Foundations of Buddhism – The Buddha (Rupert Gethin)

The Foundations of Buddhism – The Buddha (Rupert Gethin)

The Buddha: The Story of the Awakened One

• The inscription on a soapstone vase found by W. C. Peppe in January 1898, on his estate at Pipdihwa near the India–Nepal border, dating to about the 2nd century BCE, is in Brahmi script in a Middle Indo‑Aryan dialect. It appears to claim the vase is ‘a receptacle of relics of the Blessed Buddha of the Sakyas’.
• The find illustrates the long history and material manifestation of what we now call Buddhism: monumental burial mounds (stupas) enshrining relics of the Buddha or arhats; Stupas vary in size, with larger ones housing relics of the Buddha or saints, and smaller ones containing remains of ordinary people. Today many stupas survive across the Indian subcontinent and beyond.
• Buddhism originated as an Indian phenomenon, flourishing from about the 5th century BCE for roughly 15 centuries on Indian soil, shaping Indian intellectual, religious, and cultural life; it spread along ancient trade routes across Asia to places from Afghanistan to Japan. By the late 12th century, Buddhist institutions had largely disappeared from India proper, but Buddhism continued to flourish in other regions.
• All living Buddhist traditions trace back to a historical figure who lived and died in northern India several centuries before the beginning of the Christian era, belonging to the Sakyas. He is called Sakya‑muni, ‘the sage of the Sakyas’, or buddho bhagavii‑, ‘the Blessed Buddha’ or ‘the Lord Buddha’. The Buddha is understood in various ways, but the word buddha is a title, not a personal name: it means ‘one who has woken up’.
• A buddha is someone who awakens to the world as it truly is (yathā-bhūtārath), suffers no longer, and teaches others out of compassion for suffering beings (the path of awakening is a path for the welfare of all beings). A traditional devotional formula lists the compassionate reasons a buddha is understood as a Blessed One:
  • he is an Arhat, a perfectly awakened one;
  • he is a perfect in understanding and conduct;
  • he is happy, understands the world;
  • he is an unsurpassed trainer of unruly beings;
  • he is the teacher of both gods and men;
  • he is a blessed buddha. 3
• From the historian’s point of view, the Buddha is a historical figure who lived and taught within a broader milieu of Indian renouncers, brahmanical culture, and emerging philosophical traditions. The Buddha’s life story is historically plausible in its major outlines, though many specifics are mythic or symbolic.

The Renouncer Tradition in Indian Religion

• The renouncer tradition (sramanācāra) comprises individuals who renounce household life to pursue religious life. They abandon livelihood and adopt mendicant lifestyles, often depending on alms.
• Early renouncers were diverse in lifestyle: some lived alone, others in groups led by a teacher; many were male, but women joined Buddhism and Jainism as these movements grew.
• Three modes of activity occupied renouncers:
  • Austerities: nakedness in all seasons, fasting, or living like an animal, etc.;
  • Meditation/altered states of consciousness (meditations/dhyāna or samādhi): aim to attain deeper knowledge and experience of the world;
  • Philosophical theories: developing intellectual justifications for their practices.
• Texts list various labels for wanderers and ascetics, e.g., ‘one who strives’ (sramana/sramacārista), ‘wanderer’ (parivrajaka/paribrajakā), ‘one who begs his share of alms’ (bhikṣu/bhikkhu), ‘naked ascetic’ (aćal/acehkā), ‘matted-hair ascetic’ (jatila). Some groups formed teacher‑led communities; others were loners. These wanderers were heterogeneous in practice and belief.
• The movement included, among others, groups that would later become significant in Indian religious life, including Jain and Ajivika traditions, and it interacted with early brahmanical circles.

