THE BUDDHA

What he actually was

By Ven. M. Punnaji Mahathera

Is Buddha a man or God? Do you believe in God? Who created the world? These are some common questions that Dharmaduta missionaries have to face when engaged in their work.

The beginnings
Once I had to deliver a talk on Dhamma to a group of prisoners in North America. I was invited by a Buddhist monk who was regularly visiting these prisoners to teach them Buddhism. After I had finished the talk a young man asked me, in a fairly rough tone Who created the world? I remained silent for a short while and answered: You created the world. The monk who was with me thought I gave the wrong answer. And so he began a talk of his own, and he never allowed me to utter a single word after that. I gave that answer, hoping to elaborate on what I said, but he never gave me a chance to do so. This kind of misunderstanding occurs because of the confusion that is created when people from two cultures meet and exchange views. Even the other monk was an American who did not guess what I was going to say. I was going to introduce the dhamma to people who have never had an adequate knowledge of the teachings of the Buddha. My answers are often a little different from the traditional ideas common among modern Buddhists who have been influenced by half-baked views of writers. I do, however, always support what I say with quotations from the Suttas. Very often people answer this question (who created the world?) by saying that the Buddha has been silent about the beginning of the world, and he considered the question to be unimportant. Instead of speaking about the beginning he spoke about the Four Noble Truths: Suffering, its cause, its end, and the way to its end. In support of this answer they often quote the Culla Malunkyaputta Sutta in the Majjima Nikaya. This is a good example of a halfbaked concept that modern Buddhists who read English had learned to accept. What I often point out is that the Buddha has never been silent on this question. The Buddha has always emphasised the importance of yoniso manasikara, which means thinking in terms of the origin, or deterministic thinking. A special example of this kind of thinking is the well known paticca samuppada, which is commonly translated as dependent origination. It was by listening to this teaching in short that Upatissa, who became Sariputta, attained the first stage of enlightenment called, stream-entrance ( sotapanna). 1

If we look for a Sutta where the Buddha draws attention to this fact, expressed in my statement (you created the world) we find in the Anguttara Nikaya a Sutta, where a certain deva by the name of Rohitassa comes and asks the Buddha whether it is possible to reach the end of the world by travelling in space. The Buddhas answer was that it is not possible to reach the end of the world by travelling in space. Even modern scientific thinking of Albert Einstein and other researchers confirm this statement of the Buddha. The Buddha, explaining further, states: the world, the beginning of the world, the end of the world, and the way leading to the end of the world, are to be found in this fathom long body itself, with its perceptions and conceptions (saimhi samnake). If one studies the theory of perception in a book on modern psychology, one could find an elaborate explanation of this fact. In fact the modern science called quantum physics is throwing light on this fact, and this fact has even begun to puzzle the scientists who are not inclined to believe this. Another important occasion when the Buddha had to refer to this fact was immediately after the Buddhas Awakening, or becoming a Buddha. A common verse that is often quoted but not properly comprehended is: Numerous births in sasara have I run, seeking but not finding the Creator of the world. Painful is birth again and again. Oh Creator now I see you. No more will you create. Your supports have been destroyed, and your structure is dismantled. The mind has stopped creating, the passionate urge has ceased. When translated this way, no more explanation becomes necessary. The secret is out. This explains the meaning of my statement: you created the world. To put it in simple terms, EACH INDIVIDUAL CREATES HIS OWN WORLD through the process of perception, which is enumerated in the pancakkhanda, commonly translated as the five aggregates. This means, what we call the five aggregates is a description of the process of perception that creates the world. The object perceived is the world, and the subject that perceives is the subjective process of perception. It is this subjective process of perception, or the pancakkhanda that we tend to personalize as myself or my personality. What is perceived, through the process of perception, is the objective world that we are aware of, which we think is external to us. This may come as a surprise to some who have not gone into a deep study of philosophy. Many questions can arise on hearing this. Yet when one understands this fact properly, many problems that come up when studying the teachings of the Buddha will be resolved. A good example of such a befuddling problem is the oft-coated saying about Nirvana, there is an unborn, unbecome, unmade, incomposite. Were it not for this... no escape could be shown from birth, becoming, making, composition. (Ud. 80). This quotation makes the reader think of Nirvana as a kind of Heaven or Hell, depending on the cultural background from which the reader comes. This confusion may be cleared if the reader sees this other quotation describing the same Nirvana. Apperception (anidassana vina) unlimited and all clear Where name and image are absent, without trace 2

