Gautama Buddha
Page 9
The ancient cities were lively vibrant places—people from all castes and walks of life, from all parts of the subcontinent, gathered there. They interacted freely, no longer bound by caste or custom. Traders and travellers from far-off lands brought new goods and new ideas with them. We also see the growth of urban culture as gambling, prostitution, pubs, theatres, became part of the landscape. This new lifestyle brought with it a new morality that questioned the old ways.
The cities were dominated not by the Brahmin priests or the warriors of earlier times, but by a new and increasingly powerful group of people—the merchants, businessmen and bankers who controlled trade and money and challenged the authority of both priest and king. Wealth was now measured in gold rather than in cattle. Rich merchants were wealthier than the king, and the king would often need to call upon them for help in financing a war or a project.
Emerging Monarchies
The political scenery was also changing. Earlier, northern India had been divided into small kingdoms and tribal republics. The Buddha’s home, Sakya, was one such tribal republic. The Koliyas, the Mallas, and the Licchavis were some of the other tribes in the region. Each was headed by an elected leader who ruled the tribe with the help of an assembly or Sangha. The tribes were typically fiercely proud and jealous of their independence. So far, the tribal republics had remained relatively isolated and untouched by the religion of the Vedas (for example, there was no caste system in Sakya). With the growth of trade and trade routes, the isolation of these tribal republics soon ended. Kapilavatthu, for example, became a trading post on the North Road, the trade route that connected the cities of the Gangetic plain to the West. Traders and travellers brought in their wake the turbulence of the wider world, and gradually the tribal republics were taken over by the emerging, ambitious monarchies of Kosala and Magadha. By the time of the Buddha, Sakya had become tributary state of Kosala.
The only tribe that managed to retain its independence for some time was the Licchavi. It was a confederation of several tribes of which the Licchavis and the Videha were the most important. By the time of the Buddha, the Licchavis had become the most important tribe in the confederation.
South of the Ganga and to the west of Magadha lay the two kingdoms of Vatsa and Avanti. The capital of Vatsa was Kosambi, a city of some importance because it lay at a critical point on the trade route to Kosala and Magadha. Ananda mentions this city as a place suitable for the Buddha’s Nirvana. The kingdom of Avanti lay to the west of Vatsa, with its capital at Ujjeni.
To the north-west of the Gangetic plain lay the vast empire of the Persian emperor Cyrus the Great. He ruled Persia from 558 to 530 BCE. Cyrus the Great came to the throne sixteen years before Bimbisara, and in a few years, built the greatest empire the world had yet seen, extending from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Indus river in the east. His empire included the kingdom of Gandhara. The capital of Gandhara was Takkasila, the site of the famous university where the Buddha had probably studied as a young man.
CONTEMPORARIES OF THE BUDDHA, OTHER GREAT TEACHERS AND PHILOSOPHERS
In India
All over the Gangetic plain, people found the old ways of life falling apart. The world was changing far too rapidly for them to keep pace. The old religion of the Vedas no longer provided all the answers, and people everywhere were in a state of intellectual and spiritual discontent. This led to a great movement towards asceticism, as the best and the brightest left their homes and their families in search of answers. Hundreds of monks, sages, mystics and philosophers roamed the valley of the Ganga, seeking answers to the universal questions of life and liberation from its ills.
Vardhamana Mahavira (599–527 BCE)
A contemporary of the Buddha’s, he is generally regarded as the ‘founder’ of Jainism. There are many references to the Jains in the Pali Canon. They were not on friendly terms with Gotama and his followers, and regarded them as their rivals. One incident that bears this out is the death of Moggallana at the hands of thugs hired by some Jains.
Gotama served as a disciple under two other great teachers, Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta. Some, like Sanjaya Belatthiputta, opposed him; others, like the ascetic Kassapa brothers of Uruvela, joined him.
