Genius of the Ancient World (BBC Four)
#1. Buddha
Centuries before modern man came up with the concept of cognitive psychology and self-discoveries, there walk a man in flesh and blood who questioned the ritualistic practices of the people in the name of the Protector. At a time when Brahmin sages performed sacrificial rites to appease the Maker so that man can be taken care in the next life, he stood to question the relevance of these.
Leaving his comfortable life in the courtyards of the leader of the Sankya clansmen in Southern Nepal, he wandered to the buzzing city in Maghada state. People of the cosmopolitan town of Patna were alive with many questions and ideas about life and its purpose. Siddharta Gautama queried the concept of samsara and the cycle of life. If rituals could change the fate of the high caste in the next life, what happens to the traders and workers rank. Are they destined to be trapped in miseries forever?
He sought for his answers with a sage named Alara Kalama who tried to unite the microcosm of the inner self and the macrocosm of the universal soul, but Gautama was not impressed. He then joined the renouncers who felt that material attachments impede liberation. After six years of extreme self-denying penances which almost killed him, he abandoned it as well.
He finally chose the path of moderation. In an ever changing external world, our permanent selves do not exist. Nothing is permanent. Everything is contextual. The fundamental reason for suffering is our trapping in materialism and our obsession with the delusion of self. The realisation comes when we know ourselves - know yourself and the world is yours.
At the age of 35, under the shade of Bodh Gaya, every puzzle of the jigsaw fitted perfectly. He was enlightened, he found nirvana. From then, He discovered the Four Noble Truths and the 8-fold paths to end all sufferings. He revolutionised ethics by saying that the intention of our action is more important than the ritual of action. Irrespective of our caste, gender or class, we are the master of our fate. To find answers, we first must look within.
Buddha then ventured to the Central Indian plains. His group of followers formed the Sangha. They received donations from well-wishers. A bamboo retreat was donated by Bimbisara to start a monastery. Nuns too formed part of the Sangha. This was something revolution for the time when the female gender was looked upon as a burden to society.
Even though on the exterior, the Buddhist teachings may appear to be focused on self-improvement, its ambition is for collective wellbeing. Buddha finally meets his death after feasting on a blacksmith's tainted food.
Two hundred years after his death, a despot reactivated his fledgeling religion and brought it to greater heights. He spread it to East Asia and the Middle East. Ashoka, after his trail of killings and torture, one day had a realisation. He built stupas and sculptured stone carving of Buddha's teachings. In the 5th century AD, India had the first university in the world in Nalanda. It did not last long. Muslim invaders from the north burnt it to the ground in an inferno which last three days.
You cultivate the mind by cultivating it, not torturing it. Change is inevitable, but we have the power to direct the change. At one glance, these sayings look benign. Given the correct over-analysis and coercion, one to bound to think that it is alright to bear arms to injure a fellow human being. After all, we are just directing the change as he deems fit. That could provide the explanation for the somewhat combative stance of Buddhist monks in Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand of late. Points to ponder...
#1. Buddha
Centuries before modern man came up with the concept of cognitive psychology and self-discoveries, there walk a man in flesh and blood who questioned the ritualistic practices of the people in the name of the Protector. At a time when Brahmin sages performed sacrificial rites to appease the Maker so that man can be taken care in the next life, he stood to question the relevance of these.Leaving his comfortable life in the courtyards of the leader of the Sankya clansmen in Southern Nepal, he wandered to the buzzing city in Maghada state. People of the cosmopolitan town of Patna were alive with many questions and ideas about life and its purpose. Siddharta Gautama queried the concept of samsara and the cycle of life. If rituals could change the fate of the high caste in the next life, what happens to the traders and workers rank. Are they destined to be trapped in miseries forever?
He sought for his answers with a sage named Alara Kalama who tried to unite the microcosm of the inner self and the macrocosm of the universal soul, but Gautama was not impressed. He then joined the renouncers who felt that material attachments impede liberation. After six years of extreme self-denying penances which almost killed him, he abandoned it as well.
He finally chose the path of moderation. In an ever changing external world, our permanent selves do not exist. Nothing is permanent. Everything is contextual. The fundamental reason for suffering is our trapping in materialism and our obsession with the delusion of self. The realisation comes when we know ourselves - know yourself and the world is yours.
At the age of 35, under the shade of Bodh Gaya, every puzzle of the jigsaw fitted perfectly. He was enlightened, he found nirvana. From then, He discovered the Four Noble Truths and the 8-fold paths to end all sufferings. He revolutionised ethics by saying that the intention of our action is more important than the ritual of action. Irrespective of our caste, gender or class, we are the master of our fate. To find answers, we first must look within.
Buddha then ventured to the Central Indian plains. His group of followers formed the Sangha. They received donations from well-wishers. A bamboo retreat was donated by Bimbisara to start a monastery. Nuns too formed part of the Sangha. This was something revolution for the time when the female gender was looked upon as a burden to society.
Even though on the exterior, the Buddhist teachings may appear to be focused on self-improvement, its ambition is for collective wellbeing. Buddha finally meets his death after feasting on a blacksmith's tainted food.
Two hundred years after his death, a despot reactivated his fledgeling religion and brought it to greater heights. He spread it to East Asia and the Middle East. Ashoka, after his trail of killings and torture, one day had a realisation. He built stupas and sculptured stone carving of Buddha's teachings. In the 5th century AD, India had the first university in the world in Nalanda. It did not last long. Muslim invaders from the north burnt it to the ground in an inferno which last three days.
You cultivate the mind by cultivating it, not torturing it. Change is inevitable, but we have the power to direct the change. At one glance, these sayings look benign. Given the correct over-analysis and coercion, one to bound to think that it is alright to bear arms to injure a fellow human being. After all, we are just directing the change as he deems fit. That could provide the explanation for the somewhat combative stance of Buddhist monks in Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand of late. Points to ponder...
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