The Brahmanical Tradition and Its Context

• The Brahmanical vision developed from the rise of the Aryas (Old Indo‑Aryan speakers) who migrated into northern India after the 2nd millennium BCE. The Aryas brought a hierarchical social vision and the Vedic tradition.
• Brahmins (brihmins/brāhmaṇas) became the hereditary ritual specialists and interpreters of the Vedas. By the Buddha’s time, Vedic literature comprised:
  • The Saṃhitī (four collections of verses attributed to the ṛṣis),
  • The ritual manuals for performing Vedic sacrifice, and
  • The forest books (aiḍanyaka) dealing with esoteric meanings of the sacrifice; the last class was still in formation.
• Two crucial aspects of the brahmanical view shaped Indian society:
  • A hierarchy of ritual purity that underpinned social order; and
  • A ritual/sacrificial system functioning within a broader cosmological framework.
• Society was imagined as divided into two groups: the Aryas and the non‑Aryas. The Arya portion comprised four main castes (varṇa) in descending order of purity: bṛhmins, kśatriyas, vaiśyas, and the śūdras. The term dvija (twice‑born) referred to those who underwent an upanayana initiation and then carried out Vedic study and household sacrifices. The śūdras completed the fourfold structure by serving the other classes. This caste system is an ideological basis for social discrimination but it should be distinguished from the ancient renouncer movements, which offered rival worldviews.
• Brahmins could be involved with wandering ascetics as instructors or recruiters, yet their authority could be challenged by renouncer movements. Brahmin circles were an important recruitment ground for ascetic communities, and in some respects Buddhist teachings emerged as a response to brahmanical ideas.

The Buddha in History

• The historian must situate the Buddha within the broader Indian religious milieu: wandering asceticism, Jainism, Ajivikas, and brahmanical currents. The bare facts in traditional biographies are not necessarily problematic for the historical account, but many details are mythic or symbolic.
• Dates of the Buddha’s life are uncertain. Widely cited dates for his death are in the range around the 5th to 4th centuries BCE. A common tradition uses Asoka’s reign as a chronological anchor: Asoka’s coronation around 268 BCE, and his edicts mentioning earlier rulers imply dates for the Buddha’s death around 400 BCE in many scholarly discussions, though some sources place Asoka’s accession between 280 and 267 BCE. The dates 566–486 BCE (death 486 BCE) and 268 BCE accession are often treated as idealized round numbers rather than precise history. A major point is that the time span between the Buddha’s death and Asoka’s accession is likely somewhat less than 216 years, but precise dating remains debated.
• The Buddha’s birth is traditionally placed in Kapilavastu (near the Nepalese border). Born Siddhartha Gautama (Pali Siddhattha Gotama), he belonged to a relatively privileged family of a local ruler (rījana). The later tradition emphasizes his renown and birth narratives.
• While the early life of Siddhartha is described in lavish detail in Buddhist texts, it is important to treat many of these details as part of a mythic framework that serves to convey spiritual and ethical truths rather than a strictly documentary biography.

The Life of the Buddha: From Birth to Awakening (The Twelve Acts and the Perfections)

• The Bodhisattva’s life is traditionally described through a sequence of acts, which collectively dramatize his path toward awakening. The key elements include the following acts (summarized):
  1) Birth in the heaven of Tusita (the Bodhisattva previously dwelt there after many lives practicing the perfections).
  2–3) Descent from and entering his mother’s womb.
  4) Birth in the Sakya family in Kapilavastu, on the full moon night, with a miraculous birth and seven steps to the north after birth.
  5) Prophecy of future greatness by brahmin seers at birth; his destiny as either a wheel-turning king or a buddha.
  6) Early youth under royal protection, marriage to Yasodhara, and a son, Rahula; this is the fifth act (enjoyment of worldly skills and sensual life).
  7) The great going forth (mahāprāvrajjya/mahāpabbajjā) at age 29 with the charioteer Channa, leaving home to seek awakening; this begins the six-year quest.
  8) First pursuit of extreme ascetic practices with five companions after leaving Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputra; extreme fasting and severe penance lead to emaciation (the eighth act).
  9) Remembering an earlier moment of calm from youth and recognizing a path of balance; Sujata’s milk‑rice offering helps restore strength; the Bodhisattva then sits under the Bodhi tree (pipal tree) and makes a firm resolve to attain awakening.
  10) Awakening under the Bodhi tree, confronting Mara and his armies, and receiving the earth’s witness (bhumi-sparśa) to establish his right to awakening. The Bodhisattva attains complete awakening; the path to cessation of suffering is revealed.
  11) The Buddha remains for a time in meditation, often described as seven weeks near the Bodhi tree, with various symbolic episodes (e.g., the naga’s protection). He experiences the unconditioned, nirvāṇa, and the full realization of the Four Noble Truths and dependent arising.
  12) The Buddha’s return to teach a path toward cessation of suffering and the distribution of relics after death. The awakening and its implications form the central kernel of the Buddha’s life story.
• The awakening is often framed in terms of the four dhyānas (meditative absorptions) and the three knowledges, culminating in the insight into suffering, its cause, its cessation, and the path leading to cessation (the Four Noble Truths) and the causal chain of dependent origination. The classical formula for the awakening also appears in symbolic accounts such as the encounter with Māra and the earth as witness (bhūmi‑sparśa).
• The narrative acknowledges the historical tendency to blend naturalistic explanation with mythic symbolism, including the idea that the Buddha’s awakening was framed as a universal archetype rather than a single, ordinary event. The author cautions against naive historicism while recognizing that myth and legend can convey meaningful truths.

