Vi. BUDDHA'S TEACHING

The Dhammapada contains a verse (183) attributed to the Buddha himself, and which Buddhists now repeat as a kind of creed. "Forgiving all sins, doing all good, cleansing the heart - this is the law of Buddha." And this verse is fully consistent with everything that is transmitted to us as the teachings of the Buddha. It revolves around two points: suffering and salvation. “Likewise, monks,” it says, “just as the great sea of ​​the world (ocean) has only one taste - the taste of salt, so this teaching has only one taste - the taste of salvation.” Thus, it sets itself a very definite practical goal - salvation. For a Hindu, salvation means deliverance from rebirth.

All of the Buddha's teachings are based on the so-called "four noble truths." They are: suffering, the origin of suffering, the elimination of suffering, the path that leads to the elimination of suffering. In other words: 1. Everything that exists is subject to suffering. 2. The cause of suffering is human passions. 3. Liberation from passions liberates from suffering. 4. The path to liberation is the "noble eightfold path." The first truth, therefore, establishes the presence of suffering in the world, the second explains its cause, the third asserts that it can be destroyed, and the fourth explains how it can be destroyed. These four noble truths play a major role already in the first sermon of the Buddha, delivered in Benares. They are repeated countless times every scriptures Buddhists, and Buddha's disciples passed them on to the monks in the same words as their teacher. They are considered the means of knowledge for every true Buddhist. Sariputra says, for example: “If, brothers, a noble disciple is aware of suffering, the origin of suffering, the elimination of suffering, the path leading to the elimination of suffering, then this noble disciple has right knowledge, and his knowledge is true; he believes in teaching, he belongs to good teaching. " Division by four is borrowed, as shown by prof. Kern, from the system of medicine, which was followed by Samkhya Yoga. It corresponds to the four stages of physicians: disease, health, cause of illness, treatment, and the four stages of yoga: what to avoid, avoidance, cause to be avoided, and remedy to avoid. And in detail, as we will see later, Buddha did not go beyond his teachers. He personally owns only the form of understanding the four truths.

The first truth is spoken of in the Benares sermon as follows: “Behold, monks, the noble truth about suffering; birth - suffering, old age - suffering, illness - suffering, death - suffering, union with the unloved - suffering, separation from a loved one - suffering, failure to achieve the desired - suffering. In short, the five elements that cause attachment to existence are suffering. "

With this first noble truth, Buddhism declares itself to be pessimism. Indeed, there is another religion in the world, which would be built on such a pessimistic basis, and whose followers would be so deeply imbued with the insignificance and contempt of this life as Buddhism. No true religion is unthinkable without a drop of pessimism, but none has shown with such open determination as Buddhism that our land is a vale of sorrow. Schopenhauer's thought that in our mysterious existence only its drama and insignificance are clear, is also the view of the Buddha. But Buddha is not original here either. He introduced into religion only what his teachers had proclaimed as philosophy before him. Kapila said, "Nowhere is no one happy," and "The perfect elimination of the threefold suffering is the ultimate goal (of the soul)"; according to Patanjali, "For the rational, everything is suffering." The only thing Buddha did was that this truth became accessible to the knowledge of not only the "rational". He carried her out to the masses. The insignificance of all things is drawn bright colors in Buddhist scriptures. The Dhammapada says: “From joy arises suffering, from joy arises fear. He who has got rid of joy, for that there is no suffering; where will his fear come from? From love is born suffering, from love is born fear. Whoever has freed himself from love, there is no suffering for him; where will his fear come from? " It is constantly and again reminded that death puts an end to all joys and that no one can escape it. "Neither in the air, nor in the open sea, nor by penetrating into rocky caves, you will not find a place on Earth where death has not overcome you." Such sayings are countless. By the transience of things, Buddha wanted to prove, first of all, their insignificance and uselessness.

The second noble truth concerns the origin of suffering. The Benares sermon says about this: “Behold, monks, the noble truth about the origin of suffering. This is the thirst that causes rebirth, which is accompanied by joy and lust, which finds its joy here and there, like the thirst for lust, the thirst for (eternal) life, the thirst for (eternal) death. " By "thirst" (trsna) Buddha means cheerfulness, the desire to live, the affirmation of the will of life. The Suttanipata says: “Every suffering that arises comes from craving; but with the complete elimination of craving, with liberation from passion, suffering cannot arise. A person accompanied by thirst, wandering for a long time along the paths of transmigration of souls, is not freed from the rebirth of the soul. " In the Dhammapada we read: “Whoever in the world is overcome by this evil, poisonous thirst, his suffering grows like a multiplying birana herb. If anyone in the world overcomes this evil, hard-to-control thirst, suffering falls away from him, like a drop of water from a lotus leaf. Just as a tree, even if it is felled, sprouts again if its roots are intact, so suffering returns again if thirst and lust are not destroyed. People, impelled by thirst, rush about like a hare in a snare. Bound by fetters and bonds, they endure suffering for a long time and carry it again and again. The madman destroys himself with his thirst for pleasure, as if he were his own enemy. "

It was enough for the people to establish the fact that craving exists and that it is the cause of suffering. It was easy to prove it with examples from everyday life. But the initiate might inevitably have questions: where does this thirst come from? What is the reason that we all succumb to it again? How to explain that she attracts us from birth to birth? The Buddha did not shy away from answering these questions. Already in the most ancient texts, we meet a sharply formulated answer, but expressed in dark, technical language very difficult to understand. This formula is called pratyasamutpada, that is, "the emergence (of something) depending on (on something else)", in other words - the formula about the "connection of cause and effect" or about " causation". This formula is one of the most basic teachings of Buddhism, and according to its holiness it is placed directly behind the four noble truths, with which it is sometimes directly connected. It reads: “Out of ignorance, latent impressions arise; mental substance arises from latent impressions; name and form arise from the mental substance; from name and form six organs arise; contact arises from the six organs; sensation arises from contact; thirst arises from sensation; from craving, attachment arises (literally: clinging to existence); from attachment (to existence) education (conception) arises; birth arises from education; from birth arise old age and death, pain and complaints, suffering, sorrow and despair. This is the origin of the whole kingdom of suffering. "

As a rule, this formula is also strung "backwards," that is, negatively to its positive presentation. “If ignorance is eliminated by the complete annihilation of lust, then this causes the annihilation of latent impressions; the destruction of latent impressions destroys the mental substance; by the destruction of the mental substance, name and form are destroyed; destruction of name and form destroys six organs; destruction of six organs destroys contact; the destruction of contact destroys the sensation; by annihilation of sensation, thirst is annihilated; by eliminating craving, attachment (for existence) is destroyed; the destruction of attachment (to existence) destroys education (conception); by the destruction of education, birth is destroyed; the annihilation of birth destroys old age and death, pain and complaints, suffering, sorrow and despair. This is the destruction of the entire kingdom of suffering. " In this negative presentation, the formula represents in its essence only the development of the third of the four noble truths about the elimination of suffering.

The Benares sermon says about this: "Behold, monks, the noble truth about the destruction of suffering, this is a complete liberation from thirst, its destruction, rejection, abandonment, exile." The formula explains at the same time the third truth.

But how is the formula itself to be understood? This question is easier to answer now than before, since we know that Buddhism is theoretically based on the philosophy of Samkhya Yoga. The word I have given by the expression "latent impressions", Skt. samskarah is very difficult to understand, and the translation I have given can only be accepted for lack of a better one. It was translated by the words "education", "striving", "discrimination", "residue" or "residue" (residuum), the latter expression, perhaps, is closer to the true meaning. Samskara literally means "preparation", "equipment", "processing", then in the passive meaning "prepared", "processed", "made", "form". In a further sense, it expresses the sum of all forms, matter, everything that exists. But it is also used in application to the spirit and, accordingly, its main meaning - "preparation", "processing" is applied to the ability of the spirit to produce good and bad, to its susceptibility, predisposition to such deeds. This meaning has a word in our formula. According to the teachings of Samkhya, every being, except for the grossly material, visible, annihilating body (sthulsharira), also has a subtle inner body (lingasharira), which, together with the soul, passes from one gross body to another. This inner body is the substrate of all mental processes , and it is formed, according to Samkhya, by a number of elements, at the head of which is the organ of thought or mental substance, "buddhi", literally "mind." This mental substance is set in motion by samskara or vasana, that is, the impressions present in the mind, left in it from previous deeds ("karma") and inherited from birth to birth. Samskara is, therefore, that which remained hidden in the spirit from previous births and that, under sufficient conditions for this, develops in the spirit and leads to new deeds. These samskaras may remain latent for the duration of the individual's many existences; the being may be completely unaware of them. But they have vitality and will perform again under the right conditions. These are latent perceptions, predispositions that open up the possibility of good and evil deeds, serving as motivations for them, like bacilli that develop under certain favorable conditions for them. As long as, therefore, such samskaras are present in the spirit, it cannot rest. Therefore, they must be destroyed. This is achieved by the fact that a person destroys "ignorance" (avidya). By "ignorance" Samkhya and Yoga mean ignorance that spirit and matter are something completely different from each other. If a person is aware, this delusion disappears. The union of the spirit with the body ceases, the state of "one-being" (kaivalya), "deliverance" (mukti), "extinguishing" (nirvana) sets in. Ignorance is the cause of samskaras. The Buddha also teaches in exactly the same way. But his “ignorance” is different. Buddhist texts leave no doubt as to what Buddha meant by "ignorance." Sariputra says in one ancient text: "Not knowing suffering, friend, not knowing the origin of suffering, not knowing the destruction of suffering, not knowing the path leading to the destruction of suffering — this, friend, is called ignorance." The same is confirmed by other texts. "Ignorance" is, therefore, ignorance of the Buddha's teaching. He who does not know it cannot destroy the samskaras, and therefore cannot attain salvation. Childers, who advanced in his Dictionary of the Pali Language (London 1875) more than anyone else, the understanding of the technical expressions of Buddhism, has already noticed that samskaras lead to the realm of karma, that is, a person's actions, his good and evil deeds. If from previous births the spirit receives a predisposition to good or evil, then, naturally, the question should have arisen, can a person make of himself something to influence these predispositions? Opinions about this were very different. Some argued that a person can determine his fate by his own actions, others denied this. At the head of the deniers during the time of the Buddha was Makkhali Gosala, or, as the northern Buddhists call him, Mascarin Gosalikaputra, one of six teachers who preached in the country at the same time as the Buddha. He was the founder of the Ajivika sect, which is mentioned by King Ashoka Priyadarshin (263–226, according to other 272–232 BC) in one of his inscriptions on the rock. The number of this sect must therefore have been numerous at that time. He is also known to the Jainas, who call him Gosala Mankhaliputta and recognize him as a disciple of the apostate of their teacher Mahavira. Unfortunately, very little has come down to us from Makkhali's teachings. But it is known that he taught: "There is no action, no action, no will," that is, that he denied free will. His opponents were Mahavira and Buddha. Mahavira taught: "There is tension, there is action, strength, will, courageous desire and deed," and Buddha: "I teach that there is action, deed, will." The Buddha declared, "As of all woven garments, hair is the worst, so of all teachings, Makkhali's teachings are the worst." The Buddha, therefore, accepted that a person can influence his own destiny, he can even determine it.

