Gautama Buddha Read online

  Over time, Jetavana became Gotama’s headquarters and the administrative centre of his Sangha. It also became a residential monastery occupied round the year rather than for only the three months of the rainy season. Gotama himself spent nineteen rains at Jetavana and delivered 844 discourses there, far more than he did anywhere else. The twenty years that Gotama spent at Jetavana were also the most peaceful and productive years in his teaching life.

  The support of Anathapindika and Jeta helped to establish Gotama firmly in Kosala. In addition, he also had the patronage of his old friend Pasenadi, who was now king of Kosala. Bandhula, another old friend, and now chief of Pasenadi’s army, was also a follower.

  Even in his own country of Kosala, attempts were made to discredit Gotama. He was accused of the murder of Sundari, a young woman belonging to a rival ascetic sect, whose body was found buried in the grounds of Jetavana. Even the king, Pasenadi, became suspicious of him—till his spies overheard the murderers boasting of the deed. They had been hired by a rival ascetic group who wished to destroy Gotama’s reputation. Gotama remained calm throughout the incident, firm in his belief that the truth would be discovered, as it soon was.

  Gotama’s ideas went against the established beliefs of centuries. His teachings did not rely on the idea of a Supreme God or gods who could rescue humanity from its sorrows; instead he believed that Nibbana lay within each person, and could be achieved by following the right path. He did not believe in the caste system and accepted women into his Order as the equal of men. Despite these revolutionary, even iconoclastic ideas, Gotama attracted the most powerful men of the time; kings, noblemen, military commanders and merchants came to listen to him and became converts. In the short space of twenty years his influence had spread across most of northern India—from the powerful kingdom of Magadha (modern Bihar) in the east, across the Indo-Gangetic plain through Kosambi (modern Uttar Pradesh), to his own country of Kosala at the Himalayan foothills and what is now modern Nepal. The growing community of his monks continued to travel, spreading his dhamma far and wide.

  * * *

  The North Road or Uttarapatha

  This was the name of a great trade route that ran across northern India along the Ganga river all the way to the great Persian Empire to the west. The eastern end of the North Road was Tamluk, in what is now West Bengal. From here, the road continued along the Ganga, through the kingdom of Magadha via its capital city Rajagaha; it crossed the Ganga, connecting the lands of the Licchavis and the Mallas, to Savatthi the capital of Kosala. From Savatthi, it proceeded north-west to Kapilavatthu, and from there another 1,100 kilometres to Takkasila in Gandhara, modern Pakistan, which was then a part of the Persian Empire. From Takkasila it extended further west to Balkh in Central Asia.

  The North Road was also the route that Gotama followed in his travels as the son of Suddhodana visiting the court at Savatthi, as a young man studying at the University of Takkasila, upon his renunciation from Kapilavatthu to Rajagaha, and later as the Buddha, spreading his dhamma across the land.

  * * *

  7

  The Beginning of the End: 508–483 BCE

  Very little is known of the last twenty-five years of Gotama’s life. The only event that can be dated with any certainty before the last year of his life is the death of his friend and patron, King Bimbisara of Magadha. This occurred eight years before Gotama’s own death, when Gotama was seventy-two years old, and Bimbisara sixty-seven.

  Bimbisara, as we know, was married to Kosaladevi, the sister of Pasenadi. Her father, Mahakosala, gave her a village near Kasi as part of her dowry. Kosaladevi was Bimbisara’s chief queen and also his most beloved; her son was Ajatasattu.

  Ajatasattu was an ambitious young man, and easily led. He came under the influence of Devadatta, Gotama’s cousin. Devadatta had joined the Sangha on Gotama’s first visit home to Kapilavatthu, and had risen to a high place in the Order. Over the years, he had lost his spiritual focus, and had become worldly and ruthlessly ambitious. He resented Gotama’s control of the Order, and tried to create an alternative power base for himself. So he approached Prince Ajatasattu who, impressed with his display of yogic powers, gave him his support. This emboldened Devadatta, who then decided to seize control of the Sangha. In a large gathering at Veluvana in Rajagaha, Devadatta demanded that Gotama, who was now feeble and old, hand over control of the Sangha to him. Gotama refused—not because he himself wanted to retain control, but because he felt that giving the Sangha to a man as competitive, unprincipled and ambitious as Devadatta would go against the basic principles of his teachings. Devadatta left Veluvana, swearing revenge on Gotama.

