Buddhist Hour
Script No. 422
Broadcast live on 3MDR 97.1 FM
11.00 pm to 12 midnight.
On Friday 7 April 2006 CE 2549 Buddhist Era

This script is entitled:
"The Buddha and What He Found Out"

This evening we are very happy to be here and to present to you our first Buddhist Hour radio show live on radio 3MDR 97.1FM.

The Buddhist Hour was first broadcast in 1998 from Bayswater on Hillside FM and has continued each week for over eight years. Tonight is a new milestone as we begin broadcasting from our new radio home.

Thank you for joining us.

This evening we would like to tell you about the Buddha, who he was, what he taught and why his teachings are still so relevant today, more than 2549 years since he passed away.

Tonight's program is titled "The Buddha and What He Found Out".

The main message of the Buddha is fellowship, through the development of compassion, generosity, loving kindness, wisdom, goodness and virtue.

The Buddha said that one can find the way to perfect happiness and peace. This is quite a large claim for Buddhists to make. We eagerly embark on the challenge to explain to you how such a claim is validated. We invite you to join us each week here on 3MDR as we reveal the methods and means as taught by the Buddha.

The Buddha was a rebel in his day who with his unshakeable determination challenged many of the contemporary philosophies to find out why there is suffering, why all beings have to get old, get sick and die.

Please tune in and hear for yourself what the Buddha found out. The great thing about the Buddha's teachings is that one can apply the exact same techniques that the Buddha used to find out each for himself or herself what the Buddha found out.

We call this process "waking up" or traditionally "enlightenment".

To begin with we need to tell you who the Buddha was and how it all started over 2549 years ago.

Honour to him the Blessed One, The Worthy one, The Fully Enlightened One

Tonight we will share with you an excerpt from the most Venerable Piyadassi Thera's work entitled The Buddha, His Life and Teachings.

In particular we will present the chapters regarding the Buddha's life story so that you may gain some knowledge as to the historical origins of Buddhism.

We hope that this story will inspire you to tune in each week to learn more about the Buddha and his Noble message.

Venerable Piyadassi wrote:

"The Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, lived over 2500 years ago and is known as Siddhartha Gotama. His father, Suddhodana, the King, ruled over the land of the Sâkyans at Kapilavatthu on the Nepalese frontier. As he came from the Gotama family, he was known as Suddhodana Gotama. Mahâmâyâ, princess of the Koliyas, was Suddhodana’s queen."

"In 623 B.C. on a full-moon day of May, when in India the trees were laden with leaf, flower, and fruit, and man, bird, and beast were in joyous mood, Queen Mahâmâyâ was travelling in state from Kapilavatthu to Devadaha, her parental home, according to the custom of the times, to give birth to her child. But that was not to be, for halfway between the two cities, in the beautiful Lumbini Grove, under the shade of a flowering Sal tree, she brought forth a son."

"Lumbini, or Rummindei, the name by which it is now known, is one hundred miles north of Vârânasi and within sight of the snowcapped Himalayas. At this memorable spot where Prince Siddhartha, the future Buddha, was born, Emperor Asoka, 316 years after the event, erected a mighty stone pillar to mark the holy spot. The inscription engraved on the pillar in five lines consists of ninety-three Asokan characters, among which occurs the following: ‘hida budhe jâte sâkyamuni. Here was born the Buddha, the sage of the Sâkyans’."

"The mighty column is still to be seen. The pillar, as crisp as the day it was cut, had been struck by lightning even when Hiuen Tsiang, the Chinese pilgrim, saw it towards the middle of the seventh century A.C. The discovery and identification of Lumbini Park in 1896 is attributed to the renowned archaeologist, General Cunningham."

"On the fifth day after the birth of the prince, the King summoned eight wise men to choose a name for the child and to speak of the royal babe’s future. He was named Siddhârtha, which means one whose purpose has been achieved. The Brahmins deliberated and seven of them held up two fingers each and declared: "O King, this prince will become a cakravarti, a universal monarch, should he deign to rule, but should he renounce the world, he will become a sammâ-sambuddha, a Supremely Enlightened One, and deliver humanity from ignorance." But Kondańńa, the wisest and the youngest, after watching the prince, held up only one finger and said: "O King, this prince will one day go in search of truth and become a Supremely Enlightened Buddha."

"Queen Mahâmâyâ, the mother, passed away on the seventh day after the birth of her child, and the babe was nursed by his mother’s sister, Pajâpati Gotami. Though the child was nurtured till manhood in refinement amid an abundance of material luxury, the father did not fail to give his son the education that a prince ought to receive. He became skilled in many branches of knowledge, and in the arts of war easily excelled all others. Nevertheless, from his childhood the prince was given to serious contemplation."

