Buddha: A Hero's Journey to Nirvana

[Guest guest]

This was put together by me.

 

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Buddha: A Hero's Journey to Nirvana

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If when my wife is sleeping

and the baby and Kathleen

are sleeping

and the sun is a flame-white disc

in silken mists

above shining trees,-

if I in my north room

dance naked, grotesquely

before my mirror

waving my shirt round my head

and singing softly to myself:

"I am lonely, lonely.

I was born to be lonely,

I am best so!"

If I admire my arms, my face,

my shoulders, flanks, buttocks

against the yellow drawn shades,-

 

Who shall say I am not

the happy genius of my household?

 

William Carlos Williams

 

 

Joseph Campbell, in his epochal book 'The Hero with a Thousand

Faces,' emphasizes that the essential trait of a hero in the

making is his restlessness. Not at ease with his immediate

environment and circumstances, a constant unease gnaws at his

heart, prompting him to question the very nature of his

existence. This inner strife is the first inkling that a greater

destiny lies ahead of the potential hero.

 

Campbell divides the evolution of the hero into five distinct

phases:

 

1). The Call to Adventure

 

2). Crossing of the Threshold (Entering the Unknown)

 

3). Trials and Tribulations of the Journey

 

4). Attainment of Enlightenment

 

5). Return of the Hero

 

The Buddha's journey to spiritual awakening or 'Nirvana,' as it

is popularly called, perfectly mirrors the above mentioned

progressive development of a hero.

 

 

The Call to Adventure:

 

Gautam Buddha was born as Prince Siddhartha, in the lap of

luxury. Exposed to an overdose of riches and comfort right from

the beginning, the prince, while still relatively young,

exhausted for himself the fields of fleshly joy, thus becoming

ripe for a higher, transcendent experience.

 

The young prince remained glued to his pleasure chambers and had

no contact with ground reality. His palace, and the sensual

pleasures which it contained, were his only limiting worlds.

 

Once, after a particularly hectic schedule of sensual frenzy,

Siddhartha was suddenly awakened from his blissful sleep, in the

middle of the night. Surrounding him were the remnants of last

night's debauchery and revelry. The sight of the shameless naked

flesh and the overflowing wine pitchers jarred him into the

unreality of his own reality. He felt suffocated in those very

environs which had once given him what he thought were the

pleasures of paradise. He immediately arose form his gold-gilded

bed, descended the stairs and asked his favorite charioteer to

take him to an open space where he could breathe more freely.

 

He had traveled only a few miles when he came across a sight

which was totally new to him in terms of the distressing emotions

it stirred up in the innermost depths of his heart.

 

Right in front of him was an old man, tottering on a stick, his

physical frame entirely ravaged by the trials of time. Never

having been exposed to such an image, Siddhartha asked his

charioteer who that individual was, and why he was the way he

was?

 

When he heard that the man had deteriorated due to his advancing

age, the next natural question was whether he himself,

Siddhartha, the prince of the mighty Shakya clan, and all those

whom he loved would one day be exposed to the same degradation?

Confronted with the truth, the reply completely shattered him,

and he asked to be taken back to the comforting environs of the

palace.

 

In the journey of the hero, a figure suddenly appears as a guide,

marking a turning point in the biography. This symbolic figure is

somehow profoundly familiar to the unconscious, but is unknown,

and even frightening to the conscious self. Thereafter, even

though the hero returns for a while to his familiar occupations,

he finds them unfruitful. A continuing series of signs of

increasing force will then become visible. According to Campbell,

"The Four Signs," which appeared to the Buddha, are the most

celebrated examples of the call to adventure in the literature of

the world. These are signals from a higher domain, summons, which

can no longer be denied.

 

Here it is also significant to note that being awakened in the

midst of his blissful sleep was another call of destiny. Modern

psychoanalysis has confirmed that when we are asleep, we travel

to realms unavailable to our waking moments. These are the depths

of our consciousness, which is but a part of the combined

heritage of humanity. To quote the words of Jung, in a dream:

"man is no longer a distinct individual but his mind widens out

and merges into the mind of the mankind - not the conscious mind,

but the unconscious mind of mankind, where we are all the same."

 

Jolted from his subliminal dream state, the immediate horror of

his temporal circumstances made Siddhartha, the future Buddha,

realize his own cutting of from this eternal dimension of life.

