The Life of the Buddha

[plwk]

1. Of what value is it to you as a Buddhist in your practice?
2. What other sources have you read from besides:
a. Pali Canon
b. Asvaghosa's Buddhacaritam
c. The Abhinishkramana Sutra
d. The Lalitavistara
e. The Mahavastu

[LastLegend]

Lets see: he ate 1 meal per day and spent 8 hours of teaching per day for 49 years. This is the spirit of compassion. Most of the energy from food that we eat is spent on illusion or thinking. This is the reason why we eat more than those with pure Mind. We should be aware of our attachment to eating. And definitely we should practice thinking and acting to benefit others just like Buddha did with his teaching. No charges!

[Kyosan]

Most of the energy from food that we eat is spent on illusion or thinking. This is the reason why we eat more than those with pure Mind.

That must be why I eat so much and still stay thin.

The fact that the Buddha had a really good life as a price and was troubled when he saw others suffering. He gave up the life of luxury and left home. He practiced asceticism and intensely searched for the cause of suffering so he could help relieve others from suffering. He was very compassionate and his life sets a good example for us I think.

[Rael]

some say it is all a Myth...or became one....

sad that at a time of writing those peoples did not value history as we do today....

the man and his effect on people was more a important legacy than the actual historic values we have today...
hence no one wrote down what he said ...or carved it in stone...even though they knew how to...

which leaves us to the big question...did he even live...does it matter.....
i believe He exists though....

He might be aliens somehow getting these things into our paradigms....lol....

ok i don't really believe that......yet

[Kyosan]

some say it is all a Myth...or became one....

sad that at a time of writing those peoples did not value history as we do today....

the man and his effect on people was more a important legacy than the actual historic values we have today...
hence no one wrote down what he said ...or carved it in stone...even though they knew how to...

which leaves us to the big question...did he even live...does it matter.....
i believe He exists though....

It may be a myth. Does it matter? To me it doesn't matter very much because I see great value in the dharma. Whether it came from the historical Buddha or from others, I am convinced that it came from enlightened beings.

[ground]

1. Of what value is it to you as a Buddhist in your practice?

Ideal bodhisattva buddha.

Kind regards

[cooran]

some say it is all a Myth...or became one....

sad that at a time of writing those peoples did not value history as we do today....

the man and his effect on people was more a important legacy than the actual historic values we have today...
hence no one wrote down what he said ...or carved it in stone...even though they knew how to...

which leaves us to the big question...did he even live...does it matter.....
i believe He exists though....

He might be aliens somehow getting these things into our paradigms....lol....

ok i don't really believe that......yet

Hello all,

In the Buddha's day, writing was just for things like government and commerce. and there was widespread illiteracy. For really important things, where it was critical that no alteration occur ( as can happen so very easily, deliberately or accidentally when writing is used) - the Oral Tradition was used. The Buddha instituted in his lifetime the Chanting Together by large groups of specially designated Bhikkhus - the Bhanakas (Hearers). The Bhanakas had portions of the Teachings allocated to each group, and so there were The Digha Bhanakas, The Majjhima Bhanakas etc.

It was only hundreds of years later in Sri Lanka, in a time of famine and warfare, with many bhikkhus dying, and with Buddhism all but wiped out in India, that the MahaSangha decided the Buddhist Canon and its commentaries needed to be written down.
They were engraved on Ola Leaves. Many of us have been to Sri Lanka and have had the inestimable good fortune to have seen demonstrations of this being done at the ancient rock temple of Aluvihara Temple (where the Tipitaka was originally written down) in the Matale district 26 km from Kandy.

The Suttas are rather like the memory prompts - the dot points of the most important information to be transmitted - similar to those a public speaker carries on a little card in his hand. Anything that is repeated is to be seen as something important which was highlighted by the repetition.

As I understand it, the Pali Suttas are teaching vehicles whose meanings are densely packed layer on layer. They are not to be read as an ordinary page of print, but require 'unpacking' by someone learned in the Dhamma. This condensed form was necessary in order that the Teachings would not be lost in the years before they were finally put into writing. It allowed them to be memorised by the large groups of bhikkhus (bhanakas) assigned to each portion of the Tipitaka. They are not verbatim reports of chats and conversations. This memorisation is said to have commenced before the parinibbana of the Buddha.

"Thus you should train yourselves: 'We will listen when discourses that are words of the Tathagata -- deep, deep in their meaning, transcendent, connected with emptiness -- are being recited. We will lend ear, will set our hearts on knowing them, will regard these teachings as worth grasping & mastering.' That's how you should train yourselves." (Ari sutta).
Venerable Mahá Kassapa, the elected head of the First Council. Cúlavagga Xl,1,1 (ii,284) reiterated:
"Come, friends: let us recite the Teaching and the Discipline before what is not the Teaching shines forth and the Teaching is put aside, before what is not the Discipline shines forth and the Discipline is put aside, before those who speak what is not the Teaching become strong and those who speak what is the Teaching become weak, before those who speak what is not the Discipline become strong and those who speak what is the Discipline become weak."

with metta
Chris---The trouble is that you think you have time---