  Devadatta then went to Ajatasattu with a plan: why did he not take the throne from his aging father Bimbisara, while he, Devadatta, killed Gotama and took over the Sangha? Together they could wield complete control over Magadha and the surrounding lands. Ajatasattu agreed, but was caught as he slipped into the king’s chamber to kill him. He confessed the entire plan to the king, including the role that Devadatta had played. Upon hearing of Devadatta’s involvement, Bimbisara’s security officers recommended that Gotama and his entire Order be put to death, but Bimbisara refused. Gotama, he said, had already disassociated himself from Devadatta. Saddened by Ajatasattu’s attempt to kill him, and realizing how desperately his son craved the throne, Bimbisara abdicated in his favour. Ajatasattu felt no gratitude—to make sure that Bimbisara did not change his mind, he arrested, imprisoned and starved him to death. Kosaladevi, hearing of her husband’s cruel death at the hands of their son, died of grief.

  Bimbisara’s death was the beginning of the end. It brought in its wake events that changed the political landscape of northern India, and directly affected Gotama and his Sangha. Ajatasattu was an aggressive and ambitious ruler, not afraid to resort to both war and trickery to achieve his ends. He now backed Devadatta in his attempt to take over the Order, and sent his archers to shoot Gotama. But the archers, upon seeing Gotama, put down their weapons and refused to kill him. Devadatta tried various other means to kill him—he hurled a great rock at Gotama which missed him, but splinters from which hurt his foot and he had to be taken to the physician Jivaka for his wound to be dressed; Devadatta also let loose an elephant, crazed by toddy, on a road that Gotama was expected to take, but Gotama managed to tame the animal.

  Bimbisara’s death also had repercussions in Kosala. Pasenadi, angered by Ajatasattu’s criminal cruelty towards Bimbisara and grief-stricken by his sister’s death, took back Kasi, the village that had been part of Kosaladevi’s dowry. In retaliation, Ajatasattu declared war on Pasenadi. At first, Ajatasattu was victorious, but Pasenadi finally defeated him and took him prisoner. As a condition of his release, he made Ajatasattu promise that he would never resort to violence again. Ajatasattu promised, and as a sign of his friendship, Pasenadi gave him his only daughter Vajira in marriage, and gave to her the disputed village as part of her dowry.

  This was also probably the point at which Ajatasattu withdrew his support of Devadatta. Frustrated and angry, Devadatta then broke away from the Order, inviting other monks to join him, which some five hundred of the younger bhikkus did. Devadatta and his followers left Rajagaha for Gaya. Gotama, unwilling to accept this rift, sent Sariputta and Moggallana to reason with the rebel monks; all except Devadatta returned to Gotama. It is said that soon after this incident Devadatta fell very ill; he died before he could make peace with Gotama.

  Gotama was now an old man, and these upheavals would have taken their toll on him. However, his last years were not to be spent in peace. It was not enough that he had lost his old friend Bimbisara; Pasenadi, too, was in trouble. It is difficult to establish the precise order of events, but it was during the last few years of Gotama’s life that Pasenadi discovered the deception that had been practised upon him by the Sakyans by sending to him Vasabha, the daughter of Gotama’s cousin, Mahanama, to be his bride. The Sakyans had hidden the fact that Vasabha’s mother was a slave. Pasenadi had not suspect
ed the Sakyans of deceit, and had accepted Vasabha as his bride in good faith.

  Vasabha had given him one son, Vidudabha, whom Pasenadi had made his heir. Vidudabha had never visited his mother’s home. When he was sixteen years old, he insisted that he be allowed to go to Sakya and meet his mother’s family. Vasabha, after much argument, finally allowed him to go. Vidudabha was welcomed warmly by his grandfather Mahanama, and during his visit was treated with all the honour and respect due to a prince of his standing. On the day that he was to leave, one of his men overheard a remark made by a slave woman—she was washing with milk a seat that the prince had used, and grumbling that this was where the son of the slave woman Vasabha had sat. Vidudabha’s man reported to the prince what he had overheard. Vidudabha, angry and humiliated, vowed that when he ascended the throne of Magadha, he would wash it with the blood of the Sakyans.