The Legend and the Sources

• The core legend of the Buddha comprises the life from conception to awakening and first teaching; this narrative is foundational in Buddhist literature and art. It first appears in early sutras and vinaya, with elaborations in later Sanskrit and Pali texts.
• Classical tellings include: the Mahā‑vastu (Great Story, 1st c. CE), the Lalitavistāra (Graceful Description, 1st c. CE), the Buddhacarita (Acts of the Buddha, 2nd c. CE), and the Nidānakathā (Introductory Tale, 2nd–3rd c. CE). Later narratives extend into modern times.
• The Tibetan tradition structures the life in twelve acts; Theravādins in earlier texts enumerate thirty features (dhammāti) for the lives of all buddhas. The substance of these lists is already present in the earliest accounts.
• The legend’s blend of myth and history serves a pedagogical function: a universal archetype of awakening and guidance toward liberation. The historian must distinguish myth from history but also recognize the story’s truth-claims beyond strict historicity.

The Conditions of Buddha: The Brahmanical and Worldly Context

• The “two worlds” in Indian thought: the world of the household and the renouncer; the brahmanical order historically privileged ritual purity and the Vedic tradition, while renouncers offered alternative paths.
• The bodhisattva’s life is framed against a background of brahmanical authority and the social order of varṇa. The Buddha’s teachings were framed as a response to brahmanical ideas in some respects, while he also engages with brahmanical cosmology and metaphysics.
• The world is seen as a place of cyclic birth, death, and rebirth (samsāra), with a being who becomes a buddha having previously passed through many lives, including as a god, in order to realize awakening and teach the path to others.
• The bodhisattva’s path is framed by the concept of perfection (pāramitā) cultivated over countless aeons; Sumedha (also called Megha) is the earliest bodhisattva in the legend who practices the ten perfections and aspires to buddahood, becoming an archetype for the Bodhisattva path.

The Buddha and History: Dating and Context

• The Buddha’s historical dating is uncertain; some traditional anchors rely on Asoka’s reign and the Dipavamsa chronicle, but modern scholarship places his death closer to the late 5th or early 4th century BCE, with some scholars pushing his death toward around 400 BCE or even earlier. The exact year is debated, and many scholars treat dates like 566–486 BCE or 268 BCE (Asoka’s accession) as approximate or symbolic anchors rather than precise facts.
• The Buddha’s birth narrative places him in Kapilavastu, in a high-status family; later commentators acknowledge the family’s aristocratic status rather than royal kingship. The move from palace life to renunciation reflects a universal human narrative about confronting suffering and seeking meaning.
• The discussion emphasizes the need to distinguish mythic elements from historical claims while recognizing that myth can communicate important ethical and spiritual truths about awakening and teaching.