There solid, liquid, heat, or motion has no place Perception when stopped, nothing can appear

Buddhism not atheistic

It is important to know that though Buddhists do not believe in an external Creator of the world, Buddhism does not reject the concept of God. It only defines God in a humanistic way. This means, Buddhism is neither theistic nor atheistic, but humanistic. It avoids all extremes. God, for the Buddhist, is a human concept, which is the ideal of perfection that human beings attempt to realize through the practice of religion. It is this concept of perfection which is presented by theists in the form of the attributes of God who is all powerful (omnipotent), all knowing (omniscience), and all loving (omni-benevolent). This perfect being is not seen by the Buddhist, however, as the Creator of the world (a view that many present day Western philosophers seem to agree on). God being the ideal of perfection, Buddhists believe that it is the human being who reaches that state of perfection, through the practice of religion, and when he does so, he is called the Awakened One (Buddha), the God Become (Brahma bhuto). Union with God is the common ideal of all religions. In Buddhism, this union is called, Awakening from the dream of existence ( Samma Sambodhi), which is becoming a Buddha (The Awakened One). This means God is the ideal of perfection that human beings attempt to realize through the practice of religion. And Buddha is man become God ( Brahma bhuto).

The problem of existence

All religions attempt to solve the same problem, which is the problem of existence, even though the followers may not be aware of it. When they seek eternal life and eternal happiness in heaven after death, they are attempting to be free from death, and free from the impermanence of happiness. It is this impermanence of life and pleasure that the Buddha saw as the insecurity of life (dukkha), or the problem of existence. The Buddha introduced the problem of existence and its solution in the form of the Fourfold Sublime Reality. This reality consists of: 1) the insecurity of life (dukkha), 2) its origin (samudaya), 3) its end (nirodha), and 3) the way it ends (magga). The problem which is the insecurity of life is a conflict, where the reality of impermanence, perceived by the thinking faculty, comes in conflict with the emotional urge for unreal permanence that is carried on blindly. Our mind is a combination of two parts: an emotional part (citta) and a rational thinking part (mano). It is these two parts that really come in conflict. So the problem is subjective rather than objective. This is how it becomes a psychological problem rather than an environmental problem. It cannot be solved by attempting to change the environment, or by pleading to supernatural forces that govern the environment. It can be solved only by removing the cause, which is the unrealistic emotion that goes against 3

reality, which is psychological. Instead of seeking supernatural help in gods, or God the Creator of the world, the Buddhist attempts to solve this problem by examining the psychological cause of the problem, and bringing about a psychological solution to it, which is a humanistic instead of theistic approach to the problem and its solution. The problem of existence is existence itself, which is only a static concept in a dynamic reality, and therefore a delusion that all normal humans suffer from. It was Kierkegaard, the father of existential philosophy, who drew attention to the problem of existence in the West. He ended up with the statement that the human mind is so limited that it is incapable of solving this problem, and therefore all we can do is to take the leap of faith. It was the Buddha, however, who finally solved the problem, twenty centuries before the West came to realize it, but he is supposed to have taken four million infinite aeons to accomplish the task. The solution of the Buddha was not through the leap of faith in supernatural power, however, but through faith in the natural power of human intelligence and through the process of human evolution, which is a psychological transformation of the human consciousness, where the consciousness becomes conscious of itself, which is a reflective consciousness. This means the normal consciousness is conscious of the external world, but it is unconscious of itself. This was what Sigmund Freud saw as the unconscious. What the Buddha did was to become conscious of the unconscious mental processes that are going on all the time. By so doing the unconscious mental processes could be brought under control, and even made to do wonderful things that some call miracles. These unconscious mental processes are what we normally identify as ourselves. But the Buddha recognized that these unconscious mental processes are impersonal processes that start when the necessary conditions are present and stop when those conditions are absent. Therefore it is wrong to identify them as myself. When I stop identifying with them, there is nothing to call myself. If there is nothing to call myself, then I have no self. If I have no self, I dont exist. If I dont exist, I am only struggling to exist for no reason. This struggle is futile and painful. This struggle to survive, in spite of death, being futile and painful, is therefore unnecessary. If so I should stop this painful struggle. Then this would be the end of all suffering. That would be the greatest happiness. Thus he awoke from the dream of existence.

