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**Re-Discovering An Ancient Path (The Mission of Gautama Buddha)
**The Mission Of Gautama Buddha
**Gautama Buddha’s religious message is a scared one that had a good following in India once, but was subsequently exiled. The Budda did not profess a new faith. Instead he reinstated and remodelled an ever-relevant moral scheme that had been introduced by a succession of other ‘Buddhas’ before him, but then subsequently brought to virtual non-existence in the following ages. In fact the proclaimed this fact in unequivocal terms. Note what the **Samyukta Nikaaya, **the authoritative and most famous among Buddhist literature, quotes from the Buddha:
*Suppose a person is left alone in deep jungle. And that, wandering hither and thither, he discovers a very old path, trodden by many a bygone generation. He walks the same ways and reaches a city. He finds there various civilized objects like beautiful edifices with gardens attached to them, and streets, and ponds. Later he gets back home, tells his ruler and [his] people of this discovery, and persuade them to rebuild that ancient city and make it fit for living. Like him have I (Lord Buddha) too discovered an ancient path of deliverance, the way of morality. Holding fast to this route, the Buddhas of proceeding ages observed Dharma (i.e., religious life). And through the same way, following in their footsteps, I too have comprehended life’s mysteries. Therefore I do now proclaim those things. My aim is to promote holy religious life everywhere. 1
This make it clear that the Buddha’s religious path, or the Religion he processed, was the same as had been adopted and professed by earlier ‘Buddhas’ as well. He used the word Buddha in the same sense as Islam uses Nabi (Apostle or Prophet). Buddha means a person who have received divine revelation, whom the Muslims call a Nabi. The Buddha was no believer in **avatara **(incarnation), which may be whay he substituted the unobjectionable term, Buddha. In any case, the Buddha’s religious doctrine was doubtlessly that of the ancient prophets.
The Qur’an also has variously proclaimed the fact that each of the prophet who came to the world presented to their respective peoples a religious message identical in their fundamentals. At one place the Qur’an says: Lo! this your religion, is one religion, and I am your (Only) Lord, worship Me (Alone) [Qur’an 21:92) Elsewhere in the Qur’an, mentioning nineteen preceding Prophets by name, Almighty Allah says: "To them has Allah shown the straight path, so follow their guidance"****. [Qur’an 6:90]. So Gautama’s claim that all the Buddhas professed but one moral scheme, and that it is the same scheme that he too propounds stands vindicated, in Islam’s view.
It is imperative at this juncture to remove certain misconceptions spread about the Buddha’s moral scheme. There are occidental and oriental critics alike who allege that Gautama Buddha was an atheist and that in his scheme of things neither God nor soul finds a legitimate place. This is not correct. Many an expert who has studied Buddhism to the core has refuted this allegation.
Rather then go into detail here, we content ourselves with citing a relevant statement from Gautama Buddha by **Anandakumara Swami, **who has based his work on well-known Buddhist books. Recollecting a certain scholar’s claim that ancient Buddhism had denied God, the soul and immortality, and that it has been acknowledged almost universally that the Buddha has disclaimed the soul, Swami pints out that what the Buddha in fact repudiated was the ‘mutable Self’, or the ultimate reality of the physical and mental personality. But the critics have missed his 402, (*see Samyuttanikaa, iv 384 f, 401, 402, and Udaana 47 etc.) 2.
Gautama Buddha, spiritually moved, took to rigorous self-mortification for some time. But he discarded this when he found it to be of no avail. While sitting in meditation under a Sala tree at a place called Uruvela on the banks of River Niranjana, he attained enlightenment of in other words, experienced inspiration. With this he became a Buddha. At first he was reluctant to impart to others the **Dharma **(i.e., religious path) which he had apprehended. Where upon Mahabrahmaappeared and told him to profess his Dharma. This was Mahabrahma appeared and told him to profess his Dharma. This was how the Buddha was initiated into the mission of propagating the Dharma. Dharmanand Kosambi quotes the following words in his Lord Buddha, from Mahaapadaana Sookthakhanda, a biographical work on the Buddha:
*
The Lord informs his disciples: "O Bhikshus…'tell not unto others this hard-gained Dharma. For the people that are sunk in worldly indulgence it is not easy; preach not this Dharma which goes against the current, which is comprehensive, grand, in apprehensible and subtle to the lustful that are caught in the surrounding gloom. ‘O Bhikshus, in so thinking the Vipassi Bhagwan (Guatama Buddha), the Arhanta, the Samyaksambudda, resolved to sit all by himself unmindful of preaching the Dharma. Knowing this, Mahabrahma soliloquized thus: ‘Alas! The world is going to be doomed; the world is going to be ruined! For the mind of the Vipassi Bhagwan, the Arhanta, the Samyaksambuddha, unmindful of Dharma preaching, loves to sit alone’. Then, O Bhikshus, so swift as a sinewy person opens the hand that was shut, and then shuts the hand that was open did Mahabrahma vanish from Brahmaloka and appear before the Vipassi’ Bhagwan and, putting his mantle on a shoulder, touched the earth and folded his hands and besought the Lord; O Lord, do preach the Dharma! O Sugata, preach the Dharma! All beings lie in dark. They face damnation as they cannot hear Dharma teachings. Preach, and those will come that wish to understand the Dharma.**3
The reporter’s fancy may claim a share in this depiction. But there is no reason to deny the fundamental idea contained in it. Because of the grandeur and profundity of the Dharma which he had been given to preach, in contrast to the moral blindness and indifferences of his contemporaries, the Vipasi Bhagwan, Gautama, initially felt unwilling to teach. At this juncture he received divine instruction: surely he must preach it, for that was the one way to deliver the people from disaster. Thus was the Buddha deputed to preach the Dharma.
Prophet Muhammad :saw2: too, for that matter, faced a similar predicament at first. He hesitated to proclaim the divine message, and arriving home, wrapped himself up in a cloak. At that time came the command from God: “O cloak-wearer, arise and preach [Truth to the people]”. Quran 74:1-2).
In short, Gautama Buddha was no atheist, nor did he deny prophethood. On the other hand, he was a firm believer in God and His messengers. He advised his people to work for Nirvaana. And this nirvaana was nothing but the realization of the ultimate aim of human life, or the achievement of the Supreme Lord’s pleasure, For gaining this end the Buddha advocated the remembrance of God, Dhyaana (meditation) and the Eight-fold path. Among the segments of the eight-fold paths, there is not a single one that is not accepted by Islam, or not ordained by the Qur’an and the Sunnah. The Eight-fold path can be seen a summing up of the Islamic order of living. But it has been subjected to gross misunderstandings as a result of later exercises in interpretation.
***References:
***1- Buddhism, by A.G. Krishna Waryar, PP 23-24
2- Cited by Anandakumara Swami from Gautama Buddha by I.B. Horner. P.123
3- Quoted in Lord Buddha, P.313
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