Learning about the Buddha's Life is not important in Buddhism

Learning about Buddha’s Life is not Important in Buddhism

Buddhism is a religion that encompasses a variety of traditions, practicing teachings largely based on those of Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha, meaning ‘the awakened one’. The Buddha lived and taught in the eastern part of India between 6th and 4th centuries BCE. His journey to enlightenment has inspired 300 million people to follow his way of life, thus some Buddhists believe that it is a prerequisite to learn about the Buddha’s life to be a dedicated Buddhist.

However, some might argue that this contradicts the concepts of Buddhism. The only aim of Buddhism is how to gain spiritual liberation through the development of wisdom and mental culture. You only need to understand a few important facts to reach salvation. One can go on acquiring facts and yet never achieve enlightenment. Thus, Buddhists believe knowledge of one-self is more important that any other form of knowledge, any extra information that won’t help you achieve your final goal is pointless and unnecessary, so learning about the Buddha’s life is not essential.

Despite this, a great many number of people believe that the Buddha’s life is a crucial factor in your step to becoming a Buddhist. They deem the Buddha to be a very positive role model who teaches the righteous way to live. The Buddha’s life illustrates the hard work gone into reaching enlightenment. Unlike most religions, the Buddha did not realise the truth overnight, he had to work it out himself via trial and error to learn his lessons and reach nirvana. For instance, he first thought asceticism was the path to enlightenment, however, after a while he realised asceticism was only going to kill him slowly and he proceeded to seek another road. The story of Buddha’s life isn’t just a testament to these acts; it’s the lessons of his life that helped him attain enlightenment. Not only are these informative lessons, they are also very inspirational for the followers of Buddhism.

Conversely, the Buddha himself preached that Buddhists should not attach themselves to his life, his words or directly to him. The Buddha compares life to opposite banks of a river. One side of the river is pre-enlightened life, the life people started off with. On the other side of the river is enlightenment; in order to achieve enlightenment one needs to follow certain rules – i.e. the four noble truths, the eightfold path, the five precepts etc – to get to the other bank, like a bridge. In this comparison, the teachings of the Buddha are the building blocks of the bridge, the Buddha himself is the cement used to stabilize and secure it.

Yet, people still demand learning the Buddha’s life to be of utmost significance. They suggest the life of the Buddha is not simply a biography containing a variety of names and places but also as a lesson. They claim that there are three main qualities we can grasp from his life are renunciation, benevolence/compassion and wisdom. These three values emerge prominently in the life of the Buddha. Renunciation happened to the Buddha at a very young age, it manifested itself when Prince Siddhartha visited the annual ploughing ceremony at the age of seven. Later on, the Buddha saw the four sights, which are famously known for moving the prince to renounce his luxurious lifestyle to follow the life of asceticism to seek the truth of the universe. In addition, you can find compassion as a quality here because the main reason why the Buddha decided to take up asceticism was because he wanted to teach a way out of suffering to the citizens of his country and the world.

These qualities are evidently quite important for reaching enlightenment, thus are necessary for Buddhists to encompass. Nevertheless, I stand firm in my belief that it is futile for Buddhists to learn of his life. Siddhartha never wanted himself to be the centre of attention, his goal was never to gain fame, it was all about finding about the ultimate truth of the universe, and to help others find it as well. Learning about the Buddha himself won’t help you attain enlightenment, the teachings are the items needed, just like a bridge, without the blocks no bridge can be built, and without cement only a very weak and unstable bridge could be built

This leads me to my final conclusion, which is learning about the Buddha and his teachings are both vital for the success of enlightenment. Yet, the teachings are just slightly more important than the Buddha himself (for the journey of enlightenment). However, the Buddha himself is very crucial to the religion as he was the founder of it, without the Buddha, Buddhism would not be here today.