The Life of Shakyamuni “‘Shakyamuni,”’ the name by which we call the Indian Buddha, is a combination of two words: Shakya, the name of Shakyamuni’s ancestral clan, and muni, the Sanskrit word for “‘sage.”’ However, his correct title is, “‘Shakyamuni, World-Honored One.”’ “‘World-Honored One”’ is an honorific title indicating that Shakyamuni was a Buddha. Shakyamuni, the sage born of the Shakya clan, is commonly referred to as a Buddha – an enlightened one, or one who is awakened to the true nature of all phenomena. Buddhism refers to the body of teachings that Shakyamuni the Buddha expounded throughout his life. Prior to Shakyamuni’s Appearance The Indus civilization evolved in the Indus River valley in ancient India from about 3,000 to 2,000 BC. A number of indigenous peoples contributed to the establishment of the Indus valley civilization, including the Dravidians, the Indus and the Munda. However, in about 1500 BC, Aryans out of central Asia invaded the Indus valley and conquered these original inhabitants, which eventually led to marked discrimination by the Aryan freemen against the subjugated aborigines. The Aryan conquerors established a unique society in the Ganges River valley based on a four-class system. The Aryans themselves comprised the three upper classes, which included the Brahmans, who were priests; the Kshatriya, which included the royals and the military; and the Vaisya, or the commoner class. The indigenous peoples were relegated to the outcast Shudra or vassal class, which served the other three. This bloodline-based classification, known as the caste system, became more and more specialized over time, and still defines Indian society to this day. In the area of religious beliefs, the Aryans revered the forces of nature as deities, and compiled four collections of scripture: the Rig-Veda, the Sama-Veda, the Atharva-Veda and the Yajur-Veda, which consisted of hymns, rituals and incantations. Many commentaries on the four Vedas were also written, among which, the Brahmana in particular, established complex rules on the carrying out of Vedic rituals and sacrifices. The expert knowledge required for mastery of the Brahmana strengthened the powers of the Brahman priesthood and ultimately gave rise to a religion under their sole control, i.e., Brahmanism. The Brahmans later compiled a collection of secret mysteries in writings called the Upanishads, which set forth a philosophy on gaining freedom from the otherwise never-ending cycle of birth and death, based on the content of Vedic hymns and rituals. At the time of Shakyamuni’s birth, there were also six free-thinking philosophers, known as the six non-Buddhist teachers, who rejected established Brahmanism and developed their own schools of thought. Ajita Kesakambala espoused the idea that life exists only insofar as there is a physical body to support it. Purana Kassapa argued against any positive or negative relationship between cause and effect. Pakudha Kacchayana believed that seven essential elements comprise human life, i.e., earth, wind, water, fire, suffering, pleasure and the soul. Makkhali Gosala reasoned that people’s lives are pre-determined and are therefore unaffected by any form of religious practice. Sanjaya Belatthiputta, a skeptic, denied any possibility of knowing whether or not life continues after death. Nigantha Nataputta, the founder of Jainism, asserted that man can only free himself from suffering through asceticism and by refraining from taking life. By scorning the truth of cause and effect, these religions and schools and thought denied reality, which rendered them powerless to relieve people’s suffering or positively effect society. Under the influence of these inferior religions and philosophies, the sixteen major kingdoms and countless minor principalities in India at that time were constantly at odds with each other, which increasingly destabilized Indian society. Shakyamuni’s Advent Birth Shakyamuni, son of King Shuddhodana and Queen Maya, was born on April 8, some time around 1000 BC, in Kapilavastu, the capital of the Shakya clan’s kingdom of Kosala. The child was given the name Siddhartha at birth. In keeping with ancient custom, Queen Maya set out for her birthplace when the time to deliver her child drew near. However, the crown prince was born along the way in the Lumbini Gardens, and Queen Maya died seven days after delivery due to unforeseen postpartum complications. The task of raising Siddhartha therefore fell to the queen’s younger sister, Mahaprajapati. Siddhartha Renounces Secular Life During his youth, Prince Siddhartha received intellectual and physical training in preparation for his eventual succession to the throne. Separation anxiety caused by the death of his birth mother more than likely weighed heavily on his mind, but in any event, from an early age, Siddhartha spent much of his time lost in thought, and he was often troubled by such mysteries as the impermanence of life. At age sixteen, Siddhartha married a girl named Yashodhara, who gave him a son, Rahula. Having taken care of his responsibility to produce an heir, Siddhartha felt free to act upon his long-cherished desire to take the tonsure, and on December eighth of his nineteenth year, the prince stole out of the palace in the dead of night to pursue the path to spiritual awakening. Reasons for Siddhartha’s Renunciation of Secular Life Shakyamuni had secretly left Kapilavastu Palace on several occasions to catch a glimpse of life outside the palace. On each of these excursions, he passed through one of the gates that looked out onto the four directions and witnessed incidents that profoundly disturbed him. At the east gate, he saw a person hunched over with