Evolution of Man
This solution of the problem of existence by the Buddha can be understood further when we understand the modern theory of evolution. The entire teaching of the Buddha can be explained in terms of the theory of evolution. According to this modern theory, the human being is the highest evolved animal with a developed brain that can think and reason out. The power of this human intellect can be seen today in the knowledge accumulated through modern scientific research, and also through the wonderful products of scientific technology. 4

With all this massive power, the human being has not been able gain freedom from crime, wars, and terrorism that plague the world today. This problem has become a global crisis today. Some people try to blame reason for this. It is not reason but emotion that is responsible for this problem. Today human beings are to a great extent dominated by emotion. Reason has become a slave to emotion. All the modern scientific technology is catering to the emotions rather than reason. Emotion is the manager and reason is the worker. Reason is not guiding the lives of people today. It is emotion that guides. This was why Sigmund Freud said: where there is the id there should be the ego, where id refers to emotion and ego refers to reason. It is extremely important for human beings to be guided by reason rather than by emotion.

Reason is a late comer in the history of evolution. Out of all the animals it is the human being who can reason out adequately, while many other varieties of animals can act emotionally. Even the human child is able to properly reason out only at a certain age of growth. This means the thinking and reasoning faculty has to grow and evolve further, to be powerful enough to control the emotions. An ancient Sanskrit verse says:

Taking Food, sleep, fear, and sex These men have in common with beasts Thought is what makes the humans special Low in thought, men are beasts

This evolution of the human being further has to be psychological rather than biological, because it has to be an evolution of the mind. Unlike biological evolution, which occurred unconsciously, this psychological evolution has to be consciously executed, because it is the evolution of consciousness itself. This was what the Buddha achieved when he became an Awakened person, by introverting the attention and becoming conscious of the unconscious reaction of the organism to stimulation by the environment. This was how the consciousness was expanded. It was not expanding outward as the astronomers do, but extending inwards through introspection, to become aware of awareness itself. It is this reflective awareness that resulted in a paradigm shift, from existence or being (bhava) to cessation of being (bhava nirodha), which is the imperturbable serenity (NIRVANA), an experience that is transparent through apperception (anidassana vina) Apperception unlimited and everywhere clear Where name and image are absent, without trace There solid, liquid, heat, or motion has no place Perception when stopped, nothing does appear 5

That was the end of the world free from birth, aging, and death, which the Buddha spoke of. Through evolution of consciousness, he stopped the struggle for existence, which continues the evolutionary process. This means he cannot evolve further. He has reached the ultimate level of evolution, and become superhuman and truly Divine, where his identity is lost. The essence of this God therefore is not existence, but freedom from the delusion of existence. In becoming a Buddha he awoke from the dream of existence, existence being only a dream, which is accompanied by birth, aging and death. This is the real immortality that all religions ultimately aspire to attain. It is not eternal life or annihilation, but freedom from the delusion of existence.

This stopping of the evolutionary process by the stopping of the struggle for existence (bhava tanha) was the consequence of his realization of the futility and painfulness of the struggle for existence, where only a struggle continued without a real existence. The struggle he saw was futile, because no individual really survived. It is only the species that continued, which was only the continuity of an empty struggle. By gaining this freedom from the futile and painful struggle for existence, (bhava tanha) the Buddha became the primate of human evolution. Therefore becoming a Buddha is the final step in the evolutionary process. This is therefore the highest point in the evolution of life. It is also the highest point in spiritual development. From the mystical point of view it is the union with God, or becoming God (Brahma bhuto).

Introducing Buddha
Introducing the Buddha to the modern world is not a simple matter. To say that the Buddha was a man is not good enough, it is blasphemous. To say he is a god is also blasphemy because a Buddha is one who has transcended the level of all gods. Fortunately the proper answer to this question is found in the Buddhas own words. Once, a Brahmin met the Buddha for the first time. This Brahmin could judge a person by reading his footprints. He happened to be walking behind the Buddha by accident and he observed the footprints of the Buddha, which were very different from the usual footprints of a normal human being. The Buddha was able to read the mind of this Brahmin who was walking behind him. So he moved out of the road and sat under a tree to let this man come and talk to him. So the Brahmin came to him and asked a question: Is your Reverence an Angel (deva)? No Brahmin, I am not an Angel. Then are you a devil (yakka)? No Brahmin I am not a devil. Then are you a spirit (gandabba)? No Brahmin, I am not a spirit. Then are you a human being? No Brahmin, I am not a human being. 6

