In recent decades, interest in religions has revived in our country. People trying to understand the meaning of life and find answers to questions about how to achieve harmony and get rid of suffering, turn their eyes not only to Christianity as the main traditional faith in our state, but also to the wise ancient truths of the East. One of these religions is Buddhism.
Doctrine of consciousness
Buddhism as an ethical teaching, religion, philosophy and cultural tradition originated in the sixth century BC in the northeast of ancient Indian civilization. Subsequently, Buddhism became one of the three world religions along with Christianity and Islam and is the oldest of them.
Christianity appeared later than more than five centuries, and Islam - by twelve. Buddhism is recognized by different peoples of the world and is the main religion of many countries of the East: India, China, Nepal, Japan, Thailand, Korea, Mongolia and others. In our country, his followers are residents of Kalmykia, Buryatia and Tuva. More and more followers find this teaching in Western countries, attracting not only with its exoticism, but also with the possibility of developing many hidden abilities that every person possesses.
Buddhism is defined not only as a religion, but also as a philosophical doctrine of the awakening and liberation of consciousness, spiritual enlightenment. It was founded by the Buddha Shakyamuni, who is known to all as the Indian prince Siddhartha Gautama.
Unusual prince
On the territory of modern Nepal is the ancient city of Lumbini, which BC was one of the Indian provinces. Presumably in 563 BC, it was here that Tsarevich Gautama was born into the royal family, to whom the throne of his Raja father was to inherit. But despite the fact that the prince did not need anything and lived in luxury, he always felt an inner dissatisfaction with his position. He endlessly indulged in vague dreams and dreams, for hours he could sit in the shade of trees, reflecting on the meaning of life. When immersed in deep contemplation, he was visited by unusual moments of enlightenment of consciousness.
Raju became disturbed by the nature of his son, and he tried to protect him from knowledge of human suffering and from religious instruction. But even at the birth of the prince, one of the foretellers predicted that Gautama should become either a great ruler or a saint. Despite all his father’s efforts to make his son a king, the prince was prepared for the second path - spiritual enlightenment. And this is one case that happened to Gautama on a walk.
Truth of the life
According to legend, the prince wanted to know more about the lives of ordinary people, and he went outside the palace. There, he alternately met a sick man, a decrepit old man, a funeral procession and a wandering hermit. From conversations with the servant and the people he met, he realized that illness, aging, suffering and death were inevitable, and people came to terms with it. Gautama realized that no one can control his destiny, that even the pleasures of the rich end up in the dust, and life makes no sense. From these moments, the serenity of childhood and youth was completely lost to him, and life in its form became unacceptable to him. Overwhelmed by his disgust with the world around him, he decided to abandon his inheritance, family, property and home, so that, having accepted monasticism, he would devote his life to studying how to get rid of suffering and overcome it.
The path to awakening
At 29, now the former prince began to study all the then-known philosophical systems and yogic practices of meditation, becoming a student of yoga mentors. He managed to achieve high levels of consciousness, but he was not satisfied with this, since the questions that tormented him and the problems of life's suffering remained unresolved.
Therefore, he decided to leave his mentors and retire to the jungle of southeast India, choosing the path of severe self-torture. Having become a hermit and leading a severe ascetic life, six years later he discovered that such methods more exhaust the body and cloud the mind, rather than bring the liberation from suffering closer to the truth.
Then Gautama focused on deep meditation and, being in it, realized that one should avoid extremes and not engage in self-torture or excessive self-indulgence, but walk along the middle path. Sitting under the jambu tree, which later became known as the Bodhi tree, he gave his word that he would not get up and leave the state of meditation until the Truth comes to him.
Awakening
Once on a May night at the full moon, Gautama, concentrating on the rising of the morning star, reached full enlightenment. At that moment, when, at last, Truth visited him in all his splendor, he achieved the awakening and liberation of his consciousness. The former prince Gautama became a Buddha. “Buddha” is “awakened”, “absolutely enlightened”.
At the moment of enlightenment, Gautama not only saw his whole life with extraordinary clarity, but also felt the universal connection of all mankind with the invisible world. The universe appeared before his eyes in its fluidity and infinity. There is no peace anywhere. Everything is carried away to unknown distances. Everything in the world is connected, and some events come from others. All beings are destroyed and reborn again. The thirst for being and life revolts peace in the soul of a person and leads him along the path of suffering - now he was clearly aware of this. Buddha Gautama now knew exactly what he had to fight with in order to find peace and get rid of the realities of this terrible and imperfect world, filled with suffering, tears, sorrow and pain.
Transfiguration and birth of doctrine
Having seen the universe in its true light and stepping out of the darkness of ignorance, Gautama completed the search for Truth and reached a spiritual transformation. He has changed and gained great wisdom and compassion for all living things. Later, teaching his disciples, he argued that compassion is a necessary quality that a true awakened person must possess - Buddha. Only enlightened mind can comprehend this property; it is not very accessible to the soul wandering in ignorance.
Changing internally, the Buddha realized that his purpose was not only to use the fruits of his enlightenment, but also to convey to people the great Truth revealed to him. This was the main reason for the creation of his teachings. It is based on the assertion that life is suffering. Buddha pointed out the main causes of this imperfection. He argued that in order to be free from all suffering, enlightenment and awakening of consciousness must be achieved. The path necessary for spiritual exaltation and liberation from suffering is the path to nirvana. Nirvana is the highest state of enlightenment and bliss that Buddha could achieve. This, he claims, is accessible to every living being, and any person should strive for such liberation. So, the former prince created the doctrine of the four noble truths and the octal path to achieve higher states of consciousness.
Wandering preacher
Many ignorant people believe that Buddha is a god. But he denied this, claiming to be just a mentor for those who choose to go through enlightenment and attain enlightenment. Gautama himself faced the choice of whether he would enjoy his own liberation or pass on his experience to other people. "Compassion is one of the most important qualities," said the Buddha. This became a decisive factor in order to lead the future life as a wandering preacher. He accepted his destiny - to bring people the doctrine of deliverance from suffering.
For 45 years, the first awakened Indian Buddha traveled throughout the country, transferring his experience to people of various classes and castes. His teaching was open to all, even to adherents of other religions and philosophies. To preserve the doctrine, the Buddha with his followers created a monastic community, in which thousands of converts joined.
For many centuries, the teachings of Gautama have not lost their relevance. Also in the world there are suffering, illness, poverty, death and tears. Also, people are looking for ways to free themselves from misfortunes and troubles and find solace in faith. Many of them turn to Buddhism as a religion that indicates the path to change in life. And they all strive to cognize those states of consciousness that Buddha could comprehend. In philosophy, this is the ultimate goal of understanding the secrets of the meaning of life and the disclosure of the basic issues of being.