by Harvey Kraft
Herewith Buddhism established its realm to be the boundless scope of Infinite Wisdom. This grand Reality of “all that was, is, could have been, might be, and will be” was expressed through the structural, ana-tomical, and creative systems of the Universal Dharma-Mind. On this quintessential stage Buddhism’s purpose was defined by the cosmic evo-lutionary advancement of living beings throughout existence. Buddhism performed the task of seeding Universal Truth across the cosmos. In that respect, it was not a religion belonging to a particular planet, culture, location, or nation. In revealing the grand scope of this Universal Truth, Sakamuni wished to leave no doubt that his Teachings would provide an accurate and effective vehicle for guiding humanity towards Enlighten-ment as they journeyed across the inconceivably boundless dimensions of time, space, and scale.
Refecting back on his days in Babylon, he remembered the Chief Magus standing at the Ziggurat observatory of Esagila looking onto the stars. His mind had wandered to the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh. In the king’s quest for immortality, after he crossed the tunnel of cold darkness and climbed the Cosmic Mountain, he had arrived at the Garden of Celes-tial Lights. There he saw an orchard of bejeweled trees bearing fruit made of lapis lazuli, carnelians, and other precious gems. Although Gilgamesh had not yet reached his intended destination, the summit of the immortal man, Utnapishtim, he had reached the “garden” of planets and stars.
Similarly, when Siddhartha Gautama embarked on his vision quest for Perfect Enlightenment, he first had to cross the cosmic chasm of doom. Next, as revealed in the Flower Garland Sutra, he had arrived at the cosmos of Universal Radiance where he observed the light-emitting Buddhas of the Ten Directions each sitting under a Sacred Tree of Illumination. The fruit hanging from their Bodhi trees were bejeweled with seven shining stones and metals—gold, silver, lapis lazuli, carnelian quartz, coral, ruby, and amber144 —each representing luminous celestial treasures.
Like Gilgamesh, the Buddha’s journey would not end here in the astral plane.
There were still higher climbs ahead and dangers to overcome. While Gilgamesh made it as far as the stars, he failed to achieve immortality.
Now, as Sakamuni surveyed the awestruck faces of his audience, he vowed to bring them all with him on the long journey to the Sacred Place of Jewels, where they could enter the portal of infinite wisdom. Unlike Gilgamesh, he was not doing this for himself. He would bring humanity with him.
CHAPTER SIX
The States of Suffering
He had brought his forest dwelling disciples to the shore of Cosmic Creation to witness the emergence of the Universe. The grand vision had struck so deeply that for some it had broken the grip of their earthly concerns. Without a word of his own, the Buddha had been able to motivate his earliest disciples to adopt the example of the Great Enlightening Beings, the celestial teachers of the various Dharma of liberation.
“Do as they do. Roam the world in search of those who need your help. Take to the road. Go forth from here in all directions. Teach the Four Noble Paths to seekers you encounter. Keep in your mind the vision of infinite wisdom you have witnessed, and you will never stray from the noble path,” he said.
Bidding them farewell he thanked each one personally for their devoted camaraderie. “Be on your way now. Until we meet again, deliver the bountiful treasures to many others,” he said, as he too set out on foot with a small band.
Siddhartha Gautama was on the move following the historical migration paths illustrated in the Rig Veda. Walking long distances, he headed toward a destination where his prior accomplishments were relatively unknown.
Going upriver north along the Sindhu valley (aka Indus River) he arrived at Gandhara, the homeland of the original Vedic composers. In the area he visited the storied former home of the Saraswati civilization (Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa). Seeing the abandoned ruins of their dried-out paradise, he reflected on ancient descriptions of paradise in this location. Next he traced the path of the first Vedic teachers to venture into India going east through the Punjab crossing (today’s Pakistan into India) at Taxila. Heading deeper inland he looked for the Kuru Kingdom (today’s state of Haryana in India),145 a peaceful community built on respect for wisdom and the virtues of stable family units.