"When the prince grew up, the father’s fervent wish was that his son should marry, bring up a family, and be his worthy successor; for he often recalled to mind with dread the prediction of the sage Kondańńa, and feared that the prince would one day give up home for the homeless life of an ascetic. According to the custom of the time, at the early age of sixteen the prince was married to his cousin, the beautiful Princess Yasodharâ, the only daughter of King Suppabuddha and Queen Pamitâ of the Koliyas. The princess was of the same age as the prince."

"His father provided him with the greatest comforts. He had, so the story tells, three palaces, one for each of the Indian year’s three seasons. Lacking nothing of the earthly joys of life, he lived amid song and dance, in luxury and pleasure, knowing nothing of sorrow. Yet all the efforts of the father to hold his son a prisoner to the senses and make him worldly-minded were of no avail. King Suddhodana’s endeavours to keep away life’s miseries from his son’s inquiring eyes only heightened Prince Siddhârtha’s curiosity and his resolute search for truth and Enlightenment. With the advance of age and maturity, the prince began to glimpse the woes of the world."

"On one occasion, when the prince went driving with his charioteer Channa to the royal gardens, he saw to his amazement what his eyes had never beheld before: a man weakened with age, and in the last stage of ageing, crying out in a mournful voice:"

"Help master! lift me to my feet; oh, help!Or I shall die before I reach my house!"

"This was the first shock the prince received. The second was the sight of a man, mere skin and bones, supremely unhappy and forlorn, "smitten with some pest. The strength is gone from ham, and loin, and neck, and all the grace and joy of manhood fled."

"On a third occasion he saw a band of lamenting kinsmen bearing on their shoulders the corpse of one beloved for cremation. These woeful signs, seen for the first time in his life, deeply moved him. From the charioteer he learned that even he, his beloved Princess Yasodharâ, and his kith and kin, all, without exception, are subject to ageing, disease, and death."

"Soon after this the prince saw a recluse moving with measured steps and down-cast eyes, calm and serene, aloof and independent. He was struck by the serene countenance of the man. He learned from Channa that this recluse was one who had abandoned his home to live a life of purity, to seek truth and answer the riddle of life. Thoughts of renunciation flashed through the prince’s mind and in deep contemplation he turned homeward. The heart throb of an agonized and ailing humanity found a responsive echo in his own heart. The more he came in contact with the world outside his palace walls, the more convinced he became that the world was lacking in true happiness. But before reaching the palace he was met by a messenger with the news that a son had been born to Yasodharâ. "A fetter is set upon me," uttered the prince and returned to the palace."

"In the silence of that moonlit night (it was the full-moon day of July, Âsâlha) such thoughts as these arose in him: "Youth, the prime of life, ends in old age and man’s senses fail him at a time when they are most needed. The hale and hearty lose their vigour and health when disease suddenly creeps in. Finally death comes, sudden perhaps and unexpected, and puts an end to this brief span of life. Surely there must be an escape from this un-satisfactoriness, from ageing and death."

"Thus the great intoxication of youth (yobbana-mada), of health (ârogya-mada), and of life (jivita-mada) left him. Having seen the vanity and the danger of the three intoxications, he was overcome by a powerful urge to seek and win the Deathless, to strive for deliverance from old age, illness, misery, and death not only for himself but for all beings (including his wife and child) that suffer.n7 It was his deep compassion that led him to the quest ending in enlightenment, in Buddhahood. It was compassion that now moved his heart towards the great renunciation and opened for him the doors of the golden cage of his home life. It was compassion that made his determination unshakeable even by the last parting glance at his beloved wife asleep with the baby in her arms."

"Thus at the age of twenty-nine, in the flower of youthful manhood, on the day his beautiful Yasodharâ had given birth to his only son, Râhula, Prince Siddhârtha Gotama, discarding and disdaining the enchantment of the royal life, scorning and spurning joys that most young men yearn for, tore himself away, renouncing wife and child and a crown that held the promise of power and glory."

"He cut off his long locks with his sword, doffed his royal robes, and putting on a hermit’s robe retreated into forest solitude to seek a solution to those problems of life that had so deeply stirred his mind. He sought an answer to the riddle of life, seeking not a palliative, but a true way out of suffering, to perfect enlightenment and Nibbâna. His quest for the supreme security from bondage, Nibbâna (Nirvâna in Sanskrit), had begun. This was the great renunciation, the greatest adventure known to humanity."

"First he sought guidance from two famous sages, from Alâra Kâlâma and Uddaka Râmaputta, hoping that they, being masters of meditation, would teach him all they knew, leading him to the heights of concentrative thought. He practiced concentration and reached the highest meditative attainments possible thereby, but was not satisfied with anything short of Supreme Enlightenment. These teachers’ range of knowledge, their ambit of mystical experience, however, was insufficient to grant him what he so earnestly sought, and he saw himself still far from his goal. Though both sages, in turn, asked him to stay and succeed them as the teacher of their following, the ascetic Gotama declined. Paying obeisance to them, he left them in search of the still unknown."

