It was Vesak Day a few days back and they celebrated Gautama's Birthday all over the country; Homage to the World and Time Honored One! One of the Great Teachers in our human history, a King of Kings in his own time and place and an Enlightened Being to the Universe. " I have awakened and the Universe awakes with me!" The Buddha declared upon ending his 40 days of fasting in the wilds of Bodhgaya sitting under the Bo tree. Tested by the manifestations of sufferings in all forms and tempted by every form of offerings to satisfy a human desire, Sidhatha Gautama sat in silent meditation vowing not to move until he has the answer to his ultimate question; why is life full of suffering. Gautama meant to commit suicide in essence or get to the Truth of what is Life; He challenged God or the Gods whatever Power that might have been in his time to give him an answer or intuition as to what Life is all about and upon awakening went on to pursue the anecdote to this predicament we call living...Birth, Death and Rebirth, (or heaven or hell as the case might be).
Acknowledging that Life is primarily about suffering and that desire is the primary cause of suffering and that to end suffering one has to have a Right Understanding of what is Desire and how to do this, simply following the Principle of the Eightfold Path.beginning with Right Understanding."The Gods do not have any issues but man does, the Buddha teaches the Way to Liberation through Transcending the 'Self'; with Right Understanding. That Liberation or Salvation can only happen through one's own volition with no dependence upon any external help divine or otherwise. This was and still is a very tough act to follow, but the Buddha provided throughout his teachings the ways and means of attaining to Liberation from our deluded existence of chaos and suffering. Some 2600 years ago, the Buddha diagnosed humanity's illness as being Greed, Hate and Ignorance and today these illnesses has affected the world in some of the worse human tragedies.
Sadly enough instead of propagating the true teachings of the Buddha more is spent on constructing Buddha temples and statues like all else in the effort to outdo thy neighbor in size and style or to attract tourism..The Buddha's Birthday came and went for thousands of years now but His teachings is still being studied and put to test and practice by many East and West. The way of life that the Buddha had preached covers all aspects of human frailties and the potential that man has to transcend beyond what is, this mind conceived plane of existence called Maya. Most modern Gurus, Masters, Teachers, Philosophers and Seekers are touched by the Buddha's teachings in one way or another making it work according their own ways.
I do not Worship the Buddha but I pay my homage and I bow before The Lion King, The Dharma King, a Liberated Being in humble respect and love and gratitude.In my heart of hearts I surrender my faith in Allah (SWT), Lord of Creation and Compassion: my Lord has no religion. That I worship is the Lord of Love and Mercy, or Grace and Beauty and He is the Lord of Wrath too. Only through my total extinction mind, body and soul will I be close to Him; physical death alone is of no consequence, I have to die in my spirit to be reborn in His presence.My journey as was that of Gautama is to attain enlightenment in this life and awaken to that which I am, the Unborn Buddha Nature. It is in the life and form that man can free himself from the shackles of ignorance and be released from this cyclic existence of Birth-Death and Rebirth.
Happy Birthday, O, Gautama, Prince of the Shakya Clan, The World and Time Honored One.
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