WEBVTT 00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:07.674 Downloaded From www.AllSubs.org 00:00:07.674 --> 00:00:13.447 Five hundred years before Christ a young prince set out on a journey. 00:00:13.447 --> 00:00:17.284 He would travel through pain and suffering to reach nirvana 00:00:17.284 --> 00:00:20.587 - the everlasting bliss we all dream of. 00:00:20.587 --> 00:00:23.857 Symbol of peace 00:00:23.857 --> 00:00:30.931 Symbol of compassion, symbol of non-violence. 00:00:30.931 --> 00:00:34.234 He was the Buddha. 00:00:34.234 --> 00:00:38.138 He grew up in a palace surrounded by luxury. 00:00:38.138 --> 00:00:44.278 In his teens his privilege afforded him every indulgence 00:00:44.278 --> 00:00:51.785 But he gave all this up - to gain ultimate wisdom. 00:00:51.785 --> 00:00:55.989 He would travel the darkest corridors of his mind to come face to face 00:00:55.989 --> 00:00:59.793 with the devil inside him. 00:00:59.793 --> 00:01:02.162 He founded the first world religion, 00:01:02.162 --> 00:01:06.066 followed today by over 400 million people 00:01:06.066 --> 00:01:08.602 - a religion where meditation is used to reach 00:01:08.602 --> 00:01:12.806 a state of complete peace and happiness. 00:01:12.806 --> 00:01:15.876 Our own potential, our own effort 00:01:15.876 --> 00:01:20.380 to know the ultimate reality. 00:01:20.380 --> 00:01:22.883 And the events of his life make up one of 00:01:22.883 --> 00:01:25.219 the greatest stories ever told 00:01:25.219 --> 00:01:40.901 - and the Buddha, the world's most enduring icon. 00:01:40.901 --> 00:01:47.040 Two and a half thousand years after his death the Buddha's message lives on. 00:01:47.040 --> 00:01:48.375 The Dalai Lama 00:01:48.375 --> 00:01:51.144 - the spiritual figurehead of Tibetan Buddhism 00:01:51.144 --> 00:01:53.347 passes on the teachings of the Buddha 00:01:53.347 --> 00:01:59.253 continuing a practice that began the day he died. 00:01:59.253 --> 00:02:05.025 Buddhism has been adopted by many different cultures and has many interpretations. 00:02:05.025 --> 00:02:07.327 The Buddha's teachings of a higher mental calm 00:02:07.327 --> 00:02:14.001 and clarity are seen by some as a religion, others a philosophy, even a psychotherapy. 00:02:14.001 --> 00:02:17.471 Some people describe Buddhism is not a religion 00:02:17.471 --> 00:02:21.675 but Buddhism is science of mind. 00:02:21.675 --> 00:02:24.111 The Buddha's message is as relevant today 00:02:24.111 --> 00:02:27.181 as it was two and a half thousand years ago. 00:02:27.181 --> 00:02:29.416 What has made Buddhism so popular 00:02:29.416 --> 00:02:32.519 is that it is insightful and largely true that 00:02:32.519 --> 00:02:36.757 the Buddha discovered immensely important things. 00:02:36.757 --> 00:02:38.892 Unlike other religions, Buddhism, 00:02:38.892 --> 00:02:42.296 which centres on the mind, has no supreme God. 00:02:42.296 --> 00:02:48.168 Instead a great teacher - the Buddha or the Awakened One. 00:02:48.168 --> 00:02:52.139 It seems very almost intuitive to an age 00:02:52.139 --> 00:02:56.643 in which psychology becomes for many people an alternative to religion 00:02:56.643 --> 00:02:59.413 It's the means... It's a therapeutic means 00:02:59.413 --> 00:03:01.615 to dealing with the problems of life 00:03:01.615 --> 00:03:05.819 and so it seems very accessible to many people. 00:03:05.819 --> 00:03:08.622 There are many representations of the Buddha 00:03:08.622 --> 00:03:13.360 - and Buddhists all have their own picture in their minds of what he was like. 00:03:13.360 --> 00:03:24.605 Some kind of vibration of complete peace, non-violence. I think that must be there. 00:03:24.605 --> 00:03:27.407 Until little more than one hundred years ago 00:03:27.407 --> 00:03:31.545 the life of the Buddha remained unknown to the West. 00:03:31.545 --> 00:03:34.014 By the time the British colonised India 00:03:34.014 --> 00:03:38.485 - the country of the Buddha's birth - Buddhism had all but died out, 00:03:38.485 --> 00:03:42.823 destroyed by Hindu kings and Muslim invaders. 00:03:42.823 --> 00:03:48.228 The origins and the sites of the Buddha's life became lost to everyone. 00:03:48.228 --> 00:03:50.964 It wasn't until British colonial archaeologists 00:03:50.964 --> 00:03:54.268 began to explore Northern India that their discoveries 00:03:54.268 --> 00:03:59.106 began to root the Buddha's life in historical fact. 00:03:59.106 --> 00:04:00.641 In the 1860's, 00:04:00.641 --> 00:04:03.443 a series of archaeologists began to try 00:04:03.443 --> 00:04:08.882 and identify the sites associated with the life of the Buddha. 00:04:08.882 --> 00:04:11.718 By the 1890's many of these sites 00:04:11.718 --> 00:04:16.423 had been successfully identified within the Ganges area, 00:04:16.423 --> 00:04:21.495 but that time two of the great sites connected with Buddhism were still missing, 00:04:21.495 --> 00:04:24.865 the site of Lumbini, where the Buddha had actually been born, 00:04:24.865 --> 00:04:30.304 and the site of Kapilavastu which was the childhood home of the Buddha. 00:04:30.304 --> 00:04:33.907 The area to the north of the Ganges was less well known, 00:04:33.907 --> 00:04:36.944 partly because of the very thick jungle there, 00:04:36.944 --> 00:04:41.448 tigers as well as malaria. 00:04:41.448 --> 00:04:43.750 It took a breakthrough discovery to unlock 00:04:43.750 --> 00:04:48.822 the story of the Buddha's origins. 00:04:48.822 --> 00:04:55.195 In a remote village across the border in Nepal a pillar was discovered. 00:04:55.195 --> 00:04:59.366 A British expedition was sent out to decipher its inscription. 00:04:59.366 --> 00:05:01.335 The script is the early Brāhmī script 00:05:01.335 --> 00:05:05.038 and the language is a local vernacular language 00:05:05.038 --> 00:05:09.376 of Northern India and indeed the inscription itself depicts 00:05:09.376 --> 00:05:17.718 that this is where the Buddha, the enlightened one was born. 00:05:17.718 --> 00:05:20.787 This was the first piece of evidence to suggest that the Buddha 00:05:20.787 --> 00:05:25.759 was not just a legendary figure - he actually existed. 00:05:25.759 --> 00:05:30.097 Ancient Buddhist texts had named the Buddha's birthplace as Lumbini 00:05:30.097 --> 00:05:35.602 and now the archaeologists had it located on the map. 00:05:35.602 --> 00:05:38.305 Now they tried to find the Buddha's childhood home 00:05:38.305 --> 00:05:43.343 - an ancient city named in the texts as - Kapilavastu. 00:05:43.343 --> 00:05:46.480 It was apparent that it was located to the west, 00:05:46.480 --> 00:05:50.551 perhaps 10 or 15 kilometres to the west of Lumbini, 00:05:50.551 --> 00:05:54.421 and that is where the search began to intensify. 