Thus a feeling of rootlessness gripped him and he felt himself

disjointed and lonely, even amongst the multitude of those who

loved him. The hero's journey almost always begins with such a

call.

 

According to Campbell, the moment the hero is ready for the

destined adventure, the proper heralds, or callers to his destiny

appear automatically, as if by divine design. We have already

noticed the first such herald, namely the old man above. The

Buddha later came across three more such signs: a sick man, a

dead man and a monk.

 

His mind greatly agitated by the first three disturbing views,

Buddha at last came upon his final call, when he laid his eyes

upon the monk. The confident spiritual calm he perceived within

the monk emboldened him to the fact that amidst the inevitability

of suffering and distress, there was still ground for sufficient

optimism, and salvation.

 

Thus the first stage of the mythological journey, which is the

'call to adventure,' signifies that destiny has summoned the

hero, and transferred his spiritual center of gravity from within

the pale of his society to a zone unknown.

 

 

Crossing of the Threshold (Entering the Unknown):

 

Your real duty

is to go away from the community

to find your bliss.

 

Breaking out

is following your bliss pattern,

quitting the old place,

starting your hero journey,

following your bliss.

 

You throw off yesterday

as the snake sheds its skin.

 

Its by going down into the abyss

that we recover the treasures of life.

 

The hero feels off-center, and when one is off-center, it's time

to go. The hero leaves a certain social situation, moves into his

own loneliness and finds the jewel. This departure occurs when

the hero feels something has been lost and goes to find it. It is

the crossing of the threshold into a new life. It is a dangerous

adventure, since one is moving out of the known into the

unexplored, unknown sphere.

 

The disenchanted prince Siddhartha believed that he was setting

out on an exciting adventure. He felt the lure of the 'wide open'

road, and the shining, perfect state of 'homelessness.'

 

But even then, it was not easy enough for him to leave behind the

structured space of his home for the untamed forests. Texts

mention that before finally leaving his palace, he could not

resist the temptation to take a last peek at his wife and son

sleeping upstairs. But his resolve was strong enough to bear the

emotional brunt of the separation. Not looking back again, he

went directly to his destined quest.

 

 

Trials and Tribulations of the Journey

 

When he set about on his journey, the Buddha did not know what

lay in store for him. What he did know was that:

 

The goal of life

is to make your heartbeat

match the beat of the universe,

to match your nature with Nature.

 

The joy of the hero's adventure lies in exploring the unknown,

through which nature unfolds and reveals its hidden treasures.

The Buddha too experimented with various unexplored avenues,

before coming to the ultimate spiritual realization.

 

He first tried asceticism. Since he believed his disillusionment

to stem from the cravings of his body, his first reaction was to

negate it totally, even to the extent that he stopped eating.

Consequently, his bones stuck out like a row of spindles, and

when he touched his stomach, he could almost feel his spine. His

hair fell out and his skin became withered. But all this was in

vain. However severe his austerities, perhaps even because of

them, the body still clamored for attention, and he was still

plagued by lust and craving. In fact, he seemed more conscious of

himself than ever. Finally, Buddha had to face the fact that

asceticism had failed to redeem him. All he had achieved after

this heroic assault upon his body was a prominent rib cage, and a

dangerously weakened physique.

 

Illustration : http://www.exoticindia.com/artimages/zp65.jpg

 

Nevertheless, Buddha was still optimistic. He was certain that it

was possible for human beings to reach the final liberation of

enlightenment. And at that very moment, when he seemed to have

come to a dead end, the beginning of a new solution declared

itself to him. He realized that instead of torturing our

reluctant selves into the final release, we might be able to

achieve it effortlessly and spontaneously, as Campbell says:

 

What you have to do,

you have to do with play.

 

Opportunities

to find deeper powers

within ourselves

come when life

seems most challenging.

 

 

This was a momentous event in Buddha's journey towards herohood.

Rather than relying upon external discourses or props, he

awakened to the fact that he would have to delve into the

infinite depths of his own inner being to come up with the

Eternal Truth.

 

Having thus resolved, he accepted the bowl of milk-rice offered

to him by Sujata, the milk-maiden.

