Buddhism | World History | Khan Academy

We're now going to talk about one of the most significant figures in all of human history, and that is Sedara Gotha, who would later be known as Buddha, as the Awakened One or the Enlightened One. Now, before we get into his life, let's think about the context in which he was born.

So, we see from this timeline that most accounts place his birth at around 563 BCE; although there are some historians who think that he might have been born about 100 to 150 years later than that. But either way, that would have been near the end of the Vedic period. The Vedic period is named after the Vedas, these Hindu scriptures written by those Indo-Aryans who came into India, most historians believe, around 1500 BCE or maybe before that.

Now, by the time of Sedar's birth, Hinduism was really starting to take shape. Many of the things that we would now recognize as modern-day Hindu practice already existed, and he was born into that world.

On this map here, you see the major sites of Buddha's life. He's born in Lumbini, in modern-day Southern Nepal. He eventually meditates at Bodhgaya under the Bodhi tree, where he reaches Enlightenment. He does his first preaching at Sarnath, and then he eventually dies at Kushinagar. To modern Buddhists, these are still considered major pilgrimage sites.

According to tradition, he is born at Lumbini, his mother is in transit, and he is born along the way. At Lumbini, his mother dies shortly afterward. He's raised by his aunt, but his father, in some accounts, is a king, a chieftain, and he's able to give the young Sedara Gotha a very sheltered life. This life continues into his 20s; he is able to get married and have a child.

But at the age of 29, he's able to leave the compound. He sees the world as it really is outside of the world that his father has created for him. He sees old age, he sees sickness, he sees poverty, and this creates a lot of consternation in Sidartha. He wonders why this is so. Why is there this suffering in the world?

So, he decides, once again, at age 29, to seek the truth, to try to understand the universe as it is. Remember, this is in India, where it was common practice for religious aesthetics to go off into the woods and to meditate about the true nature of reality, trying to obtain Moksha.

He goes and follows that same practice; for six years, he is wandering through the woods. He has left all of his possessions behind; he has left his family behind. He famously starts off trying to go in the mold of these Hindu aesthetics, letting go of everything, including trying to deprive the body of food and water, and he almost kills himself.

But then, eventually, at age 35, he makes his way to the town of Gaya, now known as Bodhgaya, and over there he meditates under a sacred fig tree, later known as the Bodhi tree. He meditates there for seven days, and on the seventh day, it strikes him. He has a revelation. He awakens, so to speak. According to Buddhist tradition, from that moment, he becomes the Buddha, or the Awakened One.

For the next 49 days, he makes no contact with anyone, but he eventually makes his way to Sarnath, and at a deer park there, he reencounters five of his previous followers. They had given up on him, but now they see that there's a change in Sidartha, now the Buddha. He begins to explain to them what he has seen, what he has discovered.

This is a quotation from the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, what it was called in the Pali language, which was the language of Buddha's time. It can be translated as setting the wheel of Dharma, which is another word for Dharma. The Sanskrit word Dharma in motion, and Dharma in Hinduism means this cosmological law, what you should follow in your life.

Dharma in Buddhism can mean that, but it can also mean the teachings of Buddha. The Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, the sayings of Buddha at Sarnath, are considered to be his first teachings to his followers.

There are these two extremes that are not to be indulged in by one who has gone forth: which two? That which is devoted to sensual pleasure with reference to sensual objects, base, vulgar, common, ignoble, unprofitable; and that which is devoted to self-affliction, painful, ignoble, unprofitable.

Avoiding both of these extremes, the middle way leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to unbinding. This is considered to be Buddha's first reference to the notion of the middle way.

What's interesting here is that he's saying things that are consistent with many of the Hindu aesthetics of the time, that you shouldn't devote yourself to sensual pleasure with reference to sensual objects, base, vulgar, common, ignoble. But he's also saying that you shouldn't go the other extreme either; you shouldn't devote yourself to self-affliction, painful, ignoble, unprofitable.

That too is not going to lead to the truth. He says avoid both of these extremes—the middle way.

Now, in the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, he goes on to describe what are known as the Four Noble Truths.

Now, this monks, is the noble truth of suffering, or dukkha. Birth is suffering, aging is suffering, death is suffering; sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair are suffering. Association with the unloved is suffering; separation from the loved is suffering; not getting what is wanted is suffering.

So, the first noble truth, he's describing this notion of dukkha, this notion of suffering. Later on, he goes to expound on it, saying it's not just traditional notions of sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, but it's also that trying to desire or pursue anything that is temporary in nature will eventually lead to dukkha or suffering.

And this monks, is the noble truth of the origination of suffering: the craving that makes for further becoming, accompanied by passion and delight, relishing here and now; craving for sensual pleasure, craving for becoming, craving for non-becoming.

So, the cause of the suffering is this craving—craving for these impermanent things.

And this monks, is the noble truth of the cessation of suffering: the remainder, the fading in cessation, renunciation, relinquishment, release, and letting go of that very craving.

So here, he's saying, look, you don't have to suffer; there is a way to escape from it, and it's essentially to stop that craving—that's the third noble truth.

And this monks, is the noble truth of the way of practice leading to the cessation of suffering.

So how do you actually practice life in a way that you can cease this suffering? Precisely this Noble Eightfold Path, which is another concept that is quoted a lot in Buddhism. This notion of these eight things that you need to do in order to escape from this suffering, from this dukkha, from this craving: right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.

This comes from the Dhamma, which you can interpret as the path to Dharma. Buddha says, "All that we are is the result of what we have thought. It is founded on our thoughts; it is made up of our thoughts." This is a core idea in Buddhism, that this notion of separateness is just due to our thoughts.

It's all happening in our mind—the physical reality that you think is somehow more permanent than the transient thought. It's all happening in your thought; it's all happening in your mind, and the separateness is really an illusion.

Once again, this is a very similar idea to what we see in the Upanishads.

Now, one final idea: Buddha taught throughout his life and eventually dies at Kushinagar, which is one of those four pilgrimage sites that we saw on that map.

But what really accelerated the spread of Buddhism, especially beyond India, was the reign of the emperor Ashoka during the Maurya Empire. We talk about Ashoka; we have a whole video on him.

But he eventually converts to Buddhism, and he sponsors it. He builds temples and he sponsors missionaries to spread Buddhism from Europe all the way to China.

So, Buddha was obviously the central figure, but Ashoka was the accelerant that spread Buddhism to the world.