00:05:54.421 --> 00:05:57.057 Expeditions uncovered two possible sites 00:05:57.057 --> 00:06:02.663 for Kapilavastu - one in India the other in Nepal. 00:06:02.663 --> 00:06:07.301 For a hundred years archaeologists have argued over them. 00:06:07.301 --> 00:06:09.937 New research by Dr Coningham and his team 00:06:09.937 --> 00:06:15.475 suggests the ancient city lay at modern day Tilaurakot - in Nepal. 00:06:15.475 --> 00:06:19.880 It's an extremely exciting site because it is so well preserved. 00:06:19.880 --> 00:06:23.483 We conducted a series of geophysical surveys 00:06:23.483 --> 00:06:29.489 and we then identified that a series of roads laid out and it became a clear 00:06:29.489 --> 00:06:37.331 that the entire city in its final phrase had been gridded out according to a griddle pattern. 00:06:37.331 --> 00:06:40.033 At its centre lay a palace. 00:06:40.033 --> 00:06:46.773 It is here that the Buddha's story begins. 00:06:46.773 --> 00:06:48.976 Two and a half thousand years ago 00:06:48.976 --> 00:06:53.780 Northern India was divided up into Kingdoms and republics. 00:06:53.780 --> 00:06:56.016 The Buddha's father - Sudhodana NOTE Paragraph 00:06:56.016 --> 00:07:00.220 was the elected chieftain of the Shakya tribe. 00:07:00.220 --> 00:07:05.559 He ruled his kingdom from his palace near the foothills of the Himalayas. 00:07:05.559 --> 00:07:09.029 His queen was called Maya. 00:07:09.029 --> 00:07:10.797 Legend tells that on the night 00:07:10.797 --> 00:07:14.601 of the full moon she had an extraordinary dream. 00:07:14.601 --> 00:07:16.537 It told that a special Being known 00:07:16.537 --> 00:07:22.176 as the Buddha was about to be born again on earth. 00:07:22.176 --> 00:07:25.445 The legend goes on that Four Guardian deities of the world 00:07:25.445 --> 00:07:30.150 carried Queen Maya up to the Himalaya mountains in her bed. 00:07:30.150 --> 00:07:35.255 They anointed her with divine perfumes and decked her with heavenly flowers. 00:07:35.255 --> 00:07:38.592 A white elephant with six tusks descended from heaven, 00:07:38.592 --> 00:07:43.096 carrying a lotus flower in its trunk, and entered her womb. 00:07:43.096 --> 00:07:47.568 The Buddha would be born of Maya. 00:07:47.568 --> 00:07:51.138 If one looks at this story of the Buddhist conception and compares it 00:07:51.138 --> 00:07:56.944 to say the conception story of Jesus, where you have angels appearing. 00:07:56.944 --> 00:08:04.685 I suppose a similar basic idea is there. That the forces which are beyond 00:08:04.685 --> 00:08:07.554 are signalling that something great is happening. 00:08:07.554 --> 00:08:14.561 Its said that the Buddha chose the time and the place that he would be reborn. 00:08:14.561 --> 00:08:19.299 The baby boy was named Siddhartha - meaning 'every wish fulfilled'. 00:08:19.299 --> 00:08:23.704 But his mother fell ill after giving birth and died a few days later. 00:08:23.704 --> 00:08:27.307 Siddhartha was brought up by his aunt. 00:08:27.307 --> 00:08:29.443 The family summoned Brahmin priests 00:08:29.443 --> 00:08:34.414 and then a trusted palace soothsayer to predict the young prince's future 00:08:34.414 --> 00:08:35.349 We're told that he noticed 00:08:35.349 --> 00:08:39.987 the auspicious signs of a great being upon Siddhartha's body, 00:08:39.987 --> 00:08:44.091 including the mark of a wheel upon his feet. 00:08:44.091 --> 00:08:46.727 It's said that the Buddha was born 00:08:46.727 --> 00:08:52.266 with certain marks on his body, the so called '32 marks of a great person'. 00:08:52.266 --> 00:08:55.335 They are seen as appearing on the body of two kinds of people. 00:08:55.335 --> 00:09:00.207 One who will become the Buddha and one who will become a world Emperor. 00:09:00.207 --> 00:09:02.309 His father was quite keen on the idea 00:09:02.309 --> 00:09:05.245 that his son would become a great political leader. 00:09:05.245 --> 00:09:08.949 So this is why it is said that he cosseted his son, 00:09:08.949 --> 00:09:19.793 to prevent him seeing things which might send him in a religious direction. 00:09:19.793 --> 00:09:25.432 Everyone knew the signs meant Siddhartha was exceptional, especially the King. 00:09:25.432 --> 00:09:26.533 But as he watched his 00:09:26.533 --> 00:09:30.938 inquisitive young son growing up, he worried about these predictions 00:09:30.938 --> 00:09:35.108 that one day his son would abandon the palace and become the spiritual leader 00:09:35.108 --> 00:09:44.685 rather than stay to become chief of the Shakyas. 00:09:44.685 --> 00:09:48.856 As Siddhartha grew older his father was delighted to see the boy's exceptional 00:09:48.856 --> 00:09:54.695 ability at the princely sports of fencing, wrestling and archery. 00:09:54.695 --> 00:10:00.167 But he also noticed that Siddhartha was a deeply thoughtful and curious child. 00:10:00.167 --> 00:10:02.870 He appeared to be more interested in trying to understand 00:10:02.870 --> 00:10:07.741 the nature of the world around him than in military pursuits. 00:10:07.741 --> 00:10:10.744 For the King these were the most important skills 00:10:10.744 --> 00:10:16.049 young Siddhartha should learn if he was to become a leader of men. 00:10:16.049 --> 00:10:17.718 Siddhartha was expected to become 00:10:17.718 --> 00:10:21.155 the future King and defender of Kapilavastu 00:10:21.155 --> 00:10:26.226 - one of the very first cities in Northen India. 00:10:26.226 --> 00:10:30.564 The Palace where Siddhartha grew up has long since crumbled away. 00:10:30.564 --> 00:10:32.099 Its mud and wood construction 00:10:32.099 --> 00:10:35.335 have left nothing for archaeologists to examine. 00:10:35.335 --> 00:10:40.073 But more durable materials have recently been discovered at Tilaurakot. 00:10:40.073 --> 00:10:43.777 We cut a trench 3 metres by 3 metres and eventually 00:10:43.777 --> 00:10:46.013 we had a very clear sequence at the site 00:10:46.013 --> 00:10:51.685 and then we began to be somewhat surprised by identifying a material known as 00:10:51.685 --> 00:10:57.524 painted grey ware, which is basically a flat bowl with black paint. 00:10:57.524 --> 00:11:00.694 This tiny fragment has huge significance. 00:11:00.694 --> 00:11:04.565 Dr Coningham believes it was made in the 5th Century BC 00:11:04.565 --> 00:11:08.368 - at the time Siddhartha was growing up in the palace. 00:11:08.368 --> 00:11:13.907 What we have is a centre of small industry - We are probably dealing with a settlement 00:11:13.907 --> 00:11:17.277 that we would even hesitate to call a city today 00:11:17.277 --> 00:11:22.249 - centred around a large courtyard belonging to the ruler. 00:11:22.249 --> 00:11:30.557 and the majority of the population living in the agrarian hinterland. 