As his journey unfolded, each day Sakamuni Buddha walked through one of the many villages along the way. All would be abuzz at learning of his approach eagerly greeting Siddhartha Gautama and the disciples walking in his wake. The villagers regularly encountered religious practitioners, but something was special about this tall, thin, gold-skinned, regal man, with his hair neatly bound in a topknot, surrounded by a group of cleanly groomed mendicants. Most of the ascetic forest dwellers avoided contact with “impure people,” but the demeanors of the Buddha’s procession was enlivening.
Their eyes glistened as if they had seen paradise.
They were smiling, looking easily at the greeters lining the street. Hands clasped together they bowed to people individually regardless of their appearance or social station.
At noon they carried empty food bowls in hopes of receiving their one meal of the day. Several people eagerly ran to place some millet cereal in their bowls.
Most women and children generally stayed back until the noble mendicants walked over and extended their bowls, whispering to them, “The One-Who-Comes to Declare the Truth is here. Will you let everyone know?”
Thrilled beyond words, women poured milk onto the gruel in their bowls and the children ran to spread the word. The poor, hungry, and infirm sitting or lying on the ground withdrew their hands from their constant begging and stared in wonder at the procession, bowing their heads in respect. Sakamuni met their eyes and looked into their hearts.
He turned to one sad-looking man. Bending over to be close to his ear, the Buddha said, “Your life did not begin at birth, nor will it end with your death. You have suffered in the past, and you suffer now, but know this, you have the power to free your mind and shape your future. It is neglect of yourself that has brought you to this moment and place. Come with me and you will acquire the power to transform and change course. Join us and be on your way.”
The Buddha then looked up and addressed a gathering of onlookers. “We graciously accept your kind gifts of food. Today, I was able to give the needy man at my feet a gift from the stars—a taste of the Buddha-Dharma wisdom. I invite you all to learn more about it. Join us tonight in the field north of town for a journey to the stars.”
The man lying in the dirt sprang to his feet. His face instantly drained of sadness. His opaque eyes exploded with radiance as he joined the procession.
A wild dog ran into the crowd to chase a cow and fowls. He stopped suddenly, lowering his eyes as the Buddha walked in the middle of the street silently proceeding out of the village.
KURU KINGDOM
Sakamuni Buddha’s stay in the Kuru Kingdom coincided with the abdication of their monarch, King Dhanajaya, who turned over his monarchy to a constitutional republican form of government, and accepted the role of a general consul.
Echoing the image of the chariot riding, hero-god kings of the past, the Buddha described him as a Wheel-Rolling King, a metaphor for a style of superior leadership based on contributing wisdom instead of imposing social control. In the poetic language of Buddhism, the “Wheel” represented the Buddha’s Universal Laws; “Rolling” referred to the application of the Dharma-wisdom in the mortal realm; and the title of “King” denoted an egoless leadership, reflecting the crowning glory of compassionate guidance and a demeanor worthy of spiritual sovereignty.
King Dhanajaya was a member of the Yaudishtra clan, a major ethnic component of the Kuru Kingdom. Sakamuni may have known that this community originated with the Yadu, an Arya Vedic tribe. In addition, a linguistic connection between Sanskrit, Aramaic, and Hebrew suggested that this area had attracted exiles from Judea or Israel known as Yadavas (Indo-Hebrews) who were seeking the eastern homeland of their patriarch founder.
The Yaudish
tra may have provided a home for some of the Assyrian-exiled Israelite tribes coming out of Medes and some of the Judeans leaving Babylon at the end of their captivity. Over a period of two centuries, from the overthrow of the Assyrians to Cyrus’s decree allowing their return west to Jerusalem, some post-exile generations decided to migrate eastward following stories of Abraham’s pre-Mesopotamian origins.
Local legends referred to a Lion-Sun shaman, Abraham, who worshipped only one God, the Supreme God he declared to be the creator of the world. His name, Abraham, may have been the root source for the naming of the Creator God, Brahma.146
The Bible began the story of the Prophet Abraham later in life when he lived in a city in Mesopotamia. But Old Babylonia may not have been the starting place of his journey. Like the Amorites, given the migratory upheavals following the Epic Drought, he may have emigrated there from a location farther east. As a religious leader of the Yadu (root for Yahudi, i.e., Jewish), he would have been a senior Lion (Heb. Arya) visionary. Possibly, some of his followers may have become proto-root Brahmins (i.e., “Men of God”) and linked Abraham’s name with Brahma.
