The Life of the Buddha: The Legendary Buddha.
But while it is easy to extract from the Buddhist books such a nucleus of fact as is outlined above, the materials for a more circumstantial biography of the Buddha, extensive as they are, cannot be regarded as historical in the scientific usage of the word. What is, however, far more important than the record of fact, is the expression of all that the facts, as understood, implied to those to whom they were a living inspiration; and it is just this expression of what the life of Buddha meant to Buddhists, or Bauddhas, as the followers of Gautama are more properly called, that we find in the legendary lives, such as the Lalitavistara, which is familiar to Western readers in Sir Edwin Arnold's The Light of Asia. Here, then we shall relate the life of Buddha in some detail, from the various sources indicated, regardless of the fact that these presuppose a doctrinal development which can only have taken place after the Buddha's death; for the miraculous and mythological elements are always very transparent and artistic.
The history of the Buddha begins with the resolve of the individual Brahman Sumedha, long ago, to become a Buddha in some future birth, that he might spread abroad saving truth for the help of suffering humanity. Countless ages ago this same Sumedha, retiring one day to the upper chamber of his house, seated himself and fell into thought: "Behold, I am subject to birth, to decay, to disease, and to death; it is right, then, that I should strive to win the great deathless Nibbana, which is tranquil, and free from birth and decay, sickness, and woe and weal. Surely there must be a road that leads to Nibbana and releases man from existence." Accordingly, he gave away all his wealth and adopted the life of a hermit in the forest.
At that time Dipankara Buddha appeared in the world, and attained enlightenment. It happened one day that Dipankara Buddha was to pass that way, and men were preparing the road for him. Sumedha asked and received permission to join in the work, and not only did he do so, but when Dipankara came Sumedha laid himself down in the mud, so that the Buddha might walk upon his body without soiling the feet. Then Dipankara's attention was aroused and he became aware of Sumedha's intention to become a Buddha, and, looking countless ages into the future, he saw that he would become a Buddha of the name of Gautama, and he prophesied accordingly. Thereupon Sumedha rejoiced, and, rejecting the immediate prospect of becoming an Arahat, as the disciple of Dipankara, "Let me rather," he said, "like Dipankara, having risen to the supreme knowledge of the truth, enable all men to enter the ship of truth, and thus I may bear them over the Sea of Existence, and then only let me realize Nibbana myself.
But while it is easy to extract from the Buddhist books such a nucleus of fact as is outlined above, the materials for a more circumstantial biography of the Buddha, extensive as they are, cannot be regarded as historical in the scientific usage of the word. What is, however, far more important than the record of fact, is the expression of all that the facts, as understood, implied to those to whom they were a living inspiration; and it is just this expression of what the life of Buddha meant to Buddhists, or Bauddhas, as the followers of Gautama are more properly called, that we find in the legendary lives, such as the Lalitavistara, which is familiar to Western readers in Sir Edwin Arnold's The Light of Asia. Here, then we shall relate the life of Buddha in some detail, from the various sources indicated, regardless of the fact that these presuppose a doctrinal development which can only have taken place after the Buddha's death; for the miraculous and mythological elements are always very transparent and artistic.
The history of the Buddha begins with the resolve of the individual Brahman Sumedha, long ago, to become a Buddha in some future birth, that he might spread abroad saving truth for the help of suffering humanity. Countless ages ago this same Sumedha, retiring one day to the upper chamber of his house, seated himself and fell into thought: "Behold, I am subject to birth, to decay, to disease, and to death; it is right, then, that I should strive to win the great deathless Nibbana, which is tranquil, and free from birth and decay, sickness, and woe and weal. Surely there must be a road that leads to Nibbana and releases man from existence." Accordingly, he gave away all his wealth and adopted the life of a hermit in the forest.
At that time Dipankara Buddha appeared in the world, and attained enlightenment. It happened one day that Dipankara Buddha was to pass that way, and men were preparing the road for him. Sumedha asked and received permission to join in the work, and not only did he do so, but when Dipankara came Sumedha laid himself down in the mud, so that the Buddha might walk upon his body without soiling the feet. Then Dipankara's attention was aroused and he became aware of Sumedha's intention to become a Buddha, and, looking countless ages into the future, he saw that he would become a Buddha of the name of Gautama, and he prophesied accordingly. Thereupon Sumedha rejoiced, and, rejecting the immediate prospect of becoming an Arahat, as the disciple of Dipankara, "Let me rather," he said, "like Dipankara, having risen to the supreme knowledge of the truth, enable all men to enter the ship of truth, and thus I may bear them over the Sea of Existence, and then only let me realize Nibbana myself.
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place time topic people language
India - Ancient - Religion/philosophy - Indians/Buddhists - English
India - Ancient - Religion/philosophy - Indians/Buddhists - English
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