Time Capsule: - Lord Buddha

It might sound strange to say that Silly was not silly. In fact he was the cleverest boy in his class. His name was Silapachai and his friends and classmates lovingly called him Silly because his original Thai name was too long. 

So it was Silly's turn and he entered the Time Capsule and pressed the buttons that would take him to the little Himalayan Kingdom Kapilavastu.

Childhood
On the brightened screen appeared the beautiful marble palace of King Sudhodana. In the court of the king stood two boys. One carried a bow and some arrows and the other an injured swan. Before the King were also his ministers and noblemen. They had come to hear the dispute of these two young men over a swan.

One was Devdutta who claimed that he had shot down the bird; and the other was Prince Siddhartha, son of King Sudhodana. His claim was that he had saved the life of the bird and so it was his. Both young men pleaded and argued before the king and noblemen and eventually it was decided that the bird would belong to the one who had saved its life and not one who had attempted to kill it. And so Prince Siddhartha won a point and taught the first great lesson. This was the very nature of Prince Siddhartha. From his youth he was very gentle, kind and loving to all people as well as to all animals.

People heard of the Prince's wisdom and recalled the strange dream Queen Maya had had before his birth. In the dream she saw a beautiful white elephant flying from the sky and entering her body. She narrated her dream to the King, and the two of them called wise men to give the meaning of the dream. The wise men said that the Queen would have a son who would be a special child, and he would be a great man, certainly greater than the King himself. This pleased King Sudhodana very much for he wished to have a son who would be a mighty ruler and who would expand the boundaries of his tiny kingdom in the north of India.

In time a son was born to Queen Maya, as foretold by the wise men. The entire kingdom joined in the celebration of the birth of Prince Siddhartha. Far away in a jungle, word reached the aged Asita who was a "Guru", a very wise man. He walked through the forest to the palace of King Sudhodana to pay homage to the new-born prince. When Asita approached the cradle of the baby prince he stood in wonder and soon tears trickled down his wrinkled face. The King and Queen were alarmed and asked what tragedy awaited their family that made Asita cry. The wise man replied, "Nothing is to happen to the prince but I weep only for myself that I will not live to see the prince grow into the great man that he is destined to be."

He told the King and Queen that if the prince remained with them he would be the mightiest emperor in the world, but if he left them he would become a very great teacher. It was the King's desire that his son should inherit his throne and expand his kingdom. He arranged ways and means of keeping the prince happy and contented within his palace grounds so that he might never want to go out.

Queen Maya died when Prince Siddhartha was still a young boy and it was his aunt who took care of him. Teachers were brought to educate the child but they soon came and reported to the King that the prince already knew more than they did.

Marriage
Prince Siddhartha grew up in the palace with everything that he could wish for and yet he was not happy. He would sit for long hours by himself as if thinking of things beyond the palace and beyond this world. This made the King unhappy and concerned. He remembered the words of Asita and he consulted his ministers who advised that Prince Siddhartha should be married. King. Sudhodana then asked his ministers to arrange the marriage of Siddhartha with Yashodhara, the daughter of neighbouring King Suprabuddha.

King Suprabuddha announced that a contest would be arranged between all those who wished to marry his daughter, and the winner of the contest would then marry Princess Yashodhara. King Sudhodana had no hope that Prince Siddhartha would succeed in any contest because Prince Siddhartha had never taken any interest in archery, horsemanship or anything to do with fighting.

Prince Siddhartha was very kind, gentle and different from other princes and young men of his age. He had never shot an arrow from a bow, handled a sword or ridden a horse. Yet he agreed to take part in the competition and a strange thing happened. The young prince won each of three contests with such ease as to surprise everyone. He shot his arrow into the bull's-eye of a target from the farthest distance; cut through the thickest tree-trunk with a single stroke of a sword; and rode a wild horse that threw off all who tried to ride it.

The large crowd roared with joy and clapped with happiness that now Prince Siddhartha had won the three competitions and the right to wed Princess Yashodhara. The lovely Yashodhara became the wife of the charming Prince Siddhartha and all the country of Kapilavastu celebrated the wedding. The King ordered that the Prince should have all comforts and luxuries so that his mind would never wander beyond the palace grounds and so that he would never want the outside world.

Siddhartha and Yashodhara lived for several years in their dreamworld where they knew nothing but pleasure. They had musicians and singers to entertain them. They had many servants to bring whatever their hearts wished for. They were surrounded by young, healthy, happy people and they had no way of knowing pain or sorrow.

Leaving the Palace
In time, the Prince and Yashodhara were blessed with a son. However, Siddhartha was never completely happy. One day he made it known to the King that he wanted to see the rest of his kingdom. Sudhodana agreed and made arrangements for Prince Siddhartha to visit Kapilavastu. However, before the Prince could go out, the King sent orders that all the people of the city must be well dressed to welcome and sing and dance before the Prince when he drove amongst them in the chariot. He ordered that all old and sick people should remain in their homes. The King did not want Siddhartha to see anything that would make him unhappy.