00:11:30.557 --> 00:11:32.292 It was this hinterland, 00:11:32.292 --> 00:11:36.930 lying beyond the city walls that fascinated Siddhartha. 00:11:36.930 --> 00:11:38.098 So when at the age of nine 00:11:38.098 --> 00:11:41.902 his father allowed him out to celebrate the annual ploughing festival, 00:11:41.902 --> 00:11:45.539 he eagerly participated. 00:11:45.539 --> 00:11:47.407 His first glimpse of reality beyond 00:11:47.407 --> 00:11:52.279 the palace walls would open a door for Siddharta to a new vision of the world 00:11:52.279 --> 00:12:00.554 and would become the turning point of his life. 00:12:00.554 --> 00:12:03.790 The story recalls that he watched a farmer ploughing. 00:12:03.790 --> 00:12:08.862 He saw the toil and effort, struggle and repetition of this back-breaking work, 00:12:08.862 --> 00:12:16.537 something he'd never seen in the palace. 00:12:16.537 --> 00:12:20.674 He managed to slip away from the festivities and be alone. 00:12:20.674 --> 00:12:25.379 This first experience of real life had a profound effect upon him. 00:12:25.379 --> 00:12:28.682 To everyone else this was a celebration 00:12:28.682 --> 00:12:37.124 - but to Siddhartha it symbolized something quite different. 00:12:37.124 --> 00:12:42.329 He felt his mind leading him into a contemplative state. 00:12:42.329 --> 00:12:44.097 He watched the plough as it cut 00:12:44.097 --> 00:12:50.003 and parted the ground and noticed a bird eating a freshly unearthed worm. 00:12:50.003 --> 00:12:55.108 He asked himself why living beings have to suffer in this way. 00:12:55.108 --> 00:13:00.280 If the farmer had not been ploughing the bird would not have eaten the worm. 00:13:00.280 --> 00:13:05.953 He realised that everything was connected and that all actions had consequences. 00:13:05.953 --> 00:13:07.955 This simple observation would become 00:13:07.955 --> 00:13:12.860 one of the corner stones of his teachings - known as karma. 00:13:12.860 --> 00:13:16.663 As Siddharta's mind focused on these profound thoughts he slipped 00:13:16.663 --> 00:13:20.400 into a trance or jhana - a mental state which would become 00:13:20.400 --> 00:13:24.137 his first step on the road to enlightenment. 00:13:24.137 --> 00:13:25.506 He was sat under a tree 00:13:25.506 --> 00:13:30.143 and he was just focusing on the plough going through the earth. 00:13:30.143 --> 00:13:33.413 And its said while doing that he fairly naturally went into 00:13:33.413 --> 00:13:38.452 a meditative state called a first Jhana. Which was very very joyful and happy. 00:13:38.452 --> 00:13:42.389 And which he later uses as part of his spiritual path. 00:13:42.389 --> 00:13:44.057 The connection to Buddhist meditation 00:13:44.057 --> 00:13:48.128 is the focusing on something, which has a calming centring effect. 00:13:48.128 --> 00:13:50.063 Possibly also the idea of compassion 00:13:50.063 --> 00:13:56.503 for the worms being killed as the plough went through the earth. 00:13:56.503 --> 00:14:02.376 So I suppose one would see this as just part of his rather special nature. 00:14:02.376 --> 00:14:06.647 The young prince's behaviour deeply unsettled the King. 00:14:06.647 --> 00:14:09.850 Brahmanism - the religious tradition of the time 00:14:09.850 --> 00:14:15.189 - insisted that sons should follow in the footsteps of their fathers. 00:14:15.189 --> 00:14:18.926 One of the things that I think makes this narrative so powerful is, 00:14:18.926 --> 00:14:25.465 again we can imagine this scene of his father 00:14:25.465 --> 00:14:28.569 trying to protect his son encountering any suffering. 00:14:28.569 --> 00:14:33.040 Now the reason for doing this is that there has been a prophesy that/ 00:14:33.040 --> 00:14:35.242 he'll either become a universal monarch 00:14:35.242 --> 00:14:39.813 or he'll become a renunciant who will gain enlightenment. 00:14:39.813 --> 00:14:47.020 His father of course wants him to become a king to follow in his footsteps. 00:14:47.020 --> 00:14:48.422 As Siddhartha grew up 00:14:48.422 --> 00:14:52.759 his father did all he could to tempt him to stay inside the palace. 00:14:52.759 --> 00:15:07.374 He tried to create a perfect and seductive world for him to live in. 00:15:07.374 --> 00:15:11.545 As was customary for a prince, Siddhartha was offered beautiful maidens 00:15:11.545 --> 00:15:29.596 to entertain him with music and to pleasure him with their physical beauty. 00:15:29.596 --> 00:15:32.032 When Siddhartha reached the age of sixteen 00:15:32.032 --> 00:15:38.572 the King even found him a beautiful bride - Princess Yasodhara. 00:15:38.572 --> 00:15:40.908 Siddhartha had to compete for her hand 00:15:40.908 --> 00:15:47.147 and the King was delighted how skillfully his son fought off the competition. 00:15:47.147 --> 00:15:49.082 The King began to convince himself 00:15:49.082 --> 00:15:53.420 that palace life was beginning to suit his son at last. 00:15:53.420 --> 00:15:55.355 But this was wishful thinking 00:15:55.355 --> 00:16:01.261 and Siddhartha pestered his father to allow him out of the palace. 00:16:01.261 --> 00:16:03.931 Unable to refuse his son's wishes any longer, 00:16:03.931 --> 00:16:05.432 the King desperately set about 00:16:05.432 --> 00:16:13.073 clearing every eyesore from the surrounds of the palace. 00:16:13.073 --> 00:16:17.644 Like a Hollywood film set, the sick, the poor and the old were all deleted 00:16:17.644 --> 00:16:23.617 from the fantasy presented to the young prince. 00:16:23.617 --> 00:16:25.419 Despite his father's efforts, 00:16:25.419 --> 00:16:32.793 Siddhartha's first taste of the outside world would reveal stark realities. 00:16:32.793 --> 00:16:35.896 With the naivety of a child he set out with Chana, 00:16:35.896 --> 00:16:42.736 his charioteer, as his guide. 00:16:42.736 --> 00:16:46.974 The prince would make four journeys and see four signs 00:16:46.974 --> 00:16:50.677 - as predicted by the palace fortune teller. 00:16:50.677 --> 00:16:54.948 Early Buddhist texts place great importance on this point in the story 00:16:54.948 --> 00:16:57.518 as each journey would reveal to Siddhartha 00:16:57.518 --> 00:17:03.957 an aspect of life which had been deliberately hidden from him. 00:17:03.957 --> 00:17:07.494 On his first trip Siddhartha went out into the country, 00:17:07.494 --> 00:17:11.131 away from his father's influence. 00:17:11.131 --> 00:17:16.170 He noticed an old man painfully making his way through a village. 00:17:16.170 --> 00:17:18.672 He asked Chana what was wrong with the man 00:17:18.672 --> 00:17:24.878 and Chana explained the process of ageing to him. 00:17:24.878 --> 00:17:25.913 Siddhartha was alarmed 00:17:25.913 --> 00:17:34.454 when he learnt that ageing is inescapable and happens to us all. 00:17:34.454 --> 00:17:35.522 For Siddhartha, 00:17:35.522 --> 00:17:39.827 reality was beginning to unveil a cruel picture of the world. 