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Why Did The Buddha become a Buddha ?
Citta
Veteran
" Buddha Shakyamuni did not become a Buddha for himself. He did not become a Buddha for his friends. He became a Buddha for us.
For all of us. For all sentient beings. "
Tai Situ.
Its easy to assume that Buddhahood is a personal goal or achievement. Or at least that's the thinking I fall into.
Situ Rinpoche is reminding us that Enlightenment is not a personal achievement.
It is for all beings .
For all of us. For all sentient beings. "
Tai Situ.
Its easy to assume that Buddhahood is a personal goal or achievement. Or at least that's the thinking I fall into.
Situ Rinpoche is reminding us that Enlightenment is not a personal achievement.
It is for all beings .
2
Comments
Sheng Yen says somewhere that we use delusion (skillful means) to overcome delusion.
So in a way no one knows why. Maybe we don't cross to the other shore, but the shore comes to us.
But then some being came and convinced him, persuaded him. And out of compassion he decided to go and do it.
So the answer for me is, Siddhattha Gotama became the Buddha because someone asked him to, and because he had a lot of compassion.
The practice of Buddhism seems to me to amount to being "awake" to who anyone might actually be. "Enlightened" if you insist. Or "true self" as the Zennies put it. And who, precisely is this 'enlightened' true self that anyone might hold at a believer's distance?
It is just kindness ... kindness without the frills.
Or anyway, that's my take.
Those stories did not begin to emerge for hundreds of years after the Buddha.
What they point to is important however.
If the truth is that our reality is constantly changing and unfixed then it is hardly the stuff of personal ambition is it ?
To quote Trungpa again " when Enlightenment happens ,' we ' wont be there.
You aren't kind because of Buddhism.
Buddhism is kind because of you.
They also have value if they were made up by later writers because it makes a nice inspiring story.
No difference.
He became a Buddha to Understand.
It does seem, according to some sources, that he was reluctant to 'spread the word' but this could be due to his not wishing to be elevated to a status he had no interest in being elevated to...
He merely described himself as 'awake', and that means that basically, we can all awaken too.
The Buddha sought answers for his own satisfaction.
Following his footsteps is a way of savouring a morsel of that same satisfaction.
But there are no short-cuts.
He knew that.
So do we.
I agree the above quotation seems more in line with certain Mahayana teachings - but if it brings comfort and example to others, that could be said to be a good thing, no matter what the source.
The story line that the buddha stayed when he could have bailed seems more of a reminder that the practise is endless or not to become attached to the idea that their is a better place you could be, than of a historical possibility.
His actions were just the natural unfolding of selflessness.
According to the Mahayana view the Buddha has three " bodies " The Trikaya.
These are The Dharmakaya, the transcendent body, the Sambhokaya, the subtle body and
the material body the Nirmanakaya, which took the form of a man, and which manifested out of compassion.
It is said that Gautama took the vow to become a Buddha in a previous lifetime when he was the ascetic by the name of Sumedha. It is also said that when he made the vow, he was motivated by the thought of teaching the Dhamma to others and freeing them from suffering.
And that Dipankara predicted that Sumedha would be the next Buddha.
When we see the suttas, you often see "when a Tathagata (Buddha) arises in the world..". So a Buddha simply arises, it's not a choice or something, it happens because the seeds for it to happen were sown and watered.
In Ajahn Mun's biography written by his prominent disciple, Ajahn Maha Boowa (aka Ajahn Maha Bua), it is said that Ajahn Mun had in a previous lifetime made a vow to become a Buddha but then he decided to renounce the vow as he felt it would take too long to achieve and the renouncement enabled him to reach enlightenment in the current lifetime (otherwise he would have had to continue being reborn through countless more lifetimes to develop the ten perfections to a higher level in order to become a Buddha). Btw, Ajahn Mun is considered as the "father" of the modern Thai forest monk tradition. He was the meditation master of several famous Thai monks such as Ajahn Chah.
form holds up..... and after this form has fallen to dust.
"I, too, monks, before my Awakening, when I was an unawakened bodhisatta, being subject myself to birth, sought what was likewise subject to birth. Being subject myself to aging... illness... death... sorrow... defilement, I sought [happiness in] what was likewise subject to illness... death... sorrow... defilement. The thought occurred to me, 'Why do I, being subject myself to birth, seek what is likewise subject to birth? Being subject myself to aging... illness... death... sorrow... defilement, why do I seek what is likewise subject to illness... death... sorrow... defilement? What if I, being subject myself to birth, seeing the drawbacks of birth, were to seek the unborn, unexcelled rest from the yoke: Unbinding? What if I, being subject myself to aging... illness... death... sorrow... defilement, seeing the drawbacks of aging... illness... death... sorrow... defilement, were to seek the aging-less, illness-less, deathless, sorrow-less,, unexcelled rest from the yoke: Unbinding?'
"So, at a later time, while still young, a black-haired young man endowed with the blessings of youth in the first stage of life — and while my parents, unwilling, were crying with tears streaming down their faces — I shaved off my hair & beard, put on the ochre robe and went forth from the home life into homelessness.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.026.than.html
After awakening, he was Gotama no more and he called himself the Tathagata or Buddha.
"So I said to them, 'Don't address the Tathagata by name and as "friend." The Tathagata, friends, is a worthy one, rightly self-awakened. Lend ear, friends: the Deathless has been attained. I will instruct you. I will teach you the Dhamma. Practicing as instructed, you will in no long time reach & remain in the supreme goal of the holy life for which clansmen rightly go forth from home into homelessness, knowing & realizing it for yourselves in the here & now.'