Buddha Shakyamuni attained
enlightenment and taught in India over two thousand years ago, yet his teachings remain refreshing and relevant even in today’s world for the ultimate purpose of Buddhism is to serve and benefit humanity.
No matter who we are or where we live, we all want
happiness and dislike
suffering. The Buddha recommended that in working to overcome suffering we should help others as much as we can. He advised that if we cannot be of help we should at least be careful not to do anyone harm.
An important part of Buddhist
practice involves training our minds through meditation. But if our training in calming our minds and developing qualities like love, compassion, generosity and patience is to be effective, we must put them into practice in our daily life.
The key to overcoming suffering and ensuring happiness is inner peace. If we have that we can face difficulties with calmness and reason, while our inner happiness remains undisturbed. The teachings of love, kindness and tolerance, the conduct of non-
violence, and especially the Buddhist theory that all things are relative are a source of that inner peace.
I believe that even now, more than 2,500 years after he lived in India, the story of the Buddha has a lot to tell us. This is not because I have any personal interest in increasing the number of Buddhists in the world, but because I believe that his teaching and his own example can still contribute to global peace and individual happiness.
The Buddha was born as an ordinary person like ourselves. He was brought up as a prince, married and had a son. Then, after observing the suffering of human beings, that they grow old, fall sick and die, he totally renounced the worldly way of life in his determination to find a solution. Having undergone severe physical penances, he purified and illumined his mind through intense meditation and attained supreme enlightenment.
In this way he set an example for his followers. Purifying the mind is not easy. It takes a lot of time and hard work. But this is also true of any human enterprise. You need tremendous will-power and determination right from the start, accepting that there will be many obstacles, and resolving that despite them all you will continue until you have attained your goal.
But, having attained enlightenment, the Buddha did not retire into isolation. Moved by a spontaneous concern to help others, he spent the rest of his life as a homeless monk, sharing his experience with everyone who wished to listen.
His entire doctrine can be presented within the Four Noble Truths, the subject of his first discourse. What we seek is happiness and happiness is the effect of a cause and what we do not want is suffering, which has its own causes too. Both the Buddha’s view of dependent arising and his advice not to harm anyone but to help whoever you can emphasise the practice of non-violence. This remains one of the most potent forces for good in the world today, for non-violence is to be of service to our fellow beings.