Gautama Buddha

by Rohini Chowdhury

  Bandhula too had been a student at Takkasila and was close to both Gotama and Pasenadi. After finishing at Takkasila, Bandhula returned home to Kusinara. But disgusted with the jealousy and pettiness of the other noble families of Malla, he decided to move to Savatthi where his friend Pasenadi had become king. Pasenadi made Bandhula his senapati, the commander of his army.

  Bandhula’s wife was also called Mallika. Both Bandhula and Mallika held Gotama in great reverence. When Mallika failed to have babies, Bandhula decided to send her back to her parents. Before she left, Mallika went to say farewell to Gotama; he told her to return to her husband. Bandhula accepted her back because of his great faith in Gotama. Soon after, Mallika gave birth to twin sons. Legend says that Mallika bore Bandhula thirty-two sons, giving birth to twin sons sixteen times!

  Bandhula was also known for his wisdom; one day he retried a case where the appointed judge had given an incorrect decision. Pasenadi, impressed by his judgement, appointed him chief justice. But the other judges, jealous of Bandhula, poisoned the king’s mind against him. Influenced by his corrupt counsellors, Pasenadi sent Bandhula and his sons to put down a rebellion on the borders of Kosala and ordered that they be killed on their way back.

  Mallika heard the news of the death of her husband and her sons when she was serving food to five hundred Buddhist monks whom she had invited. Some say that Gotama himself was present at the meal. She remained calm till all the monks had eaten. She then called her daughters-in-law and told them what had happened. She asked them to stay calm, and hold no anger against Pasenadi for, she said, the king would himself repent the killing of his old friend. She was right, and soon Pasenadi, overcome by grief and remorse, begged her forgiveness. ‘Ask any boon of me,’ he said. Mallika asked that she and her thirty-two daughters-in-law be allowed to return home to Kusinara in peace. Pasenadi did not go unpunished for Bandhula’s murder; it was avenged by Bandhula’s nephew Dighakaranya, many years later.

  After Bandhula’s death, Mallika gave up wearing jewellery and fine clothes, and lived quietly and simply in Kusinara. She had one rare and valuable possession: a jewelled cloak of rare beauty, which she put away. She never forgot Gotama and revered him throughout her life. When she heard that Gotama had breathed his last in Kusinara, the very city in which she lived, she went to pay him her last respects. She took with her the jewelled cloak, which she had washed in perfumed water. As they carried Gotama’s body away for cremation, Mallika placed her cloak on the Buddha’s bier. She asked only that in each of her future births she be given a body that would need no jewels, but which would appear as though it always bore them.

  Mahali

  Mahali belonged to the rich and powerful Licchavi tribe, whose capital was the city of Vesali in Vajji. He was close to Bandhula and Pasenadi as well. After Takkasila, Mahali returned to Vesali, and gave himself to educating the young men of his tribe. Sadly, he lost his sight when still a young man. Though blind, he continued to teach, and for his efforts was given a house by the city gate which led to Savatthi from Vesali. He was also given the revenue from this gate as income.

  Mahali was also a favourite of Bimbisara. When the people of Vesali wanted to invite Gotama as the Buddha to their city, Mahali was sent as one of their two representatives to Bimbisara to ask him to persuade Gotama to visit them.

  Jivaka

  Jivaka was the most famous doctor of his day. His full name was Jivaka Komarabhacca. His mother was Salavati, a courtesan who lived in Rajagaha, the capital of Magadha. As soon as he was born, Salavati placed her son in a basket and threw him onto a rubbish heap. One of Bimbisara’s sons, Abhayarajakumar, was passing by, and noticed the baby in the basket. When the prince asked about the child, people replied that ‘he was alive’ (jivati)—and so the baby was named ‘Jivaka’. Prince Abhaya took pity on the child, and ordered that he be taken to the palace and brought up as his own son. Since he was brought up by the prince (rajakumara), he was called ‘Komarabhacca’. Some scholars say that ‘Komarabhacca’ means someone who was skilled in treating children, and that his name refers to his skill and not to the prince who adopted him.

