Awakening with the Buddha
A community Bodhi Day service talk
December 5, 2005
by Alfred Bloom, Emeritus
Professor, University of Hawaii
Good morning everyone. It is my great
privilege and pleasure to speak to you on this auspicious day. Today, we
commemorate a major event in world history, the spiritual awakening of
Gautama Buddha who changed the history of the world. The religious movement
we now call Buddhism began around 535 B.C.E. when Siddhartha Gautama
experienced his “Awakening” to the truth of his life and ours. The
repercussions of this movement are still rippling through the world, as
Buddhism has penetrated every major culture and nation.
Gautama was around 35 years of age when
he experienced what we call “Awakening” or “Enlightenment.” He saw things as
they really are, and in that moment became a religious “Realist.”
By the time Buddha passed into complete
Nirvana around 485 B.C.E., after an active life of 80 years, his new
movement had become a lasting monastic Order with a significant following of
disciples. It has continued to spread and evolve on the stage of history now
for almost 2,600 years, producing a body of literature or Sutras, rules of
discipline and various forms of literature and institutions in many
countries till the present time. It has taken many forms in South and North
Asia, China, Korea, Japan, and Tibet.
Now it has taken root in the West where
it has gained followers among all levels of the population. According to one
recent study, the sociologist of religion, Robert Wuthnow, judges that Buddhism has influenced as many as four million people in the United States
through meditation practices, literature and academic or on-line courses.
Other studies have estimated that the number of Buddhist adherents
scattered over our country together total about two million followers in
many traditions. Given the number of publications, which have increased
astronomically since I myself began to study Buddhism, there is a wide
interest, if not commitment, to Buddhism.
Since I began my own study in the
mid-1950s, we find 50 years later that almost all major universities, state
and private, have departments of religion and resident Buddhist scholars.
Though our society is in a state of
turmoil and confusion, and we are involved in yet another debilitating war,
people are still seeking the truth for their lives and to understand the
world we all live in. Interest in spiritual issues has never been stronger
or more widespread than it is today. We are beginning to realize that most
of the issues in our society and culture have a deep spiritual root. All
violence -- personal, family, social, and national -- has, or rather, lacks
a true spiritual basis.
These problems have a background in our
competitive, materialistic culture. Racism, sexism, drug trafficking and the
modern slavery of ‘human trafficking’ represent a deep misunderstanding of
reality and the distortion of the human spirit. It is clear that many, many
people are not awake to the true nature of their lives.
However, in this hour, in this sacred
and beautiful Temple, we come together to commemorate that important event
when Siddhartha Gautama attained “awakening” and became The Buddha, the
“Awakened One” who is not only the Teacher of the ancient Sakya clan (Sakyamuni),
but the universal Teacher of both gods and men. His truth is timeless and
Cosmic.
He is the Awakened One, who, awakened to
the truth of all existence, offered it to the world, wherever living beings
wander in the darkness of ignorance and delusion, gripped by greed and
anger, anxious because of hatred and suspicion, or oppressed by superstition
and religious fears.
Buddha’s awakening was a process, which
began when he emerged from his father’s palace and culminated in the event
of Awakening. Gautama left home to confront the realities of his world,
presented by the problems of birth, illness, old age and death, the four
marks of impermanence. He awoke to the direction he should go when he
encountered a tranquil monk. Inspired by this example, he renounced the life
of pleasure and self-indulgence he had followed for 29 years.
In a dramatic scene, Gautama abandoned
his family and home, tripping over sleeping dancing girls and fleeing on
his steed, accompanied by his faithful attendant. Cutting off his hair and
changing his elegant clothes to simple robes, Gautama began his process of
awakening.
He sought out several famous teachers to
guide him, only to find them inadequate. He left those teachers, taking up
with a band of seekers. Together they sought the truth, but Gautama found
that following the crowd was not sufficient to reveal the truth. So he left
his friends and engaged in an independent search.
In his spiritual journey he found that
depriving the body of food and rest, while restraining the mind by stopping
thought through ascetic practice, was not useful. He realized that we must
have a sound mind in a sound body to awaken spiritually.
While he was meditating, in a state of
near-starvation, a young woman found him and brought him cereal to nourish
his body. He was soon refreshed and energized.