 

Illustration : http://www.exoticindia.com/artimages/bf26.jpg

 

After eating this nourishing dish, the texts tell us, he strode

majestically towards the bodhi tree (tree of life), to make his

last bid for liberation.

 

The tree of life is said to be standing at the axis of the

cosmos, and is a common feature of salvation mythology. It is the

place where the divine energies pour into the world, where

humanity encounters the absolute, and becomes more fully itself.

We need only recall the cross of Jesus, which according to

Christian legend, stood on the same spot as the Tree of Knowledge

of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden. The hero as the

incarnation of god is himself the navel or axis of the world, the

umbilical point through which the energies of eternity break into

time. More than a physical point, it is a psychological state

which enables us to see the world and ourselves in perfect

balance. Without this psychological stability and this correct

orientation, enlightenment is not possible.

 

Illustration : http://www.exoticindia.com/artimages/bf77.jpg

 

Hence, seated at the spiritual center of the world, Buddha dived

into his own inner universe. As he sat in isolated meditation,

the potential hero gave himself to the practice of mindfulness.

This practice consists in observing, as a detached observer, all

our activities: eating, drinking, chewing, tasting, defecating,

walking, standing, sitting, sleeping, waking, speaking, and

keeping silent.

 

He noticed the way ideas coursed through his mind and the

constant stream of desires and irritations that could plague him

in a brief half hour. He became 'mindful' of the way he responded

to a sudden noise or a change in temperature, and saw how quickly

even a tiny thing disturbed his peace of mind. This mindfulness

was not cultivated in a spirit of neurotic inspection. Buddha had

not put his humanity under the microscope in this way in order to

castigate himself for his 'sins.' The purpose here is not to

pounce on our failings, but becoming acquainted with the way

human nature works in order to exploit its capacities. He had

become convinced that the solution to the problem of suffering

lay within himself and deliverance would come from the refinement

of his own mundane nature, and so he needed to investigate it,

and get to know it objectively. This could be achieved most

effectively through extasis, a word that literally means 'to

stand outside the self,' and which is the same as the practise of

mindfulness.

 

As Buddha thus recorded his feelings, moment-by-moment, he became

aware that the dukkha (suffering) of life was not confined to the

major traumas of sickness, old age and death. It happened on a

daily, even hourly basis, in all the minor disappointments,

rejections, frustrations, and failures that befall us in the

course of a single day. True, there was pleasure in life, but

once he had subjected this to the merciless scrutiny of

mindfulness, he noticed how often our satisfaction meant

suffering for others. For example, the prosperity of one person

usually depends upon the exclusion of somebody else, or when we

get something that makes us happy, we immediately start to worry

about losing it.

 

As Buddha observed the workings of his mind, he realized how one

craving after another took possession of his heart. He noticed

how human beings were ceaselessly yearning to become something

else, go somewhere else, and acquire something they do not have.

Blinded in our desires we almost never see things as they are in

themselves, but our vision is colored by whether we want them or

not, how we can get them, or how they can bring us profit. These

petty cravings assail us hour-by-hour, minute-by-minute, so that

we know no rest. We are constantly consumed and distracted by the

compulsion to become something different than what we are at

present.

 

'The world, whose very nature is to change, is constantly

determined to become something else,' Buddha concluded. 'It is at

the mercy of change, it is only happy when it is caught up in the

process of change, but this love of change contains a measure of

fear and insecurity, and this fear itself is dukkha.'

 

This constant changing whirlpool of dynamic flux characterizes

our temporal existence and dominates it so thoroughly that we

lose touch with the eternal essence of our lives, remaining

subsumed only in the fleeting and passing moment of current time.

Buddha realized that he just had to find that essential link in

his inner being, which bound the transient to the eternal. Our

existence is defined by our mortal self, and also an immortal

divine spark underlying it. When we have found the bridge that

links the two, we have attained salvation.

 

Brooding in this manner, Buddha finally was on the verge of

enlightenment, when he was confronted by Mara, Buddha's shadow

self, or the residual forces within him which still clung to the

old ideals he was trying to transcend. Mara came out decked like

a Chakravartin (World Ruler), seated on an elephant, and

accompanied by a large army.

 

Mara's name means delusion. He symbolizes the ignorance which

holds us back from enlightenment.