As a sage-medium he would have been well versed in making visionary trance-connections with the divine and using meditative sound-phrases. Could “YHWH”147 have been the roaring sound he used to open the visionary gate into Heaven when he heard the voice of God reveal to him the Universal Truth (Heb. Emet)?148
Abraham, like the classic migratory sage model of the Arya shamans, was responsible for guiding his tribe on a quest for paradise. He faithfully made a Covenant with God to start a nation of believers ready to embrace God’s authority. In Mesopotamia, where the name of the Lord God was El, he had fashioned the One Supreme God, Elohim, as the Creator of the World, Nature, Humankind, and the Faithful. His Universal Truth called on human beings to show that they were worthy of the Universal Gift of Consciousness, which to him meant consciousness of serving God. On his way west through Babylonia he had to be struck by the sinfulness and rowdiness of its drought ravaged cities, seemingly the sad outcome of worshipping false idols. The experience must have shown him that the true role of a sage was to lead his people in the service of his Almighty God.
The bulk of the Arya-Yadu did not go west with Abraham. They were the descendants of the eastbound Lion-Sun seers from the Black Sea, composers of the Rig Veda. Those shamans had carried the image of a god who was like one of them. The Divine Sage Mitra, a guide of humanity, not a Creator, exemplified the belief that a wise sage with a pure soul had a place in Heaven, making immortality available for the first time through religious devotion and practices.
They settled in the Kuru Kingdom and intermarried with other Arya tribes. These shared lineages appeared to have forged a bond between Siddhartha Gautama’s father, Suddhodana,149 the Saka King of Babil, and the Kuru King Dhanajaya of Yaudi heritage. Both kings had the honorific Dhana root (aka dana) in their names, an acknowledgement of a relationship to the Judean prophet, Daniel, the first Chief Magus of Babylon and dream interpreter to Nebuchadnezzar.
When Sakamuni Buddha arrived in Kuru he was received as an honored guest of the area’s Brahma-worshipping priest. The Kuru, among the first Brahma believers, rejected the elitist mantle of the Brahmin caste system. Their priesthood had been formed on the basis of the original Rig Veda codified in this area and on the Vedic commentaries recorded in the earliest text of the Brahmanas, wherein the Creator Brahma was concerned primarily with harmonious living. The Kuru Brahma priest focused on prayer for a peaceful community and stable family life aligned with Nature’s goodness. He refused to accept the concept that the soul of a Brahmin sage will merge in the afterlife with the Brahman, God’s spirit.
He asked Sakamuni Buddha whether he agreed with the belief that ritual sacrifices could free the soul from the cycle of reincarnation to achieve immortal union with God. The Buddha smiled and replied directly, “The soul does not exist. The gods are not immortal. Sacrifices of sentient beings is futile and foolish. And yet, as the mind is not con-fined by the physical body, Nirvana is close by.” That day the Brahma priest gleefully visited his neighbors entreating them to go and hear the Buddha speak about the “meanings of the Dharma.”
That night a swarm of recruits came to see and hear Sakamuni speak. Most of the students who inquired were dirt laborers. Few had any prior religious training. Hearing that virtuous demeanor and dig-nified conduct were required of those embracing the Buddha Way they figured that they did not qualify. But listening further they learned that other than those two attributes he offered liberation to ordinary people of any caste. They were thrilled to hear for the first time in their lives that they would have the opportunity to free their soul from suffering.
They sat quietly watching Sakamuni Buddha and his disciples meditate. In the dark by the light of the moon and stars, the Buddha explained how human beings unconsciously created the sorrows they experienced.