The first sentence of the causal formula reads: "Whoever does not know the teachings of the Buddha and does not turn to it, he will not be freed from the predisposition to a new birth." - The second sentence states: "From samskara arises the substance of thought." The word for the mental substance is "vijnana" and this corresponds completely to the "buddhi" of Samkhya. The scholastics use both words synonymously. "Buddhi" is usually understood as the ability to form and maintain, the power of judgment, insight is represented. But in Samkhya philosophy, “buddhi” is a substance, a mental substance. It is an organ of distinction, judgment, decision, and it was considered the most important of the internal organs, which is why it was also called "mahat" or "mahan", "great", in the philosophy of Yoga - "chitta" - "thinking", "thought", "meaning". Buddhists, however, also see in "vijnana" a substance, an element (dhatu). This is the sixth element for them, next to earth, water, fire, wind, ether. It is presented as a subtle, incorporeal element that does not die with a person, but together with samskaras and through them persists after death and gives an embryo for a new existence. He is identical with the lingasharira Samkhya. Samskaras produce it; it is their development, flowering, erection into a phenomenon.

Closely related to this is the third sentence: "From the mental substance arise name and form." "Name and form" (namarupa) is the ancient designation for "individual", "individual". So, we read in the Mundaka Upanishad: "As rivers flowing into the ocean lose their names and form and disappear, so the wise, who has lost name and form, passes into the highest heavenly spirit." Samkhya and Yoga do not use this designation. Instead, they use “ahamkara,” “I am doing,” the acceptance of “I,” that is, individuality. But Samkhya produces ahamkara from buddhi, like namarupa Buddhism from the parallel buddhi of vajnana. The identity of these concepts cannot, therefore, be doubted.

The fourth sentence reads: "From name and form come six organs." The six organs are the five senses and the spirit (manas), as well as their external image... In both Samkhya and Buddhism, they specialize even further, which may be omitted here. The fourth sentence has the following meaning: "After the individual has formed theoretically, it manifests itself practically by the application of organs."

The fifth sentence: "From the six organs contact arises" and the sixth: "From the touch arises sensation" develop the idea expressed in the fourth sentence. Six organs enter, after their creation, in relation to objects. The inner and outer worlds touch, and from this arises, like the seventh member of the series, “thirst,” that is, as we have seen, the desire to live, the joy of life. Only the exclusive use of the word "thirst" is characteristic of Buddhism. But Yoga uses the same expression in exactly the same connection, although it uses more often the words "joy of life" and "desire."

The eighth sentence reads: "From thirst arises attachment (upadana)", clinging to existence, being captivated by thirst, attachment to the world, to its joys. Samkhya uses the expression "virtue and vice" (dharma - dharmau) instead of "attachment", which is essentially the same.

The ninth sentence is quite similar: "From attachment arises education (bhava)." Instead of bhava, Samkhya uses the expression "self-death", "the cycle of births." In other cases, the word samsara is used, a synonym for bhava. The sentence means, therefore, "Attachment to the earthly leads to eternal, new existences." The final sentences expand on this in detail, listing birth, old age and death, pain and complaints, suffering, sorrow and despair. Thus, in theory, Buddhism borrowed almost everything from Samkhya Yoga.

After Pratyasamutpada, the most important in Buddhism is the teaching of the five "skandhas". Skandha is a similar word as meaningful as samskara. It means "trunk", "shoulder", "composition department", "set", "mass". In the Buddhist sense, it means “the elements of being,” the elements that make up every thinking being. Buddhism accepts five such skandha: bodily, impression, sensation, samskara and vijnana. Two recent expressions are already known to us from the causal formula. But, as skandha, they are understood more broadly. As the skandha of all samskaras are 52 in number. They designate, as such, spiritual abilities, manifestations of the human spirit, such as reflection, joy, greed, hatred, jealousy, shame, etc. They are a trace, transient impressions. Vijnana, on the contrary, means, as skandha, discriminating, critical cognition of the spirit, discerning whether any deed or thought is good and worthy, or bad and unworthy, or neither. Vijnana is divided into 89 divisions and is the most important of the five skandhas, almost as important as the spirit itself (manas). Like samskara and vijnana, the other three skandhas are also subdivided into classes.

However, according to Buddha, a being composed of skandha does not represent something permanent, but is something that is in constant flux and change. There is no “being”, but only eternal “education”. What we call "personality" or "I" is only the sum of continuously following one after the other movements. There are, of course, individual elements, but not the whole. Everything is in perpetual change. The most famous and frequently cited example to illustrate this teaching is that of the chariot. It is recorded in detail only in one work, dating back to the 2nd century AD, in Milinda-pankha, “Questions of Milinda”. Milinda, this is King Menander, who ruled in India about 120 BC. and of all the Greco-Indian kings, the one who extended his dominion here the most. The essay describes the king's meeting with the Buddhist sage Nagasena. At the beginning of his long discourse, Nagaeena asks the king if he arrived on foot or in a chariot. The king replies that he does not go on foot and arrived in a chariot. Nagasena invites him to explain what a chariot is. “Is there a drawbar chariot? Or an axis? Or wheels? Or the body? Or a pole with a banner? Or a clamp? Or a bit? Or a scourge? Or a drawbar, an axle, wheels, a body, a pole with a banner, a clamp, a bit, a whip together? Milinda is forced to answer all these questions in the negative and admit that "chariot" is just a word, that in reality there is no chariot. Nagase does not conclude by referring to the verses recited before the Lord by the nun Vajra. “As after the addition of the parts, the word for that is 'chariot', so with the presence of skandha, the verbal expression for that is 'being'. But "being", or, as is usually said, "self", that is, "I" - is not something permanent. Repeatedly Buddha teaches his listeners that ignorant, unbelievers from time immemorial kept their gaze: “This is mine; this is me; this is me myself ”, but a knowledgeable, believing person at the sight of all things say:“ This is not mine, this is not me; it's not me. " As with all other things, this also applies to one's own personality “If, for example, monks, a person begins to collect or burn in this Jetavan (park) grass, trees, twigs, foliage or use them as needed, will you come to head the thought that this person burns or uses us for his need! "No, sir"! "Why not?" "It is not we ourselves and it does not belong to us."

“Also, monks, bodily impression, sensation, samskara, vijnana are not yours. Give them back! They will not be suitable for you for salvation and happiness. "

At the same time, the question arose whether after death a person remains the same or becomes different, a very important question for the doctrine of rebirth and, at the same time, of reward after death. In Milindapanhe this question is directly supplied by Milinda. Nagasena replies that a person after death does not remain the same, but does not become different either, and tries to prove this with a series of comparisons, an example of which is the following. "If, for example, a great sovereign, a person lights a lamp, will it burn all night?" "Yes, sir, it can burn all night." "But, great sir, is there a flame in the first shift (ie, watch) of the night, too, as in the second?" "No, sir." "Is there a flame in the second shift the same as in the third?" "No, sir." "Was there, great sir, the lamp on the first shift different from the second, and this one again different from the third?" "No, sir, the light came from one lamp all night." “In the same way, great sovereign, the elements of the forms of being follow one after the other. One arises, the other passes; without beginning or end, they immediately follow one another. Neither the same nor the other, they approach the last addition of vijnana. " Personality, trail., Remains the same, only the elements of which it is composed are constantly changing. Everyone must therefore bear the consequences of his deeds in this birth and in the next.

As with the body and soul. Buddha does not deny the existence of the soul at all. He only denies that there is an eternal unchanging soul, as something completely different and separate from the body. The soul is also only a mass of eternally changing individual elements. Therefore, Buddhists also oppose materialists who assert that there is no soul.