00:17:39.827 --> 00:17:48.936 - where misfortune and suffering appeared to dominate every aspect of life. 00:17:48.936 --> 00:17:50.804 The second sign was soon to follow 00:17:50.804 --> 00:17:57.778 when Siddhartha noticed a sick man, his features twisted with disease. 00:17:57.778 --> 00:18:02.015 He asked Chana if anyone could become sick and again he was shocked 00:18:02.015 --> 00:18:08.822 when he learnt the brutal truth that we all can. 00:18:08.822 --> 00:18:12.960 The protective wall of fantasy around him was beginning to crumble. 00:18:16.514 --> 00:18:20.067 And the further the young Prince ventured the more of life's horrors confronted him. 00:18:20.067 --> 00:18:22.736 Now he saw a corpse, bound in linen, 00:18:22.736 --> 00:18:26.673 being carried to the funeral pyre - and the story records that Siddhartha 00:18:26.673 --> 00:18:30.511 is appalled to discover not only that all men are mortal, 00:18:30.511 --> 00:18:35.082 but also that it was a Brahmin belief that after death we are all reborn 00:18:35.082 --> 00:18:41.722 - to suffer and die time and time again. 00:18:41.722 --> 00:18:43.157 There seemed no end 00:18:43.157 --> 00:18:48.929 and no solution to life's miserable and inevitable cycle. 00:18:48.929 --> 00:18:54.434 The Buddha's life is an allegory because the most important point in it is 00:18:54.434 --> 00:18:59.406 that here is a young man who is brought up with every luxury 00:18:59.406 --> 00:19:03.410 and he realises that isn't enough because he has a shock. 00:19:03.410 --> 00:19:10.184 He has a shock because for the first time he encounters old age, 00:19:10.184 --> 00:19:14.087 disease and death. 00:19:14.087 --> 00:19:18.959 It's not plausible to think that, growing up as an intelligent youth, 00:19:18.959 --> 00:19:23.463 he wouldn't have known anything about it. The point is rather to 00:19:23.463 --> 00:19:28.101 convey the tremendous impact that coming face to face with 00:19:28.101 --> 00:19:33.874 these fundamental facts of human existence, has and must have upon us, 00:19:33.874 --> 00:19:40.948 and that it's urgent that we do something about it. 00:19:40.948 --> 00:19:45.686 But it was the fourth sign that would definitively point to Siddhartha's future 00:19:45.686 --> 00:19:51.525 - a man wearing a simple robe with a begging bowl before him. 00:19:51.525 --> 00:19:54.261 'Why should anyone want to give up the pleasures of the world 00:19:54.261 --> 00:19:58.065 to wander the countryside, begging?' asked the prince. 00:19:58.065 --> 00:20:03.337 Chana explained that the man had renounced such pleasures in order to confront reality 00:20:03.337 --> 00:20:09.843 and seek answers to this painful existence. 00:20:09.843 --> 00:20:15.516 The account of the four signs I see as quite an effective story way 00:20:15.516 --> 00:20:20.454 of putting certain existential realizations. We all know we are going to get old 00:20:20.454 --> 00:20:23.190 we all know we are going to get sick, we all know we are going to die 00:20:23.190 --> 00:20:26.660 in our heads but its very different to sit down on day 00:20:26.660 --> 00:20:31.899 and realise here no is not just other people who get old, sick and die 00:20:31.899 --> 00:20:36.904 its I'm going to get old I'm going to get sick and I'm going to die 00:20:36.904 --> 00:20:40.641 and I think the story accounts are trying to portray 00:20:40.641 --> 00:20:45.579 that moment of existential realization where you see it for the first time: 00:20:45.579 --> 00:20:49.716 you are going to die and you know it and you taste it. 00:20:49.716 --> 00:20:53.487 When Siddartha returned to the palace after this fourth journey 00:20:53.487 --> 00:21:01.328 his mind was reeling with his new understanding of the world. 00:21:01.328 --> 00:21:06.066 The fruits and flowers around him would rot and wither away. 00:21:06.066 --> 00:21:11.338 Even the walls of the palace would one day crumble. 00:21:11.338 --> 00:21:14.575 His wife had just given birth to a beautiful child. 00:21:14.575 --> 00:21:17.277 But they would both one day grow old, 00:21:17.277 --> 00:21:22.716 become ill and die. It was inevitable. 00:21:22.716 --> 00:21:28.755 He had learnt the meaning of impermanence and saw it in everything around him. 00:21:28.755 --> 00:21:31.058 Siddhartha knew he had to leave his family 00:21:31.058 --> 00:21:34.728 to seek answers to the questions that tormented him, 00:21:34.728 --> 00:21:38.632 even though this meant abandoning his wife and son. 00:21:38.632 --> 00:21:42.269 Against the tradition of his family and the Brahmin religion, 00:21:42.269 --> 00:21:50.010 Siddhartha left home to find his own answers to life's suffering. 00:21:50.010 --> 00:21:51.512 One story recalls 00:21:51.512 --> 00:21:54.481 how a hypnotic mist sent the guards to sleep 00:21:54.481 --> 00:22:12.332 allowing him to escape with Chana, through the Eastern Gate of the palace. 00:22:12.332 --> 00:22:17.004 It is said that beside the river Anoma, he removed his jewellery, 00:22:17.004 --> 00:22:21.475 exchanged his robes for rags and cut off his long hair. 00:22:21.475 --> 00:22:28.415 He asked Chana to carry them back to the palace. 00:22:28.415 --> 00:22:31.251 Siddhartha was alone for the first time. 00:22:31.251 --> 00:22:34.588 He had at last escaped the false world of palace life 00:22:34.588 --> 00:22:38.892 where suffering had been swept out of sight. 00:22:38.892 --> 00:22:41.995 Now he needed to come face to face with reality, 00:22:41.995 --> 00:22:49.203 if he was ever to find a solution to the pain of existence. 00:22:49.203 --> 00:22:52.005 Siddhartha was confronted by suffering on a scale 00:22:52.005 --> 00:22:58.779 he'd never seen before when he arrived in the cities. 00:22:58.779 --> 00:23:00.681 And within those cities people were being thrown together, 00:23:00.681 --> 00:23:04.818 at times there was perhaps an increase in disease and suffering. 00:23:04.818 --> 00:23:07.621 Some people have seen this as a particular trigger 00:23:07.621 --> 00:23:10.924 for the Buddha's emphasis on suffering. 00:23:10.924 --> 00:23:22.536 It accentuated a universal problems that any human being in any society faces. 00:23:22.536 --> 00:23:24.071 Siddhartha realised that 00:23:24.071 --> 00:23:27.307 if he was to find an answer to the suffering surrounding him, 00:23:27.307 --> 00:23:28.675 he would have to challenge 00:23:28.675 --> 00:23:32.679 the Brahmin religion under which everyone lived. 00:23:32.679 --> 00:23:39.153 What the Brahmins had was sacred knowledge. This sacred knowledge 00:23:39.153 --> 00:23:42.723 centred on knowing certain texts called the Vedas. 