Buddha the Light of Asia

The history of Buddhism is the history of upward growth of religious thought in India from the sixth century B. C. onwards. In the words of the famous historian Romila Thapar, “Buddhism was a product of socio-intellectual movement of sixth century B. C.” Hence this century will remain distinguished for the intellectual development produced by the application of human reason to solve the riddle of life and death. Thus, Buddhism emerged as a distinct religion from Hinduism, more as a protest against the latter.

Prince Siddhartha of Kapilavastu, as Lord Buddha was known in his early life, discovered that to live means to suffer, and suffering is unavoidable in this world. He said man’s desire for wealth and power leads to the suffering of others. As such it is necessary to discard our selfish goals and eliminate words as “me” and “mine” from our vocabulary, so as to avoid suffering.

This realization led him to renounce all comforts of life in search of the eternal truth. He finally attained enlightenment at Gaya which later became famous as “Bodh Gaya” because of the Lord’s association with the place.

He thought very little of rituals and religious ceremonies.Buddha’s line of reasoning was direct: Man alone has the power to mould his destiny by his own deeds and thoughts, which in turn can make him attain the bliss of Nirvana (salvation).

In essence, this was Lord Buddha’s message which travelled far and wide. Even today the Chinese and Japanese cultures, as also of the whole of Indo-China, are deeply permeated by the teachings of Lord Buddha, the Light of Asia.