 

Illustration : http://www.exoticindia.com/artimages/pb69.jpg

 

As a Chakravartin, he could only envisage a victory achieved by

physical force. Mara thus was convinced that the spiritual

throne, where Buddha was sitting, belonged rightfully to him.

Accordingly he challenged Buddha to vacate the seat. But the

Buddha only moved his hand to touch the ground with his

fingertips, and thus bid the goddess Earth to bear witness to his

right to be sitting where he was. She did so with a hundred

thousand roars, so that the elephant of the antagonist fell upon

its knees in obeisance to the rightful owner of the throne. The

army was immediately dispersed and Mara vanquished.

 

The earth-witnessing posture, which shows Buddha touching the

ground with his right hand is a favorite icon in Buddhist art.

 

Illustration : http://www.exoticindia.com/artimages/zn60.jpg

 

It not only symbolizes his rejection of Mara's sterile machismo,

but also emphasizes the profound point that it is the Buddha who

is a true Chakravartin, since it is through the heart that a

lasting empire is won, and not through the sword.

 

Illustration : http://www.exoticindia.com/artimages/tc97.jpg

 

 

Attainment of Enlightenment:

 

Having thus overcome Mara, Gautama crossed the final obstruction

to his enlightenment, and won over to Buddhahood. He called this

blissful state of immeasurable peace 'Nirvana.' Nirvana literally

means blowing out or snuffing out (as a flame).

 

But Nirvana did not mean personal extinction: what had been

snuffed out was not Gautama's personality, but the three fires of

greed, hatred and delusion, which were once the basic impulses

governing his behavior. Through his practice of mindfulness,

Gautama had come to the conclusion that it was these three

negative traits that were at the root of all suffering in the

world.

 

The extinguishing of a flame is invariably followed by a certain

coolness. It was this coolness that descended into Gautama's

heart and permeated his each and every core. The permanent

retention of this feeling is Nirvana, which is similar to the

cooling experienced when recovering from a fever. Indeed in

Buddha's time, the related adjective 'nirvuta,' was a term in

daily use to describe a convalescent.

 

 

Return of the Hero:

 

Having attained enlightenment, the hero-quest has been

accomplished. The adventurer now has to decide what to do with

his life-transmuting trophy. The full round or cycle of his

adventure requires that he now start the process of bringing back

to humanity the boon of illumination granted to him. This is the

call which the mythical hero often refuses. The Buddha too

doubted whether his message of realization could be communicated

at all. It is in this context that he is given the title of

Shakyamuni. Shakya derives from the fact that he was a descendent

of the Shakya clan, and muni is a Sanskrit word for silent. The

message here is that Nirvana is something that could not be

described in words.

 

The Buddha further thought that: 'If I taught the Dharma, people

would not understand it and that would be exhausting and

disappointing for me.'

 

But failing to heed the call to return is not fulfilling the

complete requirements of the heroic cycle. It is a part of the

hero's evolutionary destiny to knit together the world of higher

spiritual bliss with the mundane world of everyday existence, as

he had bridged together transient time and eternity.

 

At this crucial moment of uncertainty, the god Brahma intervened.

Like Mara, he too was a projection of Buddha's subconscious mind,

the only difference being that he was a positive projection.

 

Brahma requested Buddha to 'look down at the human race which is

drowning in pain and to travel far and wide to save the world.'

There was no way in which the compassionate Buddha could refuse

this call. He understood that staying locked away in his personal

Nirvana would be a negation of all that he had achieved, it would

be like entering a new kind of pleasure palace, such as that of

his father which he had left behind a long time back. The Buddha

thus carefully listened to Brahma and gazed upon the world with

his eyes full of compassion, realizing that the gates of Nirvana

were wide open for all, and he was the destined instrument to

lead humanity it.

 

The Buddha spent the next forty-five years of his life tramping

tirelessly through the cities and towns of Northern India. Indeed

there were no limits to his compassionate offensive.

 

 

Conclusion:

 

The essential message of Buddha's life is that each of us

(irrespective of sex or creed) is capable and deserving of

Nirvana, having a potential Buddha hidden in us. Buddha was born

an ordinary mortal. His path to fulfillment was not smooth and

uneventful. Rather it was a journey full of exciting experiences

and mistakes made. He learned from each of his mistakes, making

it a springboard for all future, and finally the ultimate

success. The day we realize and awaken the Buddha within, that

would be our own Nirvana, which though personal, would bind us to

all humanity like never before.