00:23:42.723 --> 00:23:47.060 The word Veda itself simply means knowledge and the implication is that 00:23:47.060 --> 00:23:51.465 that was the only knowledge which was really worth having. 00:23:51.465 --> 00:23:53.500 With their sacred knowledge, 00:23:53.500 --> 00:23:57.004 Brahmin priests oversaw every stage of life, 00:23:57.004 --> 00:24:02.442 from birth to death. 00:24:02.442 --> 00:24:04.278 Their blessing was essential 00:24:04.278 --> 00:24:08.448 but their knowledge could only be handed down to their sons. 00:24:08.448 --> 00:24:11.652 The position of Brahmin families remained assured 00:24:11.652 --> 00:24:16.056 - until a new wave of thinkers began to challenge this. 00:24:16.056 --> 00:24:18.425 It was a time when Brahmanism, 00:24:18.425 --> 00:24:23.964 an early form of Hinduism, was being questioned, 00:24:23.964 --> 00:24:27.768 It was a little bit like the time of the ancient philosophers 00:24:27.768 --> 00:24:31.772 such as Plato and Socrates in Ancient Greece. 00:24:31.772 --> 00:24:35.075 People debating, arguing with people and 00:24:35.075 --> 00:24:38.545 the Buddha tried to cut a way through that. 00:24:38.545 --> 00:24:45.752 He described the context as a welter of views, a jungle of views. 00:24:45.752 --> 00:24:49.189 As Siddhartha explored this jungle he realized that 00:24:49.189 --> 00:24:53.427 the solution to life's suffering needed to be available to everyone, 00:24:53.427 --> 00:24:57.764 rather than an exclusive few - like the Brahmin tradition. 00:24:57.764 --> 00:25:04.204 The Buddha disagreed with the Brahmins and he said: 'One does not become a Brahmin 00:25:04.204 --> 00:25:07.007 by birth, one becomes a Brahmin 00:25:07.007 --> 00:25:10.310 by living well. One does not become an outcast 00:25:10.310 --> 00:25:15.115 by birth, one becomes an outcast by living badly.' 00:25:15.115 --> 00:25:21.588 Now that's a wonderful and important thought, it's like saying in our society: 00:25:21.588 --> 00:25:25.792 'A true gentleman is not one who is born into a particular family 00:25:25.792 --> 00:25:31.265 but one who behaves properly.' 00:25:31.265 --> 00:25:36.203 Siddhartha travelled further on his search into Northern India. 00:25:36.203 --> 00:25:38.906 He was looking for an alternative way of life 00:25:38.906 --> 00:25:46.280 that attempted to overcome the suffering he'd seen around him. 00:25:46.280 --> 00:25:49.616 He was interested in all the new philosophies 00:25:49.616 --> 00:25:54.788 but he wanted to go further - to reach deeper into his mind. 00:25:54.788 --> 00:25:58.292 He now decided to focus on the technique of meditation 00:25:58.292 --> 00:26:01.895 and sought out the leading gurus of the day. 00:26:01.895 --> 00:26:07.100 There been broadly speaking two kinds of meditation in ancient India, 00:26:07.100 --> 00:26:11.104 which consisted in putting yourself under various kinds of pressure 00:26:11.104 --> 00:26:16.109 by controlling your breathing or sometimes fasting 00:26:16.109 --> 00:26:19.980 or undergoing other forms of discomfort 00:26:19.980 --> 00:26:26.820 and the aim is really to obtain what we call altered states of consciousness. 00:26:26.820 --> 00:26:32.926 So they would think that they had climbed to very high plains in the universe. 00:26:32.926 --> 00:26:34.895 They're not taking this literally, 00:26:34.895 --> 00:26:37.998 its not that they think that they go five thousand feet up in the air, 00:26:37.998 --> 00:26:42.069 so to speak but they think that there are certain planes which become more 00:26:42.069 --> 00:26:47.941 and more abstract such things as the plane of infinity of space 00:26:47.941 --> 00:26:51.111 and that's followed by the plane of infinite consciousness as you go up 00:26:51.111 --> 00:26:53.847 and then the plane of infinite nothingness, 00:26:53.847 --> 00:26:55.048 These were the sorts of things 00:26:55.048 --> 00:26:58.685 the Buddha definitely must have learnt from his teachers. 00:26:58.685 --> 00:27:00.053 It is said that Siddhartha, 00:27:00.053 --> 00:27:04.892 so excelled at mediating that he attracted a group of five followers 00:27:04.892 --> 00:27:09.496 and his teachers asked him to stay on and take over their schools. 00:27:09.496 --> 00:27:12.199 But Siddhartha decided that this practice alone was not 00:27:12.199 --> 00:27:18.172 the answer to the problem of suffering and rebirth or reincarnation. 00:27:18.172 --> 00:27:23.043 He set out to explore other techniques - this time focusing on his body. 00:27:23.043 --> 00:27:28.382 So he then goes to try another method which is harsh asceticism. 00:27:28.382 --> 00:27:33.053 This involved things like fasting, not washing, 00:27:33.053 --> 00:27:36.390 meditations where you hold your breath for a very long time 00:27:36.390 --> 00:27:47.301 and it's a very kind of forceful, wilful way. 00:27:47.301 --> 00:27:50.804 Ascetics may starve and even mutilate themselves. 00:27:50.804 --> 00:27:58.245 For them the physical body is a barrier to spiritual liberation. 00:27:58.245 --> 00:28:00.481 By shedding their attachment to the body 00:28:00.481 --> 00:28:08.622 they will cleanse the mind and liberate the soul. 00:28:08.622 --> 00:28:12.426 Siddhartha tried to achieve this state of liberation. 00:28:12.426 --> 00:28:18.098 He fasted for so long his life hung by a thread. 00:28:18.098 --> 00:28:22.436 'All my limbs became like the knotted joints of withered creepers, 00:28:22.436 --> 00:28:25.139 my buttocks like a bullocks hoof, 00:28:25.139 --> 00:28:28.809 my protruding backbone like a string of balls, 00:28:28.809 --> 00:28:33.881 my gaunt ribs like the crazy rafters of a tumbledown shed. 00:28:33.881 --> 00:28:36.450 My eyes lay deep in their sockets, 00:28:36.450 --> 00:28:40.287 their pupils sparkling like water in a deep well. 00:28:40.287 --> 00:28:44.658 As an unripe gourd shrivels and shrinks in the hot wind, 00:28:44.658 --> 00:28:53.333 so became my scalp.' 00:28:53.333 --> 00:28:57.271 Just as Siddhartha was about to die of starvation a young girl 00:28:57.271 --> 00:29:02.442 saved his life by giving him a bowl of rice and milk. 00:29:02.442 --> 00:29:06.013 He now realised that if he starved himself again 00:29:06.013 --> 00:29:11.351 he would simply die having achieved nothing. 00:29:11.351 --> 00:29:14.188 And the story says that he is living on one grain of rice a day. 00:29:14.188 --> 00:29:17.090 He's practically starved himself to death 00:29:17.090 --> 00:29:25.732 and realises that disciplining the body through extreme self renunciation, 00:29:25.732 --> 00:29:34.708 asceticism, inflicting pain upon the body that doesn't solve the problem. 