  When Jivaka grew up, he found out the story of his birth. Disillusioned, he decided to leave Rajagaha without telling the prince, his foster father. He went to Takkasila, where he studied medicine for seven years. When he had learnt all that he could, his teacher gave him some money and sent him away, declaring him qualified to practise medicine. Jivaka ultimately returned to Rajagaha, where Prince Abhaya set him up in his own house. Soon his talent as a doctor and a surgeon became known, and he was called upon to treat the king, Bimbisara, himself. Bimbisara, pleased with Jivaka’s cure, appointed him royal physician; he was also appointed physician to Gotama and his monks who were living in Rajagaha at the time.

  Jivaka was called upon to attend the rich and the famous of Magadha. But of all the people he looked after, Jivaka’s greatest joy lay in looking after Gotama. He helped Gotama on many occasions. Once, Devadatta hurled a rock at Gotama in a clumsy attempt to kill him; Gotama hurt his foot and had to be carried to Jivaka’s house, where Jivaka treated and bandaged the injured foot. He soon became a follower of Gotama’s teachings. He became so attached to Gotama that he built a monastery for him in a mango grove upon his own estate in Rajagaha. It is said that as far as possible, Jivaka visited Gotama three times a day.

  After Bimbisara’s death, Jivaka continued to serve Ajatasattu; it was Jivaka who brought Ajatasattu to Gotama after the murder of Bimbisara. Ajatasattu became an ardent follower of Gotama, and hosted the First Buddhist Council to preserve Gotama’s teachings.

  Jivaka, despite being a very busy man, never slipped in his attention to Gotama or his monks. Many people who could not afford to pay for Jivaka’s services became monks under Gotama so that they could get free treatment. When Jivaka found out how people were taking advantage of Gotama, he asked Gotama to make a rule that men suffering from certain diseases should not be allowed to become monks. He also recommended that Gotama order his monks to take exercise—he had gone to Vesali on business and had noticed how unhealthy some of them looked!

  Angulimala

  Angulimala was Gotama’s only friend from Takkasila who also became a monk. His story is also perhaps the saddest.

  He was the son of Bhaggava, a priest at the court of the king of Kosala. It is said that the night Angulimala was born, all the armour in the town of Savatthi shone brightly. But since no one was harmed, the baby was named Ahimsaka, which means ‘the non-violent one’.

  At Takkasila, he was a favourite of his teacher’s, but his fellow students grew jealous, and turned the teacher against him. When Angulimala finished his education, and the time came for him to leave, the teacher demanded his honorarium—a thousand human right-hand fingers. Ahimsaka had no choice but to give in to his teacher’s demand.

  He returned to Kosala, and hid himself in a dense forest. He began to waylay travellers and kill them, taking a right-hand finger from each person that he killed. He strung the fingers into a garland, which he wore round his neck; he was thus given the name ‘Angulimala’ from anguli which means ‘finger’ and mala which means ‘garland’ or ‘necklace’.

  The people who lived near the forest were terrified of Angulimala. They left their homes and villages and ran away as far as they could. No one had any idea who he was, or why he killed the way he did. Pasenadi, who was king of Kosala now, concerned for the safety of his people, sent a detachment of soldiers to hunt down the bandit and kill him.

  Angulimala’s mother, Mantani, was the only one who suspected the truth—she had guessed that the fearsome bandit was none other than her son Ahimsaka. Learning of the king’s orders, she set off for the forest to warn her son. By then Angulimala had already killed 999 people. He needed one more to complete his thousand. As he lay hidden amongst the trees, waiting for his thousandth victim, he saw his mother enter the forest. Tired of living in the forest and impatient to fulfil his teacher’s demand, Angulima
la decided he could not spare his mother.

  Meanwhile, Gotama too had heard of Angulimala and of Pasenadi’s orders to kill him, and he too had set off for the forest. He reached there just in time. As Angulimala got ready to ambush his mother and kill her, Gotama stepped in front of him. Angulimala, relieved that he did not have to kill his mother after all, prepared to kill Gotama. But Gotama spoke to him, and hearing his words, Angulimala put down the sword and gave up his murdering ways.

  Gotama took Angulimala back to his monastery with him, where Angulimala became a monk.

