What Shakyamuni Buddha Preached

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What Shakyamuni Buddha Preached

Good conduct is the first requirement for an individual's progress. The five principles were conceived by the Buddha, and although they originated in India, with the disappearance of the Buddha they ceased to be mentioned here. But in the Buddhist countries a child is sometimes taught five principles by his parents or preceptors. The Buddh was a man of peace, and among the world religions only Buddhism claim that it never employed violent means for its propagation. Buddhist missionaries practiced the doctrine of co-existence. China, Japan, Korea, Tibet, Mangolia, Srilanka, Burma, Thailand and Indo-China are still predominantly Buddhist countries and a thousand years ago, India, Afghanistan, Central Asia and Java, too, followed the Buddha's teachings. In the history of these countries you find no instance where faith was propagated with the intentional destruction or humiliation of other lived peacefully side by side. But new faith came with fire and award and the followers of these two religions were forced to flee. The Nestorians had no asylum nearly, while Buddhists had a country of their faith- Ladakh, across the mountains, to which placed they took the Nestorians who were allowed to build their monasteries. Later they were assimilated among the people, or perhaps they were unmarried monks and nuns, so that their faith passed with that generation. But the cross of the Nestorians remained in Ladakh to show how brotherly love and the doctrine of co-existence were practiced.

*The five precepts or Panchashila of Buddhist are :
1. Thou shalt not kill.
2. Thou shalt not steal.
3. Thou shalt not make improper sex indulgence.
4. Thou shalt not tell a lie.
5. Thou shalt not use intoxicants.

The ethical teachings of the Buddh are summed up in an ancient stanza: " Avoiding all sins, practicing meritorious deeds, control of one's own mind." These are broad based and rational.

The Buddha made a tremendous contribution to Indian thought. Up to his time the Indian mind was not innocent of philosophy, but the sages of Upanishad preached the doctrine of Ataman or Brahma which they thought eternal, while material things were passing phase. In those days the philosophy of Atman was highly esteemed and to go against the current was not an easy thing.

The Buddha proclaimed that all the world was ephemeral. The law of change has no exception. Explaining his ideas, recent Buddhist philosophers state; "What is the real changeable, and what is not changeable is not real." The doctrine of change without exception destroyed the idea of eternity. There should be no misconception about Buddhist fundamental philosophy.

Everything in the world is in flux. One moment a thing appears, the second moment it is no more and something else takes its place. The first is the cause and second effect. The effect too disappears in a moment. Thus everything constantly disappears. There is continuity because one real thing is followed by another and similar real thing. But reality is a momentary thing, so there is a discontinuous continuity. A thing is momentary; it has no value. This conception is quite wrong, according to Buddhist philosophy. There is no real thing which is not momentary, and the present itself is a moment. Everything we enjoy is for a moment. When it passes, it has no value. We always need nutrition, for the food which was eaten yesterday does not curb hunger today. So food has no value. This kind of thinking is not right. The doctrine of eternal change sometimes frighten people. They feel helpless if there is no eternal thing or personality to help them. Buddhist, however, believe in the principle of co-existence, and Buddhism did not discharge of "God" of different faith. It allowed the people to have their idols and venerate them, since it thought that the Buddha's philosophy needed higher development of the mind to appreciate it.