To represent this ever-moving and changing Buddha predominantly chooses the image of a stream, like Heraclitus, or even more often the image of a flame (as, for example, in a mountain sermon). When Kisagotami became a nun, she once lit a lamp in the monastery, and when she saw that the flame was extinguishing and flaring up again, she said: “In the same way, living beings arise and come, but those who have attained nirvana will not be seen again.” The Buddha appeared to her and confirmed it with the same words. In Therigatha, nun Patachara tells how she achieved salvation. In the end she says: “Then I took the lamp, went to the monastery, saw my couch and lay down on the bed. I took the needle and pulled it out to the lamp. And my spirit was freed in the same way as the lamp went out. " The words "like the lamp went out" are heard in Pali: padippassseva nibbanam. The word nibbana, better known in the Sanskrit form of nirvana, dominates the teachings of the Buddha. Nirvana is composed of the prefix nis1 "from", which passes before the sounding vowels in nir, the root va - "blow", "blow" and the suffix participii praeteriti passivi on. It means literally: “blown out”, “blown out”, “extinguished”, “extinguished”, and as a noun “extinguishing”, extinguishing ”. In this literal sense, it is used frequently, as in the passage just quoted. Then it is transferred to extinguishing the fire of lust. He who knows the four noble truths, who walks according to them, who has completely tamed his passions, reaches the state of blissful peace, nirvana, even on earth. The saint does not need to wait for death in order to be saved; he finds salvation on Earth. In Theragatha, Thera Samkrtya says: “I do not desire death, I do not desire life. I am waiting for my hour, as an employee of my salary. I do not want death, I do not want life. I am waiting for my hour, full of consciousness and thought, "- ancient verses, also attributed to Shariputra and already partly found in Brahmanical literature. The texts often pretend that nirvana for Buddhists means, first of all, a state of sinlessness and absence of suffering. Once a wandering monk Jambukhadaka came to Shariputra and said to him: “They say often, brother Shariputra, nirvana, nirvana! But what is this - nirvana? And Sariputra replied: "The annihilation of passions, the annihilation of sins, the annihilation of blindness, behold, brother, what does nirvana mean." When asked by Jambukhadaka if there is a path to attaining nirvana, Shariputra recommends him the noble eightfold path. In the Dhammapada we read: "If you do not get excited anymore, you become like a cracked bell, then you have reached nirvana, you will no longer make bad speeches." And in Suttanipat: "Whoever has destroyed passions, who has freed himself from arrogance, who has overcome the entire path of lust, who has completely mastered himself and attained nirvana, is strong in spirit, he walks right in the world." There is salvation already in life. This, however, is also not something peculiar only to Buddhism. All the philosophical systems of India are inherent in the idea that salvation is achieved only by a certain knowledge, which then cannot be lost. This salvation during life is called "jivanmukti", and the one saved during life is called "jivanmukta". The "Jivanmukti" of the brahmanas fully corresponds to the "Samditthikam Nibbans", the "nirvana during the lifetime" of Buddhists. If Buddha taught that nirvana can be achieved during his lifetime, then he followed only the views of his time and his predecessors. Only the path he had chosen was somewhat new. Nirvana is, first of all, the extinguishing of thirst, the abandonment of the joys of this world. But this does not yet achieve complete salvation. Cognition does not render back acting force it does not destroy samskaras, latent impressions, for the deeds I performed before knowledge. The consequences of these deeds must be borne by the one who was saved during his lifetime. But after cognition, and the following, after being saved during life, the saved one no longer performs deeds that can influence his future, since he is indifferent to all the things of this world. With the achievement of knowledge and with the disappearance of ignorance, the possibility of good and evil deeds ceases, and at the same time the possibility of a new birth. The cycle of life ends in death. The rescued person dies without waking up again. In the Suttanipata it is said that when the Buddha was once in Alavi, not long before that one of the elders, Nigrodhakappa, the teacher of Wangisa, an improviser among the elders, died there. Wangisa wanted to know whether Nigrodhakappa had attained nirvana or not, and asked the Buddha: “Was the pious life that he led in vain for Nigrodhakappa? Has he entered nirvana, or does his skandha still exist? " The Lord replied: “He destroyed the thirst for name and form in this world, destroyed the stream Maras, in which he had been for a long time; he overcame birth and death without a trace. " “To overcome birth and death without a trace” means: he has no remnants of skandha left, that is, he will not be reborn. And when the eldest Godhika took his own life, Buddha said: “Godhika, the son of a good family, passed into nirvana; his mental substance is nowhere else. Godhika passed into nirvana, defeating the army of death; he gained no more rebirth and uprooted thirst. " "Passed into nirvana" in the original - "Parinibbuto", and always the texts, when they speak exactly about the state of the deceased, who attained complete deliverance from rebirth, use the expression parinibbana = Skt. parinirvana - "complete nirvana." The work informing us about the death of Buddha is called Mahaparinibbanasutta, and from the moment the Buddha died, only the expression parinibbuta has been applied to it. Nirvana actually has two stages: salvation during life, nirvana itself, and salvation after death, cessation of rebirth, parinirvana, only incorrectly called simply nirvana. The first stage is a necessary precondition for the second. Whoever has attained the correct knowledge of the Buddha's teachings and decided to remain in it, then declares his intention not to be revived anymore. Nirvana is the opposite of trsna, thirst. As trsna is the affirmation of the will to live, so nirvana is its negation. The extinguishing of thirst results in extinguishing life, certain death. This is a logical consequence of the Buddha's teachings.

There are, however, passages in ancient texts in which the Buddha explicitly rejects the question of the state after death; therefore, the statement was made that Buddha avoided a clear formulation of the concept of nirvana and that the official dogma was: "About the state after death, the Perfect One did not reveal anything." It is not right. True, Buddha rejects the question of what happens to a person after death, but only because this question is completely unnecessary for salvation. He did not leave the slightest doubt about what the purpose of his teaching was: it is the pacification of all samskaras, that is, all the thoughts that are present in the spirit from previous births, the destruction of the mental substance, the destruction of all skandhas, eternal death. That this goal can be achieved, a person learns when entering the first nirvana, when he is saved during his lifetime. Then he becomes convinced that this is his birth - the last, that there is no more rebirth for him, that after death he attains complete nirvana. Thus, the first nirvana is for him the cause of happiness, a carefree, incomparable land of peace, an eternal refuge in which no one knows suffering, a place that Buddhist sources paint with bright colors. Expressions like those just quoted could easily have led to the idea of ​​paradise, which indeed happened in northern Buddhism.

The Buddha himself, however, understood his nirvana, no doubt, differently. For him, it was a complete extinction after death, the end of rebirths. But even in this, Buddha was not an innovator. "Name and number" are found in the same sense not only among the brahmanas, but also among the Jainas and other sects. As a philosophical system, Buddhism is, as already said, low. He is completely dependent on Samkhya Yoga, and his roots are completely in the soil of India. But if Buddha, in general, hoped to find disciples, he could not avoid a philosophical justification. A scientist in India since ancient times did not mean anything if he could not debate, and the Buddha during his long life often indulged in conversations with the spore-loving priests of various sects. Nowhere has it been easier to establish a new philosophical system as in India. Even a slight deviation from any known existing doctrine was enough to become the founder of a new one. This was the case not only in philosophy, but also in grammar, rhetoric, and medicine. But for the Buddha, the system was not a self-sufficient end, but, as mentioned earlier, only a means to an end. For the people, any system was aimless, and Buddha spoke to the people. If the first three noble truths were his philosophical confession, then the fourth - the path leading to the end of suffering - was his religious confession. The fourth truth embraces the ethics of Buddhism. It is she who cuts deeply into everyday life, and it is in her that the greatness of the Buddha is manifested in a bright light. Only through her does Buddhism become a religion.

The Benares sermon says about this: “Behold, monks, the noble truth about the path leading to the destruction of suffering. This is a noble eightfold path, namely: right faith, right determination, right word, right deed, right life, right self-effort, right thinking, right self-deepening. "

At the head is, next, right, true faith, and it goes without saying. The reward promised by Buddha awaits only the believer, first of all - the monk who has renounced this world. But the layman should also strive for it. The instructions for lay people, of course, are significantly different from those for a monk. To become a Buddhist layman, it is enough to say the Three Refuges three times: “I resort to Buddha; I resort to the Law; I have recourse to the Community. " These three sentences are called The Three Jewels.

By entering a church, a lay person assumes the duty of observing the five commandments, which are obligatory for all Buddhists. They read: 1. You must not kill. 2. You must not steal. 3. You must not live unchastely. 4. You must not lie. 5. You must not drink intoxicating drinks. All the duties of a layman are reduced to these five commandments. He can fulfill them exactly only when he curbs his passions, and thereby saves his heart. This salvation of the heart (chetovimukti) is love (Maitri, Pali - Metta).

Like Christianity, Buddhism makes love the main virtue. Finishing his sermon in Benares, Buddha says: “And knowledge and understanding came over me; the salvation of my heart is unshakable; it's mine last birth; there is no more rebirth (for me). " And at the end of the "mountain sermon" we read: "By liberation from passions, he will be saved. And when he is saved, he will know that he is saved, and it will become clear to him that the revival is over, holiness has been achieved, that he has fulfilled his duty and that there is no longer a return to this world for him. " About the listeners of this sermon, it is said: "During this presentation of the heart, thousands of monks completely got rid of passions." And along with this, love entered their hearts. She is the "salvation of the heart." Everyone who has written about Buddhism so far has overlooked the main passage on Buddhist love. It reads: “All the means in this life for the acquisition of religious merit are not worth, monks, the sixteenth share of love, salvation of the heart. Love, the salvation of the heart, includes them and shines and shines and shines. And just as all the light of the stars, monks, is not worth the sixteenth part of the moonlight, but the moonlight includes it and shines, and shines, and shines, so, monks, all the means in this life for acquiring religious merit are not worth the sixteenth part of love. salvation of the heart. Love, the salvation of the heart, includes them and shines and shines and shines. And similarly, monks, as in the last month of the rainy season, in the autumn, on a clear cloudless sky, the sun, rising across the sky, drives away all the darkness in the air space and shines and shines and shines, and as at night, in the early morning it shines, shines and the morning star is shining, so, monks, all the means in this life for acquiring religious merit are not worth the sixteenth share of love, the salvation of the heart. Love, the salvation of the heart, includes them and shines and shines and shines. In another place it is said: “Whoever, monks, in the morning, at noon and in the evening donates a hundred pots of food, and whoever in the morning, at noon and in the evening, even for a moment, evokes love in his heart, the second of them receives a great benefit. Therefore, monks, you must teach in the following way: love, salvation of the heart, we will evoke, strengthen, promote it, assimilate it, provide it, achieve it, apply it correctly ”. The power of love appears to be great. The one who shows love has eight advantages from that: he sleeps well; he awakens well; he does not have bad dreams; people treat him well; all other beings treat him well; the gods guard him; fire, poison, sword does not harm him; if he further does not assimilate anything for himself, he will go to the world of Brahman (the highest heaven). When Buddha wishes to acquire a person for himself, he "permeates him with the spirit of love." It is said that once, when the Buddha came to Kushinagara, the Mallas decreed that anyone who did not come out to greet the Lord would be guilty to pay a fine of 500 gold. One of Ananda's friends, Malla Roja, also came out to meet the Buddha, which Ananda was very happy about. But Malla Roja told him that he did not do it for the Buddha, the Law and the Community; he came out to meet only because of the impending fine. Ananda, distressed by this, went to the Buddha, pointed out to him that Roja was a prominent person, that acquiring him would be useful for teaching, and asked the Buddha to convert him. Buddha "pierced him with the spirit of love," and Roja went "like a heavy cow with a calf" from vihara to vihara, and asked the monks about the Lord until he found him. He was then converted. Even wild beasts are tamed by the power of love. When Devadatta bribed the guards of the evil elephant Nalagiri to release him on the Buddha, the Buddha "pierced the elephant with the spirit of love," and the "imbued with the spirit of love" the elephant stopped with a raised trunk in front of the Buddha, who stroked his hand. From that time on, Nalagiri became tame, and people then sang the verse: “Many tame with a stick, a hook and a whip; without a stick and a weapon, the elephant was tamed by the great Saints. " When a monk once died of a snakebite, the Buddha blamed the monk for not “piercing the spirit of love” with the four kinds of snake kings. He left one saying to his disciples, which is the oldest example in Buddhist literature, the later so beloved spell formulas. The speaker assures that he loves all creatures, legless, two-legged, four-legged, many-legged.