age, and at the south gate, he observed another who was wasting away from disease. At the west gate, he witnessed the cremation of someone who had recently died. These observations awakened the youth to the impermanence of life and the fact that everyone who is born must suffer the sorrows of aging, sickness and death. Then, when Siddhartha left the palace through the east gate, he was confronted by the sight of a lone ascetic who had renounced the secular world. It is said that this encounter with one sincerely seeking the path to freedom from the sufferings of life and death inspired the prince to seek that path for himself. Siddhartha’s Practice After the prince left home, he set out for the metropolis of Rajagriha, in the newly emerging southern kingdom of Magadha, where Brahmanism had already taken root and was thriving. Meanwhile, King Shuddhodana, who had been opposed to his son’s decision to embark on a spiritual quest, sent Ajnata Kaundinya and four other men to find the prince and urge him to return to the palace. However, because Siddhartha’s resolve to leave the secular world behind remained firm, the king had the five men accompany Siddhartha, both as servants and as fellow seekers of the way. The prince began his training by apprenticing with each of two ascetics who were renowned masters of meditation. While under their tutelage, Siddhartha studied several schools of thought and mastered the mysteries of meditation. He nevertheless rejected these teachers after coming to the conclusion that human suffering cannot be eliminated through the practice of meditation. Thereafter, Prince Siddhartha secluded himself in a forest on the west bank of the Nairanjana River, where he spent several years practicing breath control and austerities that included reduced food rations and fasting. But once again, Siddhartha came to the conclusion that far from resolving the fundamental causes for suffering, such austerities only drain the mind and body to the extreme. He therefore abandoned his practice of austerities and cleansed himself in the Nairanjana River. A farm girl named Sujata from a nearby village fed Siddhartha rice porridge cooked in milk, which helped him regain his physical and mental strength. When the five men who had accompanied Siddhartha all this while saw him reject his practice of austerities, they mistakenly believed that he had given up his search for enlightenment altogether. They therefore left Siddhartha in disgust and headed for Deer Park in Varanasi to search for other religious training. Shakyamuni the Buddha Attaining the Way Once recovered from the exhaustion of his ascetic practice, Shakyamuni retreated to a grove of sal trees near Gaya and sat beneath a pipal tree, where he remained in profound meditation for forty-nine days. During this meditation, he battled and ultimately defeated armies of mental and physical demons, after which, at dawn on the eighth day of December, he finally attained perfect enlightenment and became a Buddha. Shakyamuni was now thirty years old. Shakyamuni’s attainment of Buddhahood is also known as his attainment of the Way, or the Path. In commemoration of his attainment of Buddhahood, the name of the place where he sat in meditation was changed from Gaya to Buddhagaya, and the name of the pipal tree was likewise changed to bodhi tree. Turning the Wheel of the Law After becoming a Buddha, Shakyamuni spent the next twenty-one days explaining the realm to which he had gained access as a result of his attainment of enlightenment. Those teachings are known as the Flower Garland Sutra (Jp. Kegon; Skt. Avatamsaka) Sutra. Shakyamuni next considered whether or not it would be appropriate to reveal the Law for attaining enlightenment to the masses. He ultimately decided that he would indeed teach Buddhism to humanity, but only after the deity Bonten pleaded with him on the people’s behalf. The Buddha then remembered the five ascetics who had originally attended him during his practice of austerities, and headed for Deer Park. There, he began teaching those five seekers of the way by explaining the Ffour Nnoble Ttruths and the Eeightfold Ppath. The lecturing that Shakyamuni did at this time is referred to as beginning to turn the wheel of the Law. The Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path The Ffour Nnoble Ttruths are four principles that clarify the causal relationship between delusion and enlightenment. They are: 1) all existence is suffering; 2) earthly desires (such as separation from those we love) cause us to suffer; 3) one can end suffering by eliminating earthly desires; and 4) one can eliminate earthly desires and end suffering by practicing eight correct disciplines, i.e., the Eeightfold Ppath. The Eeightfold Ppath is a synthesis of eight correct paths or disciplines that leads to enlightenment. Those disciplines are: 1) maintaining correct views, beliefs or opinions); 2) maintaining correct thinking; 3) maintaining correct speech; 4) maintaining correct behavior; 5) maintaining a correct way of living; 6) choosing correct endeavors; 7) maintaining correct mindfulness; and 8) practicing correct meditation or balance of mind. Dissemination Shakyamuni began traveling from place to place along the Ganges River valley to teach his Buddhism to the masses. On his way to Rajagriha, the Buddha encountered the three brothers Kashyapa and their one thousand disciples, all of whom asked to become the Buddha’s disciples. When Shakyamuni reached Rajagriha, King Bimbisara, the ruler of the kingdom of Magadha, also expressed his desire to learn the Buddha’s wisdom. In the village of Nalanda, two great Brahmans, Shariputra and Maudgalyayana, as well as two hundred and fifty of their