You have answered no to all my questions Then who are you? Whatever be the conditions when present, a person could be called an Angel, Devil, Spirit, or human being, those conditions are not present in me. Just as a lotus, though born in the water, grown up in the water, rises above the water and remains unsoiled by the water, even so, though I was born in the world, grew up in the world, I transcended the world, and remain unspoiled by the world. There is only one word you can use to refer to me. It is Buddha (The Awake One). This awakening of the Buddha is an awakening from the dream of existence, just as the lotus rises above the water and remains unsoiled by the water. It is also a transcending of the human level to a superhuman Divine level. This is also the ultimate solution of the problem of existence, through a process of evolution of the human consciousness to a supernormal level. In the Aggaa Sutta the Buddha points out: These Brahmins claim that they are the true children of God (Brahma), born of his mouth. But every Brahmin knows that he is born of his mothers womb. If my disciples, however, claim that they are the true children of God, born of his mouth, they are justified in saying so, because I am God become ( Brahma bhuto) and these are my children, born of my mouth. Modern writers on Buddhism say that the Buddha never claimed to be God. But here we have it clearly stated. Of course it is a metaphorical statement, and so was the statement of Jesus, as it is found in the Gospels. The Buddhist traditional commentaries speak of three kinds of gods (deva): 1. God by convention (sammuti deva) This is the deification of natural phenomena 2. God by birth (uppatti deva) These are the angels who inhabit the heavens 3. God by being immaculate (visuddhi deva) These are the transcendent terrestrial beings

The Buddha and his perfected disciples come under the third category of gods (deva) namely, immaculate gods (visuddhi deva). The Buddha becomes the God who is all knowing (sabbau), most powerful, (vasavatti), the defeater of Mara (maranudo), attained to genuine goodness (sugato), the greatly compassionate (maha karuniko), the saviour of the world (loka nata).

Though some critics take Buddhism to be atheistic, Buddhists do believe in God, though they define God from a humanistic stand point. God, for the Buddhist, is not the Creator of the world. God is a human concept. It is a concept created by the human mind. Therefore it was not God who created man in his own image, but man who created God in his own image. This was why a Western philosopher said: If the cow had a God, He would have horns on his head. Even the world as we perceive it was created by man through the process of perception. Each individual when referring to the world refers to a picture in his/her own head. Communication through language has made us think that we are all seeing the same world. It is true that the world each person sees is somewhat similar, because all human brains work in a similar way, except for slight differences. Of course this makes us think that each person is alone in a world made by one-self. Then only the self really exists; all other things are illusions. This situation is known to modern Western philosophers as solipsism. But the Buddha pointed out that it is not only the objective world that is an illusion; even the subjective self is a creation of the process of perception, and therefore and illusion. It is by realizing this fact that the paradigm of existence or being ( bhava) is shifted to the paradigm of impersonal experience, which is called cessation of being ( bhava nirodha). It is a complete depersonalization of experience, where the identity I, me, and mine disappears. This is why the essence of Buddha or God-become is nonexistence. Also experience precedes existence, and therefore existence is a delusion. When the notion of existence is given up, the notions of birth, aging, and death has no place. This is the immortality, which is not eternal life. Experience (passa) is the only reality (sacca) that we can talk about, and this reality (sacca), however, is a construct (sankhra). All constructs are dependent on conditions (paticca samuppanna). Therefore all constructs (sankrra) are unstable (anicca). All constructs when personalized (updna) are unpleasant (dukkha). The displeasure ceases when depersonalized (anupdna). Every phenomenon, constructed or not, is impersonal (sabbe dhamma anatt). Personality, or being, is the result of personalization (updna paccay bhavo). When personalization is stopped, personality, or being, ceases ( updna nirodh bhava nirodho). When being ceases, birth ceases (bhava nirodh jti nirodho). When birth ceases, aging and death ceases (jati nirodh jar marana nirodho). With the cessation of personalization, all suffering ceases ( updna nirodh sabba dukkha nirodho). Depersonalization is Nirvana (anupd nibbn). It is also the cessation of suffering, and the solution of the problem of existence or being. It is also Awakening, or becoming a Buddha, or Godbecome. God being a human concept it is seen by the Humanistic Buddhist as the human ideal of perfection that the human being conceives and struggles to realize through the practice of religion. When the human being does realize this ideal of perfection from time to time, 8

it is called union with God, or becoming God. The Awakened One (Buddha) was such a person, the Man become God (Brahma bhuto). This is not the deification of man, but the evolution of the human being to a superhuman (uttari manussa) level, which solves the problem of existence. The BUDDHA then is the Anthropomorphic God of the humanistic Buddhist.