The Bodhisattva’s Life: The Birth, the Prophecy, and the Great Departure

• The Bodhisattva is conceived on the full moon night; his mother, Mahāmaya, experiences a dream of a white elephant with a lotus entering her womb. The Bodhisattva is born in Lumbini from his mother’s side and immediately takes seven steps north, proclaiming his birth purpose.
• The prophecy at birth foretells two possible destinies: a wheel-turning king ( cakravartin ) who rules with justice or a buddha. His father Suddhodana attempts to shield him from the sufferings of life to keep him on the royal path (as a wheel-turning king) and prevent renunciation.
• Siddhārtha’s early life includes marriage to Yashodhara and the birth of their son Rahula; these details emphasize the tension between worldly life and renunciation.
• The sixth act, disenchantment, follows reflections on aging, sickness, and death after witnessing an old man, a sick person, and a corpse, and then encountering a wandering ascetic. This leads to the seventh act, the great going forth (mahīpravrajya/mahi̭pabbajjā), at age 29, with the charioteer Channa and the horse Kanthaka.

The Quest and the Practices of the Six Years

• After leaving home, Siddhārtha studies with two teachers, Ārāṇ Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta; he practices their meditation systems, but ultimately finds them insufficient for answering the problem of suffering.
• He then joins five ascetics in a quest for awakening and embraces severe asceticism, described as a physically extreme regimen that nearly destroys his body (the eighth act).
• Recalling a memory of calm from a prior moment, he recognizes that extreme asceticism is not the path; he then nourishes his body (with the help of Sujāta’s milk-rice, per tradition) and sits beneath the Bodhi tree, vowing not to rise until awakening is attained.
• The Bodhisattva’s practice culminates in awakening; the Buddha’s awakening is often described in terms of the four dhyānas and the attainment of the three knowledges, culminating in the Four Noble Truths and the knowledge of dependent origination (pratītya-samutpāda).

The Awakening and the First Teachings

• After awakening, the Buddha remains in contemplation near the Bodhi tree and is protected by the naga (serpent) king. He experiences nirvāṇa, the unconditioned, and the deep insight into the Dharma.
• The Buddha’s first spiritual turning occurs in the deer park at Sarnath (near Varanasi) when he encounters his five former companions and delivers the first teaching, commonly associated with the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta: the ‘Turning of the Wheel of Dharma’ (dhamma-cakka-ppavattana). This marks the beginning of the Buddha’s public teaching career and the establishment of a sangha (community).
• The early teaching expands to include the four noble truths and the principle of dependent arising; the Buddha’s message emphasizes the cessation of suffering through the Eightfold Path and the cultivation of discernment and ethical conduct.
• The Buddha’s first disciples include the five companions who become the first monks; later stories recount miracles and episodes such as the “miracle of the pairs,” and other legendary moments in the early teaching career. Over roughly forty‑five years, the Buddha teaches across northern India, gathering a large following and establishing a mendicant community that gradually forms the early sangha.
• The Buddha’s death (parinirvāṇa) marks the final stage of his life. Before his death, he provides guidance that his remains be treated as a special kind of relic and enshrined in stupas; the relics are divided among eight places, and shrines are built to commemorate them.
• The historical Buddha’s life is best understood as a combination of historical movement and mythic narrative that communicates the spiritual truths of his awakening and the practical path he taught.

The Buddha, the Body, and the Ontology of Awakening

• The Buddha is presented as both a man (the sramana Gautama) and as a buddha, an awakened being, the embodiment of perfection (a Tathāgata).
• The Buddhism framework posits that beings are born, suffer, and are reborn in samsāra; a buddha transcends the cycle of rebirth by attaining the path to cessation of suffering and teaching that path to others.
• The question of the Buddha’s ontology is handled carefully in Buddhist thought. The Buddha cannot be reduced to a mere human being nor to a god; he is a unique, “sui generis” being who has transcended ordinary categories of existence. A famous analogy appears: footprints with the thirty-two marks are a sign a buddha cannot be simply described as a gods or as a mere human; he is “a lotus born in water” that rises above water without being stained by it, illustrating the buddha’s transcendence from ordinary existence while remaining within the world.
• The Buddha’s body is discussed in terms of two interrelated aspects: the rupa‑kāya (physical body) and the dharma‑kāya (embodiment of Dharma, i.e., the perfected qualities that constitute Dharma). The Buddha’s form, as seen by ordinary people, is a human-like appearance, yet his ultimate nature lies in the cultivation of perfect qualities (generosity, loving-kindness, wisdom) that constitute the dharma or “body” of the Buddha.
• The five aggregates (skandhā/khandha) describe ordinary beings’ mental and physical makeup: rūpa (form), vedanā (feeling), saññā (perception), saṅkhāra (mental formations), and viññāṇa (consciousness). A buddha also has a transformed set of aggregates: the five perfect attributes (śīla, samādhi, paññā, vimukti, vimutti‑ñāṇa‑dassana / vimuttisamādhi-dassana) that constitute the dharma‑body. The Buddha’s bodies thus represent both ordinary human experience and the transformed, enlightened qualities that define Buddhist ontology.