own disciples, pledged to devote themselves to the Buddha as his disciples. Then, when Shakyamuni returned to his birthplace of Kapilavastu, his lectures on Buddhism won over many new converts from among the nobility, including his father King Shuddhodana, his aunt/stepmother Mahaprajapati, his wife Yashodhara, his son Rahula and his cousin Ananda. Thereafter, great numbers of people sought out the Buddha as their spiritual master. Among the Buddha’s disciples, there were ten exceptionally gifted individuals, including Shariputra, who became known as the ten major disciples. Shakyamuni’s Ten Major Disciples There were ten remarkably gifted men among Shakyamuni’s disciples who were renowned for their keen intelligence and virtue. Shariputra best understood the Buddha’s lectures, and was therefore known as the foremost in wisdom. Mahakashyapa was named foremost in ascetic practices because he cared little about food, clothing or shelter and could attain the most profound meditation. Ananda constantly attended to the Buddha’s needs and listened to more of the Buddha’s lectures than anyone else. He was therefore known to be foremost in hearing the Buddha’s teachings. Subhuti best understood the doctrine of Emptiness (non-substantiality; Jp. kKu), and was therefore known to be foremost in his understanding of the concept of non-substantiality. Purna, a gifted lecturer, was known as the foremost in his ability to expound the Law. Maudgalyayana possessed extraordinary paranormal abilities and was therefore known as foremost in the occult. Katyayana excelled at refuting the non-Buddhist teachings, and was therefore known as foremost in debate. Aniruddha could see to the heart of any given matter and was therefore known as foremost in divine insight. Because Upali strictly followed the Buddha’s rules of conduct, he was known as foremost in keeping the precepts. Rahula devoted himself to observing the precepts and was known as foremost in inconspicuous practice. King Bimbisara donated the Bamboo Grove Monastery as an offering to the Buddha and asked him to instruct the people in his kingdom. There was also a very rich and profoundly devout merchant named Sudatta, who donated, among other things, the Jetavana Monastery. There were many others who became disciples and patrons after hearing Shakyamuni’s noble teachings. Circumstances Leading to the Founding of Jetavana Monastery In Japan, there is a famous passage from The Historic Romance of the Taira Family that reads: “The sound of the gong at the Jetavana Monastery…” This passage refers to Jetavana Monastery, the Buddhist cloisters at Shravasti, in the kingdom of Kosala. The Jetavana Monastery was one of the three major monasteries built in ancient India, together with the Bamboo Grove Monastery in Magadha, which was the first monastery in Buddhist history, and the Great Grove Monastery in Vaishali. The wealthy merchant Sudatta wished to purchase a wooded area called Jetavana (Jetri’s Grove), which was owned by Prince Jetri of Kosala. When Prince Jetri saw that Sudatta did not want the land for himself, but instead, wanted to build a monastery for the Buddha, the prince gladly donated the land and helped Sudatta build the cloisters. However, not everyone wanted to see the Buddha’s mission succeed. There were some individuals, including Shakyamuni’s younger cousin Devadatta, who did their utmost to prevent the Buddha from spreading his teachings, and perpetrated what came to be known as the Buddha’s nine great ordeals. The Buddha’s True Teaching After attaining Buddhahood at the age of thirty, Shakyamuni spent the next forty-two years preaching the FlowerGarland (Jp. Kegon), Agama (Jp. Agon), Expansion (Jp. Hodo) and Wisdom (Jp. Hannya) Sutras. However, the Buddha taught these sutras only as a means of expanding people’s aptitudes, so that they would be able to benefit from his true teaching. Then, at age seventy-two, Shakyamuni spent the next eight years teaching the Lotus Sutra at Eagle Peak, in the kingdom of Magadha. The Lotus Sutra was the Buddha’s true teaching and the ultimate reason for his birth. Shakyamuni’s Passing The Buddha’s Enters Nirvana After expounding the Lotus Sutra over a period of eight years, Shakyamuni knew that the hour of his death was approaching. He therefore left Magadha and headed north for Kushinagara, where he preached the Nirvana Sutra in the space of a single day and a single night. Then, in a grove of sal trees, the Buddha reclined on his right side between two sal trees, with his head pointing north, and calmly waited for death to come. After admonishing his disciples not to mourn for him, the Buddha serenely passed away on February 15, 949 BC, at the age of eighty. At the moment of his death, it is said that the earth shook, the skies rumbled with the sound of heavenly drums and the sal trees between which the Buddha lay turned pure white. At that time, Ananda, Aniruddha and the others of the ten major disciples recited poetry praising the Buddha’s virtues and lamenting his passing into nirvana. Throughout the night, Ananda and Aniruddha also lectured on the Law. When it was time to cremate the Buddha’s body, it is said that a lay representative tried to ignite the funeral bier without success for seven days, until Mahakashyapa, the Buddha’s successor, arrived on the scene and lit the funeral pyre with his own hand. After the Buddha’s cremation, his disciples divided his relics into eight parts and built eight stupas to enshrine them. Another two stupas were erected, one for the vessel used in the cremation and another for the ashes from the fire, making a total of ten stupas where Shakyamuni’s disciples continued to worship and pay their respects to the Buddha.

