Dhamma Talks - The Buddha's Day :: Buddhapadipa Thai Temple

Today it is a great pleasure for me to be a host speaker. I have heard that LBA has been asking many guest speakers, for example, Mrs Lake, a Buddhist nun from Amarati temple, but today there is the celebration of Vesak day or the Buddha’s Day everywhere around the world. Even I myself asked Ajahn Chao Kun Khemammadhammo to give a Dhamma talk here today. He was very pleased to be invited, but unfortunately there is the celebration at his temple as well so he cannot attend. I could not imagine that the celebration on such important day in Buddhism would leave out a Dhamma speaker. So today I am myself a host speaker.

I would say that today is the most important day in Buddhism, the Buddha’s Day, or Vesak day or the teacher’s day as all of you know and come to join us here and now; some of you have come since this morning to join the morning session; paying respect to triple gem and circumambulating around the main temple three times to commemorate the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha, listening to Dhamma talk in the morning and joining offering lunch to the monks and having lunch together. And now you’re joining the afternoon’s session, starting with a sutta reading by a member of the Lay Buddhist Association and now Dhamma talk by me, a host speaker.

Because it is the Buddha’s day, or teacher’s day so today I am going to talk about the life of the Buddha, about our teacher’s life. His life is regarded as the greatest life and I think that it is ample to learn as his life can be divided into three parts or three phases: his lay life, his holy life, and his long-life teaching.

The first part is the lay life which started when he was born in Ruler’s family on Vesak Day at the grove of Lumbini, now located in Nepal. It is today, the full moon of May. So today all Buddhists celebrate his birthday everywhere. In Thailand, it is believed that it has been celebrated since the Sukhothai period about 800/900 years ago. It is a national holiday and HOLY ALL DAY in Thailand.

What happened after his birth?

After his birth for five days there was a name-giving ceremony, when the king invited one hundred and eight holy men (Brahmins) to name and prophesise for his son. The name chosen for the child was Siddhattha which means ‘a wish fulfilled or the successful man’ and there were eight prophets, seven of them prophesied that if he became a householder, he would become a great king or an emperor, but if he goes forth from the home to a monastic life, he will become a teacher of the world, the only one youngest (Kondanya) prophesied that he would surely become the teacher of the world or a great sage. His father was not happy with the prophesy; he didn’t want his son to be a teacher of the world but he did want him to become his successor, a ruler. To prevent him from becoming a teacher of the world or an ascetic, his father kept him within the confines of the palace. Prince Sitddhattaha grew up in wealth and princely luxury, shielded from the outside world, entertained by dancing girls, instructed by Brahmins, and trained in archery, swordsmanship, wrestling, swimming, and running. When he was sixteen years old, he married the princess, Yasodara or Bimpa, who gave birth to a son, Prince Rahula. He had, as we might say today, everything.

From this stage we can see there are six interesting points; his clan is perfect, his name contains a good meaning, the prediction of his life is great in two ways; household’s life and holy life, he is well-educated, and his own family is perfect. But all of these cannot guarantee that he is going to be happy throughout his life as he found out later that life is subject to three characteristics of existence; impermanence, dissatisfaction and non-self.

And yet, it was not all perfect or great. Something—something as persistent as his own shadow—drew him into the world beyond the castle walls. When he was twenty-nine years old, there, in the streets of Kapilavastu, he encountered four signs: a sick man, an old man, a corpse being carried to the burning grounds and holy man. These changed his life, he asked his charioteer why people became like these and when his charioteer told him that all beings are subject to sickness, old age, and death, he was very sad and could not rest. He realized the three characteristics of impermanence i.e. everything changes all the time, suffering i.e. life is suffering, both physical and mental and no self which means there is no permanent entity such as soul or ego. As he returned to the palace, he passed a wandering ascetic walking peacefully along the road, wearing the robe and carrying the single bowl of a sadhu, and from that moment he wanted to investigate life and resolved to leave the palace in search of the answer to the problem of suffering. That night he visited his wife and child in a silent farewell without waking them, rode to the edge of the forest where he cut his long hair with his sword and exchanged his fine clothes for the simple robes of an ascetic.

This is a big change or movement in his life and it is not only for his own life but also for the whole world. What inspires him to make such a big decision to renounce everything behind, even his own family? Is it birth or the prediction? I don’t think so. As he said in Dhammapada, “The behaviour or the action of a person can make him or her good or pure, whether king or queen or merchant. Birth, family or last name cannot make man become such” and in Vesala sutta, "Not by birth is one an outcast; not by birth is one a Brahman. By deed one becomes an outcast, by deed one becomes a Brahman". It is not the prediction either because the prediction is just a word. It is the tradition of the time for the ruler’s caste; when the ruler has his son or daughter, he or she must get evolved with these ceremonies; name-giving and life-prophesy. But a person’s action is the bottom line for everything; prediction, saying, praying or thinking cannot make the Buddha or any sage in this world. We can see the present heroes now; all of them must pass through any kind of education, practice, self-experience. Even myself I was not born a monk, but I learn and practise to be, as you can see me now, a Buddhist monk. And certainly, it is not an orange robe, shaved head which makes me a monk, but actions; learning and practising make me a monk. I think it is the same with the Buddha; he spent many years to learn,-both under the others and himself,-to practise many methods with the others and on his own. The result of his own effort to learn and practise is that he became enlightened, or the Buddha.