"In his wanderings he finally reached Uruvelâ, by the river Nerańjarâ at Gayâ. He was attracted by its quiet and dense groves, and the clear waters of the river were soothing to his senses and stimulating to his mind. Nearby was a village of simple folk where he could get his alms. Finding that this was a suitable place to continue his quest for enlightenment, he decided to stay. Soon five other ascetics who admired his determined effort joined him. They were Kondańńa, Bhaddiya, Vappa, Mahânâma, and Assaji."

"There was, and still is, a belief in India among many of her ascetics that purification and final deliverance can be achieved by rigorous self-mortification, and the ascetic Gotama decided to test the truth of it. And so there at Uruvelâ he began a determined struggle to subdue his body in the hope that his mind, set free from the shackles of the body, might be able to soar to the heights of liberation. Most zealous was he in these practices. He lived on leaves and roots, on a steadily reduced pittance of food; he wore rags from dust heaps; he slept among corpses or on beds of thorns. The utter paucity of nourishment left him a physical wreck. Says the Master: "Rigorous have I been in my ascetic discipline. Rigorous have I been beyond all others. Like wasted, withered reeds became all my limbs...." In such words as these, in later years, having attained to full enlightenment, did the Buddha give his disciples an awe-inspiring description of his early penances."

"Struggling thus for six long years, he came to death’s very door, but he found himself no nearer to his goal. The utter futility of self-mortification became abundantly clear to him by his own experience. He realized that the path to the fruition of his ardent longing lay in the direction of a search inward into his own mind. Undiscouraged, his still active mind searched for new paths to the aspired for goal. He felt, however, that with a body so utterly weakened as his, he could not follow that path with any chance of success. Thus he abandoned self-torture and extreme fasting and took normal food."

"His emaciated body recovered its former health and his exhausted vigour soon returned. Now his five companions left him in their disappointment, for they thought that he had given up the effort and had resumed a life of abundance. Nevertheless, with firm determination and complete faith in his own purity and strength, unaided by any teacher, accompanied by none, the Bodhisattva resolved to make his final effort in complete solitude."

"On the forenoon of the day before his enlightenment while the Bodhisattva was seated in meditation under a banyan tree, Sujâtâ, the daughter of a rich householder, not knowing whether the ascetic was divine or human, offered milk-rice to him saying: "Lord, may your aspirations be crowned with success!" This was his last meal prior to his enlightenment."

"Cross legged he sat under a tree, which later became known as the Bodhi Tree, the "Tree of Enlightenment" or "Tree of Wisdom," on the bank of the river Nerańjarâ, at Gayâ (now known as Buddhagayâ), making the final effort with the inflexible resolution: "Though only my skin, sinews, and bones remain, and my blood and flesh dry up and wither away, yet will I never stir from this seat until I have attained full enlightenment (sammâ-sambodhi)." So indefatigable in effort, so unflagging in his devotion was he, and so resolute to realize truth and attain full enlightenment."

"Applying himself to the "mindfulness of in-and-out breathing" (ânâpâna sati), the Bodhisattva entered upon and dwelt in the first meditative absorption (jhâna; Skt. dhyâna). By gradual stages he entered upon and dwelt in the second, third, and fourth jhânas. Thus cleansing his mind of impurities, with the mind thus composed, he directed it to the knowledge of recollecting past births (pubbenivâsânussati-ńâˆa). This was the first knowledge attained by him in the first watch of the night. Then the Bodhisattva directed his mind to the knowledge of the disappearing and reappearing of beings of varied forms, in good states of experience, and in states of woe, each faring according to his deeds (cutűpapâtańâna). This was the second knowledge attained by him in the middle watch of the night. Next he directed his mind to the knowledge of the eradication of the taints (âsavakkhayańâna) (that is defilements the mind)."

"He understood as it really is: "This is suffering (dukkha), this is the arising of suffering, this is the cessation of suffering, this is the path leading to the cessation of suffering." He understood as it really is: "These are defilements (âsavas), this is the arising of defilements, this is the cessation of defilements, this is the path leading to the cessation of defilements."

"Knowing thus, seeing thus, his mind was liberated from the defilements of sense pleasures (kâmâsava), of becoming (bhavâsava), and of ignorance (avijjâsava).n10 When his mind was thus liberated, there came the knowledge, "liberated" and he understood: "Destroyed is birth, the noble life (brahmacariya) has been lived, done is what was to be done, there is no more of this to come" (meaning, there is no more continuity of the mind and body, no more becoming, rebirth). This was the third knowledge attained by him in the last watch of the night. This is known as tevijjâ (Skt. trividyâ), threefold knowledge.n11"

"Thereupon he spoke these words of victory:"
"Seeking but not finding the house builder,
I hurried through the round of many births:
Painful is birth ever and again.
O house builder, you have been seen;
You shall not build the house again.
Your rafters have been broken up,
Your ridgepole is demolished too.
My mind has now attained the unformed Nibbâna
And reached the end of every sort of craving."