00:29:34.708 --> 00:29:36.677 When his five followers saw Siddhartha 00:29:36.677 --> 00:29:40.414 had given up his fast they lost faith in him. 00:29:40.414 --> 00:29:42.382 They no longer believed he had the strength 00:29:42.382 --> 00:29:47.221 to live up to his spiritual convictions and abandoned him. 00:29:47.221 --> 00:29:49.523 He feels he tried what's on offer, 00:29:49.523 --> 00:29:51.859 they haven't worked, 00:29:51.859 --> 00:29:54.495 and it's at this stage that he remembers meditation 00:29:54.495 --> 00:29:59.266 that he went into spontaneously in his teens and he thinks 'Hmm, 00:29:59.266 --> 00:30:04.872 maybe that is a way through to awakening because it's not taken up the desires 00:30:04.872 --> 00:30:09.610 of the body but it is very joyful and happy.' 00:30:09.610 --> 00:30:14.348 By chance Siddhartha came across a musician tuning his sitar. 00:30:14.348 --> 00:30:17.951 When the string was too slack it would not play. 00:30:17.951 --> 00:30:20.988 When it was too tight it snapped. 00:30:20.988 --> 00:30:26.260 Somewhere in the middle lay tuneful harmony. 00:30:26.260 --> 00:30:27.561 Siddhartha realised that 00:30:27.561 --> 00:30:32.499 this simple observation signified something of great importance. 00:30:32.499 --> 00:30:36.837 It was the middle way that would lead him to the state of mind he was looking for 00:30:36.837 --> 00:30:42.009 - to a state of tuneful harmony - enlightenment. 00:30:42.009 --> 00:30:45.179 But how could he achieve it? 00:30:45.179 --> 00:30:49.416 And the way that Buddha eventually uses is what one could call mindfulness 00:30:49.416 --> 00:30:51.118 or awareness of the body, 00:30:51.118 --> 00:30:54.454 which neither ignores it nor tries to forcefully master it, 00:30:54.454 --> 00:31:00.327 but it's a kind of middle way. 00:31:00.327 --> 00:31:04.264 The middle way led Siddhartha through the countryside. 00:31:04.264 --> 00:31:09.670 He had been travelling for six years, he had experienced pain and suffering 00:31:09.670 --> 00:31:12.639 and had stretched the boundaries of his mind. 00:31:12.639 --> 00:31:17.611 But he'd still not found the inner peace and harmony he was searching for. 00:31:17.611 --> 00:31:27.688 The state of absolute wisdom and everlasting bliss known as Enlightenment. 00:31:27.688 --> 00:31:30.424 Siddhartha arrived at Bodh Gaya. 00:31:30.424 --> 00:31:35.729 Here his torment would end. 00:31:35.729 --> 00:31:52.179 He sat down beneath a tree and vowed not to leave until he had reached enlightenment . 00:31:52.179 --> 00:31:55.916 'Flesh may decay, bones may fall apart, 00:31:55.916 --> 00:32:04.658 but I will never leave this place until I find the way to enlightenment.' 00:32:04.658 --> 00:32:07.694 He's no longer giving himself a hard time, 00:32:07.694 --> 00:32:13.634 he's not stressing himself unbearably, he's not undergoing anything painful, 00:32:13.634 --> 00:32:18.772 he thinks: 'Well, life is painful without taking the trouble to make it more painful, 00:32:18.772 --> 00:32:27.247 but let me just calmly think things out, think of how life works.' 00:32:27.247 --> 00:32:35.088 He starts to focus the mind by attention to the slow movement of the breath coming 00:32:35.088 --> 00:32:40.127 and going out, a refined sensation which exists in the body 00:32:40.127 --> 00:32:48.535 just around the nose in a way which starts to lead to the mind quietening, 00:32:48.535 --> 00:33:43.924 stilling, settling, gathering, purifying. 00:33:43.924 --> 00:33:46.660 Siddhartha's mind was now so focused 00:33:46.660 --> 00:33:52.733 that he could successfully enter the darkest reaches of his unconscious. 00:33:52.733 --> 00:33:56.970 It was now that he would face his final and greatest torment. 00:33:56.970 --> 00:34:01.909 The demon Mara - the Lord of Ego and illusion appeared before him. 00:34:01.909 --> 00:34:06.914 He could make any horror real in Siddhartha's mind. 00:34:06.914 --> 00:34:09.550 It's very important to remember that Mara, this demon king, 00:34:09.550 --> 00:34:14.321 is not like the Christian Satan because he isn't a tempter 00:34:14.321 --> 00:34:17.691 and he isn't any kind of counterpart to God, 00:34:17.691 --> 00:34:28.302 he is purely psychological forces which we have within us, 00:34:28.302 --> 00:34:32.539 Mara unleashed an army of demons to attack Siddhartha. 00:34:32.539 --> 00:34:41.281 They fired flaming arrows at him. 00:34:41.281 --> 00:34:45.219 But mid flight Siddhartha turned them into lotus blossoms 00:34:45.219 --> 00:34:56.096 and they fell harmlessly around him. 00:34:56.096 --> 00:34:59.333 Having failed Mara then tried to seduce Siddhartha 00:34:59.333 --> 00:35:07.841 with his tempting daughters. 00:35:07.841 --> 00:35:12.279 He's assailed by the demon king who is the same time death 00:35:12.279 --> 00:35:16.984 and desire very Freudian that in a way desire is death, 00:35:16.984 --> 00:35:22.289 death is desire and in fact the Demon king offers him his three daughters 00:35:22.289 --> 00:35:29.897 who are both passion or lust and aversion where it is equally bad 00:35:29.897 --> 00:35:33.333 if you shy away from this and say it is disgusting 00:35:33.333 --> 00:35:36.570 you are also a slave to passion 00:35:36.570 --> 00:35:39.006 - and he can be completely calm and indifferent 00:35:39.006 --> 00:35:46.446 and just gaze at them without any feelings of attraction or repulsion. 00:35:46.446 --> 00:35:52.119 The faces of Mara's daughters began to rot before Siddharta's eyes. 00:35:52.119 --> 00:35:57.524 The evil daughters then disappeared into the earth. 00:35:57.524 --> 00:36:01.795 it is in fact you could say the Buddha's very recognition 00:36:01.795 --> 00:36:05.532 that Mara is an aspect of himself 00:36:05.532 --> 00:36:10.737 the total recognition of that is his enlightenment. 00:36:10.737 --> 00:36:14.341 The earth is said to have trembled as he dispelled the devil. 00:36:14.341 --> 00:36:18.545 Siddhartha, now aged 35, passed through four Janas 00:36:18.545 --> 00:36:19.880 to reach enlightenment 00:36:19.880 --> 00:36:25.986 and become the Buddha - or Awakened One. 00:36:25.986 --> 00:36:35.829 He then spent 7 days beneath the tree in a meditative state of absolute bliss. 00:36:35.829 --> 00:36:41.301 This is seen as a state where the mind is incredibly refined and sensitive, 00:36:41.301 --> 00:36:45.205 and an image might be of a lake, which is totally still, 00:36:45.205 --> 00:36:49.343 which would register even an insect on the surface. 00:36:49.343 --> 00:36:51.845 So this is seen as a state where the mind is very, 00:36:51.845 --> 00:36:56.250 very powerful as an instrument of knowledge, very sensitive. 