  When Pasenadi discovered the truth about Vasabha’s birth and realized how he had been fooled by the Sakyans, he flew into a terrible rage. He took away all royal privileges from Vasabha and her son, and reduced them to the status of slaves. Gotama, hearing of Pasenadi’s anger, went to the palace to reason with him. Vasabha, he said, was the daughter of Mahanama, Gotama’s own cousin and a man of noble lineage, while Vidudabha was Pasenadi’s own flesh and blood. It was the father’s family that mattered, said Gotama. Pasenadi gave in to Gotama’s argument and forgave his wife and his son. At this time, both Gotama and Pasenadi would have been in their seventies.

  Though immediate chaos had been prevented by Gotama’s intervention, the consequences of this incident were severe and far-reaching. Vidudabha, once sure of his succession to the throne of Kosala, was now insecure. Both the prince and his father Pasenadi knew that the son of a slave woman would not be accepted easily as the future king. Whispers at the court implied that Gotama himself had been involved in the deception of the king. What’s more, said the rumours, Mahanama’s brothers Ananda and Anuruddha were Gotama’s right-hand men. It is at this point that we find Gotama moving once again to Rajagaha—perhaps the events at Savatthi had made it difficult for him to continue at Jetavana. This time in Rajagaha Gotama stayed not at Veluvana, but at the monastery built for him by his old friend Jivaka.

  In Rajagaha, Ajatasattu was now firmly established on the throne. But racked by guilt for his father’s murder and tortured by remorse, he had lost all peace of mind. He could not sleep because of nightmares, and became worn out with guilt and shame. At last Jivaka, who had continued as the royal physician even after Bimbisara’s death, persuaded Ajatasattu to visit Gotama. He did so, nervous and trembling, afraid of Gotama’s anger and expecting his monks to take revenge for his earlier support of Devadatta. Instead, Gotama received the prince in peace, and at the end of his visit, Ajatasattu became a follower of Gotama.

  It was about a year later, while he was staying at the small Sakyan village of Medatalumpa, that Gotama met his old friend Pasenadi for the last time. Pasenadi came to see Gotama accompanied by the commander-in-chief of his army, Dighakaranya. Pasenadi handed Dighakaranya his sword and turban, and, while Dighakaranya waited outside, he went in to see Gotama. Pasenadi fell at Gotama’s feet and kissed them humbly. He was no longer the proud and temperamental king of their youth, but a tired, sad old man who had lost his hold on his people and the respect of his ministers. Gotama, however, was still able to hold a crowd of hundreds with just the power of his discourse. Both men were eighty years old at this time and in the final year of their lives, but neither was to be allowed a quiet end.

  When Pasenadi stepped out of Gotama’s hut, he found that his commander Dighakaranya had vanished, taking with him Pasenadi’s sword and turban, both symbols of royal power. He had left behind only a horse and a woman servant to look after him. The woman told Pasenadi that Dighakaranya was on his way to Savatthi to join Vidudabha who had risen in rebellion against his father. Dighakaranya was the nephew of Bandhula, Pasenadi’s old friend and army chief whom he had had murdered unjustly. He had never forgiven the king for his uncle’s death, and had now joined Vidudabha to overthrow Pasenadi.

  Pasenadi realized that he could not fight Vidudabha or Dighakaranya on his own. His only hope was to go to his nephew Ajatasattu and seek his support. Pasenadi set off alone on the three hundred kilometre journey south to Rajagaha. After weeks of weary travel, he arrived at Rajagaha—only to find that the gates of the city had been closed for the night. The guards did not recognize him and refused to let him enter. Exhausted and worn out, Pasenadi took shelter at an inn outside the city gates. He died in his sleep, a lonely old man abandoned by the world. Ajatasattu, upon hearing the news, was deeply grieved. He insisted upon performing the last rites for his uncle, and conducted his funeral with great pomp and ceremony. He also wanted to attack Vidudabha at once, but his ministers advised that he should not.

  Meanwhile, back in Sakya, Gotama also had his troubles. Vidudabha, determined to fulfil his vow of vengeance against the Sakyans for their deception, set out with the Kosalan army to attack Kapilavatthu. As he reached the border of Sakya, he saw Gotama waiting for him under a small tree. The shade of the tree was not enough to protect Gotama from the glare of the sun and Vidudabha suggested that Gotama sit under a nearby banyan. ‘Don’t worry about me,’ replied Gotama, ‘the shade of my kinsmen, the Sakyans, keeps me cool.’