"Thus the Bodhisattva Gotama at the age of thirty-five, on another full moon of May (vesâkha, vesak), attained Supreme Enlightenment by comprehending in all their fullness the Four Noble Truths, the Eternal Verities, and he became the Buddha, the Great Healer and Consummate Master-Physician who can cure the ills of beings. This is the greatest unshakeable victory."

"The Four Noble Truths are the priceless message that the Buddha gave to suffering humanity for their guidance, to help them to be rid of the bondage of dukkha (or suffering), and to attain the absolute happiness, that absolute reality, Nibbâna."

"These truths are not his creation. He only re-discovered their existence. We thus have in the Buddha one who deserves our respect and reverence not only as a teacher but also as model of the noble, self-sacrificing, and meditative life, we would do well to follow if we wish to improve ourselves."

"One of the noteworthy characteristics that distinguishes the Buddha from all other religious teachers is that he was a human being having no connection whatsoever with a God or any other "supernatural" being. He was neither God nor an incarnation of God, nor a prophet, nor any mythological figure. He was a man, but an extraordinary man (acchariya manussa), a unique being, a man par excellence (purisuttama). All his achievements are attributed to his human effort and his human understanding. Through personal experience he understood the supremacy of man."

"Depending on his own unremitting energy, unaided by any teacher, human or divine, he achieved the highest mental and intellectual attainments, reached the acme of purity, and was perfect in the best qualities of human nature. He was an embodiment of compassion and wisdom, which became the two guiding principles in his Dispensation (sâsana)."

"The Buddha never claimed to be a saviour who tried to save "souls" by means of a revealed religion. Through his own perseverance and understanding he proved that infinite potentialities are latent in man (or woman) and that it must be man’s (and women's) endeavour to develop and unfold these possibilities. He proved by his own experience that deliverance and enlightenment lie fully within man’s (women's) range of effort."

"Religion of the highest and fullest character can coexist with a complete absence of belief in revelation in any straightforward sense of the word, and in that kernel of revealed religion, a personal God. Under the term personal God I include all ideas of a so-called superpersonal god, of the same spiritual and mental nature as a personality but on a higher level, or indeed any supernatural spiritual existence or force." (Julian Huxley, Religion Without Revelation, pp. 2 and 7.)

Each individual should make the appropriate effort and break the shackles that have kept him in bondage, winning freedom from the bonds of existence by perseverance, self-exertion, and insight. It was the Buddha who for the first time in the world’s history taught that deliverance could be attained independently of an external agency, that deliverance from suffering must be wrought and fashioned by each one for himself upon the anvil of his (or her) own actions.

None can grant deliverance to another who merely begs for it. Others may lend us a helping hand by guidance and instruction and in other ways, but the highest freedom is attained only through self-realization and self-awakening to truth and not through prayers and petitions to a Supreme Being, human or divine. The Buddha warns his disciples against shifting the burden to an external agency, directs them to the ways of discrimination and research, and urges them to get busy with the real task of developing their inner forces and qualities.

This completes the extract from Venerable Piyadassi's book The Buddha, His Life and Teachings.

We thank you for listening. We'd also like to express our appreciation to the committee of management and volunteer staff of 3MDR for accommodating the Buddhist Hour radio program. In particular, thank you to Mr. Roach Millembaum who has been of great assistance to us over these past few weeks.

We encourage you to think over the story of the Buddha, and how you might apply his message to your own life.

We warmly invite you to join us on 3MDR FM97.1 each Friday evening from 11pm to 12midnight for the Buddhist Hour.

Each Friday evening we will be presenting an ongoing course of fundamental Buddhist philosophy and practice called "Applying the Buddha's Teachings to Everyday Life." In each program we will present a different aspect of the Buddhist path and how it can be applied to your life, no matter what it is that you do.

The Buddha's teachings are timeless and practical and therefore can be applied in any situation or circumstance.

If you would like to find out more and learn about Buddhist meditation please come along to our weekly teaching held on Tuesday evenings from 7.30pm at the Dandenong Ranges Community Cultural Centre, also called Burrinja and located at the corner of Glenfern Rd and Matson Drive Upwey. For details please telephone us at the Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd on 9754 3334.

May you be well and happy.

May all beings be well and happy.

This script was prepared and edited by Julian Bamford, Anita Carter, Frank Carter, and Alec Sloman.

References:

Piyadassi, Mahathera. Venerable. 1958. The Buddha, His Life and Teachings Buddhist Publication Society. Candy Sri Lanka.

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