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(97) Section 4: The Rise and Fall of Polytheistic Civilization II

Chapter 1: The Indus

5-2 Through Asceticism and Meditation—the Buddha’s Surprising Decision

   In the previous episode, I give a rough sketch of Siddhartha’s journey from prince to ascetic monk. But how would he make his escape from a world wrought with misery?
   Incidentally, from ancient times, artistic depictions of the Buddha in China, Korea, and Japan often take the form of a “Buddha Triad.” In the center often sits the enlightened Buddha, flanked on either side by Bodhisattvas, individuals in the process of attaining Buddhahood. If you look closely, you’re likely to see the Bodhisattvas with long, often braided hair, adorned with necklaces and bracelets. In stark contrast sits the Buddha, cloaked in a single shroud, with tightly curled coils of hair atop his head. No jewelry of any kind embellishes his body. In Nepal, India, and Southeast Asian countries like Thailand, Buddhist statuary often takes on a golden radiance with applications of gold leaf. The Buddha, according to some, had a body that glimmered gold and was in no need of artificial embellishment.

The End of Fasting and Sujata

   Siddhartha’s first order of business was to visit several elders. Buddhist scriptures site these elders as “hermits,” but a more accurate word would be Hinduism’s rishi or “sage.”
   The first sage Siddhartha met had his own goal. Forget about escaping samsara, he said. In the world of samsara, one’s goal should be rebirth into the highest heaven.

▲Endless circle of transmigration in the six posthumous worlds. Likir Gompa, Ladakh  ©️ mis-masaru / PIXTA

   Buddhist cosmology would (later) identify the existence of six realms of rebirth: the Heavenly Realm, the Human Realm, the Asura Realm (world of constant fighting), the Animal Realm (one is reborn as an animal), the Hungry Ghost Realm, and the Hell Realm (a place of punishment for sins committed in one’s past life).
   The Heavenly Realm the first rishi spoke of rewarded its inhabitants with a much longer life and significantly less suffering compared with those of the Human Realm, but even they cannot escape death, making rebirth unavoidable. Not surprisingly, for Siddhartha, who sought liberation from the cycle of samsara, the rishi’s teachings weren’t enough.
   Siddhartha met another rishi, this time a man who had reached the realm of akasanantyayatana (“Dimension of Boundless Emptiness”), a state where one negates all physical phenomena and meditates on the idea of space being infinitely pervasive. This, the rishi believed, was the ultimate enlightenment, but Siddhartha was again unsatisfied.
   The third rishi Siddhartha met was an ascetic who had achieved what is called naivasamjnanasamjnayatana (“Dimension of Neither Perception or Non-perception”). In this sphere, one has achieved a sort of liminal state, somewhere between the conscious and unconscious—one does not engage in the thoughts of the worldly desires of ordinary humans and is therefore, in that sense, unconscious. But because there remains a sense that one is unthinking, one is not fully unconscious. This unthinking-yet-thinking condition may be a Buddhist way of expressing Hinduism’s highest state of “Tat Tvam Asi,” a state that also affirms Atman (the thinking subject). But Siddhartha sought yet a higher realm of consciousness and existence.

▲Golden Buddha statue, Sarnath Temple, Varanasi.                                    ©️ HarjeetSinghNarang

   It was when Siddhartha decided to travel to the mountains to become an ascetic. Asceticism, an extreme form of spiritual training that includes varied practices of starvation, body mortification, and body punishment, is relatively common in India. Accompanied by five bhikkhus (male mendicant monks) sent by his worrying father, King Suddhodana, Siddhartha spent the next six years in severe ascetic training in what is believed to be the Dungeshwari caves, only to discover an ever-more elusive destination. Siddhartha, now skin and bones, had a realization: asceticism wasn’t the answer to enlightenment. Siddhartha’s self-imposed starvation was over. The five bhikkhus in ascetic training with him, however, saw this abandonment not as a choice but as a weakness, and ultimately left his side.
   An emaciated Siddhartha descended from the mountain caves to the village below, where he was given an offering of milk-rice porridge by a young woman named Sujata. The fast-breaking meal revived Siddhartha, earning Sujata the title of eponym of the town where, still today, a stupa stands to commemorate the legendary deed.
Siddhartha then traveled several kilometers on foot to arrive at what would later be known as Bodh Gaya, where he famously sat at the base of what is referred to today as the Bodhi Tree (“tree of enlightenment”) and entered a meditative state.

▲Temptation of Buddha by Mara.  Mulgandh Kutti Vihar, Sarnath          ©️ cascoly

   But to break Siddhartha’s concentration came Mara, a demon who took a variety of forms. Legend has it Mara sent his daughters in various stages of undress to tempt Siddhartha away from his goal of enlightenment. Other accounts claim Mara sent soldiers from the underworld to distract by fear. But Siddhartha remained resolute, defying Mara and finally achieving enlightenment. In other words, Siddhartha had finally discovered the truth of the universe or true salvation.
   For several days, Siddhartha sat under the Bodhi tree, making sure first he had attained true enlightenment, then meditating on whether he should share his discovery with the rest of the suffering public.
   But his decision is likely to surprise those unfamiliar with Buddhism.
He concluded that the average person would not be capable of understanding true enlightenment, and that teaching his findings to such people would be useless. And so he give up on the idea of teaching.
   Of course, the story doesn’t end there. Buddhist scriptures say the Buddha instead immediately tried to enter the world of Nirvana. Siddhartha had achieved his goal—he no longer had reason to remain in the land of the living.

               < Read the next installment March 15 >

Editor/ Noriko Knickerbocker , Aquarius Ltd.
Translator/ Matthew Hunter , Aquarius Ltd.
©Motohiko Izawa 2018-2019 All rights reserved. No reproduction or republication without written permission.

Izawa tackles for the first time the mysteries of the world in a historical journey of intrigue and cross-cultural understanding.