The Buddha encouraged those around him many times to care for the spirit of love. The Mettasutga Suttanipata says: “As a mother protects her child, her only child, with her life, so one should show immeasurable love for all beings, for the whole world one should show immeasurable love for the higher, for the lower, for equals with us, infinitely, without enmity and rivalry. Standing, walking, sitting, lying down, as long as a person is awake, he should show this disposition. This is called living in God. " Love, compassion, friendly concern, and serenity constitute life in God; they are the "Four Immeasurables," or, as northern Buddhism calls them, "The Four Lives in God." But the source of the last three is love (Metta), which always comes first. She, as we have seen, is placed above all holy works. All the sacrifices offered by godly kings are not worth the sixteenth part of a heart that radiates love. With few exceptions, the monks followed the Buddha's admonition. It is touching to read with what love they greeted the Buddha and how they behaved among themselves in love and faithfulness. “Once, so it is said, the Exalted One went to Prachinavamshadava (“ Eastern Bamboo Forest ”). At that time the Monk Anuruddha, the Monk Nandika and the Monk Kimbila lived there. The forest watchman saw the Exalted One walking from afar, and when he saw him, he said to him: “Do not go into this forest, ascetic! Here live three important gentlemen who never betray themselves; don't bother them! " Venerable Anuruddha heard what the forest watchman was saying to the Exalted, and when he heard this, he said to the watchman: “Brother forest watchman, do not hinder the Sublime. This is our high Teacher. " And the Monk Anuruddha went to the Monk Nandika and the Monk Kimbil and said to them: "Go, saints, the monk has come, our exalted Teacher." And the Monk Anuruddha, and the Monk Naidika, and the Monk Kimbila went out to meet the Exalted One; one took from the Exalted a charitable pot and an outer garment, another prepared a seat for him, a third brought him water to wash his feet, a bench and a basin. The Sublime One sat down on the prepared seat and washed his feet. And after the monks greeted the Exalted One, they sat down beside him. And the Exalted One addressed the Monk Anuruddha, who was sitting next to him: “How is your life, Anuruddha? Is there anything to live with? Is there a lack of alms? "

“We live tolerably well, Sublime. We have something to live on, and we have no shortage of alms, sir. " "Do you live, Anuruddha, together, in agreement, without disputes, peacefully, looking friendly at one another?" - "We live, sir, together, in agreement, without disputes, peacefully, and we look friendly one at the other." “How are you doing this, Anuruddha?” “I think, Master, that it is profit and happiness for me that I live together with such priests. In me, sir, an active love for these reverends arose, love with hands, lips and heart, open and hidden. I think so, Master: can I suppress my own will and act according to the will of these reverends? And I suppressed, sir, my own will and act according to the will of these reverends. For our bodies, to the lord, are different, but our heart, I think, is one. " The Buddha received the same answer to his question from Nandika and Kimbila.

Images like these three monks are not unique in the history of Buddhism. They show that the morality of Buddhism is more than a mere "conventional moral". True, Buddhism did not put forward the ideal requirement of Christianity to love its enemies. He only teaches not to pay with hatred for hatred and to do good to those who hate us. The Dhammapada says: “We want to live happily, without hatred between enemies; without hatred we want to live among those who hate us. " “Conquer anger with anger; conquer evil with good; conquer the miser with gifts; subdue the liar with the truth. " “Enmity in this world does not calm down with enmity; she calms herself down by non-hostility; this is the eternal law. " More than according to Christian teachings, the pious is promised a reward according to the teachings of Buddhism, and the Buddhist thinks about it, doing good. But in practice, one finds in Buddhism no less disinterested, pious people than in Christianity.

It is also not true, as Harnack does, to call Buddhism a religion that "is not guided by one principle" and in which "there is too little of the standardized in the main thought, and too much in individual laws." The main idea of ​​Buddhism is maitri, Pali is metta. Metta is neither compassion nor friendship, but Christian love. Compassion is karuna, and the feeling of friendship is mudita, followed by the two metta immeasurable. Karuna is "grieving with the one who grieves", mudita - "joy with the one who rejoices." They come from metta. Metta, on the other hand, is born in the heart of a person by the fact that he “leaves love (raga) and enmity (dosa)”. Raga is sensual love, attachment to the objects of this world, to a woman and a child, to wealth and property, to the joys and pleasures of life. Metta is love for one's neighbor, embracing all beings, and which is achieved only by one who is freed from raga and dosa. Only such one comes into possession of the four "immeasurable", Upekkha (Skt. Upeksha), "tranquility" (indifference). The ideal of this virtue is described by the words put into the mouth of the Buddha himself: “I treat everyone the same way to those who cause me pain and to those who prepare me joy; I have no participation and annoyance. Joy and pain, honor and dishonor are balanced in me; to everything I am the same; it is the completion of my indifference (Upekkha). " At this stage, a person is freed from passions and is confident in eternal death.

If “in the language of Buddhism there are no words for that poetry of Christian love, about which Paul's song of praise speaks” (Oldenberg), then no one nevertheless can deny the poetry and deep feeling in the song of praise of the Buddha, dedicated to Metta, and which I quoted above from Itivuttaki. It would be perverse to belittle Christianity before Buddhism, but it would also be unfair to belittle Buddhism before Christianity. According to their moral laws, both religions stand the same, and in following these laws Buddhists often go further than Christians. So, for example, in relation to the first commandment of Buddhism: "You must not kill."

The Dhammikasutta of the Suttanipata says: “One should not kill, nor force to kill any living being, nor approve when others kill; but one must beware of inflicting suffering on beings, both those who are strong and those who tremble in the world. " With this commandment stands in connection, as already mentioned, the custom of observing the rainy season. It is not only the one who kills himself who sins against the first commandment, but also the one who orders to kill, who is present with him, who indirectly calls him. Therefore, Buddhists abhor the animal sacrifices of the Brahmins, as well as hunting and war. Hunters, fishermen, butchers are among the most despicable classes. Of course, if strictly carried out, this commandment should lead to absurdities. Following it, it would be impossible to kill harmful and annoying animals, which in India is even less permissible than ours. There people suffer from every reptile, and thousands become victims of tigers and snakes every year. In practice, we didn't go that far. But that the commandment had a good influence, and we have evidence of this in the inscriptions of King Ashoka Priyadarshin. His first edict reads: “Here (that is, in my kingdom) no animal can be killed or sacrificed, and no feasts can be arranged. For the beloved king Priyadarshin sees great harm in feasts. But there are many festive gatherings that the beloved Tsar Priyadarshin considers good by the gods. Previously, in the kitchen, the gods of the beloved Tsar Priyadarshin killed thousands of animals to make broth from them. Now, since this religious edict was written, only three animals will be killed, two peacocks and a gazelle, and not always a gazelle. In the future, these three animals will not be killed either. " The thirteenth edict also clearly speaks of the change in the king's views, in which he expresses deep regret for the atrocities that were committed by him earlier, during the conquest of the land of Kalinga.

The first commandment is also understood by Buddhists in such a way that living beings should have been spared in all respects. The second edict of Ashoka reads: “Everywhere in the state, the beloved king Priyadarshin and his neighbors ... Where there are no grasses suitable for people and animals, he ordered them to be obtained and planted. Also, if somewhere there are no roots and fruits, he commanded to get them and plant them. On the roads he ordered to plant trees and dig wells for the use of animals and people. " Everywhere in Buddhist countries, the obligation of loving fellow man extends to animals. The teaching on the transmigration of souls undoubtedly had an outstanding influence on the manifestation of such broad concern for animals. It was impossible to be sure that the soul of any relative did not live in any animal at a given time.

At the same time, the first commandment requires wide love for one's neighbor. And no religion was more tolerant of Buddhism, which in this respect constitutes the direct opposite of Islam. Among all the great religions, she alone never tried to spread herself by sword and force. Although a Buddhist considers his religion to be the best, he leaves their faith to others. Ashoka's twelfth edict shows us this tolerance. “Beloved by the gods, Tsar Priyadarshin honors all religious communities, both wandering and sedentary, he gives them gifts and expresses his respect in various ways. But the beloved of the gods attaches not so much importance to gifts and the rendering of honor, as to the fact that what makes them special flourishes. The prosperity of the characteristics of all religious communities is diverse, but caution in speech should be the basis, so as not to praise your own religious community highly or not to vilify and humiliate other religious communities without reason, but to show honor to other religions on every suitable occasion. Doing this every time suitable occasion, they promote their own religion and do good to other religions as well. He who acts differently harms his own religion and does evil to other religions. For whoever always praises his religion and blasphemes another religion, he, thinking to elevate his religion and give it more splendor, in fact brings it all the more harm. Unity is one for good, when each listens to the teachings of the other and hears willingly. This tolerance has been detrimental to Buddhism, especially wherever it meets Islam.

The second commandment says: "You must not steal." The Dhammikasutta says about this: “An intelligent disciple of the Buddha should not take anything anywhere that is not given to him; he should not instruct another to take something, nor approve when someone takes something. He should not take anything that is not given to him. " And this commandment has its positive side and then commands: "You must give." After love, no virtue is as important to Buddhists as generosity; sometimes it may even seem that she is placed at the head of all virtues. Perhaps self-interest also plays a role in this. It should be borne in mind that monks do not work, but live exclusively on the generosity of the laity. It was, therefore, in their own interest to praise this virtue in every possible way. Indian priests have understood this perfectly since the time of the Rig Veda. In the Dhammapada we read: “The greedy will not enter the world of the gods; only fools do not praise generosity. The wise enjoy generosity and become so happy in this world. " The merit and reward increase according to the mood with which the giver is giving. The teaching of Christianity that God loves the giver with joy is shared by Buddhism. He who gives reluctantly receives from his gift not benefit, but harm. It is said that when the Lord was once in Veluvan, a man came there, carrying a sheaf of sugarcane on his shoulder and chewing on one of its ears. Behind him was a virtuous, pious lay Buddhist with a little boy. The boy asked with tears for sugar cane, but the man did not give him. When the father, pointing to the loudly crying child, began to ask for sugarcane, the man reluctantly threw it over his shoulder. After his death, he was reborn among the ghosts for his greed, and his reward was consistent with his deeds. He was reborn in a large grove of tall sugar cane. As soon as he tried to pick this reed, he would hit him, and he would faint. He was rescued by Maudgalyayana, who advised him to grab the reed while turning away, as he had once thrown it to a child. The moral of this story is that everything should be given joyfully and willingly. Even small gifts lead to great reward... One day Buddha told a story about the son of a wealthy guild master in Rajagriha. Out of excessive love, the parents did not teach their son anything, since they considered their wealth to be so large that the son could not waste it. He found himself, however, in society, spent time in revelry with gamblers and singers, and ended up becoming a beggar. In a shelter for the homeless, he once met with thieves, who persuaded him to commit theft together. At the same time, out of awkwardness, he was caught and sentenced to death. On the way to the place of execution, she saw his getter, with whom he had previously had relations. Out of compassion for his sad fate, she sent him four pieces of sweets and water. At that moment, Mahamaudgalyana saw with his divine gaze his misfortune and tried to save him from hell. He appeared before him, and the condemned man offered him sweets and water with a believing heart. For this, after the execution, he was reborn as a tree god on a large dense fig tree in a mountain forest.