Around the world
Interestingly, the discontent and dismay felt by the people of the Gangetic plain was not unique to them. During this period, people all over the world felt a similar disillusionment with their old beliefs, and the greatest minds of the time engaged themselves in the search for answers and great thinkers, philosophers and religious teachers appeared all over the world:
In China, Lao Tzu, the founder of Taoism, and Confucius (551–479 BCE);
In Iran, the prophet Zoroaster, the founder of Zoroastrianism, the faith of the Parsis of India;
In Greece, Socrates (469–399 BCE) and Plato (427–327 BCE) who encouraged the Greeks to think for themselves and accept nothing on faith.
THE BUDDHA IN ART
The Buddha had never wanted to be worshipped as a god, and therefore never encouraged his followers to make images of him. But his followers felt his death keenly, and after his passing, they sought ways to represent his life, his glory and their veneration for him. Slowly, representations and symbols of the Buddha found their way into art, sculpture and architecture.
Stupas
The Buddha’s relics were enshrined in stupas [in Pali: thupa]. These were simple, dome-shaped structures built of mud and earth, used to house the earthly remains of kings and great men. Very early in the development of Buddhist art, stupas came to represent the Buddha’s enlightened mind and his journey towards it, and became more complex in their structure and construction.
The earliest examples of Buddhist art that we find date back to the second century BCE, when stone replaced perishable wood, bamboo and clay as the preferred material for construction. Artists and sculptors also began to work in stone, the durability of which ensured that their work survived over the centuries. During this period stone railings and gateways began to be added to stupas. The railings and gateways were often densely and elaborately carved with scenes from the life of the Buddha.
The Great Stupa at Sanchi
This was originally built by Emperor Ashoka in the third century BCE. It was later enlarged and added on to by later kings. It is one of the oldest and most impressive of the Buddhist monuments that exist in India today. It is 120 feet across (36.6 metres) and 54 feet high (16.46 metres).
Images of the Buddha
Initially, remembering the Buddha’s strictures against images of himself, his followers did not show him in human form. Instead, we see the Buddha represented by symbols, the most common being the Bodhi tree and the Eight-spoked Wheel. Other symbols that were used included a pair of footprints, an empty throne, a lion and a begging bowl. These symbols continued to be used to represent the Buddha, even after he began to be shown in human form.
The Buddhapada, or Buddha’s Footprints from the Great Stupa at Amravati, 1st century BCE
Buddha in Gandhara and Mathura schools of art
Representations of the Buddha in human form first appeared in the first century CE in Gandhara. Images of the Buddha from Gandhara show him as a handsome prince, dressed in heavy, flowing robes and sandals; he is depicted with wavy hair, sometimes with a moustache, and often wearing jewelled ornaments. The statues are of stone or stucco. This school of art, known as the Gandhara School, shows heavy Greek influence
During the same period, another school of art emerged in Mathura. This presented a different image of the Buddha—his robe was of fine muslin, draped over his right shoulder leaving the left shoulder bare. The Mathura School also added symbols such as the wheel on the palms of his hands.
During the Golden Age of Gupta rule, from the fourth to the sixth century CE there emerged the concept of the ‘ideal image’ of the Buddha. This was based on specific measurements that were considered to be, in the Buddhist canon, the ideal physical proportions of the p
erfect man, i.e. the Buddha. In these proportions could be seen the harmony and beauty of the Buddha’s form. The Gupta school of art combined the characteristics of both the Gandhara and Mathura school of art, resulting in graceful and spiritually-inspiring images of the Buddha.
By the tenth century CE, Buddhist art began dying out in India. But as the Buddha’s teachings spread outwards from India, so did the art and images. Each land that adopted the word of the Buddha also created its own art and imagery around him.
The Buddha in other lands
The Emerald Buddha in the Wat Phra Kaew, or Temple of the Emerald Buddha; Bangkok, Thailand
Carved out of jade and dressed in golden robes, this is one of the oldest statues of the Buddha in the world. According to legend, this was made in 43 BCE in Pataliputra, where it remained for 300 years. It was taken to Sri Lanka in the fourth century CE, and eventually reached Thailand. It was enshrined in the present temple in 1779.
