Gautama Siddhartha (c. 563–483 b.c.e.) was a young prince of northeast India who suddenly, at age twenty-nine, discovered the pain and suffering that existed in the world. Up until that time his father had sheltered him from all contact with anything but pleasure and luxury (his mother had died shortly after his birth). Siddhartha was born among the Sakyas, a tribe of the Kshatriya warrior caste in what is now Nepal. His father ruled the Gautama clan, and in later years Siddhartha himself became known as Gautama, though it was not his given name.
Upon his “rude awakening,” Siddhartha renounced his home and family and set out to seek the “supreme peace of Nirvana.” He was taught by two Brahmin religious teachers, but, unsatisfied, he looked elsewhere. After trying many practices, including extreme asceticism, he finally found what he was looking for through meditation. It is said that it came to him as he sat under a boddhi tree, or Tree of Wisdom. He determined that the cause of all the suffering in the world, and of the endless series of birth and rebirth, was what he saw as selfish craving or desire. If this can be extinguished, there can be freedom from the Wheel of Life and the never-ending suffering associated with it. In discovering this, Siddhartha became Buddha, or “the Enlightened One.” For the next forty-five years he wandered the country teaching what he had learned. He organized a community of monks, known as the sangha, to continue his teachings after his death. They preached “The Word,” known as the Dharma.
Buddha’s simple formula is: “I take refuge in the Buddha; I take refuge in the Dharma; I take refuge in the Sangha” . . . the Buddha, the Teaching, and the Order. There is no priesthood and there are no other rites or creeds. All that the teacher can do is set the listener on the path by example and precept. It was not until sixty years after his death that Buddha’s teachings were set down in writing. These teachings became known as the Sutras (from the Sanskrit meaning “thread”).
Buddha’s enlightenment consisted of the realization of four basic truths, usually referred to as the Four Noble Truths: Life entails dissatisfaction (pain); dissatisfaction is a result of clinging and craving; there’s an end to all dissatisfaction; the way to the end of dissatisfaction is the path. In turn, “the Path,” or the Eightfold Path, is wisdom (right view, right thought), morality (right speech, right action, right livelihood), and meditation (right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration).
Buddhism is today the religion of Burma, Thailand (Siam), Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka (Ceylon), Tibet, half of Japan, much of China, and is found in many other countries around the world. It has a large following in the United States, where there are now more Buddhists than can be found in India.
Aids to meditation, and in particular to Tantric meditation, are known as mandalas, a Sanskrit word meaning “circle.” The word is used in Hindu and Buddhist ritualism to denote a mystical diagram. It is one of the most widespread of all symbols, with hundreds of variations. Many are composed of a circle enclosing a square with a central symbol. A mandala is also the enclosure of sacred space—imago mundi—much like a ceremonial magician’s magic circle.
The mandala shown here is known as the Sri Yantra, or “Great” Yantra. It is made up of interlocking triangles surrounded by an eight-petal and a sixteen-petal lotus, with the border symbolizing the four directions. The whole is a mystical representation of the creative process.
The Daiji, or yin-yang, is the symbol of Samsara (the cycle of rebirth) and Nirvana. It was originally a Chinese symbol of opposites.
Triratna