Since Maudgalyana served as the field of his good deed, even for this good deed he was reborn in the world of the gods. But at the moment of death, he gratefully remembered the hetera, and through this his heart turned out to be stained, so that he had to be content with the rank of the earthly spirit. But then he had the advantage of living for his own pleasure one week with his beloved heterosexual. After this story, Buddha recited the following verses: “Arhats are like a field, donors are like plowmen, gifts are like a seed; from this comes the fruit. This seed, this plowing and this field serve for the good of the spirits of the dead and the giver. The spirits of the dead enjoy this, and the giver is exalted by his pious deed. If he does good here and honors the spirits of the dead, he ascends to heaven, because he has done a good deed. "

A Buddhist should, if he can, benefit other creatures, willingly sacrifice his life without hesitation. And many stories are told about this. Generosity, like that of the brahmanas, is an obligation especially to the kings. As the four virtues through which the king can and should become popular, it is indicated: generosity, gentleness, diligence in public affairs and impartiality. Buddhist rulers have shown generosity widely at all times. In the third and eleventh edicts, Ashoka Priyadarshin calls it praiseworthy and lawful: obedience to parents, generosity to friends, acquaintances, relatives, brahmanas and ascetics, non-mortification of living beings and refraining from blaspheming those of other believers. In the eighth edict, he says that during his travels he receives ascetics, brahmanas and elders, bestows them and shares gold among them. Buddhist pilgrims from China describe the extravagance with which kings give gifts at large religious gatherings. Benefactors like Anatkapindika and Visakha live in the memory of Buddhists to the present day.

The third commandment says: "You must not live unchastely." The Dhammikasutta says about this: “Let the intelligent avoid the unchaste life like a heap of (hot) coal. If he is not able to behave chastely, then may he not appropriate the wife of another. " It is generally recognized as commendable for a layman to refrain from intercourse with women. This was a must for a monk. Buddhism, like Catholicism, prescribes celibacy. For violation of marriage, he is threatened with the heaviest punishment, which continues through many births. The Dhammapada teaches: “Gradually and in any case, let the intelligent remove rust from himself, like a blacksmith from silver. The rust that forms on the iron gradually eats it up; whoever does so foolishly plunges his deeds into hell. Rust in a woman has bad behavior, rust in a giver is greed, rust is the essence of sinful tendencies in this and the next world. " “Four things are achieved by an unreasonable person who converges with the wife of another; sin - living without pleasure, punishment in this life, hell. He commits a sin, his pleasure is not great, since he and she are full of fear (before the discovery), the king imposes a heavy punishment on him. Therefore, a person should not get along with another's wife. " Suttanipata says: "Whoever gets together with the wives of relatives or friends, by force or by agreement, is an outcast."

The fourth commandment says, "You must not lie." Dhammikasutta says about this: “Neither before the court nor in the assembly should anyone lie against another. One should not seduce anyone to lie, nor should he approve of the one who lies, but avoid all kinds of lies. " The Kokalyasutta says: “An ax arises in the mouth of a person at his birth, with which a fool strikes himself when he speaks badly. He who praises someone who is worthy of blame, or blames someone who deserves praise, spews out an unhappy blowout with his mouth and does not bring himself happiness. Unimportant is the unfortunate release, through which money is lost when playing dice; much more important is the unhappy outburst with which they sin against the good. Whoever speaks a lie and who denies what has been done to them will go to hell; with both lowly walking will after their death in the next world be dealt with in the same way. When someone exposes bad person pure and innocent, then sin falls back on the fool like dust thrown against the wind. " Positive side commandments: "You should speak only good things about your neighbor." In one of his speeches, the Buddha says about the monk: “He abandons slander, turns away from slander. What he heard here, he will not speak there, so as not to separate these; what he heard there, he will not speak here, so as not to separate those. He reconciles the disunited and strengthens the united. Consent is his bliss, consent is his joy, consent is his pleasure; consent-creating words he says. He refrains from rude speech, leaves coarse words. He speaks only words blameless, pleasing to the ear, kind, going to the heart, polite, loving and pleasant to the people. " What is said here about a monk is defined elsewhere in the same words as a quality of the Buddha himself and is recommended to all people.

The fifth commandment is: "You must not drink intoxicating drinks." The climate of India requires sobriety, and the complete prohibition of intoxicating drinks was beneficial and necessary, especially since in ancient times the Indians loved to drink. Dhammikasutta says: “A master who follows this law (ie, the teachings of the Buddha) should not drink intoxicating drinks, nor invite others to drink them, nor approve when others drink, because he knows that the end of drunkenness is madness. For in drunkenness fools sin and make other people drunk. It is necessary to avoid this sin, which causes madness, leads to stupidity and only the stupid seems good. "

These are the five commandments that a layman must keep. He who does not do this, as the Dhammapada says, pulls out his own roots. The monk is supplied with five other commandments, in total, therefore ten: 6. Do not eat at an unspecified time. 7. Do not take part in dancing, singing, music, performances. 8. Do not use wreaths, incense and ornaments. 9. Do not sleep on a high or wide bed. 10. Do not take gold and silver. The laity are also credited with keeping the first three of these commandments, if not all their lives, then according to at least on famous days. It is considered contrary to religion if these three commandments are not observed in the days of the Upavasatha. These Upavasatha days correspond to our Sundays; it is a full moon day, a new moon day and every eighth day after a full moon and a new moon. The name means "Fasting Day". In Brahmanism, this was the day before the great sacrifice of Soma, when they fasted. In Buddhism, this was no longer a day of fasting, but a day of repentance. On the days of the Upavasatha, lay people wear their finest garments. The godly abstain from their pursuits and from worldly pleasures. They go to the priest and declare their intention to keep the eight commandments that day. For the spiritual on the days of the new and full moon, a big confession is due, which will be discussed below.

With the name of the pious, according to the ancient Indian and ancient Iranian views, which also passed into Christianity, the idea of ​​a person who does not sin in thought, word, or deed is combined. In Buddhism, this threefold division is very common, and therefore sins are divided into three classes: sins of thought, word and deed. The sins of thought are: greed, anger, a tendency to doubt; sins of the word: lies, slander, curses, idle chatter; sins of the body: murder, theft, illicit sexual intercourse — ten in all. Dighanikai's Sigalovadasutta contains a code of ethics that hardly contains gaps. Of this sutta, Childers rightly noted that it does not reveal to us the “frozen world of Buddhism,” but that it is filled with the enthusiasm of humanity. The relationship between parents and children, between teacher and student, husband and wife, master and servant, friends, lay people and monks is clearly defined, mutual responsibilities are clearly established. For example, it is said about parents and children: “In five forms, the son should take care of the parents. He should say: “I will feed them as they fed me; I will work for them; I will continue my race; I will take possession of my inheritance; I will repay them the debt (their mail) when they die. " In five forms, parents show love for their son: they keep him from sinning, instruct him in virtue, teach him something useful, look for a suitable wife for him and leave him an inheritance in due time. " About masters and servants it is said: “In five forms, the master should take care of his servants. He must give them work in his power, must feed and reward them, take care of them during illness, provide them with participation in unusual pleasures and give them rest at the appropriate time. In five forms, the servants show love for their master. They get up before him and go to bed later, are content with what is given to them, do their job well and say good about him. " The sutta concludes: “Generosity, kind speech, benevolent treatment, self-sacrificing attitude towards all beings, wherever appropriate, these qualities are the same for the world as a hub is for a wheel. If these qualities were not there, neither the mother nor the father would have enjoyed the honor and respect of their children. And because the clever take care of these qualities, they prosper and they are praised. "

The first step on the path to holiness, the right faith, was an inevitable condition for anyone who, in general, wished to follow this path. The next five steps; right determination, right word, right deed, right life, right self-effort embrace the duties attributed to the laity in the five commandments, especially the duties to their neighbors. The last two steps: right thought and right self-deepening, like the first step, again concern a separate individual. Buddhism recognizes, it is true, as we have seen, gods, but not God. Therefore, he does not know prayer. He has formulas for the confession of faith, expressions of praise and praise to Buddha and the church, but he does not have prayer. Who could a Buddhist pray to? Buddha for him always remained a man. With his entry into Parinirvana, he is withdrawn from all existence; it doesn't exist anymore. Subsequent time, however, created objects of external veneration, began to use prayer, and moreover more often and more mechanically than other religions. But ancient Buddhism was foreign to prayer; it was replaced by self-immersion. But it is only available to a monk. The texts distinguish four stages of religious absorption. A monk who wants to surrender himself to self-immersion retires to a calm, secluded place and sits down with tucked, crossed legs, "straightening his body, surrounding his face with vigorous thought." He focuses his spirit on one point, he is looking for, as they say, "fulcrum." The story is about a monk who was looking for self-immersion, that he once sat on the banks of the Achiravati River and watched the foamy waves come and go. Then it occurred to him that as the foam of these waves arises and disappears human body... He took this thought as a point of departure for his immersion; she became his "fulcrum". When a monk sits in this manner, lost in thought, his spirit is gradually filled with enthusiasm and clarity. Passions and evil inclinations disappear, but the spirit is still dependent on reasoning and consideration of the "fulcrum". This is the first step. The second stage is when the spirit is freed from reasoning and consideration, when it reaches certainty, and only inspiration and clarity remain. At the third stage, he is freed from inspiration, and at the same time from joy and suffering. In the fourth step, the spirit becomes completely indifferent to everything; breathing stops. At this stage, they imagined the opportunity to survey the past and recognize their previous births. We also imagined ourselves capable of acquiring supernatural powers, performing miracles, recognizing the thoughts of others, multiplying our “I” and transforming at will. It is often stated that a monk who has reached the fourth stage of absorption is close to Nirvana, and at a later time the teaching developed that through absorption they are reborn in one of the heavens. To reach the state necessary for immersion, the path of the "fulcrum" was not always chosen. Hypnosis was also known by the long fixation of some variegated or shiny object... The bliss of immersion is sometimes described enthusiastically. This is how the elder Bhuta says in Theragatha: “When thunder rolls thunder in the sky, when streams of rain fill the steep airy path, and a monk gives himself up to self-immersion in a mountain cave - there is no greater pleasure for him than that. When he, filled with joy, sits on the bank of the river, decorated with flowers, among the motley cover fragrant herbs, and indulges in self-absorption - there is no greater pleasure than this for him. When at night, in solitude, in the forest, when the rain pours and growls wild animals, the monk is given to self-immersion in the cave - there is no greater pleasure than this for him. "

Of this kind of exercise, the monks especially used the exercise of "breathing in and out," which the Buddha called excellent and rich in joys. It consisted in the fact that the monk sat as if for immersion and paid attention only to his breathing. When he took a long breath, he knew: "I am doing a long inhalation" (or exhalation), the same with a short one. By this, the spirit was also distracted from the things of this world and concentrated. Such exercises and self-absorption show how close the Buddha stood to the teachings of the Yogi, although he rejected all austerities.