The Buddhas of Bamiyan, Afghanistan
These were two giant statues of the Buddha, 53 metres and 38 metres in height, carved into the side of a cliff above the town of Bamiyan in Afghanistan. The statues were carved between the second and fifth centuries CE. They were in the Indo-Greek style of the Gandhara school, and were painted in gold and bright colours. In March 2001 they were condemned as ‘idols’ by the Taliban government of Afghanistan and destroyed.
The Giant Buddha of Leshan, Sichuan, China
71 metres high, this is the biggest carved stone statue of the Buddha in the world. It represents Maitreya, one of the Bodhisattvas, or the Buddha’s incarnations in a former life. The statue took almost a hundred years to carve—it was begun in 713 CE and completed in 803 CE.
Gal Vihara, Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka
Gal Vihara is a rock temple in the ancient city of Polonnaruwa. It was constructed in the twelfth century CE by Parakramabahu, king of Sri Lanka. The focus of the temple is four massive statues of the Buddha carved on to a granite rock face. The most impressive of these stone statues is the 14 metre long figure of the Buddha in a reclining position.
BUDDHISM TODAY
It is estimated that there are about 350 million Buddhists in the world today. This makes Buddhism the fourth largest religion in the world after Christianity, Islam and Hinduism. Today Buddhism is practised mainly in Asia, though there are a small number of Buddhists in Europe, the USA and Australia as well. Three main schools of Buddhism survive:
The Theravada
This form is close to the Buddha’s original teachings and believes that enlightenment and nirvana are attained through an individual’s own efforts with the help of dhamma. Theravada Buddhism is the form practised in Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. This is often called Southern Buddhism.
The Mahayana
This moved away from the Buddha’s teachings, allowing the worship of divine beings called Bodhisattvas, supposedly the Buddha in his previous lives. Mahayana Buddhism is practised in China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam. This is sometimes called Eastern Buddhism.
Vajrayana
This form is considered by some scholars to be another form of Mahayana Buddhism. Followers of Vajrayana Buddhism believe that their version is the purest form of the Buddha’s teachings, which he did not make known to his followers because it was too advanced for most of them. The oldest available Vajrayana texts date back to the fourth century CE; they were written at the university of Nalanda in Magadha. This form of Buddhism is practised in Tibet, Mongolia and parts of Nepal and Himalayan India. It is also called Tibetan or Northern Buddhism.
SOME BOOKS ABOUT THE BUDDHA
Buddha by Karen Armstrong (Phoenix, London, UK, 2002)
Confessions of a Buddhist Atheist by Stephen Batchelor (Spiegel & Grau, New York, USA, 2010)
Gem in the Lotus: The Seeding of Indian Civilization by Abraham Eraly (Phoenix, London, UK, 2005)
A Spoke in the Wheel by Amita Kanekar (Harper Collins. India, 2005)
Dictionary of Pali Names by G.P. Malalasekera (Motilal Banarasidas, India, 2006)
THE BUDDHA ON THE INTERNET
An excellent and accurate source of information about the Buddha is the Buddhanet website at http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhism/lifebuddha/index.htm
Another reference source is the online Buddhist Dictionary of Pali Proper Names. This is based on the Dictionary of Pali Names by G.P. Malalasekera, which is available as printed version from The Pali Text Society, London at http://www.palikanon.com/english/pali_names/dic_idx.html
SOME FILMS ABOUT THE BUDDHA
Buddhadev, a silent film by Dadasaheb Phalke, 1923
Gotoma the Buddha, documentary, produced by Bimal Roy, directed by Rajbans Khanna, 1957
Little Buddha, by Bernado Bertolucci, 1993
Phra Puttajao (The Life of Buddha), 2D animation film, Thailand, 2007
Buddha, anime film based on the manga series Buddha by Osamu Tezuka, Japan, 2011
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Stephen Batchelor for his unstinting generosity in allowing me to use his book Confessions of a Buddhist Atheist as a reference source for this book. I would also like to say a big thank you to Sudeshna Shome Ghosh of Puffin India, who made this book possible.
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This collection published 2011
Copyright © Rohini Chowdhury 2011
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Jacket images © Harshvardhan Kadam
ISBN: 978-0-143-33177-3
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