BUDDHA. This title is usually employed to designate theeminent religious teacher, from whose doctrines have sprung up the forms of the Buddh ist religion which are found prevailing in Ceylon, Nepal, Tibet, Tartary, Mongolia, Burma, Siam, Anam, Cambodia, China, Japan, Formosa, and Corea. Its votaries, it is supposed, outnumber those of all other creeds, except the Christian. The Rev. Mr. Hardy quotes a German estimate of the Bud dhists at 369 millions ; Major Cunningham has 222 millions, and even 500 millionshave been estimated.
Buddha in Sanskrit means wisdom, supreme intelligence, and the words of nearly similar sound are mere varieties, in different parts of the East Indies, in orthography and pronunciation. The Chinese no B or D in their alphabet, and their language being monosyllabic, they have further softened this term into Fo, Fo-e, or Fo ; they also call him Sa-ka, a variation of Sakya, his tribal name.
Taking the term in the simple sense of a religious teacher, it is generally admitted that there had been several Buddha prior to the advent of Sakya Sinha, to whom the term is now restricted by the people of Europe. Sakya Sinha declares lie was the twenty-fifth Buddha, and says of another, Bliagava Metteyo is yet to come.' Colonel Tod is of opinion (i. p. 90) that there bad been four distinguished Buddha or wise men, teachers in India of a monotheism which they brought from Central Asia, with their science and the arrow or nail-headed written character. The first Buddha he considers was Budh, the parent of the Lunar race, B.C. 2250. The second (twenty second of the Jains), Naimnath, B.C. 1120. The third (twenty-third of the Jains), Parswanath, B.C. 650. The fourth (twenty - fourth of the Jains), Mahavira, B.C. 533.
Sakya Siuha was •born in the 5th or 6th century B.C., at Kapilavastu, in the Gorakhpur district, in the reign of Bimbasara, the fifth of the Sisunaga dynasty of Magadha or Behar. He was the only son of raja Suddhodana, the chief of a tribe called Sakya, whose country lay among the spurs of the Himalaya, along the banks of the Rohini, or modern Kohana. Suddhodana was indeed one of the last representatives of the pure Aryan or Solar dynasties who held sway in Ayo dhya, the modern Oudh, and were deposed by the Lunar dynasties of the mixed Aryan and Turanian races, and reduced to mere chieftains of tribes, who still maintained a precarious independence under the protecting shadows of the Himalaya. The Rohini divided the Sakya from the Koliyan on the opposite bank, and in times of famine the river was often the object of fighting between them. But during the rule of Suddhodana there was peace between the clans on either side of the Rohini, and Suddhodana had married two of the daughters of the Koliyan chief. Both continued childless, until, in her 45th year, the elder sister presented her husband with a son, the prince Gautama Siddartha. Buddhist legends describe the great rejoicing at the unexpected event; that Buddhas from afar came to worship' the new-born babe, and aver that his incarnation was voluntary, and his conception immaculate. At 19 years old he was married to his cousin Yasodhara, the daughter of the Koliyan raja ; and in the Pali scriptures we hear nothing more of him, until in his 29th year it is related that, one day, driving beyond his pleasure-grounds, he met an old man, and on another a paralytic, and again one suffering from the pest, and after that a corpse. These sights stirred the prince to new thoughts. About this time Yasodhara gave birth to a son, her only child. On hearing of it, Gautama only said, This is another strong tie I have to break.' That evening the nautch girls came as usual to dance before him, but lie paid no attention to them, and gradually fell asleep. On awaking again at mid night, and seeing them lying about in the ante room in inelegant postures, an overpowering loathing filled his soul, and he called at once to his charioteer, Channa, to get ready for his departure. He then went to Yasodhara's room, hoping to embrace his new-born boy while she slept, but, fearing that should she awake he would be moved from his resolution, he tore himself from the threshold of her door; and on the night of the full moon of. the month of July, B.C. 594, the young Rajput prince went forth into the forests of Magadha, resolved never to return to his father's house, and to his wife and child, until he could come back to them as a teacher. This, in the Buddhist scriptures, is styled The Great Re nunciation' of Gautama Buddha. He first went to Rajagriha, the capital of Magadha, the residence of king Bimbisara, where he attached himself to a Brahman named Alara, and afterwards to another named Adraka, by whom he was initiated into all the mysteries of the Hindu religion and philosophy. But not being satisfied, he retired to the jungle of Uruvela, on the north of the Vindhya range, where for six years, attended by five faithful disciples, he gave himself up to the severest asceticism, till his fame filled the whole of Malwa, or Central India, ' like the sound of a great bell hung in the canopy of the skies.' At last one day he fainted from extreme exhaustion, when, recovering, and seeing the folly of such useless self-denial, he thenceforward began to take food regularly, on which his five disciples deserted him and went to Benares. On the very day that they left him, he wandered forth, meditat ing painfully on their desertion just at the time when he most needed human sympathy, until at last he came to a village on the banks of the Nairanjara, where Sujata, the daughter of one of the villagers, compassionately brought him food as he sat under the Bodhi tree, Urostigma religio sum, or sacred fig-tree. He was greatly moved by