  Meanwhile Pasenadi, the king, was still in search of the bandit. Unable to find him, he went to see Gotama and ask his advice. Gotama brought Angulimala before him. The man who had been a serial murderer was now a monk, dressed in yellow robes, his head shaven. Pasenadi was overcome with wonder, and acknowledging Angulimala’s great metamorphosis, offered to look after all his needs. But Angulimala remained steady in his vows and refused his offer.

  According to the Pali scriptures, this happened in the twentieth year after Gotama attained enlightenment.

  When Angulimala went to Savatthi to beg for alms, the people shouted abuse at him and pelted him with stones. Gotama told him to bear their attacks as punishment for the murders he had committed.

  Angulimala died very soon after he became a monk.

  Such were some of Gotama’s friends—men and women whose lives touched Gotama’s, who were inspired by him and deeply influenced by his teachings. Gotama’s friends were vital, vibrant people with real concerns and human passions, and Gotama too was a man before he was a saint. One of Gotama’s greatest qualities was his ability to understand and empathize with the human condition. He was a man very much of his times. He was not a recluse or a wandering ascetic as we sometimes imagine him to be. Despite having renounced the world, he was in touch with it, and directly affecting and affected by people and events.

  Before we can truly understand his interaction with the world as a Buddha, we need to understand, if we can, why he chose the life he did. As Suddhodana’s son, he had available to him luxury, power and learning. So why did he give up his comfortable existence as a nobleman and choose the life of a monk?

  * * *

  A cloak beyond compare

  The jewelled cloak that Mallika, Bandhula’s wife, placed upon Gotama’s bier, was made of gold and precious jewels, and so costly and rare that only three such cloaks existed. The first was owned by Mallika herself, the second by the daughter of the treasurer of the kingdom of Kasi, and the third by Visakha, Gotama’s most important female lay disciple.

  Visakha was the daughter of Dhananjaya, the millionaire’s son from Magadha whom Bimbisara had given leave to settle in Kosala.

  Buddhist sources give a detailed description of Visakha’s cloak. It was fashioned by five hundred goldsmiths working day and night for four months. In its making were used four pots of diamonds, eleven pots of pearls, twenty-two of coral, thirty-three pots of rubies, and gold and silver beyond measure. Woven into the fabric of the cloak was a peacock with five hundred golden feathers in each wing, a beak made of coral, and jewels for eyes, the neck feathers and the tail. As the wearer of this moved, the feathers moved musically.

  The cloak was so heavy, that only a woman who had the strength of five elephants could carry it. Visakha was strong enough to wear it.

  Magadha

  In Gotama’s time, the most powerful state in northern India.

  Location:

  It lay south of the Ganga, in territory corresponding roughly to the modern Indian state of Bihar. At the time of the Buddha, the kingdom of Magadha was bounded on the east by the river Champa, which flowed between Magadha and Anga, on the south by the Vindhya mountains, on the west by the river Sona, and on the north by the river Ganga.

  Capital: Rajagaha (modern Rajgir)

  Other important cities: Pataliputta, which grew from a small village in the Buddha’s time to an important port city on the banks of the Ganga. Later, it replaced Rajagaha as the capital of Magadha.

  Magadha’s location along the Ganga valley enabled it to control both trade and communication along the river. The river also gave it access to the rich ports in the Ganga delta.

  The Buddha’s chief disciples, Sariputta and Moggallana, came from Magadha.

  Important rulers:

  Bimbisara (c. 542–491 BCE)

  At the age of sixty-seven abdicated in favour of his son, Ajatasattu, who imprisoned him and starved him to death

  Ajatasattu (c. 491–461 BCE)

  Two centuries later, the Mauryan emperor Ashoka (c. 269–232 BCE)

  Subject territories:

  Anga, a small kingdom on the borders of modern Bengal; annexed by Bimbisara

  Kasi; though under Kosalan rule, Bimbisara received part of Kasi as the dowry of his queen Kosaladevi, the sister of King Pasenadi of Kosala

  Kosala, annexed by Ajatasattu soon after the death of Vidudabha, Pasenadi’s successor

  Vajji, annexed by Ajatasattu after a long-drawn-out war

  * * *

  4

  Renunciation: 534 BCE

  When Siddhattha had completed his education Suddhodana decided to get him married. The Pali scriptures do not tell us very much about the circumstances of his wedding. Later texts, though, describe the event in some detail.