Types of Buddhas: Sravaka, Pratyeka-buddha, and Samyak-sambuddha

• The tradition distinguishes three kinds of awakened beings:
  • Sārvaka‑buddha (śrāvaka‑buddha): an arhat who awakens through hearing the teaching and following the path, often as a disciple of a buddha;
  • Pratyeka‑buddha (pacceka‑buddha): a solitary buddha who attains awakening without the direct teaching of a buddha and does not teach others; and
  • Samyak‑sambuddha: a perfectly and fully awakened one who awakens and teaches others; Gautama is the prototype of this type.
• The existence of these three types raises an important tension: the awakened status is the same in essence, but the paths differ in how awakening is achieved and how the teaching is transmitted. This tension helps explain later Mahāyāna developments, which emphasize the superiority of the fully awakened buddha who can teach others.
• While the Buddha’s superiority to arhats and pratyeka-buddhas is acknowledged, the tradition emphasizes that the buddha’s enlightenment is achieved through a unique combination of personal striving and exceptional teaching ability; the Buddha is the Teacher, not the Savior in the sense of a divine rescuer.
• The Three Jewels (Tri‑Ratna) are central: the Buddha (teacher), the Dharma (teaching), and the Sangha (community). Refuge in the Three Jewels is the defining practice of Buddhist faith and identity:
  • To the Buddha I go for refuge; to the Dharma I go for refuge; to the Sangha I go for refuge. To he hree
    efuges

The Three Jewels, Refuge, and the Practice of Buddhism

• The Buddha is foremost as Teacher (satthā); his rediscovery of the path to cessation and his teaching of that path offers beings the possibility of awakening.
• The Dharma is not only the doctrine but the embodiment of the path (the truth and the method). The Bodhisattva’s path and the early discourses articulate the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path as the core content of the Dharma in practice.
• The Sangha is the community of those who have cultivated the path, including monks, nuns, and lay followers who have committed themselves to the practice.
• The three jewels collectively provide shelter, guidance, and community for practitioners seeking to follow the Buddha’s path toward awakening.

The Bodhisattva Ideal and the Path to Buddhahood

• The Bodhisattva, a being intent on awakening, has perfected the perfections (pāramitā) over countless lives; the collective tradition of the ten perfections (dāna, sīla, adhiṣṭhāna, pūrṇā—perfections in various lists) characterizes the long journey toward Buddhahood.
• The Bodhisattva’s journey culminates when a being becomes a buddha in the human world and then teaches others the path to awakening while simultaneously striving toward full buddhahood. In early texts this is presented as a uttarā‑path: awakening is possible for all beings who cultivate the perfections, with the Buddha as the supreme exemplar and teacher.
• The historical Buddha is seen as a particular instance of this general pattern: a being who awakens and then teaches others the path to awakening; the Sangha, and later Mahāyāna developments, extend the Bodhisattva ideal into a broader cosmology of awakening for all beings, not only for a single historical figure.

The Final Reflections: Myth, History, and Practice

• The life of the Buddha is a story that blends history and myth in order to convey the path to liberation. The text stresses the importance of recognizing mythic symbols and metaphor while also acknowledging historical plausibility and the value of supporting evidence where available.

• The Buddha’s example—his renunciation, his awakening, his teaching, and his establishment of the Sangha—provides a universal example for those seeking the cessation of suffering. The Three Jewels and the practice of the Eightfold Path connect the historical life to ongoing practice for modern readers.

• In modern practice, many Buddhists rely on the Three Jewels for refuge, the teaching of the Dharma, and the Sangha for support; the Buddha remains the Teacher whose rediscovery of the path provides a model for personal transformation and ethical conduct.