The Life of Shakyamuni

“‘Shakyamuni,”’ the name by which we call the Indian Buddha, is a combination of two words: Shakya, the name of Shakyamuni’s ancestral clan, and muni, the Sanskrit word for “‘sage.”’ However, his correct title is, “‘Shakyamuni, World-Honored One.”’ “‘World-Honored One”’ is an honorific title indicating that Shakyamuni was a Buddha. Shakyamuni, the sage born of the Shakya clan, is commonly referred to as a Buddha – an enlightened one, or one who is awakened to the true nature of all phenomena.

Buddhism refers to the body of teachings that Shakyamuni the Buddha expounded throughout his life.

Prior to Shakyamuni’s Appearance

The Indus civilization evolved in the Indus River valley in ancient India from about 3,000 to 2,000 BC.

A number of indigenous peoples contributed to the establishment of the Indus valley civilization, including the Dravidians, the Indus and the Munda. However, in about 1500 BC, Aryans out of central Asia invaded the Indus valley and conquered these original inhabitants, which eventually led to marked discrimination by the Aryan freemen against the subjugated aborigines.

The Aryan conquerors established a unique society in the Ganges River valley based on a four-class system. The Aryans themselves comprised the three upper classes, which included the Brahmans, who were priests; the Kshatriya, which included the royals and the military; and the Vaisya, or the commoner class. The indigenous peoples were relegated to the outcast Shudra or vassal class, which served the other three. This bloodline-based classification, known as the caste system, became more and more specialized over time, and still defines Indian society to this day.

In the area of religious beliefs, the Aryans revered the forces of nature as deities, and compiled four collections of scripture: the Rig-Veda, the Sama-Veda, the Atharva-Veda and the Yajur-Veda, which consisted of hymns, rituals and incantations. Many commentaries on the four Vedas were also written, among which, the Brahmana in particular, established complex rules on the carrying out of Vedic rituals and sacrifices. The expert knowledge required for mastery of the Brahmana strengthened the powers of the Brahman priesthood and ultimately gave rise to a religion under their sole control, i.e., Brahmanism. The Brahmans later compiled a collection of secret mysteries in writings called the Upanishads, which set forth a philosophy on gaining freedom from the otherwise never-ending cycle of birth and death, based on the content of Vedic hymns and rituals.

