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Later Life of the Buddha And his
teachings
The Buddha
• Prior to being the Buddha
Siddhartha was an Ascetic
– Asceticism (Greek) "exercise" or
"training" describes a lifestyle
characterized by abstinence from worldly
pleasures, often for the purpose of
pursuing spiritual goals.
• Prolonged periods of fasting and
meditation made his body weak
 To be a holy person within the
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ascetic beliefs you had to be a
beggar.
Could not ask for food or drink.
Had to be given to you.
Slept on the ground outside.
Subjected to self inflicted mutilation
and pain.
Fundamental Moment
 Emaciated, his mind drifted.
 Remembered something from his
childhood.
 Ants being killed
 Feeling of compassion for all living
things.
 Perfection of the world.
 Interconnection.
 Sat beneath a rose apple tree.
 Shadow of the tree did not shift.
 Sat cross legged in a yoga pose.
 First time feeling pure joy.
45:23 – 54:35
 https://www.youtube
.com/watch?v=uJWP
FYygGPc&index=15&li
st=WL
“At this moment, all
beings and I awaken
together.”
-Buddha
 To continue this feeling of joy
Buddha needed to eat
 Fed rice pudding from a villager
who felt he needed to eat.
Now what?
• Now the Enlightened One, what
was he going to do next?
The Teaching...
 Meets a Ascetic.
Tells the Ascetic that he has
reached Enlightenment
 “That may be so.”
First attempt to teach was a
failure.
Round two
• After the first attempt he travels
north.
• Fellow Ascetics would refer to
him as weak and Luxurious
• Five of his old Ascetic friends
swore to each other that they
would not hear his message.
• Spoke to the Five Ascetics
• Became first Disciples
• Introduced the Wheel of the
Dharma.
• Spoke from personal experience
• Introduced “The Middle Way”
• Traveled with them spreading
Buddhism in India.
• Not overly popular.
• Most often rejected.
• Used the analogy of the strings of
an instrument.
• Buddha lived in both extremes of
living.
• explained that there was a middle
way.
• Addresses the issue of human
suffering
• Introduced the Four Noble Truths
• Introduced the eightfold path
• Shortly after this new concept
word spread
• Soon there were one hundred
Disciples
• Developed a Buddhist community
called the Sangha
Sangha: is a word in Pali and Sanskrit
meaning "association", "assembly,"
"company" or "community" and most
commonly refers in Buddhism to the
monastic community of ordained
Buddhist monks or nuns.
• Buddha didn’t want people to have as
difficult a time as he did to discover
the nature of the universe
• Built the community to help people
and the people help each other.
• Many women joined the Sangha
• Women at the time were considered
to be second class citizens.
• Gave women the chance equal to
men to escape caste life
• Life for lower caste women was very
harsh.
• The Sangha was an escape
During that time
• War raged through Northern India
• Many Warlords and kings sought
his counsel
• Buddha only insisted that the
killing stopped
• His father’s kingdom was
massacred.
– “Violence always leads to more
Violence”
– Buddha
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Traveled India until age 80
Accepted food that was spoiled
Buddha became sick
He was dying and his disciples
were devastated.
Buddha Dies
• Kusinara was his final resting
place.
• Asked to be laid on his side in a
small quiet room.
• Ensured to his disciples that
death is a natural process.
• Emphasized human feeling and
not to fight it.
Now what?
• Now that the Buddha was dying,
what were the Disciples to do?
“Let the Darmah, and the discipline
that I have taught you be your
teacher. All individual things pass
away. Strive on. Untiringly.”
- Buddha.
Key Terms
• Nirvana- refers to the imperturbable stillness
of mind after the fires of desire, aversion,
and delusion have been finally extinguished.
• Moksha - connotes freedom from the cycle
of reincarnation
• Buddha – “Awakened One” was a sage on
whose teachings Buddhism was founded.
• Meditation - A practice in which an
individual trains the mind or induces a mode
of consciousness, either to realize some
benefit or for the mind to simply
acknowledge its content without becoming
identified with that content, or as an end in
itself.
• Dharma- the teachings of the Buddha. The
idea of the “truth” concerning the laws of the
universe
• Enlightenment- understanding the truth of
life by attaining freedom from ignorance
• Five Precepts – the rules Buddhists follow.
(abstain from harming another living being,
stealing, improper sexual activity, false
speech, and taking alcohol or drugs
• Karma – the law of cause and effect.
• Wheel of Life – a complete visual
representation of the endless cycle of rebirth
• Siddhartha Gautama - A sage on whose
teachings Buddhism was founded. Taught
a Middle Way between sensual indulgence
and the severe asceticism.