The Essence Of Buddha by Ryuho Okawa

Author:Ryuho Okawa [Okawa, Ryuho]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mobilism
Publisher: Educa Books
Published: 2013-10-05T00:00:00+00:00

The Meaning of Life and Death

Next, I would like to look at the Buddhist views of life and death. When Shakyamuni was living, India was ravaged by continual wars and attacks by neighbouring countries were a constant menace, so people could not take it for granted that they would live to see the next day. The Kapilavastu palace where Shakyamuni was brought up eventually went to rack and ruin. Even Shakyamuni, the Great Spirit from the ninth dimension, was not capable of protecting his own country and people. Everything was transient.

In those days, ‘living’ had the negative connotation of winning battles. In order to sustain their own lives, people had to kill enemies, and only those who were prepared to live even at the cost of the others’ lives could survive, and the rest had no choice but to perish. Being a pacifist or being without power meant certain death. Against this backdrop, it is hardly surprising that people generally felt that life was futile, and yearned strongly for a world after death. They even despised the negative idea of ‘living’.

It is true that even among those who aspired to enlightenment, there were many who longed for happiness in the next life rather than the attainment of Buddhahood on Earth. They wished to return to a world of happiness after leaving this life, which for them was nothing but suffering.

For that reason, Shakyamuni incorporated a belief in the next life in his teachings. At a time when life was so full of ugliness, of suffering and sadness because of the circumstances, there was a need to preach faith in the next life. Preaching to people of a yearning for the next life may have been like anaesthetic for them, but it worked well, freeing them for even a brief spell from the anguish and suffering they could never escape.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.