00:36:56.250 --> 00:36:58.519 In this highly attuned state, 00:36:58.519 --> 00:37:00.287 the Buddha saw way to escape 00:37:00.287 --> 00:37:04.424 the inevitable cycle of old age sickness and death. 00:37:04.424 --> 00:37:07.594 He realised that if we remove desire 00:37:07.594 --> 00:37:12.733 we can remove dissatisfaction and suffering from our lives. 00:37:12.733 --> 00:37:15.903 A key cause of the painfulness 00:37:15.903 --> 00:37:20.507 and frustration of life is craving kind of demanding desires. 00:37:20.507 --> 00:37:23.477 So There's a general mismatch 00:37:23.477 --> 00:37:28.215 between how you want things to be and how they actually are. 00:37:28.215 --> 00:37:32.920 The insight the Buddha attained beneath the tree was the birth of Buddhism 00:37:32.920 --> 00:37:38.692 - a religion followed today by 400 million people. 00:37:38.692 --> 00:37:42.229 The Buddha summed up his wisdom in four noble truths 00:37:42.229 --> 00:37:47.701 which are the foundation of all Buddhist beliefs 00:37:47.701 --> 00:37:52.473 The first noble truth recognized that there is suffering in life. 00:37:52.473 --> 00:37:57.611 The second diagnosed the cause of that suffering - desire. 00:37:57.611 --> 00:38:00.080 In the third truth, like a doctor, 00:38:00.080 --> 00:38:03.584 the Buddha revealed that there was a cure for desire. 00:38:03.584 --> 00:38:07.354 And in the fourth noble truth he gave the prescription 00:38:07.354 --> 00:38:13.227 - how to cure the illness and achieve Enlightenment or Nirvana. 00:38:13.227 --> 00:38:17.698 The ultimate aim was to reach a state of mind completely free of craving, 00:38:17.698 --> 00:38:21.034 ignorance, greed, hatred and delusion, 00:38:21.034 --> 00:38:25.806 thereby free of all the causes of future rebirth 00:38:25.806 --> 00:38:29.743 when an enlightened person dies they're seen as going beyond rebirth 00:38:29.743 --> 00:38:34.081 to a state beyond if you like space and time and not coming back 00:38:34.081 --> 00:38:40.287 so that is seen as a state of liberation. 00:38:40.287 --> 00:38:44.558 The Buddha would further teach that morality, meditation and wisdom 00:38:44.558 --> 00:38:50.898 were the stepping stones to enlightenment. 00:38:50.898 --> 00:38:55.335 He would dedicate the rest of his life helping others to follow this path 00:38:55.335 --> 00:38:58.138 - towards freedom from suffering. 00:38:58.138 --> 00:39:05.913 As his followers grew in number he went on to set up a school or Sangha 00:39:05.913 --> 00:39:08.315 Today a temple stands beside a descendant 00:39:08.315 --> 00:39:15.689 of the very tree under which the Buddha became enlightened. 00:39:15.689 --> 00:39:23.764 The monks here have become a living library of the Buddha's teachings. 00:39:23.764 --> 00:39:27.568 Chanting his sacred words beneath the Bodhi tree of Enlightenment 00:39:27.568 --> 00:39:33.407 is seen by Buddhists to give special power to their practice. 00:39:33.407 --> 00:39:34.808 The chief monk is responsible 00:39:34.808 --> 00:39:38.011 for preserving this tradition at the temple. 00:39:38.011 --> 00:39:43.183 The most important thing is the practice of his teachings. 00:39:43.183 --> 00:39:48.755 Practice diligently, be ever mindful. 00:39:48.755 --> 00:39:55.529 So now I say I explain Buddhism in two words, 00:39:55.529 --> 00:39:59.733 practice mindfulness. 00:39:59.733 --> 00:40:03.137 The path to enlightenment begins with the focusing of the mind 00:40:03.137 --> 00:40:07.107 and following a number of commandments. 00:40:07.107 --> 00:40:11.512 morality, meditation and wisdom. 00:40:11.512 --> 00:40:16.283 So not to kill, not to steal, 00:40:16.283 --> 00:40:20.254 not to have any sexual misconduct, 00:40:20.254 --> 00:40:32.299 not to tell a lie and not to have indulge in intoxicating drinks or intoxicants. 00:40:32.299 --> 00:40:39.907 This was the way of life established by the Buddha in the very first sangha. 00:40:39.907 --> 00:40:41.208 After eight years 00:40:41.208 --> 00:40:45.446 he went back to the palace and the family he'd abandoned. 00:40:45.446 --> 00:40:47.214 We're told his father now forgave 00:40:47.214 --> 00:40:50.350 the Buddha for the deep hurt he had caused. 00:40:50.350 --> 00:40:55.456 King Sudhodhana now realized the importance of his son's quest. 00:40:55.456 --> 00:40:58.559 His stepmother even begged to join his sangha 00:40:58.559 --> 00:41:02.095 and she went on to become history's first nun. 00:41:02.095 --> 00:41:06.433 The Buddha is justified in the eyes of all Buddhists of even leaving his wife 00:41:06.433 --> 00:41:13.440 and child to go on his solitary journey to try and find what the solution 00:41:13.440 --> 00:41:16.977 to life's problems is and how life should be lived 00:41:16.977 --> 00:41:24.184 and for him how life should be lived is the question infinitely more important 00:41:24.184 --> 00:41:30.190 than having any possessions or even the company of loved ones. 00:41:30.190 --> 00:41:36.597 The Buddha was to abandon his family again. He set out to teach, for forty years 00:41:36.597 --> 00:41:41.869 - passing on to his followers the wisdom he had attained beneath the bodi tree. 00:41:41.869 --> 00:41:48.442 But before he left he ordained his son as a monk. 00:41:48.442 --> 00:41:52.913 The Buddha encouraged his followers to live together in a monastery or Sangha 00:41:52.913 --> 00:41:57.451 - to help them focus on the path to enlightenment. 00:41:57.451 --> 00:42:01.622 Some people become a monk purely to meditate, 00:42:01.622 --> 00:42:09.797 purely to practice meditation, purely to practice the life of a recluse. 00:42:09.797 --> 00:42:16.436 Some become a monk to work for the propagation of the religion. 00:42:16.436 --> 00:42:17.938 Monks from all over the world 00:42:17.938 --> 00:42:23.177 come to live in monasteries established around the temple of the Bodhi Tree. 00:42:23.177 --> 00:42:29.583 Non-Monks or lay Buddhists, come here too, to learn from them. 00:42:29.583 --> 00:42:34.755 Monks must be celibate and give up every selfish desire. 00:42:34.755 --> 00:42:42.830 And that is the one part of the training to get rid of self tendencies, 00:42:42.830 --> 00:42:45.165 tendencies to always think about yourself 00:42:45.165 --> 00:42:51.939 and put yourself fully in the context of the community of the Sangha. 00:42:51.939 --> 00:42:56.410 Then when all the sacrifices have been made the hard work begins 00:42:56.410 --> 00:43:01.215 - committing long chants or mantras to memory. 00:43:01.215 --> 00:43:03.684 Mantras such as this have a purpose 00:43:03.684 --> 00:43:05.919 - they are designed to test the monk's memory, 00:43:05.919 --> 00:43:11.725 concentration and commitment to the Buddha's teachings. 