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Did anyone think The Buddha was crazy?

ClayTheScribeClayTheScribe Veteran
in Buddhism Basics
After The Buddha found enlightenment and started sharing his views on the world and life, did anyone call him crazy? Did anyone think this guy is off his rocker or were his ideas enough in line with whatever came before? Like even now some people find the idea that all we see is a manifestation of our mind to be loopy, but that was one of the first things he said.

Comments

  • NirvanaNirvana aka BUBBA   `     `   South Carolina, USA Veteran
    edited March 2013
    No! The sadhus, seeing his effulgent, Illumined Being, all flocked to him.

    Ah, the beautiful stories that I long to hear again!
    Dandelion
  • ZendoLord84ZendoLord84 Veteran
    Sometimes i do :).
    But hey, arent all wise men?
  • poptartpoptart Veteran
    In a crazy society the sane man looks crazy.
    chelaClayTheScribe
  • SabbySabby Explorer
    I'm not sure, I think back then it wasn't such an odd sight, and it was more respected and common place for a man or woman to become a seeker. I believe there was lot's of spiritual teachers as well. Although, If people nowadays and in the recent past observed Buddha on the streets doing what he did then he would probably be considered a crazy preeching bum
    riverflowInvincible_summer
  • DaftChrisDaftChris Spiritually conflicted. Not of this world. Veteran
    Aren't we all a little crazy?
  • genkakugenkaku Northampton, Mass. U.S.A. Veteran
    I believe that in a spiritually-charged culture like Gautama's, one more nut-job would hardly have raised an eyebrow. Gautama's neck of the woods was an arena in which practice and attainment were not the rare, weird stuff we find in a West that is top-heavy with belief and threats. True, the Hindus and their ritualism were part of what made Buddhism attractive in its early days, but even with all the baubles, Hinduism credits attainment ... and not just an attainment that requires people to drop dead.

    So I think that if anyone thought Gautama was crazy, it was a kind of craziness that was more or less par for the course.
    ClayTheScribeInvincible_summer
  • ClayTheScribeClayTheScribe Veteran
    To quote the singer-songwriter Seal: "We're never gonna survive unless we get a little crazy." Thanks for the responses. I was just curious to know how mind-blowing The Buddha's revelations were in his time and place but it sounds like they weren't too far off from what was already being taught.
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    Yes in Buddha's first sermon where he talked about the 4NT and 8FP his listeners were very advanced practioners. Sometimes we forget that and think these two are the basics. But until right view you are following DO THE RIGHT THING and it hasn't yet crossed paths with the dharma of the three marks and so forth.
  • footiamfootiam Veteran
    ClayTheScribe said:

    After The Buddha found enlightenment and started sharing his views on the world and life, did anyone call him crazy? Did anyone think this guy is off his rocker or were his ideas enough in line with whatever came before? Like even now some people find the idea that all we see is a manifestation of our mind to be loopy, but that was one of the first things he said.

    It is not stated in the history book but most probably, there is no one who would do that. I would think people of those days are different, not that critical perhaps. Bread and butter issues should be more important to simple folks then and it would be perhaps a pain to think over abstract or philosophical issues. Then of course, Buddha never turns any stones into bread or brings any dead people to life and if he does, he'd be instead accepted as someone divine. In modern time too, we don't call David Copperfield crazy when he performs his magic unless of course we are the crazy ones.
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