Enlightenment is another big movement of the Buddha. It is today; the full moon of the sixth lunar month which is called “Vesak”. It is exactly the same day of his birthday. What is ‘enlightenment’? Why it is so important or special? Enlightenment means the Buddhist state of true understanding or perfect knowledge which the Buddha attained when he seated under a Bodhi tree. It sounds very easy to do when we hear that the Buddha seated under a Bodhi tree and became enlightened. It is not that easy; let’s get back to his early journey since he left the kingdom. It is not easy for him who was a prince and grew up in wealth and princely luxury. It is really hard for him to spend his life as an ascetic, even for me, I found it hard for the first time when I became a Buddhist monk. I was neither born in royal family nor a prince. I am neither married nor have a son. But it is still hard for me to renounce all of things that I think are mine. So I could imagine that it would be very hard. But that does not dismay him.

The first practical thing that he put into practice is to get rid of caste as he exchanged his fine clothes for the simple robes of an ascetic. It is not only material thing, but also spiritual thing such as ego or self as He joined the group of wanderers or ascetics; studying under many teachers with opened mind. He had never thought they were low caste whom he could not study under. He just learned and practised with them and with respect and humbleness. So respect and humbleness are the characteristic of Buddhist monks. This reminds me of the Dalai Lama whose presence is always humble.

After a few years in search of the better way of life, he realised that all teachers, teachings and methods, which he had studied under and practised, were not the right ways to escape from human suffering. So he went in seclusion and stopped searching outside. One day on the bank of Nairanjara River, he saw a musician who was playing a harp. The harp contained three strings, at that time he tried to adjust those strings; the first one was very tight and the second one was very loose so they didn’t produce the good sound, but the last one was just fine so it produced a good sound. He thought of the ways of his practice; firstly hedonism very loose and lately asceticism very tight. Then he found out the middle way between the two extremes so he turned inwards and practised the purification of the mind. After that he set off to the Bodhi tree. He spread a mat of grass underneath, crossed his legs and sat down. On the eve of Visakha day he made a vow that if he didn’t get further with his practice, he wouldn’t stand up from his seat and then sat solid and unmoving and determined as a mountain, that night the demons or evils of greed, hatred and delusion came to fight with him. He fought with them until finally at the dawn of Visakha day, he overcame them and became enlightened.

What he became enlightened of? The answer is the ‘Four Noble Truths’; The First Noble Truth is that life is suffering or full of dissatisfaction, The Second Noble Truth is that this suffering has a cause, The Third Noble Truth is that there is liberation from suffering and The fourth Noble Truth is that there is a path leading to the cessation of suffering. The right path, leading to the cessation of suffering is called the Noble eightfold path which begins with Right understanding. The most important thing is right understanding. It is said that if we have a right understanding, the right speech, action, habit, character and destiny will follow, as the proverb says ‘If you understand one, a thousand will follow. If you misunderstand one, a myriad will follow.’ So it was that Siddhattha Gautama became enlightened at the age of thirty-five, and was known from then on, as the Buddha, the Awakened One, and Shakyamuni, the sage of the Shakyas. It is today, the full moon day of the sixth lunar month.

After his enlightenment, he spent the rest of his life teaching people or to the world with loving-kindness and compassion; that is 45 years. What did he teach for 45 years? I would refer to the conversation of Bhikkhu Assaji and Upatissa, the wandering ascetic, who later on was known as Bhikkhu Sariputta. Here is their conversation:

Upatissa asked Bhikkhu Assaji, "Who is your teacher? And whose doctrine do you approve?" He answered him, “Brother, I follow the Buddha and this Buddha is my teacher and the Doctrine of this Buddha I do approve”.

Upatissa asked again, "Venerable sir, what does he proclaim?"

"Brother, I am a novice and a new-comer under this Doctrine and Discipline. I am not able to expound to you the Doctrine at any great length, but I can tell you the substance of it in brief."

Then Upatissa spoke to Bhikkhu Assaji as follows:—

"So be it, brother. Whether little or much, tell it to me. Tell me only the gist; it is the gist I want. What use is a lot of rhetoric?"

Then Bhikkhu Assaji recited to Upatissa. Here is the exposition of the Doctrine:—

The Tathagata has explained the causes
Of all things springing from a cause,
And also how things cease to be—
This the great Adept has proclaimed.

So I can say that what the Buddha taught for 45 years is the cause of suffering and how to cease the cause of suffering. This is the well-known discourse which the Buddha taught, the law of cause and effect.

It is not only the Buddha who teaches Buddhism, but also his followers; both ordained monks and Lay Buddhist do. As the Buddha had instructed them to bring it to all; he said, "Go ye, O bhikkhus, for the gain of the many, the welfare of the many, in compassion for the world, for the good, for the gain, for the welfare of gods and men." From then on, the Buddha walked through the villages and towns of India, speaking in the vernacular, using common figures of speech that everyone could understand. He and his disciples taught all people, from young to old, poor to rich, thief to king.

One day, during journey to Kushinagara, the Buddha was asked by Ananda who would be the teacher or leader of the Sangha when he passed away. Then he advised them to take refuge in themselves, both Dhamma, the teachings and Vinaya, the discipline, would be their teacher. Then he spoke his final words: "Now then, bhikkhus, I address you: all compound things are subject to decay; strive diligently." At the last moment, with his compassion he ordained a man, Subhatdaparibhajaka, the last disciple whom the Buddha himself ordained. And then he passed away in the town of Kushinagara, at the age of eighty, Some of the assembled monks were despondent, but the Buddha, lying on his side, with his head resting on his right hand, reminded them that everything is impermanent.

His journey ended today, the full moon of the sixth lunar month so today all of us come here to celebrate this day, the Buddha’s Day which contains three remarkable events; the Buddha’s birthday, his enlightenment and his passing away. All activities we have done today are to commemorate his life; what he has done for the world, and his teaching; the great teachings he taught the world.

Finally, my talk comes to an end and I hope you can get some benefits from my talk which would leave you with some reflections on the Buddha and his teaching. May of all beings be happy and well. Thank you very much.