Buddha

The Bodhi tree under which Buddha attained enlightenment, in Bodh Gaya, Bihar, India.

The Buddha, born Prince Siddhārtha Gautama (Sanskrit: सिद्धार्थ गौतम; Chinese: 悉達多瞿曇) and known as Buddha Shakyamuni (Sanskrit: शाक्यमुनि; Chinese: 釋迦牟尼; "sage of the Shakyas"), was a "divinely-appointed and fully independent" Manifestation of God who founded the religion of Buddhism in India in the sixth century before the Common Era. He is seen by the community of His followers—the Buddhist sangha—as the Supreme Buddha (Sammāsambuddha) of our age, and His teachings are said to have been memorized and transmitted orally since His death, being first committed to writing around 400 years later.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá describes the Buddha as an "illustrious personage" who was "the cause of the illumination of the world of humanity" the establisher of "a new religion" who upheld "the Oneness of God". Shoghi Effendi affirms the rank and station of Buddha as a Manifestation of God alongside the founders of the other world religions.

Early Western scholarship tended to accept the biography of the Buddha presented in the Buddhist scriptures as largely historical, but modern scholars tend to de-emphasize the historical study of Buddha, as a considerable amount of myth and legend is said to have accumulated in accounts of His life. Likewise, the Bahá’í writings affirm that is it not possible to be sure of the authenticity of extant Buddhist scriptures, and that they do not necessarily represent the exact words or teachings of the Buddha. The Buddhist scriptures themselves reflect this perception, asserting that the true dharma (dhamma) preached by Buddha would gradually disappear from the world.

The Traditional Story

Precise details may vary, but the traditional story is that King Suddhodana, who ruled a territory in the foothills of the Himalayas, had a son, whom he named Siddartha. He subsequently had a vivid dream, which was interpreted for him. The interpreter said that the dream meant that the baby boy had two possible futures. He could grow to greatness in the material realm, and become the emperor of all India, or he could grow to greatness in the spiritual realm, and become a monk. When the king asked what would decide this, the interpreter replied that, should the young boy see sickness, old age, death and monasticism (monkhood), he would chose that last path for himself.

Rather fancying the idea of fathering a future emperor of all India, the king created a special zone at Kapilavastu, which contained three palaces. Within this zone, all sickness, old age and death were to be banished. The story has it that everyone within the palace zone had to deny the young prince any knowledge of these aspects of life. The sick and elderly were removed from the palace zone, mendicants (monks) were obviously refused access, and death was never mentioned. The young Siddartha was found a wife, Yashoda, and they had a son, Rahula.

When he was around twenty-five years old, Siddartha wished to attend the wedding of a friend. This was outside the palace zone, and the son successfully argued to his father that he could not possibly become the emperor of all India if he were not allowed to take the slightest decision for himself. Accordingly, soldiers were sent out of the palace zone to escort every sick and aged person, every beggar and monk, off the streets which the young prince would travel down. Of course, according to the story, Siddartha still managed to see an old man, a sick man and a dead person (the funeral procession crossed the road he was travelling!) and a monk. He forced his charioteer to explain each of these sights to Him, and realised that He had been protected from the truth of many essential aspects of life.

The story has it that the very same evening He ordered his charioteer to bring two horses and an appropriate change of clothes, kissed His sleeping wife and son goodbye, and travelled into the forest. The charioteer then had to explain to Siddartha's father, the king, what He was doing, and why.

Dressed as a monk, and with His hair cut off, He began His life as a seeker after truth. He met five monks, who were trying to reach truth through self-denial and other extreme practices. He joined them, and almost starved Himself to death. Realising that the physical deprivation was weakening His faculties rather than sharpening them, He suddenly began to eat again. His five companions, who had been impressed by His efforts, were disappointed and left Him. The story has it that He sat beneath a bo tree (also called pipal or sacred fig) and resolved not to move from that spot until all the answers had come to Him. In that period, the answers did come to Him, and he arose as "The Buddha", "The Enlightened One".

