Spiritual India & Pilgrimages > Buddhism - by S. Chatterjee

Principles of Buddhism
Buddhism is based upon four noble truths:

All human conditions lead to suffering
Suffering has a cause
That cause is craving or desire or thirst
There is a path for the cessation of suffering

This path is called the Eight-Fold Path, which consists of right belief, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right meditation.

In the normal course of life Buddhism may not mean much. Buddh Purnima could mean a forced holiday, a day of rest, or at best a day for fasting or prayer. Sometime back I had the opportunity to travel to the Gompas of Sikkim and Tawang (Arunachal Pradesh). The intricately painted motifs, the statue of the Buddha, the whole ambience left me awe struck. The red robed lamas regularly conducting lessons and reading Buddhist scriptures, the dimly lit gompas, all had a profound effect on me. Here it dawned on me that Buddhism is a religion that has many followers in our country even today.

For an insight into the Buddhist way of life, one needs to travel to these far-flung areas. One needs to be driven by an intense travel desire to make it to these destinations. The journey presents panoramas and experiences that can never be savoured on films, photographs or pictures. There is so much vibrant energy concentrated in these apparently thinly populated areas, only a visit to such a destination will make you believe that Buddhism is living, breathing and being practiced faithfully even today.

The Buddhist religion has bequeathed many wonders to the Indian culture. The spectacular cave temples of Ajanta and Ellora in Maharashtra and the colourful festivals of Leh and Ladakh are among the most prominent Buddhist legacy.

Beliefs and Principles
Buddhism is the religion founded by Gautam Buddha (Buddha means the Enlightened one) in the 6th century BC. Siddhartha, his birth name, was born in 544 BC at Lumbini in Nepal, in a royal family. At the age of 29, Siddhartha decided to renounce his family and his kingdom in search of a place where birth, death, sickness and sorrow did not exist.

He wandered for many years in his quest. Finally, after six long years spent in the study of the most obtuse aspects of religions, he spent 7 weeks in deepest meditation and attained enlightenment under a banyan tree at Bodh Gaya. He gave his first sermon at Sarnath (close to Varanasi) to five disciples and formed the Sangha or the order of the Buddhist fraternity. He taught them the Four Noble Truths, the Middle Path and the Eight-Fold Path.

A number of Buddhist temples called Viharas or Gompas were built. These became centres of learning as well as centres for the spread of Buddhist religion. Some of them, like Nalanda and Takshila gained international acceptance, resulting in many visits by foreigners at that time. Buddhism is not a dogmatic rites and ritual driven religion, it is simply a way of life, with pure thought, speech and action.

Buddhism follows a Middle Path of avoiding the two extremes of self-indulgence and self- denial. It preaches one to lead a life of moderation, good moral conduct, meditation and contemplation, and discourages superstitious beliefs and ritualism. Today there are mainly two sects of Buddhism in India - Mahayana and Hinayana or Thervada. The Mahayana is a stauncher form of Buddhism.

Buddhism in India
Buddhism became a powerful religious force almost all over India from the 2nd BC to 3rd AD. It reached its peak under the Mauryan empire (322–185 AD). From the 6-8th century, the resurgence of Hinduism also resulted in the decline of Buddhism in India.

Today, there are approximately 30 million Buddhists in India. The biggest sect is the Ambedkar Buddhists in Maharashtra, who conform to the Theravada ideology. The Buddhists are concentrated largely in the north-eastern and northern Himalayan regions. Sikkim, Mizoram, Tripura, Leh, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra,and Bihar are some of the states where Buddhism is prevalent.

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