  Vidudabha, out of respect for Gotama, ordered his soldiers to retreat. Vidudabha marched against the Sakyans three times, and all three times he found Gotama waiting for him under the same tree. After the third time Gotama realized that he could not protect the Sakyans forever, and decided to return to Rajagaha. This was his last visit to the land of his childhood and youth. Vidudabha’s army attacked Kapilavatthu, and though the Sakyans put up a spirited resistance, they were massacred, even the women and children. Mahanama was taken prisoner, but killed himself by plunging into a lake under the pretext of taking a bath.

  On his way to Rajagaha, Gotama decided to stop at Vesali, the capital of the Licchavi tribe, where his disciple Sariputta was waiting for him. At Vesali a nobleman called Sunakkhatta, who had once been a follower of Gotama, denounced him to the Licchavi parliament. Sunakkhatta’s chief complaint against Gotama was that he did not display any superhuman or mystical powers, that he was no different from ordinary mortals, and his teachings, based on reasoning and practical examples, led only to the end of craving. When Sariputta reported this to Gotama, the latter pointed out that by criticising him, Sunakkhatta had actually praised him. But Gotama did not stop long at Vesali, and continued to Rajagaha.

  At Rajagaha, Ajatasattu was preparing for war against the tribal republics of the Mallas, Koliyas, Videhas and Licchavis who had entered into a defensive alliance with each other against Ajatasattu. The Videhas and Licchavis together made up the republic of Vajji, and collectively the tribes were known as the Vajjians. Ajatasattu was determined to defeat them and annex their territories. As part of his preparations for war, he was fortifying the village of Patali, which was located at the confluence of the Son, Gandak and Ganga rivers, and was therefore ideal for the launch of military expeditions. One morning Ajatasattu sent his prime minister, Vassakara, to tell Gotama about his plan, and to gauge his reaction. Ajatasattu wanted to find out whether Gotama believed that he could conquer the republics through war.

  Gotama did not need any more conflict or war in his life—his old friend Pasenadi had just died a sad and lonely death, his own people, the Sakyans, were being massacred by Vidudabha, and now that he was back in Rajagaha, Ajatasattu was planning a bloody and brutal war. Pasenadi’s death had completed the process that Bimbisara’s death had begun—the old order had collapsed, giving way to a violent and aggressive world. The rising militancy of both Kosala and Magadha threatened to change the world as Gotama had known it.

  Gotama ignored Vassakara, and turning to Ananda, who was standing behind him, remarked that the Vajjians would remain strong as long they continued to hold their assemblies, lived together in harmony and res
pected their elders and the traditions of their ancestors. Vassakara interpreted this to mean that the tribal republics could not be conquered through war, but only by causing friction amongst them. In this way Gotama tried to avert another war and to prevent the republics falling into Ajatasattu’s hands. He was not entirely successful—later Ajatasattu conquered the republics by sending Vassakara to sow distrust and discord amongst them, so that when Ajatasattu approached with his army, they could not put up a united defence and were easily defeated.

  Gotama’s comment to Ananda was true not only for the old republics, but also for the Sangha. In the aggressive and turbulent political climate of the day, the Sangha would not survive internal conflict or any lack of loyalty or solidarity by its members. The bhikkus had to remain steadfast in their beliefs. Concerned about the future of his monks, Gotama asked Ananda to summon all the bhikkus in Rajagaha to the hills outside the city. There Gotama asked them to hold regular assemblies, to respect the older monks, and to live in harmony with each other. He advised them to avoid the turbulence of the cities and seek instead the quiet of the forest, and to stay focused at all times on their practice of the Eightfold Path to Enlightenment.

  Perhaps tired of the aggression he saw all around him, and realizing his utter helplessness to stop it, Gotama decided to leave Rajagaha for the last time. It was at this time too that Gotama lost his two most trusted disciples, Sariputta and Moggallana. From Rajagaha, Gotama left for Nalanda, and from there, taking only Ananda with him, he decided to return to his homeland, Sakya.

  On the way he passed through the village of Patali, where Vassakara himself was overseeing the fortifications in preparation for war. At Patali, Gotama and Ananda were looked after with great respect by Vassakara. Gotama and Ananda however did not linger at Patali; they crossed the Ganga and hurried north to Vesali where Gotama wished to spend the rainy season.