We think that Gautama gained
awakening
totally on his own. However, we forget the offering of this young woman, Sujata, whose compassionate act restored his body and enabled him to
continue on his path to awakening. This may be Gautama’s first awakening to
Interdependence, a key concept which became the centerpiece of his teaching.
Gautama’s path to Awakening is marked by
a series of leavings or departures; he left home (Shukke); he left teachers;
he left friends; he left all extremes behind and put all duality aside. His
renounced completely all forms of bondage which obstruct spiritual
awakening.
These elements are noted in Buddha’s
first sermon in Benares where he outlines the Four Noble truths of 1)
suffering (here we might use other terms such as dissatisfaction,
frustration, futility, surfeit, anxiety) 2) the cause or condition of
suffering lies in our passions while the 3) resolution of our suffering lies
in the 4) Eightfold Noble Path. The Eightfold Path details a way of
disciplining our behavior, speech and thought, thereby defusing or removing
our passions.
Gautama taught the Middle Path between
the extremes of pleasure and pain. He calls for Balance in the quest for truth.
Further severe deprivation of the body produces delusions as many stories
from world religious literature show. REPRESSION is like holding steam
inside a boiling kettle. It WILL eventually explode. We can and must learn
to re-direct human energies in less self-centered and destructive ways.
A central principle of Gautama
was the principle of Interdependence. This principle makes clear that no one
attains anything totally on his or her own. We are all involved in a great
net of mutual interaction. We are all interconnected, interactive and
obviously interdependent.
We Buddhists like to talk a lot about
the concept of interdependence. Yet, have you ever noticed how people try
to do everything by themselves even when it is clear they need help?
Persisting on their self-willed path, people refuse to consult with others
or resist accepting choices that make it easier for everyone involved.
However, interdependence instructs us that ALL of our acts affect others. It
takes an 'Awakening' to become aware of, and open to, choices that can
benefit others, as well as ourselves. Individualism is a delusion.
Related to interdependence is Gautama's important spiritual insight of no-soul or no-essence in things, including
ourselves. Buddha was indicating that human life is an interacting process,
not a fixed, static condition. The essence of life in nature, as well as
ourselves, is change, growth, flexibility and adaptability. Buddhists should
be most open to the unfolding possibilities that confront us in our dynamic
life process just as the surfer catches the wave and rides it to the shore.
So far the story of Gautama’s Awakening
is an interesting account, a model or paradigm for all of us on the path to
Awakening. However, as a story of a now dim and distant past, the story
means little unless we, too, give reality to the process of Awakening
through our own Awakening to the truth of our lives. Buddhism is a teaching
of Awakening. Unless we awaken, Buddhism has little meaning in our
contemporary world. Buddhists must become aware and enlightened people in
all areas of experience, if we are to serve our world and those who live in
it.
What do we awaken to? Of course, each
person’s path is unique. Gautama struck out on his own path. He found that
he could not just follow other peoples’ prescriptions or demands. He had to
find his own way. Gautama had an independent spirit which led him to go
beyond his present limitations. He became self-aware in contrast to those
who are simply self-conscious. He thought outside the box.
Buddhism teaches us to awaken to our
responsibility for creating positive relations in the world. It offers us
freedom from the bondage of ego and passion. As we contemplate the process
of Gautama’s Awakening, we must recognize that the ancient story is not
merely a story, but a pattern for our own experience. It is the story of a
transformation as Gautama awoke to the realities of suffering in his life
and world. Gautama transformed to a spiritually independent seeker, taking
responsibility for his own life, and engaging in the discovery of the truth
that would liberate himself and others.
We cannot simply imitate Gautama,
renouncing the world, family, teachers, or friends, but we can share his
process of Awakening by becoming aware of the ego-bondage that distorts our
lives, our own value priorities, our complicities with the evils in society,
our own contribution to the conflicts that arise in our lives. Our deep
reflection on Buddhist teachings will aid us in making better choices that
will enhance our lives, as well as the life of others and reduce the
conflicts, and violence in our world.
Human history is at a crossroad. Will we
have perpetual war or can there be peace and mutual acceptance? How can
people live together without destroying each other? Today is the time to
make Gautama’s Awakening our own Awakening. It is only through both our
individual and ‘collective’ awakening as a Buddhist community, that the
spirit of Buddhism can counter the forces of division, hatred and prejudice,
while enlarging the boundaries of compassion and peace, locally and
globally.