00:43:11.725 --> 00:43:16.530 Over the centuries his message has evolved into a number of different traditions, 00:43:16.530 --> 00:43:22.402 with their own interpretations and monastic practices. 00:43:22.402 --> 00:43:24.238 But the Buddha taught that lay people 00:43:24.238 --> 00:43:30.043 can also follow the path to eternal bliss and ultimate wisdom. 00:43:30.043 --> 00:43:33.080 Most westerners are not drawn to Buddhism as a way of leaving society behind 00:43:33.080 --> 00:43:36.316 they're drawn to the practice of meditation as a way of being 00:43:36.316 --> 00:43:39.620 more effective within society and that's a way in which 00:43:39.620 --> 00:43:43.223 the message of Buddhism takes on a very different cast 00:43:43.223 --> 00:43:47.427 because it becomes a form of self improvement a way of dealing 00:43:47.427 --> 00:43:54.535 with the stresses of life a way of clarifying your goals and objectives. 00:43:54.535 --> 00:44:00.140 Many westerners are especially attracted to Buddhist meditation. 00:44:00.140 --> 00:44:05.345 I think all of us sometimes glimpse that magic and mystery of the moment 00:44:05.345 --> 00:44:09.950 what meditation does is to help us touch that more often, 00:44:09.950 --> 00:44:13.320 it helps us to be more calm and controlled in our mind 00:44:13.320 --> 00:44:16.423 and we can create conditions that allow us to come into 00:44:16.423 --> 00:44:24.031 a state of awareness of interdependence, of impermanence, of nirvana. 00:44:24.031 --> 00:44:27.768 Some schools of Buddhism believe the Buddha was superhuman 00:44:27.768 --> 00:44:32.473 a magical figure who consorted with gods and performed miracles. 00:44:32.473 --> 00:44:33.740 Others that he was no more than 00:44:33.740 --> 00:44:39.947 a human being and they believe it is this that adds power to his message. 00:44:39.947 --> 00:44:45.219 There is no doubt that the Buddha wished to be remembered as a human being 00:44:45.219 --> 00:44:51.859 with human frailties not perhaps frailties of the intellect or moral frailties 00:44:51.859 --> 00:44:53.927 but certainly physical frailties 00:44:53.927 --> 00:44:58.432 and the Buddha suffers from back pain towards the end of his life 00:44:58.432 --> 00:45:04.204 he suffers from various physical complaints and weaknesses. 00:45:04.204 --> 00:45:12.079 The Buddha would die at the age of eighty from a common illness - food poisoning. 00:45:12.079 --> 00:45:13.013 It is said that before 00:45:13.013 --> 00:45:18.285 passing away he fell into a deep trance on his journey from this world to Nirvana 00:45:18.285 --> 00:45:20.387 - a state of eternal bliss 00:45:20.387 --> 00:45:22.523 - free at last from rebirth, 00:45:22.523 --> 00:45:29.429 free at last from suffering and death. 00:45:29.429 --> 00:45:35.102 A council was assembled to record for posterity the Buddha's teachings. 00:45:35.102 --> 00:45:42.209 These were learnt by heart and handed down the centuries by generations of monks. 00:45:42.209 --> 00:45:44.211 The Buddha's body was cremated. 00:45:44.211 --> 00:45:48.282 And his remains were preserved. 00:45:48.282 --> 00:45:50.517 They were enshrined two hundred years later 00:45:50.517 --> 00:45:58.392 by India's first Emperor King Ashoka who converted to Buddhism. 00:45:58.392 --> 00:46:01.228 He built vast monuments or stupas 00:46:01.228 --> 00:46:05.632 and erected pillars to mark the key sites of the Buddha's life. 00:46:05.632 --> 00:46:08.268 Asoka then becomes an absolutely key figure, 00:46:08.268 --> 00:46:12.005 both in terms of the actual spread of Buddhism 00:46:12.005 --> 00:46:13.674 but then as a model 00:46:13.674 --> 00:46:18.779 for future Buddhist leaders. Throughout Asia they look back to Ashoka as 00:46:18.779 --> 00:46:24.985 the kind of ideal king and supporter of Buddhism. 00:46:24.985 --> 00:46:27.087 so far as we know the Emperor Asoka 00:46:27.087 --> 00:46:30.791 who ruled over two thirds of modern India 00:46:30.791 --> 00:46:33.460 in the middle of the 3rd century BC, 00:46:33.460 --> 00:46:40.167 helped monks to send out missions to countries bordering India. 00:46:40.167 --> 00:46:45.839 Missionaries were sent up into Kashmir to Nepal and certainly Sri Lanka. 00:46:45.839 --> 00:46:49.510 They converted the king, the king gave his patronise to Buddhism 00:46:49.510 --> 00:46:53.781 and Sri Lanka has therefore been a Buddhist country from that day to this. 00:46:53.781 --> 00:46:57.251 And in country after country we know over many centuries 00:46:57.251 --> 00:47:05.626 that this is the way that Buddhism was successfully implanted. 00:47:05.626 --> 00:47:10.864 Ashoka's pillars outlived Buddhism in India - they withstood Muslim invasions 00:47:10.864 --> 00:47:15.969 and survived to catch the attention of the first colonial archaeologists. 00:47:15.969 --> 00:47:19.573 This gave a very significant impetus to the revival of Buddhism 00:47:19.573 --> 00:47:22.976 - the desire to go back to the places associated with the Buddha. 00:47:22.976 --> 00:47:27.981 imagining Buddhism for people in the West but these investigations also become 00:47:27.981 --> 00:47:33.854 the basis for a revival within Buddhism in Asia. 00:47:33.854 --> 00:47:38.325 Today the sites associated with the Budha's life attract tourists 00:47:38.325 --> 00:47:42.496 and pelgrims flock to Bodh Gaya to follow in the Buddha's footsteps, 00:47:42.496 --> 00:47:44.965 hoping to find, as he did, 00:47:44.965 --> 00:47:50.571 eternal peace and happiness and a cure for suffering and death. 00:47:50.571 --> 00:47:55.309 It's a great irony that after the Buddha's death the person 00:47:55.309 --> 00:47:59.580 who preached of the uselessness of ritual and also the uselessness 00:47:59.580 --> 00:48:03.684 of personality cult became the object of ritual worship 00:48:03.684 --> 00:48:09.923 and as big a personality cult as has ever existed in history. 00:48:09.923 --> 00:48:13.026 Buddhist temples have been built in Bodh Gaya representing 00:48:13.026 --> 00:48:17.531 the different traditions from around the world. 00:48:17.531 --> 00:48:22.736 Buddhism, in all its forms, has come home, to the Bodhi tree, 00:48:22.736 --> 00:48:29.777 to the place where once a prince reached enlightenment and became the Buddha. 00:48:29.777 --> 00:48:39.319 The Buddha attained enlightenment on that fleeting moment of a wink, this moment, 00:48:39.319 --> 00:48:51.865 fleeting moment is the time that takes to realise that moment cannot be explained. 00:48:51.865 --> 00:48:56.804 That special moment gave birth to the first world religion 00:48:56.804 --> 00:48:59.006 - A religion without a God 00:48:59.006 --> 00:49:05.745 where the path to Nirvana lies in the mind of each and every one of us. 00:49:05.745 --> 99:59:59.999 Downloaded From www.AllSubs.org