His first act was to locate His five companions. He sought them out, and delivered His first talk to them. Naturally, they became His first followers. So began the process of teaching people, accepting them into His community of monks, and training their ideas. At one point, some women came, asking if they could become monks (nuns), and He granted this request. (Of interest to Bahá'is is the story that He told the community that the admission of women would halve the length of duration of His Dispensation. Accordingly, when calculating this period from prophecies and allusions, the figure is now always duly halved, which makes the figures arrive at the correct time for the Manifestation of Bahá'u'lláh.) After some years, He travelled back to His original home, where His own father became a Buddhist. His talks were passed on by word of mouth, and are believed to have not been written down for the first four hundred years of His Dispensation!

Teachings

As noted above, a degree of caution has to be exercised over making statements as to the actual teachings of the Buddha. Perhaps the most widely attested and accepted of His teachings are the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path, which are said to be the subject of His first sermon, entitled "Setting in Motion the Wheel of Righteousness".

The Four Noble Truths

The Four Noble Truths could be summarised as follows:

• In all life there is always disappointment/suffering.
• That this disappointment/suffering is caused by wanting/craving.
• That there is a way to overcome the wanting/craving.
• That the way to overcome the wanting/craving is the Noble Eightfold Path.

The Noble Eightfold Path

The Noble Eightfold Path is the path which each person should follow, if they wish to avoid craving, and therefore disappointment and suffering.

The path consists of:

• Right Ideas
• Right Resolution
• Right Speech
• Right Conduct
• Right Vocation
• Right Effort
• Right Mindfulness
• Right Concentration

These eight encapsulate all the elements of being: thinking, perceiving, analysing and behaviour. In effect, the Buddha laid out a new way of approaching life, a new dharma (law). The Noble Eightfold Path should remind a believer of the neutral, detached, point to which he/she should return when making a decision or a move. Each of these eight aspects of life is greatly expanded upon by Bahá'u'lláh.

The God of Buddha

One of the main difficulties in reconciling the teachings of Buddha with those of other world religions has been the apparent dearth of teachings about God, at least in the sense that is common in Abrahamic religions. Daniel Conner argues that this is a matter of semantics, claiming that Buddhist teachings contain concepts of dhamma (divine law) and an external reality and creative force which is identifiable with God, despite lacking "the anthropomorphic aspects of Western theism". This stance is echoed by other Bahá’í authors. For example, in his book The God of Buddha, Jamshed K. Fozdar analyzes the written records of Buddha's teachings and shows that He taught there is an "Absolute", "Eternal", "Unborn, Unoriginated, Uncreated, Unformed", an "Essence" from which all things originate and which is the Cause of the Universe, which Fozdar identifies with God. In his comments on the Lawḥ-i-Kullu’ṭ-Ṭa‘ám (Tablet of All Food), Bijan Ma‘sumian describes the highest realm of Divine existence as "the Realm of God's Unmanifested Essence", and notes that Bahá’í beliefs about the unknowable nature of God are consonant with certain Buddhist traditions which take an almost agnostic stance regarding God.

Ma‘sumian further suggests that Buddha may not have avoided mentioning God out of atheism, citing Reimundo Pannikar's view that He was rather showing "reverence for the mysterious and the ineffable." On the other hand, Keith de Folo suggests that Buddha refused to address the topic because the answer would lead to "interminable wrangling and contention" among the theologians of His day. Still, de Folo argues that while Buddhist teachings do not affirm the existence of a personal God, it is "clearly evident that Buddhism is a religion and not a secular philosophy". He quotes K. N. Jayatilleke's description of early Buddhism as "not atheistic in the sense in which Materialism or Marxism is atheistic", in that it "recognizes the validity of moral and spiritual experiences and values and asserts that Nibbana is a transcendent reality beyond space, time, and causation".

References

Bibliography

• Fozdar, Jamshed K. (1973). The God of Buddha. New York: Asia Publishing House. ISBN 0210406291.
• Jayatilleke, Kalatissa N. (1969). "Buddhist Relativity and the One-World Concept". In Jurji, Edward J. (ed.). Religious Pluralism and the World Community.
• Momen, Moojan. "Buddhism and the Bahá'í Faith". bahai-library.com. Retrieved 7 June 2025.