The pivotal moment in Buddha’s life can be compared with the appearance of Jesus, Moses, Krishna, Mohammad; such events are defining moments in the history of mankind.
After getting awakened one can only now awe at what type of radiance must have spread from his personality. People gathered around him and asked him;
Are you God?
No
Are you Angel?
No
Then what are you?
He said smiling ‘I am awake’.
In Sanskrit language the literal meaning of awake is Buddha. The awakened one.
He gave his first sermon to his first five disciples and thus began his journey to spread the teaching of dharma. He laid down the four noble truths which is about his observation on the condition of humans and gave its cure.
The first truth: Everything that changes brings suffering. All of us desire for happiness which is permanent and strive for it, but it only brings suffering to us. This is because we look for happiness in things that are impermanent in nature and therefore they change. Anything that changes brings suffering.
The second truth: Life in itself is not the cause of suffering, but what we demand from life causes suffering. Our desires are selfish in nature and all our life we try to get it one way or the other. We try to get satisfaction from such achievements but it only gives us unhappiness as selfishness only gives sorrow.
The third truth: Suffering can end when the fire of selfishness has been doused. When we understand the futility of running after selfish desires then we reach a position of joy and peace. We get liberated from this disease of selfishness and get cured. This leads to nirvana.
The fourth truth: Selfishness can be cured by following the eight fold path which is compared with the spokes of the wheel of dharma.
1. right understanding that happiness cannot come from outside objects of desire.
2. right purpose/ thought to fulfill the objective coming out of right understanding. The purpose is to bring order and give direction to life so as to fulfill the real objective of life.
3, 4 & 5. right speech, right action and right occupation/ livelihood that flow from the right purpose. It means our speech and actions should be controlled, positive, kind and always ready to serve for the welfare of all being. Our source of livelihood should not be the cause of suffering for other living being, be it humans or animals. All creatures’ love life and fear pain and should be treated as you and are not to be harmed.
6, 7 & 8. right effort, right attention/ concentration and right meditation/ mindfulness. These three deal with the mind, as it is the mind which shapes our life. Our effort should be to train our mind not to fall prey to selfish desires and by endeavoring to regulate our thoughts words and actions. Our attention should be in fulfilling the right efforts and not getting wavered from it. Right meditation is to train our mind to search for the inner self, finding which we are permanently liberated from the cycle of sorrow and suffering.
Thus these became to spokes of the cycle on which Buddha rode and spread the word of dharma to the whole world. It has been a journey of 45 years and what a worthy journey it has been.
I forgot all those teachings because of my studies. Thanks a lot dear for this article 😊