  Suddhodana had not forgotten the prophecy made at Siddhattha’s birth that he would either grow up to become a Buddha or a great king. He did not want his son to give up the world and become an ascetic. So when his son was old enough, the wise men and women of his tribe advised him to get the boy married. Once married, they said, he would learn the pleasures of life and not be tempted to retire from the world.

  Suddhodana agreed and sent messengers to all the Sakyans, asking them to allow Siddhattha to choose one of their daughters as a wife. The Sakyans refused. The young man, they said, was handsome, but did he have the ability to support a wife? What skills did he possess? What learning did he have? When Siddhattha heard this, he called the Sakyans together and demonstrated to them his ability in various arts including calligraphy and arithmetic, his skill in running, leaping, wrestling and other sports. The Sakyans, reassured that Siddhattha would indeed make a good husband, sent their daughters to him. From amongst all the young girls who came forward to be his wife, Siddhattha chose Bimba, or Bimbasundari, the daughter of his maternal uncle Suppabuddha, and the sister of Devadatta. (Some texts however say that she was the daughter of Dandapani, the brother of Suppabuddha). She was a learned and independent-minded woman, a good match in every way for the talented young Siddhattha.

  In later texts Bimba is known by other names—Gopa, Yashodhara, Subhaddaka and Bhaddakacca. It is possible that some of these names were adjectives to describe her, and which later came to be used as proper names. For instance, ‘Bhaddakacca’ means ‘the woman whose body is like burnished gold’. This name indicates her great beauty. In the Buddhist texts, she is most commonly referred to as ‘Rahulamata’, or the mother of Gotama’s son, Rahula.

  Bimba had been born on the same day as Gotama. Tibetan sources say that Bimba and Gotama were married to each other at the age of sixteen, while Chinese sources say that they were nineteen. Their son Rahula was born when they were both twenty-nine years old. This was rather late by the standards of their times, when men and women were married in their teens and had children right away. Stephen Batchelor suggests they could have been married later than the texts state, a possibility if Gotama had been away at Takkasila.

  Gotama lived a life of ease for many years. Suddhodana made sure his son had every material comfort he could desire. It is said that Gotama owned three palaces, one for each of the three seasons—summer, winter and the rains. There was nothing that Gotama did not have, and there seemed no reason why he should ever give up his luxurious life as a Sakyan nobleman. And yet, at the age of twenty-nine, when his newborn son was only a day old, Gotama walked away from his palace in Kapilavatthu to become a mon
k. Why did he do so?

  In answer, the Nidana Katha gives us the story of the Four Signs. Suddhodana, mindful of the prophecy made at Siddhattha’s birth, had made sure that his son should see no sign of human suffering. But destiny cannot be denied, and one day there arose in Siddhattha a desire to ride out beyond the palace walls. As he rode out in his chariot with his charioteer Channa, he saw before him an old man. The man was bent with age, his hair was white, his eyes were dim, his skin lined and wrinkled, and his limbs shrunken and trembling so that he could barely walk. Siddhattha was horrified; he had never seen anyone like this before. He asked Channa what had happened to the man, and Channa explained that he had simply grown old.

  Siddhattha returned home, his heart filled with despair. When Suddhodana heard of the incident, he surrounded his son with pleasures of all kinds to make him forget. A few days later, Siddhattha rode out again. This time he saw a sick man, and once again returned home filled with grief. The next time he rode out beyond the palace walls, he saw a corpse being carried on a bier to the cremation grounds and came home troubled and distressed. He realized that pain and suffering were inevitable in every human life. Finally, on a fourth occasion, Siddhattha rode past a man dressed in yellow robes. The man’s head was shaven, and he carried a begging bowl in his hand; but he looked happy and at peace. When Siddhattha asked Channa who he was, Channa explained that he was an ascetic who had given up the worldly life. Siddhattha’s heart filled with happiness and he fell into deep thought. Some sources say that Siddhattha saw the Four Signs—the old man, the sick man, the corpse and the ascetic—all on the same day.