We should not make the mistake of believing that since the Buddha was born in India he taught in a typically Indian style. The Buddha was born for a very special purpose: he came to this world in order to help, and teach the whole of mankind, and also all other sentient beings, the path that leads to happiness.

Examining the main religions of the world, one will find that all the great teachers, whether Christian, Muslim or Buddhists, were very special people. They all had extremely pure motivation and aspiration to help other beings. When they came to teach other beings it wasn’t in the way of a military conquest, but rather in the form of a teaching that was intended to help beings find happiness. So most of these great teachers gave teachings that remain even today, while military empires have come and gone by the hundreds. One may wonder why those teachings spread so widely, and why they are still around today. The reason is that these teachers had a very pure motivation to help others, from the very beginning. They taught true, pure paths that could lead to happiness.

The Buddha Shakyamuni’s teachings have been practiced for 2,500 years and, considering the history of people who practiced Buddhism, we find that the teachings generated little suffering, problems or difficulties. On the contrary, a great number of people found peace and liberation through these teachings.

     The Twelve Deeds of the Buddha

There are many great deeds of the Buddha recorded, but these can be summarised under the twelve most important, most famous deeds. The first of these twelve deeds occurred when the Buddha was teaching in the paradise of Tushita, which is in the god realms. While the Buddha was teaching there, his previous motivation reminded him that it was necessary to take birth in Jambudvipa, and teach the Dharma. He then considered five things: the land where he ought to be born, the caste he should be born into, the family in to which he should be born, who his mother was to be and that the time was right for him to be born (when the five degenerations were on the increase). After having made these determinations, he decided to leave Tushita paradise, and take birth in our world. This particular deed, of leaving Tushita to be born, had a special significance. It was intended to teach us that somebody who has achieved enlightenment is no longer constrained by karma, and has control over anything he or she does.

The second of the twelve great deeds of the Buddha was his entry into the womb of his mother, Mayadevi. One may wonder why he took such a birth if he had complete control over everything. Why wasn’t he born miraculously from a lotus flower, as was Padmasambhava, or why didn’t he simply descend from the sky? He didn’t do this because, although it would have been very impressive and attracted many people, the Buddha was thinking of the long-term. His future disciples may have felt that it was all right for someone like the Buddha to practice and achieve enlightenment because he was a very special person from the beginning. They may have thought that ordinary human beings couldn’t reach enlightenment because they didn’t have these same miraculous powers. So the Buddha took a womb birth to show that even ordinary human beings can achieve the highest realisation; to instil conviction and confidence in his future disciples.

The third special deed of the Buddha was his birth in the garden at Lumbini (which is in present day Nepal). Although the Buddha took an ordinary human birth there was still something very special in his birth. He came out of the body of his mother through her right side. Some people might start wondering how this was possible. They might think, “Well, what exactly happened? Did the rib cage crack?” One doesn’t need to think in terms of anatomical problems because the Buddha was a miraculous being, and he just took birth through his mother’s right side.

At the time of the Buddha’s birth there were many very special things happening where he was born. Suddenly, some crops started growing. Trees appeared all over the area of Lumbini, and some very special flowers, such as the Udumbara flower that had never grown in this area, started blooming everywhere. From that moment onwards he was given the name of Siddhartha, in Sanskrit or Tungye Drup in Tibetan, which means “The One That Makes Everything Possible.” As a result of interdependent origination, the presence of a high being, especially his or her birth, produces changes in the environment, such as flowers blooming.

A few years later, when the Buddha had grown up a little, he trained in all possible arts, crafts and sciences, and thus became very knowledgeable, very scholarly and very skilful. This was his fourth deed. This may be a little surprising because the Buddha was already enlightened, or at least a great bodhisattva residing on the tenth bodhisattva level [Skt.bhumi]. It should not have been necessary for him to train in worldly skills because he should have known them naturally. However, there was again a specific reason for doing this, and this was to counteract various misconceptions which people might have had. One misunderstanding may be to think that the Buddha was someone who was simply a meditator, without any academic education. Another was the idea that he already possessed all this knowledge and didn’t need to learn. This could give rise to the doubt that if ordinary humans tried to learn something it would lead to no results. So to overcome these misconceptions the Buddha worked at becoming a scholar and became very skilled in all different arts. It also shows that it is necessary to receive full education in the culture in which we are appearing. We must be fully at one with various positive aspects of our culture in order to become a vehicle for transmitting the Dharma.

The fifth deed of the Buddha was to marry, have a child and enjoy the company of his queen, Yashodhara, as well as consorts and all the pleasures of royalty. He did this so that his future disciples wouldn’t think that the Buddha, or an enlightened person, was unable to enjoy any pleasures. The other reason for living such a sensuous life was to show that, even though the Buddha had all the finest pleasures; it did not bring him satisfaction. He had understood that there was a higher form of happiness to be sought.

The sixth deed of the Buddha was his renunciation. The palace was enclosed with high walls and four gates: one facing each of the cardinal directions. The Buddha began to walk outside the precincts of the palace, each time leaving through a different gate. The first time he went out through the eastern gate of the palace he saw the suffering of an old man, and discovered for the first time that all people experience the degeneration of body. Another time he left the palace through the southern gate and, seeing a sick person, discovered the suffering that all people, at one time or another, experience. Next he went out through the western gate and, seeing a dead person, discovered the pain of death, which everyone must undergo. This hit him really hard because he realised that no matter how rich or powerful you are, and no matter how much pleasure and enjoyment you have, there is no way to escape from the suffering of old age, sickness and death. No one can fight and defeat these three kinds of suffering.