Like the four stages of absorption, there are also four stages of holiness, the "four roads." The persons in these stages are named in order: Srotaapanna, Sakrdagamin, Anagamin and Arhat. Srotaapanna literally means “one who has reached the stream,” that is, one who has entered the path of holiness. Srotaapanna is the lowest degree of converts. It is reached by anyone who utters the “Three Refugees” and ends with the following vow: “He is the Exalted, Holy, Fully Enlightened, Possessing knowledge and moral conduct of life, Perfect, Prophetic, Highest, Taming human bulls, Teacher of gods and people, Lord Buddha. The Law is blessed by the Lord. He is visible on earth, appeared directly, calls to himself, leads to salvation, is available to every reasonable person. The community of the Lord's disciples lives rightly; the community of the Lord's disciples lives directly; the community of the Lord's disciples lives faithfully; the community of the Lord's disciples lives with dignity. Four couples and eight personalities, this is the congregation of the Lord's disciples. She is worthy of offerings, worthy of alms, worthy of gifts, worthy of reverent greeting, she is the highest field for the good deeds of people. According to the commandments, I want to live, beloved noble, indestructible, perfect, pure, blameless, free, who are glorified by the rational, immutable and lead to immersion (in oneself). "

The one who has reached Srotaapanna is freed from birth in the lower worlds: in the underworld, in the world of ghosts and in the world of animals. Salvation is assured for him, but he must be reborn seven more times before he reaches the highest nirvana.

The second stage is Sakrdagamin, "who comes back again." Lust, hatred and seduction, he destroyed down to a small remnant, and therefore only one more time will be reborn in this world.

Anagamine, "which does not return", will not be reborn again on earth, but once again in one of the worlds of the gods, from where it will reach the highest nirvana.

The fourth and final stage is the Arhat. It cannot be achieved by a layman, but only a monk. An Arhat is one who attains earthly nirvana, who is free from all sins, who has given up all striving for existence and enjoys unshakable indifference. The Buddha said, "Arhats are freed from fear and anguish."

In addition to this division into four degrees or ranks, northern Buddhists have another - into three classes - Shravaka: "Disciple", "Small", "Listener", Pratyekabuddha - "Buddha for himself" and Bodhisattva - "Future Buddha". The first class embraces all believers up to and including the Arhat. Pratyekabuddhas are already known to the ancient Pali texts, but they appear quite rarely. They mean people who, by their own power, acquired the knowledge necessary to achieve nirvana. They keep this knowledge to themselves, do not proclaim it to people, and therefore remain, as expressed in their name, Buddhas for themselves only. Later it was taught that Pratyekabuddhas never appear at the same time as a perfect Buddha. This teaching is not original, as the ancient texts show, in which Pratyekabuddha is only one degree higher than the arhat. He can comprehend the highest nirvana himself, but he cannot reveal the law to others, “just as a dumb one can have an important dream, but cannot explain it to others,” or “like a savage who enters a city and treats himself to a respectable citizen who meets him, but upon returning to the forest, he is not able to give his roommates an idea of ​​the foods that he ate, because he is not used to such foods. " In the legend, the Pratyekabuddhas always appear as hermits with a long beard and disheveled hair and are usually equated with a lonely wandering rhinoceros, a comparison generally beloved for a Buddhist monk.

Bodhisattvas (Bodisattvas) are beings destined to become buddhas in time. So, Buddha was a Bodhisattva until 34 years old. A Bodhisattva can be reborn in the form of an animal, but he always remains a Bodhisattva and does not commit sins in any existence.

High above all other beings stands the saint, the exalted Buddha, enlightened or perfectly enlightened. The usual formula of his praise, given at the beginning of every manuscript and every Pali book, reads: namo tassa bhagavato arahato sammasambuddhassa, "Glory to the Exalted, Holy, Perfectly Enlightened One"! It is said about Buddha that he has no equal between legless, two-legged, four-legged, neither in the world of forms, nor in the formless world, nor between gods, nor between brahmanas. Even billions of Pratyekabuddhas cannot be compared with one perfect Buddha. No one can measure his greatness and glory. If someone had a thousand heads and in each head a hundred lips and in each mouth a hundred languages, then a whole world century would not be enough to further enumerate only the qualities of one Buddha. The scholastic systematics of later times chose, however, of these innumerable qualities, a smaller number characteristic features, and it is he who ascribes to Buddha 10 powers of Buddha, 32 "signs of a great man" and 80 or 84 lesser characteristics. Among the 32 signs, two deserve to be mentioned, because they are always present in the images of the Buddha, the so-called Ushnisha and the hair-dress. Ushnisha is a kind of crown on the head of Buddha. Usually it appears in images and statues as some kind of strange outgrowth in the middle of the head, now rounded, now pointed, now bifurcated at the top, now like a flame, and sometimes so high that it is equal in height to the head. It has been suggested that the Buddha did indeed have a similar growth on his head. But this is very incredible, especially since the texts say nothing about it. We can certainly believe what the brahmana Sonadanda says, namely that the Buddha was a handsome, prominent, slender man with an excellent complexion. Undoubtedly, his imposing personality has contributed a lot to his success.

The hair on the Buddha's head is depicted as very dark, blue-black, like resin or a peacock's tail, curled and curled to the right. The blackness, curliness and coarseness of the hair gave Sir W. Jones a reason to claim that the Buddha was of African descent. Between the eyebrows, the Buddha depicts a kind of ball, Urn, Pali - Uina, which has a shine of snow or silver. From here, the Buddha sends rays that illuminate all the worlds up to deepest hell... The urn is, however, not on all images of the Buddha. Later, they also began to accept that there are 108 signs on each foot of the Buddha, figures like a wheel with 1000 spokes, the mountain of the gods Meru, an elephant, a lion, a tiger, a lotus, a hooked cross (swastika), etc. tedious and ridiculous descriptions of the Buddha's personality, about which the ancient texts know nothing. But always Buddha remains a man, true, perfect, but still a mortal man. He is not even the only Buddha to appear on Earth. According to the general Indian idea, at certain long intervals, called Kalpa, the world is subject to death, in order to then resume again. The life expectancy of people during these periods varies greatly. The shortest is ten years, the longest is incalculable. Buddhists distinguish between "empty Kalpas" and "non-empty Kalpas". “Empty Kalpas” are those in which not a single Buddha appeared, “non-empty” ones - in which Buddha spoke, why such a Kalpa is also called “Buddhakalpa”. During one Kalpa, several Buddhas can appear, up to five. The Kalpa with five Buddhas is called Bhadrakalpa, the blessed world age. This is ours. Our Buddha is the fourth, the fifth will still appear.

He will be Maitreya, Pali - Metteya, on whom the Buddhists put their hope, as the Jews put their trust in the Messiah. It will appear after 3000 years and will reveal new era; now he is a Bodhisattva. As there have been countless world ages, there have been countless Buddhas. The names of the last 27 are transmitted, about 24, in addition, there is a short biography in verses, Buddavamsa, which is included in the southern canon. It goes without saying that all these 24 Buddhas are mythical creatures. Their biography is processed according to a well-defined template. Everyone has, like our Buddha, his main disciples and disciples and his own tree of knowledge. The names of his parents and main worshipers are given, and it is narrated as a result of which he was ascended to the dignity of Buddha. The age and height of these Buddhas were different. Some have reached 100,000 years, others only 20,000; the largest was 90 feet, the smallest only 20. Vera in historical figures, at least three predecessors of our Buddha, is proved by the fact that the second of them, Konagamane, was erected a stupa, which Ashoka Priyadarshin, in the fifteenth year of his reign, ordered to restore, as evidenced by one inscription found in 1895.

Northern Buddhists know even more Buddhas. But only the last seven, including our Buddha, play a role. They are called Manushibuddhas "Buddhas" human species". Three are placed in the golden age, two in the silver one, one in the copper one and our Buddha in the iron one. " In relation to these seven Buddhas, the northern and southern traditions coincide completely, with the exception of a few details. Alongside these Manushibuddhas, northern Buddhists have five more Dhyanibuddhas, "Buddhas of reasoning," that is, immaterial Buddhas that have arisen from reasoning. Later it was accepted by the northern church that every Buddha appearing on Earth in a human form also reveals himself in the supersensible world, without name and form. According to this concept, the earthly Buddha is always considered only a reflection, an emanation of the heavenly Buddha. Each Manushibuddha has his own Dhyanibuddha, his enlightened "I" in the sky. These Dhyanibuddhas are actually gods. They have no parents, but each has a son, whom he created by his emanation to oversee the good law on Earth. These sons are Dhyanibodhisattvas. So our Gautama is Manushibuddha; his Dhyanibuddha is called Amitabha, his Dhyanibodhisattva is Padmapani, "holding a lotus in her hand." Through this, Padmapani took one of the most important positions in the northern church. More than Padmapani, his other name is known - Avalokiteshvara, "the Lord of looking", that is, the Lord who looks mercifully at people. Avalokiteshvara became a real god among the northern Buddhists. It is from him that they expect help in any trouble and danger, therefore, they most honor him with prayers.

