The Buddha And His Dhamma

Friends we all read and heard the story of Buddha, about the day when the first time in his life at the age of 29 he saw an old man, A sick man and a died man because of which he went into exile.Friends i don't know how this story got so publicity although it's not at all true. Let us in short know about the true life of Buddha.

• It was in 06th century B.C.,there was no single sovereign state.
• The country was divided into two states ''The Monarchical'' and the ''The Non-Monarchical'' state.
• Monarchical state ? Non-Monarchical state ?. If i rule a country, after me my son rules and then his son rules and so on and a Republic state is called as a non-monarchical state.
• The Non-monarchical states were known as SANGH or GANA.
• There were many ruling families in Republic of the Sakyas and they ruled in turns.
• The head of ruling family was known as Raja.
• At the time of birth of Siddharth Gautam,it was his father's turn Suddodhana to be the Raja.

I will not write much about Siddharth Gautam's childhood, you can read ''The Buddha and his Dhamma'' by Dr. Ambedkar. We will directly move on towards Siddharth Gautam's first step towards his early traits.

• Whenever Siddharth went to his father's farm and found no work he used to practice meditation.
• Once he saw some laborer's ploughing land, cutting trees,etc dressed in scanty clothes under hot burning sun.
• He was greatly moved by the sight.
• Siddharth did not like exploitation of man by man.
• Although Siddharth was born in a Warrior family he always refused to go hunting as he did not like killing of innocent animals.
• Siddharth got married to Yeshodhara at the age of sixteen and after a long term of marriage Yeshodhara gave birth to a son. He was named Rahula.
• Siddhartha was twenty years old now.
• The sakya had their Sangh. [ Sangh could be defined as  a community or a group of people who practice thing in a disciplined manner]
• It was a trend followed by sakyas that every sakya youth had to be initiated into sangh at the age of twenty and be a member of the sangh.
• Without any hesitation the former members of the sangh accepted Siddharth as the new sangh member.
• There were very strict rules followed by the sangh members. Every one has to obey and respect the desicion made by the sangh members otherwise they would be punished.

The root cause of Siddharth going into exile.

• Siddharth was now 28 years old and was very well following the sangha principles.
• Bordering the state of Sakyas there was another state the 'Koliyas' which were divided by river Rohini.
• The water from Rohini was used by both Sakyas and koliyas and every season there used to be a dispute between these two states.The dispute was for who will use the water first ?
• The Senapati  { the leader of Sangha } one day put forward a proposition in front of the sangha member to wage a war against the Koliyas so as to end the dispute of rowing water from the river Rohini and for that a voting poll was taken.
• The majority of votes with were the Senapati however Siddharth Gautam and some sangh members were against it.
• Siddharth Gautam said:'' This shows that we are not free from blame.I therefore  propose that we elect two men from us and the koliyas should be asked to elect two from them and the four should elect a fifth person and these should settle the dispute.''
• The resolution and the amendment put by Siddharth was declared lost by an overwhelming majority and the Senapati won.
• Next day the senapati called another meeting of the sakya sangh.
• The meeting was attended by both sides---those who were with the senapati and those who were with Siddharth Gautam.
• Sidharth once again opposed the decision of Senapati and hence as per the Sangh rules he has to face punishment..
• The Sangh could not give a death punishment however they were able to punish in other ways which were, A} The Sangh will declare a social boycott against Siddharth's family and B}The Sangh can confiscate Sidharth's family land.
• Siddharth realized the consequences that would follow if he continued opposition to the sangh. he had three alternatives to consider --to join forces and to participate in the war;to consent to being hanged or exiled ; and to allow the members of his family to be condemned to a social boycott and confiscation of property.
• Siddharth accepted the second option and went to exile. 

                                                                                                                   

 

                                                                                                                     By - Rahul R Moon.