|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Buddhism and the life of the Buddha The Buddha proceeded from the idea of reincarnation, the transmigration of the soul after death that had arisen in India long before his time: when a person dies, he or she does not leave the world, but is reborn again and again in new bodies. The essence of his teaching is briefly summarized in the "Four Noble Truths": 1. Life means suffering. The constant cycle of births, illnesses, sorrows and deaths causes a person suffering, because even the happiest of lives ends in death and after it a new birth comes. 2. The cause of continual rebirths is the thirst for life, pleasure and earthly joys and wrongful passions. To free oneself of that striving means to become liberated from the endless cycle of birth and death. 3. Suffering can be eliminated - one needs to reject all wrongful passions and desires. But the desire for life cannot be overcome by the rigours of asceticism or mortification of the flesh, nor by the singing of hymns or making sacrifices. 4. The noble "Eightfold Path" of self-improvement and virtue,
correct actions, thoughts, strivings and so on is the course by which,
through much personal effort, a person achieves the highest salvation,
the ultimate goal - nirvana. Closely bound up with the doctrine of the noble "Eightfold Path" is the concept of karma - the sum of all a person's good and bad deeds that inexorably determines his position in this and the future life. He is reborn again and again until he reaps the harvest of his karma. But if he does not sin any more, he is not condemned to be reborn again and, dying for the last time, he attains nirvana. Within a hundred years of the Buddha's death a split occurred among his followers that gradually deepened and led to the appearance of separate tendencies within Buddhism. The prevalent form of Buddhism in the countries of Indochina is called Theravada or Southern Buddhism. It is far more loyal to the tenets of early Buddhism than the Mahayana or Northern Buddhism prevalent in Central Asia and the Far East. In Theravada the main accent is placed on the personal efforts of the individual in pursuit of nirvana (which makes this process long and complex, taking more than one reincarnation). Theravada recognizes the existence of 24 buddhas who preceded the appearance of the 25th - the Buddha Shakyamuni, whose teaching will live for 5000 years. The 26th Buddha - Maitreya - is presently a bodhisattva residing in the Tushita heaven. The eastward spread of Buddhism began at the very start of the Christian Era. Everywhere that Buddhism reached, it brought its canonical literature, the tradition of creating monasteries and temples and of decorating them with paintings, reliefs and statues, and also the canon for the depiction of its founder - the Buddha Shakyamuni - and other personages. |
|
||||||
|
Copyright © 2011 State Hermitage Museum |