And so on the day that Siddhartha drove in the chariot, he was greeted cheerfully wherever he went. They sang before him and showered rose petals upon him. This pleased Siddhartha very much. Amongst the crowds he noticed a man bent almost double and walking slowly with the help of a stick. A pair of sad looking eyes were sunk in his dry and wrinkled face. The Prince wondered what had happened to this man. He asked the charioteer, Channa who explained that the man had become old. Siddhartha was quite surprised. The charioteer further explained that the old man had one day been young and energetic like the prince himself, but as the years passed the man had become bent with age and weakened.

The prince lost interest in all the celebrations around him and asked to be taken back to his palace. But he was never the same. He could not remove from his mind the sad look on the wrinkled face of that old man. Siddhartha was most unhappy.

On two later visits into the city, Prince Siddhartha saw a sick man and a dead man being carried for burial and thus he learned of sickness and death. He understood that the body was of no use without the spirit of life. He was disturbed that he also could fall ill, become old, and one day die.

Siddhartha decided that he must find out the reason for the suffering of man. And he determined that living in the palace with all the pleasures around him he could never find that answer. The answer lay beyond the walls of his palace. So he decided he must leave the palace and go into the forests with the poor and suffering people and find the answer that would bring them relief and joy.

He announced his decision to King Sudhodana who became most unhappy. The King did everything he possibly could to prevent Siddhartha from leaving the palace. To the King's pleading, Siddhartha replied, "O Father, if you can save me from unhappiness and illness, old age and death, then I shall remain with you, otherwise I must go out into the world and find answers to the purpose of my life".

One night when his wife, Princess Yashodhara, and his son were asleep, Prince Siddhartha mounted his favourite horse and rode out silently until he reached the edge of the forest. Siddhartha decided that this was the beginning of his search for the meaning of suffering and of life. He exchanged his silken royal clothes for the ordinary clothes of a poor man and he set out on foot into the forest, no longer a prince, now only a humble Siddhartha.

Desire to learn
During his wanderings through the forests and the villages he came across many people with whom he talked and from whom he tried to learn and understand, but no one could give him the answers to his questions.

He tried different ways and means of purifying his mind and body. At one time he thought that if he disciplined his body he would be inspired and would find the answers to the questions that bothered him. So he exposed his body to the heat and rain and cold. He didn't eat his normal food and within a few months the handsome and strong young Prince Siddhartha became weak and haggard. He became thin and the radiance of his face faded. Still he did not find the answers and when he was very weak he thought he might die without finding the truth.

Then Siddhartha thought to himself: "When I was in the royal palace, surrounded by all the pleasures of life, I did not have happiness. Now in these forests where I have lived for months in loneliness and deprived of every pleasure, even food, I still am not happy. Let me try the middle path".

Those who were fasting with him were five seekers and they left Siddhartha saying that he was a weakling and had failed in his determination. But Siddhartha knew better. For his mind could not work and think properly when his body was weak and hungry. He started eating food again and sat under a tree closing his eyes to all the world and he began to think about the problem of suffering. He vowed that he would not rise from that place until he had found the answer.

As Siddhartha sat under that tree and thought longer about the problem of suffering, the answers gradually unfolded before him. His mind could not be disturbed by the winds and the rain and the thunder and the lightning that were around him. Nothing could disturb his mind which was now sharply focused upon man and his Creator, the purpose of this life and the reason for suffering.

In his meditation, (with his eyes shut,) Siddhartha saw people full of hatred, quarrelling among themselves for the things that really did not matter at all. He realized that if people understood how things changed and what little value material things have, then they would never fight for them.

He realized that if men were detached from material things then hatred would also be removed from their hearts and they would be filled with love and their lives would be happier.

The "Enlightened One"
Siddhartha had at last found the meaning of life and death. He had reached the end of his search. His mind was now illumined and from then on he came to be called the "Buddha", the "Enlightened One".

Having come to this truth at the age of thirty-five, Buddha set out to teach other seekers. He left the place under the giant tree, which still stands at the place named Bodh Gaya, and set out for Varanasi which was the holy city of the Hindus.

In Varanasi he met the five monks who had deserted him when he gave up fasting, and he explained to them what he had realized. He described to them what he called the wheel of life.

Buddha taught them that unhappiness existed in the world because men looked for happiness in things that could bring them only unhappiness. He taught the five monks that the cause of unhappiness was that people were filled with greed and desire. He assured them that if their hearts were cleared of all greed and desire then they were on the right path and they would come to have complete peace of mind.

The fourth teaching of Lord Buddha was that no person should harm any other human being, bird or animal.

The monks accepted the teachings and became the first of His followers. Now Lord Buddha and his disciples traveled in different directions spreading the new teachings that brought light and joy to all those who heard and accepted them. Lord Buddha was welcome everywhere and people flocked to Him with their problems, which He resolved.

Buddha taught people everywhere to be loving, to be humble, to be kind and to be generous. He counselled against fighting and quarreling.

One day while Lord Buddha was teaching some disciples, an angry young man came forward shouting and insulting Him. Lord Buddha did not become angry at the man but called him and lovingly asked, "Tell me, if you take a gift to a friend of yours and he does not accept it from you, to whom will that gift belong?" The young man still angry, answered, "It will be mine of course". Lord Buddha, smiling, said to the man, "You see, I have not accepted your abuse."

Lord Buddha taught and guided the people for many years and changed their lives in many countries.

(Varqa, Children Magazine, vol. 1, no. 5, November 1981)