 

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References and Further Reading:

 

Armstrong, Karen. Buddha: London, 2000.

 

Bly, Robert, Hillman James, and Meade Michael. The Rag and Bone

Shop of the Heart (Poems for Men): New York, 1992.

 

Cooper, J.C. An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Traditional Symbols:

London, 1999.

 

Campbell, Joseph: The Hero with a Thousand Faces: London, 1993.

 

Menzies, Jackie. Buddha Radiant Awakening: Sydney, 2001.

 

Osbon, Diane K. A Joseph Campbell Companion (Reflections on the

Art of Living): New York, 1991.

 

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To view the illustrations along with the text, the

HTML version of the article can be read at:

http://www.exoticindia.com/article/buddha/

 

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Nitin G.

http://www.exoticindia.com

[Guest guest]

Dear Sanjulag:

 

Thank you for your *enlightening* post on Siddhartha, I mean, Buddha. True

confession...I did not know the story of Buddha, or I thought I did not know

it, but I guess I did, sort of :-). Many years ago, when I was a young

teenager, I was having the usual teenage battle of wills with my father.

I do not even remember what the issues were...did not really matter then,

although I thought it did and I am quite sure he thought it did...

certainly does not matter now.

 

Anyway, we were studying Herman Hesse in high school at the time. I was

entranced with his writings, and read a few more beyond the call of

scholastic duty. As my father and I continued to lock proverbial horns, I

finally gifted him with a copy of Siddhartha and a little note to tell him

that nothing he could do or say was going to really teach me and

that I had to find my way on my own, through my own experience.

(At that age, we think we know everything :-) That was basically what it

meant to me at the time and that was the message I wanted to

convey to my father.

 

Imagine my poor American father, receiving Siddhartha from his teenage

daughter. Actually, he handled it quite well and even read it and got the

point. Apparantly, I did not, as I did not realize it was about the Buddha.

I have seen Siddhartha mentioned once or twice in passing on a list or two

recently, but in such a way as to say..."We all know what this book is about

and why it is important." I was not ready to reveal my ignorance :-)

by asking and never went looking for the answer on my own.

So, thank you for answering my previously unasked question

and revealing my ignorance :-)

 

Love and Nirvana to all,

 

Joyce

 

 

 

Sanjulag wrote...

> This was put together by me.

>

> =================================================

> Buddha: A Hero's Journey to Nirvana

> =================================================

[Guest guest]

Glad it found a resonance in you.

Warm regards,

Nitin G.

http://www.exoticindia.com

Lady Joyce <ladyjoy (AT) voicenet (DOT) com> wrote:

Dear Sanjulag:Thank you for your *enlightening* post on Siddhartha, I

mean, Buddha. True confession...I did not know the story of Buddha,

or I thought I did not know it, but I guess I did, sort of :-). Many

years ago, when I was a young teenager, I was having the usual

teenage battle of wills with my father.I do not even remember what

the issues were...did not really matter then,although I thought it

did and I am quite sure he thought it did...certainly does not matter

now.Anyway, we were studying Herman Hesse in high school at the time.

I wasentranced with his writings, and read a few more beyond the call

ofscholastic duty. As my father and I continued to lock proverbial

horns, Ifinally gifted him with a copy of Siddhartha and a little

note to tell himthat nothing he could do or say was going to really

teach me andthat I had to find my way on my own, through my own

experience.(At that age, we think we know everything :-) That was

basically what itmeant to me at the time and that was the message I

wanted toconvey to my father.Imagine my poor American father,

receiving Siddhartha from his teenagedaughter. Actually, he handled

it quite well and even read it and got thepoint. Apparantly, I did

not, as I did not realize it was about the Buddha.I have seen

Siddhartha mentioned once or twice in passing on a list or

tworecently, but in such a way as to say..."We all know what this

book is aboutand why it is important." I was not ready to reveal my

ignorance :-)by asking and never went looking for the answer on my

own.So, thank you for answering my previously unasked questionand

revealing my ignorance :-)Love and Nirvana to all,JoyceSanjulag

wrote...> This was put together by me.>>

=================================================> Buddha: A Hero's

Journey to Nirvana>

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