At the time of Shakyamuni’s birth, there were also six free-thinking philosophers, known as the six non-Buddhist teachers, who rejected established Brahmanism and developed their own schools of thought. Ajita Kesakambala espoused the idea that life exists only insofar as there is a physical body to support it. Purana Kassapa argued against any positive or negative relationship between cause and effect. Pakudha Kacchayana believed that seven essential elements comprise human life, i.e., earth, wind, water, fire, suffering, pleasure and the soul. Makkhali Gosala reasoned that people’s lives are pre-determined and are therefore unaffected by any form of religious practice. Sanjaya Belatthiputta, a skeptic, denied any possibility of knowing whether or not life continues after death. Nigantha Nataputta, the founder of Jainism, asserted that man can only free himself from suffering through asceticism and by refraining from taking life.

By scorning the truth of cause and effect, these religions and schools and thought denied reality, which rendered them powerless to relieve people’s suffering or positively effect society. Under the influence of these inferior religions and philosophies, the sixteen major kingdoms and countless minor principalities in India at that time were constantly at odds with each other, which increasingly destabilized Indian society.

Shakyamuni’s Advent

Birth

Shakyamuni, son of King Shuddhodana and Queen Maya, was born on April 8, some time around 1000 BC, in Kapilavastu, the capital of the Shakya clan’s kingdom of Kosala. The child was given the name Siddhartha at birth. In keeping with ancient custom, Queen Maya set out for her birthplace when the time to deliver her child drew near. However, the crown prince was born along the way in the Lumbini Gardens, and Queen Maya died seven days after delivery due to unforeseen postpartum complications. The task of raising Siddhartha therefore fell to the queen’s younger sister, Mahaprajapati.

Siddhartha Renounces Secular Life

During his youth, Prince Siddhartha received intellectual and physical training in preparation for his eventual succession to the throne. Separation anxiety caused by the death of his birth mother more than likely weighed heavily on his mind, but in any event, from an early age, Siddhartha spent much of his time lost in thought, and he was often troubled by such mysteries as the impermanence of life.

At age sixteen, Siddhartha married a girl named Yashodhara, who gave him a son, Rahula. Having taken care of his responsibility to produce an heir, Siddhartha felt free to act upon his long-cherished desire to take the tonsure, and on December eighth of his nineteenth year, the prince stole out of the palace in the dead of night to pursue the path to spiritual awakening.

Reasons for Siddhartha’s Renunciation of Secular Life

Shakyamuni had secretly left Kapilavastu Palace on several occasions to catch a glimpse of life outside the palace. On each of these excursions, he passed through one of the gates that looked out onto the four directions and witnessed incidents that profoundly disturbed him.

At the east gate, he saw a person hunched over with age, and at the south gate, he observed another who was wasting away from disease. At the west gate, he witnessed the cremation of someone who had recently died. These observations awakened the youth to the impermanence of life and the fact that everyone who is born must suffer the sorrows of aging, sickness and death. Then, when Siddhartha left the palace through the east gate, he was confronted by the sight of a lone ascetic who had renounced the secular world. It is said that this encounter with one sincerely seeking the path to freedom from the sufferings of life and death inspired the prince to seek that path for himself.

Siddhartha’s Practice

After the prince left home, he set out for the metropolis of Rajagriha, in the newly emerging southern kingdom of Magadha, where Brahmanism had already taken root and was thriving.

Meanwhile, King Shuddhodana, who had been opposed to his son’s decision to embark on a spiritual quest, sent Ajnata Kaundinya and four other men to find the prince and urge him to return to the palace. However, because Siddhartha’s resolve to leave the secular world behind remained firm, the king had the five men accompany Siddhartha, both as servants and as fellow seekers of the way.

The prince began his training by apprenticing with each of two ascetics who were renowned masters of meditation. While under their tutelage, Siddhartha studied several schools of thought and mastered the mysteries of meditation. He nevertheless rejected these teachers after coming to the conclusion that human suffering cannot be eliminated through the practice of meditation.

Thereafter, Prince Siddhartha secluded himself in a forest on the west bank of the Nairanjana River, where he spent several years practicing breath control and austerities that included reduced food rations and fasting. But once again, Siddhartha came to the conclusion that far from resolving the fundamental causes for suffering, such austerities only drain the mind and body to the extreme. He therefore abandoned his practice of austerities and cleansed himself in the Nairanjana River. A farm girl named Sujata from a nearby village fed Siddhartha rice porridge cooked in milk, which helped him regain his physical and mental strength.