The holy prayer formula refers to it: "Om mani padme hum." “Yes, you are the jewel in the lotus! Amen ”, This prayer is almost the only thing that an ordinary person in Tibet and Mongolia knows about Buddhism. These six syllables "are the first ones that the child babbles, and which the dying man utters with a groan." A traveler mutters them on his way, a shepherd at his flock, a woman at her housework, a monk in all stages of contemplation, that is, doing nothing; it is at the same time a war and victory cry. " This prayer can be seen in all the temples of the lamas, often written in Sanskrit. It is found wherever Lamaism reigns, on rocks, trees, walls. It is written on banners and strips of paper set in motion by mills. There is no prayer that would be uttered and written more often than this. It is exaggeratedly glorified as uniting in itself all religion and wisdom, and it is interpreted mystically.

Like Vishnu among the brahmanas, Avalokiteshvara among the northern Buddhists can assume all kinds of existence. He appears in hell, among the lions, in the form of a horse, like a tornado. When exactly his veneration began, one cannot say for sure. He is already mentioned in one work, translated in the 3rd century by Chr. into Chinese, but which must be much older. The Chinese pilgrim Fakhun (Fa-xian) met about 400 AD. the cult of Avalokitesvara in Mathura on the river. Yamuna and notices that he was worshiped by the followers of the Mahayana. He himself appealed to Avalokiteshvara, and not to Buddha, for help when his ship on its way back to China was overtaken by a strong storm, and he was in danger of losing all his sacred books and paintings, collected by him in India. About 200 years later, when Xuanzan visited India, Avalokiteshvara continued to enjoy great veneration. His statues were everywhere, even in Magadha, the homeland of Buddhism, where they stood next to the tree of enlightenment. Xuanzan tells how about the then general belief that the Buddha's law would be completely darkened if the image of Avalokiteshvara became invisible.

Whether the doctrine of the Dhyanibodhisattvas is based, as was supposed, on the Persian or Gnostic teachings, or, conversely, these on it, still cannot be said. Only very late did the doctrine that the five Dhyanibuddhas are emanations of one Adibuddha - "Primitive Buddha", which created a kind of monotheism within Buddhism.

The most ancient of all existing world religions is Buddhism. Major religions are part of the worldview of many peoples living in territories from Japan to India.

The foundations of Buddhism were laid by Siddhartha Gautama, who entered world history under the name of Buddha. He was the son and heir of the king of the Shakya tribe and from childhood was surrounded by luxury and all kinds of benefits. According to the generally accepted version, one day Siddhartha left the territory of the palace and for the first time faced the cruel reality in the person of a sick person, an old man and funeral procession... For him, this was a complete discovery, because the heir did not even know about the existence of diseases, old age and death. Shocked by what he saw, Siddhartha flees the palace and, already a 29-year-old man, joins the wandering hermits.

During 6 years of wandering, Siddhartha learned numerous techniques and states of yoga, but came to the conclusion that it was impossible to achieve them through enlightenment. He chose the path of reflection and prayer, motionless meditation, which led him to enlightenment.

Initially, Buddhism was a protest against the orthodox Brahmans and their teachings about the sacredness of the existing class-varna system of society. At the same time, Buddhism learned many of the provisions from the Vedas, abandoning their rituals, the law of karma and some other norms. Buddhism emerged as a purification of the existing religion, and eventually resulted in a religion that proved to be capable of constant self-purification and renewal.

Buddhism: Basic Ideas

There are four basic truths at the heart of Buddhism:

1. Spirit (suffering).

2. The cause of suffering.

3. Suffering can be stopped.

4. There is a path leading to the end of suffering.

Thus, suffering is the main idea that Buddhism contains. The main provisions of this religion say that suffering can be not only physical, but also mental. Birth is already suffering. And sickness, and death, and even an unsatisfied striving. Suffering is a constant human life and rather even a form of human existence. However, suffering is unnatural, and therefore you need to get rid of it.

Another idea of ​​Buddhism follows from this: in order to get rid of suffering, it is necessary to comprehend the reasons for its occurrence. Buddhism, whose main ideas are the pursuit of enlightenment and self-knowledge, believes that the cause of suffering is ignorance. It is ignorance that drives the chain of events that lead to suffering. And ignorance is a misconception about your own "I".

One of the key theories of Buddhism is the denial of the individual self. This theory says: it is impossible to understand what our personality is (ie, "I"), because our feelings, intellect, interests are impermanent. And our “I” is a complex of various states, without which the soul does not exist. Buddha does not provide any answer to the question of the existence of the soul, which allowed representatives different schools Buddhism draw completely opposite conclusions in this regard.

The so-called "middle path" leads to cognition, which means liberation from suffering (nirvana). The essence of the "middle path" is to avoid any extremes, to rise above opposites, to look at the problem as a whole. Thus, a person achieves liberation by giving up any opinions and inclinations, giving up his "I".

As a result, it turns out that Buddhism, whose main ideas are based on suffering, says that all life is suffering, which means that it is wrong to cling to life and cherish it. A person who seeks to prolong his life (i.e. suffering) is an ignoramus. In order to avoid ignorance, you need to destroy any desire, and this is possible only by eliminating ignorance, which consists in the isolation of your “I”. So, we come to the conclusion that the essence of Buddhism is the rejection of one's self.

Buddha and his teachings

According to legend, in 563 BC, a son was born to King Gautama. The boy was named Siddhartha. The king was predicted that the boy would become an ascetic if at least once in his life he saw an old man, sick or dead.

King Gautama created all the conditions so that the son would never see illness, death or old age. Despite all the efforts of his father, Siddhartha saw all the same, and old age, and illness, and death. The shocked prince fled from the palace and became a forest hermit. He studied the Vedas, but the wise books could not teach him how to defeat death, which scared him so much.

Legend says that once Prince Siddhartha sat under a fig tree and decided that he would not budge until, through concentration, he learned the truth of life and true wisdom.

On the fourth day, enlightenment descended on him, and since then he began to be called "Buddha", which means "enlightened."

Siddhartha, or rather now he will be called Buddha, became the founder of Buddhism and preached his teachings for many years. The Buddha did not write anything, his teachings existed for a long time in oral form, and were first recorded on the island of Ceylon only 300 years after the beginning of the spread of Buddhism. The Buddhist canon is called "Tripitaka", which means "Three baskets". So the lyrics were written on palm leaves, and there were so many of them. That they all took up three baskets.

The Canon has three parts:

1) "Vinaya Pitaka", which sets out the rules and norms of the life of Buddhist monks.

2) "Sutta Pitaka" is a collection of sermons and sayings of the Buddha himself.

3) "Abhidhamma Pitaka" which talks about the philosophical foundations, accessible only to those who have achieved high degree in spiritual and moral development, that is, a book for the elite.

In order to understand what Buddhism is, let's turn to the dictionary.

Buddhism is a religious and philosophical doctrine, the first in the time of its emergence world religion(along with Christianity and Islam). The founder of Buddhism is the Indian prince Siddhartha Gautama - Buddha. Foundation stone Buddhism - belief in reincarnation, teaching about the path of liberation and achieving Nirvana, the highest spiritual state of illumination with true knowledge. Already in the first centuries of its existence, the single teaching of Buddha was divided into 18 schools. At the beginning of the 1st century. two main branches of Buddhism are formed: Hinayana ("small chariot") and Mahayana ("large chariot"). Originating in northeastern India, Buddhism spreads throughout India, China, Tibet, Southwest Asia, Japan, Mongolia, and others. It flourishes in the 3rd and 1st centuries. BC, 1-4, 8-9 centuries In India, Buddhism was gradually superseded by the resurgent Brahmanism (Hinduism) and by the 12th century. practically loses its meaning. There are currently about 400 million lay Buddhists and 1 million monks and nuns. The philosophy of Buddhism is based on Vedic texts. The Buddha's teaching was a serious attempt to reform Brahmanism, cleanse it of the layers of cult practice, destroy the caste system, establish justice in society based on the recognition of the equality of people and building communities (sangha).

The main philosophical and ethical idea of ​​Buddhism is associated with the Teaching about the "four noble truths" taught by Buddha in the first Benares sermon.

The worldview system of Buddhism is built on the following main categories and concepts: dharma (element, law), karma (action), samsara (stream of being), Nirvana (literally, extinction is the state of Enlightenment), nidana (wheel of cause-and-effect relationships), sangha ( community).

The cosmology of Buddhism describes the world as consisting of three lokas (spheres): Kamaloka (sensual, real world); rupaloka (the world of forms, illusory); arupaloka (the world without forms, the sphere of pure consciousness).

One of the most important teachings in Buddhism is the teachings of Kalachakra ("Wheel of Time"). Its essence is in the relationship between man and the Universe. Kalachakra exists as a teaching about cycles (small 12-year, annual - 60-year, as well as cosmic). Calendar chronology - esoteric "Wheel of Time". The esoteric doctrine of Kalachakra is associated with intimate astrological knowledge about the periods of the evolution of the Universe and human life. The world in Buddhism is represented by an endless combination of dharmas, elementary particles, kind of, flares vital energy... The whole world is the "excitement" of the dharmas. Psychological suffering is a constant experience of anxiety. Suffering, as well as satisfaction, create consequences for new births and combinations of dharmas. If you do not change the nature of experiences, then a person will not be able to leave the circle of birth and death (samsara). By his actions, feelings, thoughts, a person adds karma (destiny). Noble and moral life improves karma.

Man is a complex of combinations of skandhas, and at the same time - a link between two subsequent states of life. Liberation is achieved by stopping the "excitement" of the dharmas, i.e. destroying desires, passions, thoughts, everything that does not correspond to the righteous eightfold path.

To achieve liberation, a number of schools of Buddhism have developed special methods, techniques and procedures that serve to transform the psychophysical characteristics of a personality, accelerate its evolution, transmute imperfect bonds of dharmas (skadhi). They received special development in the schools of yogachars, vajrayana, in which the practice of Indian yoga, Chinese Taoism, and ancient magical religions are combined.

Buddhism teaches the renunciation of property, the equality of all people, life in a community (sangha). He opposed ritual forms religious life, against abstract dogmatic searches. Starting with the denial of external religiosity, Buddhism in the course of historical development has come to recognize it. Buddha began to be personified with the Universe, the theory of the Cosmic body of Buddha arose.

