SUKHO BUDDHĀNĀM UPPĀDO – Happy is the birth of all Buddhas!
Vesak commemorates the Birth, Enlightenment and Mahāparinibbāna (or Great Passing Away) of the Buddha. As we celebrate Vesak, we should reflect on how these three events relate to our own lives.
The Birth of the Buddha was the culmination of all the great virtues he had perfected from life to life. He was born as Prince Siddhartha, in a ruling class and in the lap of luxury. Yet, he had the wisdom to realise the fleeting nature of all material comforts and sensual pleasures, and the courage to renounce them in search of the truth – the knowledge to put an end to all the suffering that accompanies birth, old age, sickness and death.
In the same manner, our birth in this present lifetime is the result of our own actions in the past. As a result of the wholesome and meritorious actions of the past, we are born into a good family and peaceful environment, with all the favourable conditions for material and spiritual accomplishment. Some are not so fortunate, owing to their past actions. We need to contemplate on the law of karma: that our present life is the result of all the past good and bad actions we have done, and our future will be the result of all the good and bad actions performed in this lifetime. If we follow the teachings of the Buddha – to avoid all evil, to do good, and to purify our own minds – we will continue to be born in favourable conditions conducive to our final liberation, enabling us to transcend this saṃsāric cycle of birth, old age, sickness and death.
In order to understand how the Enlightenment of the Buddha is relevant to our own lives, we need to understand two things: firstly, we need to understand how the thought of enlightenment arose in the mind of the young Prince Siddhartha and secondly, what enlightenment is really about.
The sights of an old man, a sick man, and a dead person, led Prince Siddhartha to contemplate on how he and his loved ones will also grow old, fall sick and die. Out of compassion, he asked himself if there is a way out, a way to end old age, sickness and death? As he kept on thinking how he could help all his loved ones and his countrymen, he became more and more determined to find the answer. On his way back to the palace, he saw a calm and serene ascetic (or holy man) meditating under a tree. He thought: ‘This could be the way out. I must try it out for myself.’ Thus he made the decision to give up his life of luxury to search for the truth. After six years of strict and austere practice in the forest, he eventually gained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree in Bodhgaya.
On the night of his enlightenment (which fell on the full moon day of the month of Vesākha), in the stillness of his mind, he began to recall his past lives, one after another. Next, he saw how beings die and are reborn according to their actions, or karma. Seeing his own past lives as well as the past lives of others, he understood the sufferings that accompany birth, old age, sickness and death. Finally, he saw very clearly how suffering arises and how suffering ceases dependent on causes and conditions. This led him to realise the true nature of existence and awakened in him the knowledge of how to put an end to suffering, once and for all. This is what the Enlightenment of the Buddha is about. It shows us the true purpose of our life: to put an end to all suffering.
All of us wish to be free from suffering, and we pray for peace and happiness. But, out of ignorance, we keep on generating the causes of suffering, creating more and more suffering and unhappiness for ourselves and for others.
In order to really overcome suffering, we need to know that:
There is suffering,
There is the cause of suffering,
There is an end to suffering, and
There is the way to end suffering.
These Four Noble Truths encapsulate the universal peace message of the Buddha.
The cause of suffering lies in craving, which manifests both as greed (wanting) and hatred (not wanting). Behind this is delusion, or ignorance – in particular, ignorance with regard to the true nature of our self and phenomena. The Buddha showed the way to overcome greed, hatred and delusion through the Noble Eightfold Path.
At some stage in our lives, we need to wake up to the realities of life, and be prepared to give up the lesser happiness – temporary pleasures of a sensual nature – for the greater happiness of freedom from greed, hatred and delusion.
We may not be able to meditate and become enlightened like the Buddha right away, but we can always apply his teachings to live a more peaceful and harmonious way of life, sowing the seeds of our final liberation and enlightenment. On the occasion of Vesak, we should reaffirm our faith and commitment to the Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha and make the strong wish and aspiration to grow in the Dhamma’s path by avoiding evil, doing good and purifying our own minds.
The Mahāparinibbāna or Great Passing Away of the Buddha shows us how to die peacefully. We use the term Mahāparinibbāna because the Buddha did not die like ordinary human beings. Ordinary humans fear death. Their minds are often confused and scattered.
The Buddha passed away with perfect mindfulness and awareness. In his last moments of life, the Buddha lay on one side in the ‘lion’s posture’. He then pitched his mind to the different mental absorptions – ascending from the first jhāṇa up to the eighth jhāṇa, then descending from the eighth to the first jhāṇa, and again ascending from the first to the fourth jhāṇa – before attaining Mahāparinibbāna and experiencing the bliss of Nibbāna.
Reflecting on the Mahāparinibbāna of the Buddha, we must realise that even the Buddha – the all-enlightened one – has passed on. What more ourselves? All beings that are born are subject to death.
Such reflection will prepare our minds to face the eventuality of death and recognise the need to reduce and overcome greed, hatred and delusion. It will teach us to let go of the past and the future, and to remain in the here and now with great clarity and emptiness.
The Buddha’s parting words were:
Transient are all component things;
Work out your deliverance with mindfulness.
Through his Birth, Enlightenment and Great Passing Away, the Buddha teaches us the greatest lesson of life: how we can transcend old age, sickness and death by reducing and overcoming the tendencies of greed, hatred and delusion; and finally, put an end to all suffering.