When the five men who had accompanied Siddhartha all this while saw him reject his practice of austerities, they mistakenly believed that he had given up his search for enlightenment altogether. They therefore left Siddhartha in disgust and headed for Deer Park in Varanasi to search for other religious training.

Shakyamuni the Buddha

Attaining the Way

Once recovered from the exhaustion of his ascetic practice, Shakyamuni retreated to a grove of sal trees near Gaya and sat beneath a pipal tree, where he remained in profound meditation for forty-nine days. During this meditation, he battled and ultimately defeated armies of mental and physical demons, after which, at dawn on the eighth day of December, he finally attained perfect enlightenment and became a Buddha. Shakyamuni was now thirty years old.

Shakyamuni’s attainment of Buddhahood is also known as his attainment of the Way, or the Path. In commemoration of his attainment of Buddhahood, the name of the place where he sat in meditation was changed from Gaya to Buddhagaya, and the name of the pipal tree was likewise changed to bodhi tree.

Turning the Wheel of the Law

After becoming a Buddha, Shakyamuni spent the next twenty-one days explaining the realm to which he had gained access as a result of his attainment of enlightenment. Those teachings are known as the Flower Garland Sutra (Jp. Kegon; Skt. Avatamsaka) Sutra.

Shakyamuni next considered whether or not it would be appropriate to reveal the Law for attaining enlightenment to the masses. He ultimately decided that he would indeed teach Buddhism to humanity, but only after the deity Bonten pleaded with him on the people’s behalf. The Buddha then remembered the five ascetics who had originally attended him during his practice of austerities, and headed for Deer Park. There, he began teaching those five seekers of the way by explaining the Ffour Nnoble Ttruths and the Eeightfold Ppath. The lecturing that Shakyamuni did at this time is referred to as beginning to turn the wheel of the Law.

The Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path

The Ffour Nnoble Ttruths are four principles that clarify the causal relationship between delusion and enlightenment. They are: 1) all existence is suffering; 2) earthly desires (such as separation from those we love) cause us to suffer; 3) one can end suffering by eliminating earthly desires; and 4) one can eliminate earthly desires and end suffering by practicing eight correct disciplines, i.e., the Eeightfold Ppath.

The Eeightfold Ppath is a synthesis of eight correct paths or disciplines that leads to enlightenment. Those disciplines are: 1) maintaining correct views, beliefs or opinions); 2) maintaining correct thinking; 3) maintaining correct speech; 4) maintaining correct behavior; 5) maintaining a correct way of living; 6) choosing correct endeavors; 7) maintaining correct mindfulness; and 8) practicing correct meditation or balance of mind.

Dissemination

Shakyamuni began traveling from place to place along the Ganges River valley to teach his Buddhism to the masses. On his way to Rajagriha, the Buddha encountered the three brothers Kashyapa and their one thousand disciples, all of whom asked to become the Buddha’s disciples. When Shakyamuni reached Rajagriha, King Bimbisara, the ruler of the kingdom of Magadha, also expressed his desire to learn the Buddha’s wisdom.

In the village of Nalanda, two great Brahmans, Shariputra and Maudgalyayana, as well as two hundred and fifty of their own disciples, pledged to devote themselves to the Buddha as his disciples.

Then, when Shakyamuni returned to his birthplace of Kapilavastu, his lectures on Buddhism won over many new converts from among the nobility, including his father King Shuddhodana, his aunt/stepmother Mahaprajapati, his wife Yashodhara, his son Rahula and his cousin Ananda.

Thereafter, great numbers of people sought out the Buddha as their spiritual master. Among the Buddha’s disciples, there were ten exceptionally gifted individuals, including Shariputra, who became known as the ten major disciples.