The cult of Buddhism began to cover family life, holidays, created a system of social institutions that allowed Buddhism to be viewed as a single religious state with its own regions - schools and traditions. The dogmatic perception of the Buddha's teachings led to social stratification and differentiation of adherents of religious trends. Buddhism had a strong influence on the way of life in India, at its inception and development, came out in opposition to Brahmanism. The influence of Buddhism on the world religious and philosophical thought is enormous. Buddhist culture has formed a whole mental and spiritual world with its own philosophy, architecture, painting, literature and form of thinking. In 1950, a worldwide Buddhist brotherhood was created. (The latest philosophical dictionary / Compiled by A.A. Gritsanov. - Minsk: Publishing house of V.M. Skakun, 1998.-98 pages)

Buddhism introduced significant changes to the teachings of Brahmanism if the Brahmans argued that by means of different rituals, sacrifices and spells for each class (“varna”), one could achieve “good rebirths,” that is, become a raja, a brahmana, a wealthy merchant, a king, etc. etc., then Buddhism declared all reincarnation, all kinds of being inevitable misfortune and evil.

That's why the highest goal a Buddhist should be a complete cessation of rebirth and the attainment of nirvana, that is, non-being. For most people, it is impossible to attain nirvana immediately, in this rebirth. Following the path of salvation indicated by the Buddha, a living entity must reincarnate again and again. But this will be the path of ascent to the "highest wisdom", having reached which a being can get out of the "cycle of being", complete the chain of his rebirths. His followers believe that the most significant thing in the Buddha's teachings is that he cognized the cause and essence of being - suffering, revealed them to people, as well as the path that leads to the end of suffering, to salvation, to non-being.

Buddhism- the oldest of the three world religions. Christianity is five years younger than him, and Islam is twelve centuries younger. The bulk of his followers live in the countries of the South, Southeast and East Asia: Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, Bhutan, China (as well as the Chinese population of Singapore and Malaysia), Mongolia, Korea, Vietnam, Japan, Cambodia, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Laos.

In our country, Buddhism is traditionally practiced by residents of Buryatia, Kalmykia, Tuva, and in recent years, Buddhist communities have emerged in Moscow, St. Petersburg and in all major cities of Russia. From the end of the XIX - beginning of the XX century. followers of Buddhism appeared in the countries of Europe and in the USA: today almost all significant directions and schools existing in the East are represented there.

It is difficult to determine the total number of Buddhists in the world: such censuses have not been conducted anywhere, and they contradict the ethical and legal norms of many countries. However, it can be said very roughly that in the world today there are about 400 million lay people professing Buddhism, and about 1 million monks and nuns.

Two and a half thousand years ago, the Buddha had a unique opportunity to teach: he lived during the heyday of the civilization of northern India and was surrounded by very gifted students. This gave him the opportunity for 45 years to show beings the way to the full opening of the mind, which manifested itself in the variety of the means given to them. Kangyur - collection own words The Buddhas recorded after his death are 108 volumes containing 84 thousand useful instructions. The pupils' comments that appeared later comprise 254 more volumes, each at least two centimeters thick, they are called Tengyur. It is from the wealth of methods that one should understand last words Buddhas, which he said at the age of 80, before leaving the body: "I can die happily: I have not left a single teaching in my closed palm. Everything that is useful to you, I have already given."

As follows from this statement, he gave something that can be directly applied in life. When asked why and what he teaches, Buddha invariably answered: "I teach because you and all beings strive to be happy and want to avoid pain. I teach what everything is - things as they are." And although these teachings subsequently became the basis of a number of schools, these schools are united by the fact that all of them, each at its own level of understanding of the life and teachings of the Buddha, are aimed at the all-round development of a person - the meaningful use of body, speech and mind.

Since Buddhist teachings are multifaceted and based on experience rather than faith, it is not enough to limit ourselves to describing its content. Its features become visible only in comparison with other worldviews. At the same time, approaching the Buddha's teachings is worth freeing from too harsh ideas, since the fullness of his wisdom cannot be described as "this, not that."

Legend of Buddha

Mid-1st millennium BC marked the emergence of a new religion - Buddhism, which became widespread in India and beyond and had a huge impact on the ideology, culture and way of life of many peoples of Asia.

Ask a Buddhist how the religion he follows, and you will get the answer that more than two and a half thousand years ago it was announced to the people by Shakyamuni ("a hermit from the Shakya tribe"). In any book devoted to Buddhism, you will find a story based on religious tradition about the life of the itinerant preacher Siddhartha, nicknamed Shakyamuni and calling himself Buddha (Skt. Buddha), which means "enlightened by the highest knowledge", "overshadowed by the truth." Religious Buddhist literature reports that after an endless number of rebirths, accumulating virtues in each of them, the Buddha appeared on earth in order to fulfill a rescue mission - to show living beings deliverance from suffering. He chose for his incarnation the image of the prince Siddhartha from the noble family of Gotama. This clan was part of the Shakya tribe who lived 500-600 BC. in the valley of the Ganges, in its middle reaches.

Like the gods of other religions, Buddha could not appear on earth like ordinary people. Siddhartha's mother - the wife of the Shakya ruler Maya (Mahamaya, that is, "Great Maya") - saw in a dream that he entered her side White elephant... Across due time she gave birth to a baby who left her body in an unusual way - through the armpit. All the gods of the Universe heard the call immediately issued by him and rejoiced at the arrival of the one who would be able to stop the suffering of life. Sage Asita predicted the accomplishment of a great religious feat for the newborn. The baby was named Siddhartha, which means "fulfilled his purpose."

The boy grew up surrounded by beautiful things, and he was never allowed out of the palace. The king, the father of Siddhartha, tried to keep his son in the dark about the hardships of life, but he eventually learned about the existence of disease, old age, death. Siddhartha was bored with the solitary life in the palace, and the prince wanted to know the world outside his walls. Once Siddhartha ordered his charioteer to take him outside the palace fence. The impressions he received completely changed him. The king's hopes were dashed by the four signs recounted in the Beddi tradition. The prince wondered what makes a person unhappy and his life so hard. And at the age of 29, Siddhartha left his home, refused the opportunity to become a ruler, parted with his wife and son in order to try to find an answer to the questions that tormented him. For seven years he was a hermit, hoping through studying sacred texts talking with the sages, torturing the flesh to find a way leading to deliverance, but only by giving up ascetic self-torture, as a result of deep reflections, he achieved what he wanted: the truth was revealed to him, and he found the way to the final "salvation" It happened on the bank of the Nairanjana river, in in the town of Uruvilva, in the present Bodh Gaya (Bihar state), sitting under the sacred bodhi tree, Siddhartha learned the "four noble truths."

Buddha's teachings

The emergence of the doctrine

The first five people, converted by Buddha to the new faith, became his disciples and formed the nucleus Buddhist community... Buddha preached religious teachings called "Buddha's teachings" ("buddhadarshana", "budhatama") or simply "dharma" (in the sense of "righteous law"). Believers were called "bauddhas" - an adherent of the Buddha, and sometimes just "shakyas". The Buddha died in his eightieth year, leaving many disciples and followers.

The basis of the early Buddhist worldview is left by the so-called "four noble truths", the discovery of which consisted of the "enlightenment" of Buddha Gautama and which he announced already in his first Benares sermon. These four truths are: the teaching about suffering (the truth about suffering), about the causes of suffering (the truth about the cause of suffering), about the cessation of suffering (the truth about the end of suffering) and about the path to ending suffering (the truth about the path leading to the end of suffering)

All life according to the Buddha's teachings is suffering. "Birth is suffering, old age is suffering, illness is suffering; union with the unwelcome is suffering, failure to achieve the desired is suffering ..." The cause of suffering is attachment to life, the thirst for being. This thirst "leads from rebirth to rebirth." The cessation of suffering is "the elimination of this craving through the complete annihilation of desire." A person must suppress in himself all striving for existence, all desire, passion, all attachment to anything.

How can this annihilation of desire be achieved? This is the teaching of the last of the "four sublime truths." She speaks of the "eightfold path" leading to the end of suffering: it is "righteous faith, righteous determination, righteous words, righteous deeds, righteous lifestyle, righteous aspirations, righteous thoughts, righteous contemplation." By following this "eightfold path," man ultimately achieves perfection; he becomes an arhat saint and plunges into nirvana. Nirvana is the last ideal condition, to which, according to Buddhist teachings, a sage should strive.

But what is nirvana? Although this concept occupies, perhaps, the central place in all Buddhist philosophy, it has not received a precise definition in it, and different understandings of it are found in Buddhist literature. According to some, nirvana is the lean destruction of being. According to others, nirvana is the cessation of only cognizable being and the transition into some other, unknowable being. Be that as it may, nirvana means the end of that chain of rebirths, which, according to traditional Indian views, adopted by Buddhists, is the lot of all living.

This eternal chain of rebirths is called samsara by Buddhists. It inevitably attracts every living being from one rebirth to another through a continuous series of sufferings. Death does not save a person from the suffering of being, for it is followed by a new birth. Only one who, through a long series of reincarnations, reaches the state of an arhat-holy hermit who has cognized the truth, can break out of this evil painful circle of samsara. Reborn, a living being can take not only human, but any other form: it can be reborn as an animal, plant, evil spirit, deity. But the highest form rebirth is the birth of a human being, since only from this state is the transition to the ideal state of nirvana possible. The only way to achieve the state of an arhat, and through it nirvana, early Buddhism considered a person's own efforts, following the "eightfold path". No one and nothing can save a person, save him from painful samsara and lead to nirvana, if he does not achieve it himself.

32 signs of Buddha

1. arms and legs are rounded;
2. legs of a beautiful setting;
3. webbed fingers;
4. arms and legs are soft, like a baby's;
5. the seven main parts of the body are convex;
6. long fingers;
7. wide heels;
8. the body is massive and straight;
9. the knees of the legs are not prominent;
10. body hair is directed up;
11. legs like antelope;
12. long arms are beautiful;
13. the genitals are hidden;
14. golden skin;
15. thin skin is tender;
16. each hair is curled in right side;
17. decorated with a bun of hair between the eyebrows (urn);
18. upper body like a lion;
19. shoulders in front are rounded;
20. broad shoulders;
21. turns an unpleasant taste into a pleasant one;
22. proportional, like a nyagrodha tree;
23. on his crown there is an elevation - ushnisha;
24. a long tongue is beautiful;
25. the voice is like the voice of Brahma;
26. cheeks like a lion;
27. very white teeth;
28. straight teeth;
29. tight-fitting teeth;
30. forty teeth;
31. the eyes are like sapphire;
32. the eyelashes of the eyes are the best;