of the impact of Buddha beyond borders.? The trip to Thailand was mainly for academic purposes. But a short visit to Bangkok, where I got to see the famous Golden Buddha and the devotion of the common people towards Buddha opened my eyes. It was nothing short of an inner awakening. For me, it was a discovery of the spiritual wealth of India on foreign soil. The following year, it was a happy coincidence that I landed in Sri Lanka when the entire nation was busy celebrating the ‘Thrice Blessed Festival’ that commemorates the birth, enlightenment, and passing of Gautama Buddha.

This celebration assumes much greater significance today, inviting us to revisit the teachings of Gautama, who became Buddha- the Awakened One after attaining enlightenment at the age of 35 under the peepal tree popularly known as the Bodhi Tree at Bodh Gaya in Bihar. ?This momentous event in history is called Buddha’s Great Awakening and is considered very significant in Buddhism. Buddha propounded a new religion called Buddhism, which greatly influenced and shaped the cultures and traditions of the world.? This happened in the 6th century BC when much of the Western world was groping in the dark. One can only imagine the transformative influence of the teachings and gospels of Buddha that the world today has as many as twelve Buddhist countries and the followers of Buddhism can be found anywhere in the globe.? If you desire to know more about the life and teachings of Gautama Buddha, you should read a masterful work by Sir Edwin Arnold entitled ‘The Light of Asia’ published in 1879. ?This beautiful poetic work remains a global sensation to date. You can also read a classic Siddhartha a novel by the celebrated German-Swiss author Herman Hesse. The novel explores themes of spirituality and the pursuit of enlightenment by a young man named Siddhartha.

Buddha’s Gospels

It is a well-known fact that the mind of the young Siddhartha, (the childhood name of Gautama), was agitated by four encounters namely, old age, Sickness, death, and the ascetic.? They might be four different sights for others but for Buddha that became his motivation to discover the root cause of human suffering and he gave the world - the Four Noble Truths, namely there is suffering, there is a cause of suffering, there is an end of suffering and there is a path leading to the end of suffering. These gospels of Buddha hold great significance in Buddhism.

The takeaway for my valued reader is, therefore, profound- what is just a sight for millions can be an insight for a mindful person. Similarly, when an apple fell from a tree, there was nothing extraordinary about it but for Newton, it was an insight that resulted in the discovery of the Law of Gravitation.

Noble Truths Redefined

But today we live in an age of extremes, witnessing a fast-changing geo-political landscape. The teachings can be redefined and particularly the keyword ‘suffering’ can be replaced by the word conflict. We can say that there is a conflict in the world and there is a cause for it, there can be a cessation of the conflict, and above all, there is a path leading to the end of the conflict. Today the whole world seems to be suffering owing to the ongoing conflicts at different levels, regional, national, or international. Taiwan, China, Russia, Ukraine, Israel, and Iran are only a few examples of conflict-torn nations.

The Golden Mean

The Middle Path of Buddha can ensure peace and tranquillity. This is also called the Golden Mean. We must shun the path of the extremes. This pragmatic principle of Buddha has a universal appeal and it has the potential to restore sanity in a world constantly torn by tension and trauma.

To sum up, we can say that Buddha’s ideas and ideology have become more relevant today. ?Modern life is full of suffering and that suffering emanates from human greed to conquer the world outside, whereas the need of the time is to conquer the world within! Buddha said,

‘To conquer oneself is a greater task than conquering others.’

There is an urgency to practice self-discipline in the present moment as our time on the planet is limited.? Buddha underlined the importance of conquering one’s mind through meditation, purity, non-attachment, and mastery of one’s thoughts and actions as the path to self-control, wisdom, and lasting happiness. Thus I conclude by recalling the fundamental creed of Buddhism:

Buddham saranam gachhami,

Dhammam saranam gachhami,

Sangham saranam gachhami.