• Key concepts and terms to remember:

  • buddha: ‘one who has woken up’; not a name but a title; an awakener who teaches for the welfare of beings.
  • Arhat: one who has awakened; an accomplished disciple.
  • Samyak‑sambuddha: fully and perfectly awakened buddha who teaches others; the historical Buddha is an example.
  • Pratyeka‑buddha: solitary buddha who awakens without teaching others.
  • Sravaka: disciple or practitioner who follows the teaching under a buddha.
  • Dhammācakkappavattana Sutta: ‘Turning of the Wheel of Dharma’; the first sermon in which the Buddha sets in motion Dharma and the path.
  • Four Noble Truths: the core framework for understanding suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the path to cessation.
  • Dependent arising (pratītya‑samutpāda): the causal chain explaining how phenomena arise dependent on conditions.
  • Māra and the earth witness (bhūmi‑sparśa): symbolic episodes illustrating the struggle to awaken.
  • The Bodhi tree (pipal tree): the site of awakening; the tree in which the Bodhisattva experiences enlightenment.
  • The three bodies of the Buddha (trikāya) and the later Mahāyāna elaborations on Dharma‑kāya and related concepts; the text notes that discussion of the three bodies is a later development but that the distinction between the physical body and the Dharma‑body is common to all Buddhist thought.

• Archaeological relics and historicity:

  • The stupa relics and their distribution symbolize the historical and devotional memory of the Buddha; the Pepper relic (Peppe’s stupa) is discussed as a possible enlargement of an older stupa associated with Kapilavastu.
  • The relics underpin the devotional practices and the cult of relic worship that has accompanied Buddhism through the centuries.

• Ethico-practical implications:

  • The Buddha’s path stresses compassionate engagement with the suffering of beings; awakening involves transforming one’s own disposition away from greed, hatred, and delusion toward generosity, loving-kindness, and wisdom.
  • The Teacher role emphasizes guidance and instruction rather than salvation by deity; the teacher helps beings follow the path toward their own awakening.
  • The broad cultural and historical milieu shows how Buddhist ideas interact with other Indian traditions, including brahmanical and renouncer movements, and how they adapt to different cultural settings over time.

• Connections to broader contexts:

  • The narrative situates Buddhism within Indian religious history, including the rise of the brahmanical order, the caste system, and the cross-pollination with Jain and Ajivika renouncer movements.
  • It highlights how Buddhist ideas influenced and were influenced by existing religious and social structures, and how the Buddha’s message offered an alternative path in a diverse Indian spiritual landscape.

• Foundational numerics and terms to recall:

  • 2nd century BCE: date of the inscribed relic vase (inscription in Brahmi) and early material culture.
  • 5th century BCE: period in which Buddhism’s core teachings and institutions flourished on Indian soil.
  • 12th century CE: marker for the decline of Buddhism within India proper, with persistence in other regions.
  • Four Noble Truths, Eightfold Path, dependent arising (pratītya‑samutpāda).
  • Five aggregates (skandha/khandha): ext{Rūpa}, ext{Vedanā}, ext{Saññā}, ext{Sankhāra}, ext{Viññāṇa}.
  • The Bodhisattva’s ten perfections ( pāramitā) and the sum of practices leading toward awakening.
  • The dates and anchors: 566-486\ BCE; 268\ BCE (Asoka’s accession); approximate ranges around 400\ BCE (a commonly cited recent scholarly tendency).
  • Key phrases: dhammacakkappavattana (turning of the wheel of Dharma), parinirvāṇa (great passing), bhūmi‑sparśa (earth contact), dharma (the path/teaching), kaya (body), trikāya (three bodies) as later Mahāyāna elaborations.

• Summary takeaway:

  • The Buddha’s historical life sits within a vibrant religious landscape of renouncers and brahmanical orders; his awakening and teaching form the basis of Buddhism’s core beliefs and its later philosophical developments. The Buddha is presented as a uniquely awakened teacher whose path and teachings provide a practical method for liberation from suffering, while the broader tradition distinguishes different kinds of awakenings and emphasizes the role of the Teacher, the Teaching, and the Community in guiding beings toward enlightenment.