Then the Buddha realised that maybe there is a way out, which is the practice of a spiritual path. The Buddha understood this when he left the palace through the northern gate and saw a monk. At this point he felt great weariness and renounced the world at the age of twenty-nine.

His seventh deed was the practicing of austerities for six years, near the Nairanjana river in India. The austerities did not lead to his enlightenment, but these years were not wasted. They had a specific purpose of showing future disciples that the Buddha had put an enormous amount of effort, perseverance and diligence into realising the goal of enlightenment. This seventh deed was also to show that, as long as someone is attached to money, food, clothes and all the pleasures of life they can’t really dedicate themselves to spiritual practice. However, if one gives up attachment then it is possible to achieve buddhahood without too much difficulty. So that is why the Buddha engaged in six years of austerities by a riverside.

The eighth deed of the Buddha was his giving up of the austerities by accepting a bowl of yoghurt, going to the bodhi tree and vowing to stay there until he reached complete enlightenment. In contrast to the austerities, the Buddha ate nutritious food and gave his body a rest; he put his clothes back on and went to the bodhi tree. The Buddha gave up the austerities to show his future followers that the main object of Buddhist practice is working with one’s mind. We have to eliminate the negativity in our mind, and develop the positive qualities of knowledge and understanding. True practice should be in the middle of the two extremes: practicing too many austerities, and being too indulgent. The first extreme is when you starve yourself, or you don’t allow yourself food and drink. These practices also involve placing yourself in extreme physical conditions, such as being too hot or too cold. This is pointless because it has no true significance. The other extreme is where you just follow any of your desires. This is endless because there is a constant escalation of desires: if you have ten pleasures you’ll want a hundred; if you have a hundred you’ll want a thousand. You will never find any satisfaction, and you will also never be able to practice the dharma. So the Buddha wanted to show us that we have to avoid the extremes of too much austerity and too much indulgence: that practice lies somewhere in the middle.

The ninth deed of the Buddha is called “The subduing of the mara, Papiyan,” with Papiyan being the leader of the Maras. This happened when the Buddha was sitting under the bodhi tree. Mara used forms related to the three disturbing emotions [Skt. klesha], of ignorance, desire and aggression, in order to lure the Buddha away from his pursuit of enlightenment.

The first deception, representing ignorance, was that the Buddha was asked to abandon his meditation and return immediately to the kingdom because his father, King Shuddhodana, had died, and the evil Devadatta had taken over the kingdom. This did not disturb the Buddha’s meditation, so Mara then tried to create an obstacle using desire. He showed the Buddha his beautiful daughters, who tried to deceive and seduce him in all possible ways. When this did not disturb the Buddha’s meditation, Mara then used hatred: coming towards the Buddha surrounded by countless horribly frightening warriors who were throwing weapons at the Buddha’s body. But the Buddha wasn’t distracted or fooled by these three poisons. He remained immersed in compassion and loving-kindness, and therefore triumphed over this display of the three poisons.

The tenth deed of the Buddha was his enlightenment, which he reached while meditating under the bodhi tree. Because the Buddha had developed all the qualities of meditation to the utmost he was able to reach enlightenment, which he did to show that we also have the same potential. As a matter of fact, the main point of the whole Buddhist philosophy is to show us that buddhahood is not something to be found outside, but something we can achieve by looking inside ourselves; we can achieve enlightenment in the same way as the Buddha Shakyamuni reached enlightenment. The qualities that we will attain with enlightenment will be no different from the ones that the Buddha attained. We can also purify whatever negative emotions the Buddha managed to purify. The Buddha started as a bodhisattva, and then became someone who achieved enlightenment, to show us that we, also, can do the same.

The eleventh deed of the Buddha occurred when he turned the Wheel of the Dharma three times, which means when he gave the three great cycles of teachings. At the time of the Buddha, the people of India believed that if one made offerings and prayed to a god then that god would be satisfied and happy, and in return would give you liberation and happiness. They also believed that if you didn’t make offerings and pray to the gods they would be very angry, throw you down to the hells and inflict other states of suffering upon you. This idea of gods isn’t really one of a special deity, they are only the embodiment of desire and aggression.

In Buddhism, we do not expect our happiness or our suffering to come from the Buddha. It is not believed that if we please the Buddha he will bring us happiness, and if we displease the Buddha he will throw us into some lower realm. The possibility of happiness or reaching liberation is entirely up to us. If we practice the path that leads to liberation we will attain buddhahood, but if we do not practice it then we cannot expect to reach enlightenment: it’s in our hands whether we want to find happiness or suffering. But still, there is something that comes from the Buddha, and this is the path to liberation. To provide us with that means for liberation the Buddha turned the Wheel of the Dharma.

The twelfth deed of the Buddha was his passing away which was in the town of Kushinagar, at the age of eighty-three. He asked his students if they had any final questions, and then lying in the “lion’s posture” he passed away. His last words were “Bhikshus, never forget, decay is inherent in all composite things.”

© Copyright Namo Buddha Publications & Zhyisil Chokyi Ghatsal Publications 2002.