January 20, 2025
The Life of Sakyamuni Buddha (1)
By Rev. Shinkai Oikawa
1. Are the North and the South 1. quite different?
My name is Shinkai Oikawa as introduced. I was born and grew up in this temple and lived here for about 50 years. This is the very home of mine.
The Buddha passed away at the age of 80. As He was born at the foot of the Himalaya Mountains, He is said to have made His way home toward the end of His life, but passed away on His last travel at the age of 80 before arriving home. I think Nichiren Shonin also left Minobusan for his home in Awa Province shortly before his death. Anyway our hometown is quite a heart-warming place.
Now I will begin my lecture on the Buddha. This is the first of three lectures. I wonder where the main subject will be if I divide one man’s life into three parts. It may be confusing as my talk will jump here and there. Therefore, I decided to divide my lecture into three subjects of the “Buddha’s childhood and youth,” “His manhood,” and “His later years.” Today I will speak about the Buddha’s birth, childhood and youth.
I have been studying Pali, which is an old Indian language. This language is used in the Southern Buddhist sutras in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and some parts of Vietnam. You chanted the sutra written in the Chinese characters a while ago, and we students of the Pali language study the sutras written in Pali before they were translated into Chinese.
At this point the two sets of sutras are different, but the original meanings are the same. Buddhist teachings were given at first in India and traveled northwards through the Silk Road, desert lands, into China and Korea and to Japan. These are the sutras we chant today and are called the Northern Sutras spread by way of north.
What students like myself study is the Southern Buddhism spread southwards from India to Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, and Cambodia. The original sutras of two kinds were the same, but their contents became some what different as they took different routes to spread. So the Buddha in the Lotus Sutra we chant in Japan is a little different from the Buddha I research. It is very confusing for me to tell why they are different.
It is written in the Lotus Sutra in Chinese, the chapter of “Life Span of the Buddha,” that the Buddha had been born many times before appearing in this world and that he had been the Buddha ever since quite a long time ago and then appeared as a temporary image in order to save all of us. Therefore the Buddha appearing in the chapter is called the eternal past Buddha or the Buddha with an eternally long life attaining Enlightenment in the eternal past.
But the Southern Buddha is an actual human being. He was born as a human and passed away at the age of 80 in this world. So we have to recognize these two Buddhas are not the same.
It is written in chapter 15 of the Lotus Sutra that very old distinguished Bodhisattvas appeared from the soil and worshipped before the Buddha calling Him an honorable master. The Buddha spoke to them as if He was their senior: “Welcome. Nice to meet you, everyone.” Bodhisattva Maitreya and others were surprised to see this and wondered why.
The Buddha had an air of importance and seemed to be a great master while the senior bodhisattvas from the soil bowed respectfully in front of Him. Thinking it was strange, they asked the Buddha why they were so respectful to Him. The Buddha answered, “I understand what you think. I will explain why.” Thus He expounded the 16th chapter of the Lotus Sutra.
In this chapter the Buddha explains for the first time that he has been the Buddha for thousands and billions of years. He says, “I appeared temporarily in this world as if I were really born to save all of you. Actually I have been the Buddha since innumerable years ago.” That explains the Bodhisattvas appearing from the earth are His disciples and the Buddha in the Lotus Sutra is eternal.
The very old Pali sutras I have been reading are called “Agama Sutras.” The Buddha in those sutras is not an eternal being but just a human being who lived for 80 years in this world.
2. The examination of Sakyamuni’s 2. family register
We all have a family register showing when and where we were born and who our father and mother are, but actually we do not have enough information about Sakyamuni’s family register.
Strictly speaking, we don’t have any piece of completely certain information proving that He actually existed. Nevertheless, I can give you some pieces of information.
A great discovery was made in 1898. At a town called Piprahwa, 13 km from Kapilavastu in Nepal to the north of India, W. C. Peppe, an English official resident, excavated a pot and found a second pot in the first pot.
The second pot contained ashes in it. It was inscribed on the second pot that these were Sakyamuni’s ashes. If this inscription is true, the contents in this smaller pot must be His ashes. This proves Sakyamuni lived in this world because His body was cremated and some of His ashes were buried in the pot.
The sutras say His body was cremated after He passed away, that the ashes were carried in eight pots to different places and memorial services were held for them. From this we can conclude that the Buddha actually lived in this world.
Although the other seven pots were missing, one was already discovered. This discovery can lead us to think that He existed.
Although we do not know exactly when He was born, we can assume that His birth was approximately 2,500 years ago, that is, 500 B.C., according to the “Record of Dots by Sages,” which tells us that the disciples who inherited the commandments after He passed away continued to put a dot as a record once a year
As a result, we get the year when He passed away by counting the number of the dots recorded. We have an idea that He passed away in 483 B.C. by counting the dots accurately
The problem is whether we can believe the dots or not. Such problems are inevitable if we examine ancient relics. We cannot long discuss old trivial matters in vain, so His death should be generally considered to be about 2,500 years ago.
Nevertheless, we have some ways to presume it. For example, we can assume it from specific times. The clearest in the history of India is the period of King Asoka, when there existed contact between Greece and India.
Greece recorded historical dates clearly. That is why persons in contact with Greece are clearly known. The history is clear after King Asoka, but it is not clear before him.
Opinions vary about the Buddha’s death depending on which year we take, 100, 200 or 150 years before the period. It is quite difficult to determine the year of His death. Although it is not precisely known, it is not false to say His birth was 2,500 years ago.
(to be continued)