THE IMPORTANCE OF LUMBINI
MOST HALLOWED PALACE
At long intervals, a being descends to this earth to accomplish his own specific mission. Such a being falls to his earth as an ordinary mortal like us. He is a bodhisattva (archangel) who leads the ordinary mortals towards the path of immortality and, thus, delivers them from the pangs of the stressful world. He appears in the world only once in a Millenium. While appearing in the world, he selects not merely the parentage, family lineage, and time but equally the location of his birth. Whether it be the Mecca Of Saudi Arabia, Bethlehem of Palestine, or Lumbini of Nepal does not matter. The location where he takes birth becomes hallowed by their birth but equally for all the countries of the world. Lumbini of Nepal is one of such hallowed places where a bodhisattva Siddhartha had once been selected as the location of his birth on the sacred full moon day of May in 623 B.C. Thus,m Lumbini has become one of the most hallowed places on the earth because of the birth of this very bodhisattva. The bodhisattva is said to have descended here as a babe from his mother Maya Devi's right flank, bright and perfect like the rising sun. As regards the bodhisattva's birth in Lumbini, the Sutta Nipata in Nalaka Sutta states: "For the benefit and happiness of beings, the bodhisattva, an extraordinary and unique gem, arose in the human plane by taking birth in Shakyan country at the Lumbini village."
Nativity Myth
As and when the bodhisattva was born, all nature seemed to rejoice. Springs of water burst forth from the dry ground; cool breezes gently stirred from the forest trees, and a great light illuminated the entire earth. At this time, Mahabrahma, the greatest god of the Aryan pantheon, held out a golden net and placed him before its mother uttering words like: "Rejoice, O Queen, an illustrious son has been born out thee." The nativity myth further elaborates that no clouds gathered in the sky, the polluted streams became apparent, the celestial music rang throughout the air, and the dragon kings (nagas) showered warm and cool water on him. The divine angels rejoiced for the law which the bodhisattva would propound for the delivering the entire beings of the universe and, hence, paid reverence to him by scattering Mandara flowers. The only being grieved at this time was Mara, the lord of temptation.
Bodhisattva's Declaration
After taking birth this way, the bodhisattva surveyed all around the space with the lion's glance. Then he strode seven paces towards each of the cardinal points uttering words like:
"I rank as the first in the world. I shall put and end to birth, to old age, to sickness and to death. Amongst all creatures I shall know no superior.... I am the chief in the world. I am the best in the world, this is my last birth. There is no other existence of me."
Striking his heels on the earth, he raised one of his fingers towards the zenith and declared:
"I shall vanquish the devil and the devil's army. For the sake of the beings immersed in hell and devoured by hell-fire I shall send down rain from the great cloud of this law, and they shall be filled with joy and well-being."
This has been the nativity myth traced out by the Buddha's biography, the Lalitavistara, expressing the fact that the bodhisattva had attained from the very beginning of his birth cosmic transcendence and abolition of time and space.
Greatest Asceticism
To accomplish the declaration of his birth, the bodhisattva renounced the princely stature of Kapilvastu at the age of 29. The magnificent place buildings, the pleasure gardens, the beautiful princess Yasodhara and the infant child Rahul, too, could not make him a captive of his mundane world; he renounced all of them in quest of immortality and truth. He followed the tracks of heartbreaking struggles pursuing one teacher after another and trying one method after another. He practiced more extraordinary asceticism and spent many years fasting and torturing his body. He practiced them until death but found that they were not real methods.
At last, he rejected all of them and came under a pipal tree of Bodh Gaya. He meditated there, declaring, "In this seat let the body dry up the– the skin, the bone, the flesh go in a final dissolution. I move not until I get the knowledge which is rare even in many births."
Accomplishment of Declaration
There he was awakened to find the source of immortality and truth at the age of 35 years. He became Buddha, the supremely enlightened one. Then lifting his voice in triumph, he shouted again:-
"Thro' many a birth in existence wandered I, Seeking, but not finding, the builder of this house.
Sorrowful is repeated birth.
O householder, thou art is seen.
Thou shalt build no house again.
All thy rafters are broken. Thy ridge-pole is shattered. Mind attains the Unconditioned.
Achieved is the End of Craving."
After attaining the supreme enlistment, the Buddha came amidst the people to declare salvation to all. He did not distinguish them on the ground of birth, caste, creed, sex, etcetera in the course of declaration. And the moment was so significant that it became the first of its kind in the history of preaching a religion without making any distinction between man and man. It was amazing, too, that those who listened to his words: "I am here to emancipate you from the thralldom of self," examined him and became his disciples and laities. Those who got deliverances were thousands and millions in number. History traces that almost within his lifetime, the Buddha's teachings spread all over the Aryavarta(Indian sub-continent). The Buddha's teachings, by Monk Aswajit, may be summed up as follows:-
"Whatever from a cause proceeds, thereof The Tathagata has explained the cause, Its cessation too he has explained. This is the teaching of the Supreme Sage."
JSK
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