Shakyamuni’s Ten Major Disciples

There were ten remarkably gifted men among Shakyamuni’s disciples who were renowned for their keen intelligence and virtue. Shariputra best understood the Buddha’s lectures, and was therefore known as the foremost in wisdom. Mahakashyapa was named foremost in ascetic practices because he cared little about food, clothing or shelter and could attain the most profound meditation. Ananda constantly attended to the Buddha’s needs and listened to more of the Buddha’s lectures than anyone else. He was therefore known to be foremost in hearing the Buddha’s teachings. Subhuti best understood the doctrine of Emptiness (non-substantiality; Jp. kKu), and was therefore known to be foremost in his understanding of the concept of non-substantiality. Purna, a gifted lecturer, was known as the foremost in his ability to expound the Law. Maudgalyayana possessed extraordinary paranormal abilities and was therefore known as foremost in the occult. Katyayana excelled at refuting the non-Buddhist teachings, and was therefore known as foremost in debate. Aniruddha could see to the heart of any given matter and was therefore known as foremost in divine insight. Because Upali strictly followed the Buddha’s rules of conduct, he was known as foremost in keeping the precepts. Rahula devoted himself to observing the precepts and was known as foremost in inconspicuous practice.

King Bimbisara donated the Bamboo Grove Monastery as an offering to the Buddha and asked him to instruct the people in his kingdom. There was also a very rich and profoundly devout merchant named Sudatta, who donated, among other things, the Jetavana Monastery. There were many others who became disciples and patrons after hearing Shakyamuni’s noble teachings.

Circumstances Leading to the Founding of Jetavana Monastery

In Japan, there is a famous passage from The Historic Romance of the Taira Family that reads: “The sound of the gong at the Jetavana Monastery…” This passage refers to Jetavana Monastery, the Buddhist cloisters at Shravasti, in the kingdom of Kosala. The Jetavana Monastery was one of the three major monasteries built in ancient India, together with the Bamboo Grove Monastery in Magadha, which was the first monastery in Buddhist history, and the Great Grove Monastery in Vaishali.

The wealthy merchant Sudatta wished to purchase a wooded area called Jetavana (Jetri’s Grove), which was owned by Prince Jetri of Kosala. When Prince Jetri saw that Sudatta did not want the land for himself, but instead, wanted to build a monastery for the Buddha, the prince gladly donated the land and helped Sudatta build the cloisters.

However, not everyone wanted to see the Buddha’s mission succeed. There were some individuals, including Shakyamuni’s younger cousin Devadatta, who did their utmost to prevent the Buddha from spreading his teachings, and perpetrated what came to be known as the Buddha’s nine great ordeals.

The Buddha’s True Teaching

After attaining Buddhahood at the age of thirty, Shakyamuni spent the next forty-two years preaching the FlowerGarland (Jp. Kegon), Agama (Jp. Agon), Expansion (Jp. Hodo) and Wisdom (Jp. Hannya) Sutras. However, the Buddha taught these sutras only as a means of expanding people’s aptitudes, so that they would be able to benefit from his true teaching.

Then, at age seventy-two, Shakyamuni spent the next eight years teaching the Lotus Sutra at Eagle Peak, in the kingdom of Magadha. The Lotus Sutra was the Buddha’s true teaching and the ultimate reason for his birth.

Shakyamuni’s Passing

The Buddha’s Enters Nirvana

After expounding the Lotus Sutra over a period of eight years, Shakyamuni knew that the hour of his death was approaching. He therefore left Magadha and headed north for Kushinagara, where he preached the Nirvana Sutra in the space of a single day and a single night. Then, in a grove of sal trees, the Buddha reclined on his right side between two sal trees, with his head pointing north, and calmly waited for death to come. After admonishing his disciples not to mourn for him, the Buddha serenely passed away on February 15, 949 BC, at the age of eighty.

At the moment of his death, it is said that the earth shook, the skies rumbled with the sound of heavenly drums and the sal trees between which the Buddha lay turned pure white. At that time, Ananda, Aniruddha and the others of the ten major disciples recited poetry praising the Buddha’s virtues and lamenting his passing into nirvana. Throughout the night, Ananda and Aniruddha also lectured on the Law.

When it was time to cremate the Buddha’s body, it is said that a lay representative tried to ignite the funeral bier without success for seven days, until Mahakashyapa, the Buddha’s successor, arrived on the scene and lit the funeral pyre with his own hand.

After the Buddha’s cremation, his disciples divided his relics into eight parts and built eight stupas to enshrine them. Another two stupas were erected, one for the vessel used in the cremation and another for the ashes from the fire, making a total of ten stupas where Shakyamuni’s disciples continued to worship and pay their respects to the Buddha.