the compassion of Sujata, and sat meditating under the tree through all the day and all the following night. First he was strongly tempted to give up his missionary life, and return to wife and child, wealth and power, but as the sun set the religious side of his great nature triumphed. His mind was made up to the belief that penances, self-tortures, and sacrifices were not the way of life and peace, but a pure heart ;. and that the only freedom from doubt and heresy was through overcoming im purity, envy, and hatred. The first enemy that must be conquered is sensuality, and the last self righteousness ; and the crown of purity, faith, and justice, without which all these are no more than self - righteousness, is universal charity.' As these truths flashed on his mind, he felt that he had become the Buddha, the Enlightened One, and he arose to proclaim his new-found joy to all the world around him. He first sought out his old teachers, Alara and Adraka, but they were dead. Then he went to. his former five disciples at Uruvela, who were now living in the Deer Forest at Benares. As he approached, they determined not to receive him, but Gautama was a man of commanding presence and noble countenance, and had a rich, deep, thrilling voice, and as he drew near and addressed them, all their self-righteous resolutions failed, and in the end they followed him as their true teacher and master. Another of his converts in the Deer Forest was a rich young man named Yasa, who came to him by night out of fear of his relations, and after wards succeeded in bringing many of his friends and companions into the new religion. He then returned to Uruvela, where he converted three fire-worshippers, one of whom was called Kasyapa, and other hermits who were living there, accom panied by whom he proceeded again to the court of king Bimbisara at Magadha. There great numbers joined him, including Sariputra and Mog gallana, who afterwards became famous leaders of the new religion. At last, after seven years' absence, Buddha started for Kapilavastu. He entered the city with his mendicant's bowl in his hand, begging through the streets. The old raja Suddhodana was scandalized; but Gautama replied, My father, the customs of the Dharma (Law, or Kingdom, of righteousness) are good, both for ' this world and the world which is to come. My ? father, when a man has found a treasure, it is his duty to offer the most precious of the jewels to his father first. Do not delay, let me share with you the treasure I have found.' Yasodhara did not go forth to welcome him. I will wait and see,' she said ; perhaps I am still of some value in his eyes; ho ask for me, and I can better welcome him hero.' Gantama, who had not seen her since the night of his renunciation, noticed her absence, and observing that doubtless the princess, knowing that a recluse could not be touched by a woman, had kept away, added, She may embrace me; do not stop her. Unless her sorrow be allowed to take its course, her heart will break.' Then he went in to Yasodhara, who, when she saw him whom she had known as a prince standing before her as a yellow - robed hermit, and though she knew it before, for the first time then realized the impassable gulf between them, she fell upon him, and held him by the feet and wept bitterly. Buddha praised her great virtue, and, when she afterwards entered into the new religion, she became the head of the first Buddhist nunnery of female recluses. For 45 years Gautama prosecuted his mission in Hindu Ethan, attended by his cousin Ananda. He also converted another cousin, Devadatta, who, in envy, incited king Ajatasatru, who had suc ceeded king Bimbisara in Magadha, against him. But in the end Ajatasatru was also con verted. The common people, whose levelling instincts rebelled against the hereditary priesthood and crushing caste system of the Brahmans, joined him in multitudes. He died at the age of 80, B.C. 543. He was journeying towards Kasina gara, 80 miles east of Kapilavastu, and had rested in a grove at Pawn, presented to the new society by a goldsmith named Chunda. Chunda here prepared for him a meal of rice and pork, of which he ate incautiously, and was soon afterwards t iken ill. Finding that Chunda was likely to be reproached for his mortal fit of indigestion, he quietly remarked to Ananda, After I am gone, tell Chunda he will receive in a future birth a very great reward ; for, having eaten of his pork, I am about to pass into Nirvana. These are the gifts which will be blest above all others, namely, Sujata's gift before I attained wisdom under the Bodhi tree, and this gift of Chunda before I enter into the rest of Nirvana.' Afterwards, observing Ananda weeping, he said, 0 Ananda, do not weep. This body of ours contains within itself the powers which renew its strength for a time, but also the causes which lead to its destruction. Is there anything put together which shall not dissolve?' Then, turning to his disciples, he said, When I am passed away, and am no longer with you, do not think the Buddha has left you, and is not still in your midst. You have my words, my explanations, my laws, the Buddha has not left you.' And again, Beloved disciples, if you love my memory, love one another.' And after another pause lie said, 'Beloved, that which causes life causes also decay and death. Never forget this. I called you to tell you this.' These were the last words of Gautama Buddha, as he stretched himself out and died under the great sal tree, the Shorea robusta, at Kasinagara.