The Buddha Book: Buddhas, blessings, prayers, and rituals to grant you love, wisdom, and healing. Lillian Too
then come threats that use fear as an agent of distraction; when this fails, the final weapon is the planting of seeds of doubt in his mind.
But the prince sits unmoved and undisturbed. Then, without breaking his concentration, he extends his right hand and touches the earth with his middle finger. Instantly the earth goddess appears to testify that the meditating prince has in past lives practiced the Six Perfections of generosity, morality, patience, enthusiastic perseverance, concentration, and wisdom. In touching the earth, the Mara forces are defeated and Siddhartha attains a total cessation of all suffering of body and mind, all ignorance and self-centeredness. Time and space vanish, and all ties melt away. In their place there is only total clarity, compassion, and wisdom consciousness, a state that is formless, with no beginning and no end – the state of all knowing; the state of no sorrow; the state of never-ending happiness and bliss!
The human personality of Siddhartha dissolves, and in its place emerges Shakyamuni, the historical Buddha, the supreme emanation, the enlightened One, the fully awakened One, the foe-destroyer. Buddha continues to sit, allowing the impact of the new wisdom to permeate his whole being. He is thirty-five years old when he attains enlightenment, and for seven weeks thereafter he remains in meditative repose, enjoying the state of matchless bliss.
Those who are not upset with suffering and not attached to happiness are free of obstacles to Dharma practice are liberated from suffering and happiness and will go to the city of the sorrowless state – a blissful state of peace.
LAMA KYABJE ZOPA RINPOCHE
BUDDHA’S TWELVE DEEDS
The life story of Buddha is usually summarized as the twelve deeds of the Buddha, which are the twelve significant events of his life.
1 Buddha descends from Tushita heaven to this world
2 Buddha enters into his mother’s womb
3 Buddha’s birth in Lumbini Garden, Nepal, to King Shuddhodana and Queen Maya
4 Buddha becoming skilled in the arts and playing sports of youth
5 Buddha’s marriage to Princess Yasodhara, and his taking charge of the kingdom
6 Buddha’s renunciation at the age of twenty-nine
7 Buddha’s practicing austerities for six years
8 Buddha sitting under the bodhi tree
9 Buddha defeating the maras
10 Buddha attaining enlightenment
11 Buddha turning the wheel of Dharma
12 Buddha attaining final parinirvana (complete nirvana, or liberation).
Buddhist art depicts each of these deeds in various ways, but it is the eleventh deed, the turning of the Dharma wheel (or the Buddhist teachings), that is most significant.
The life story of Buddha as shown in twelve separate scenes, reflecting the Twelve Deeds of Buddha.
Shakyamuni’s teachings
Shakyamuni’s first teaching comes when he expounds the Four Noble Truths (see here) to his five ascetic companions in the Deer Park in Sarnath. Buddha explains these truths with immense clarity, but his five stubborn friends debate the profound implications of his words. Buddha is determined that they, too, should experience the matchless bliss of enlightenment, so his sermon goes on for a very long time.
Monks performing holy puja at Kopan Monastery, Nepal.
One day, one of the ascetics suddenly realizes the same vision of truth that Buddha himself realized under the bodhi tree. Seeing this, Buddha is boundless with joy. It is an important breakthrough: if his disciple can achieve enlightenment, so all beings can obtain the realization that can set them free. Buddha’s teachings will spread far and wide so that all beings blessed by them can attain the liberation that comes with enlightenment. This is the most profound impact of the story of Shakyamuni Buddha. He is the ultimate guru, who emanates in the earthly realm to pass on his teachings, without which ignorance will continue to prevail.
In all, Buddha leaves behind 84,000 teachings and these revered texts eventually become the foundation of the different traditions of Buddhism that spread across Asia in all directions. In Buddha’s later years, it is Ananda who keeps accounts of his teachings and the events of his life. These are carefully preserved in the suttas (discourses) of the Pali canon and the sutras (scriptural texts) of the Kan Gyur.
Buddha passed away at the age of eighty in the village of Kushinagar, in what is today the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. There he lay in the lion posture, on his right side, with his right hand supporting his head and his other hand placed lightly on his left thigh. His last words reminded his disciples that “all compounded things are by nature impermanent,” and he advised them “in mindfulness” to strive on. It is recorded that on his deathbed, when asked by Ananda what should be done with his earthly remains, Buddha answered that, like those of a king, the remains of a tathagata (an exalted one) should be enshrined in a stupa (reliquary). To satisfy the demands of the kings and princes of the surrounding states, Buddha’s relics were eventually divided into eight parts and placed in eight golden boxes (and so today there are eight types of stupa, each different in design). When the boxes were laid on the altar table, it is recorded that three rainbows arose from them. Below the relics were placed the five offerings of the senses: incense (sense of smell); food (sense of taste); flowers (sense of sight); music (sense of sound), and beautiful objects (sense of touch).
BUDDHA AND STUPAS
Ananda’s records also reveal Buddha’s advice on stupas. Buddha explains that when anyone sees a stupa and merely thinks, “This is the stupa of the Exalted One,” the heart of that person will become calm and happy, and they would be reborn in the happy realms of the Pure Land (the western paradise of the Buddha Amitabha, see here). Even today, one of the most significant rituals that Buddhists of all traditions observe is circumambulation of the holy stupa. There are beautiful stupas in Borobodur in Indonesia and Myanmar (Burma). The two that I love to visit and highly recommend are Bouddhanath stupa in Kathmandu, Nepal, and the Mahabodhi stupa in Bodhgaya, India.
The legend of Boudhanath stupa reveals how it was built by a woman whose four sons dedicated the virtue to take rebirth as beings who were instrumental in bringing Buddhism to Tibet. It is said that one of the sons reincarnated as the great guru Padmasambhava (see here), who is regarded as the Buddha who brought Buddhism to Tibet, while another son reincarnated as the great king Songtsen Gampo, who was responsible for spreading Buddhism across the country.
The Mahabodhi stupa is the fountainhead of Buddhism and the holiest pilgrimage place, for Buddha attained enlightenment in Bodhgaya. Circumambulating this stupa is incredibly purifying. As you walk clockwise around it, you can feel some of its energy embracing you and sending you into a very light place.
Happiness and sadness don’t