“To embark on the Eightfold Path, you, the seekers, must look inside your minds and confront the awful acts you may have perpetrated throughout your Existence. You have manifested many lifetimes in various conditions and places. Learning as you must have by now the depth of suffering people are capable of, now you should conjure a purposeful life by taking a vow to conduct yourself with dignity. This is your chance now to change direction and lead others through the gates of liberation.”
Most human beings lived with their heads on “fire,”150 he said, causing their minds to implode from terrible regrets, repeatedly reliving, suffocating from, or feeling crushed by shameful memories.151 Others would be lost in the lies they would tell to get whatever they coveted. Unable to hold on to a moment’s worth of satisfaction or to distinguish actual memories from the lies they told,152 the lost ones would fall into intoxicating addictions or other kinds of madness.
Because of their distorted perceptions they could suffer from two kinds of fevers: one that caused them to passionately believe in falsehoods as if they were true and another that motivated them to fight against imagined enemies.153 The most frightening of all the forms of insanity was a state reserved for people who killed their loved ones— those who had cared for them, nurtured, loved, guided, and tried to help them, including parents, spouses, children, teachers, community leaders, or sages who had made efforts to deliver them from suffering.
Referring to malicious persons who would seek to damage or undermine the Teachings, which Buddhas across the cosmos so painstakingly and compassionately prepared for, Sakamuni had warned that they could experience rebirth in the Hell of No Intervals (Skt. Avici).154 Trapped in this state, the dark dimension in between Form and Formlessness, those who would take the lives of loving beings were ever conscious of their murderous deeds and screamed in agony at what they had done. In between death and birth, these perpetrators would be doomed to repeatedly experience an incessant cycle of aborted birthing, with no respite, not even a moment to take a single breath of relief.155 They were conscious only of the gnawing fear that there was no end to their suffering.
In life, hellish states of mind described conditions of chaos that would manifest as violent attacks, an inability to complete a logical thought or the cutting off of physical limbs. In the throws of such madness, a violent mind was starved for air. But instead of breath filling one’s lungs, in this enflamed state a gasp felt like inhaling flames. The minds, hearts, and bodies of people suffering in hellish conditions were in constant pain and sorrow.
But sometimes, the Buddha continued, human beings experienced retributions that felt like their bodies and minds had been frozen. In such cases their thoughts would turn cold, or their minds would be rendered too cold to be capable of any thought; their cold hearts could no longer feel; or their bodies would be broken by the cold. This kind of suffering was as severe as cold weather that shatters bones and minds. In the most egregious cases, when sensitivities and sensibilities had been frozen,156 the mind can split into pieces. People in this state would be hounded by crazed halluc
inations and demon voices speaking to them. Others with such a misfortune would suffer from unbearable alienation, frozen in a cold dark cell inside their minds and locked away from human contact where no one could hear their screams.
Looking at the horror in the faces of the young men who had come that night, he said, “Because people have the capacity to conjure myriad ways of suffering, their sorrows cannot find any limits either in depth or breadth. Unaware that they themselves are the source of their suffering, they continue to suffer. If you wish to help them you should not expect to succeed unless you are willing to lead by example. If you seek to free people from the cycle of suffering you are welcome to join us as we walk the Eightfold Noble Path with compassion. But it would be foolish for you to attempt to do so unless you have vowed to leave behind your old ways.”
A spy for Zoroaster was in the audience. He was a devotee of Assura Mazda’s “Guide to Exorcising Demons,” the Vi-Daeva-datta. In it he found the inspiration for converting non-believers. Convinced that Siddhartha Gautama was a king among the Daevas, the spy had been plotting to infiltrate his community of disciples. His instructions were to draw away novice disciples by claiming that his teacher was greater than the Buddha. In addition to devising recommendations for pulling followers into the teachings of Zoroaster, he was to report back on Sakamuni’s lectures and whereabouts, and if the opportunities presented themselves, to cause accidents that would disrupt the Buddha’s efforts.
Facing an audience of seekers who expressed the wish to become novice disciples, the Buddha warned sternly, “Should anyone among you choose to join this community in order to cause harm or sow disunity among this congregation their actions would be tantamount to injuring or killing a wise sage or killing their father or mother.”
