Some Misunderstanding About Buddha
Buddha is a great person. Many people, associate him as a “Quote Master” before the quote popular in internet. All of “Buddha Quotes” mostly comes from a part of the Tripitaka (Buddhist Bible) called Dhammapada. The part of Tripitaka that most Buddhist in this world have.
Most of misunderstanding comes from the Abrahamic concepts of God and Prophet. Also, it comes from the pop-culture that always associating the Buddha with wise statement. Here I will give you the list of some misunderstanding about Buddha.
- Buddha Is A God
Many people associate Buddha with Jesus. Jesus, on Christian belief, has the title “Son of God”. He is wise, full of compassion, and also made a radical change in Jews doctrine. This one completely the same with Buddha. Buddha also wise, full of compassion, and made a radical change in Ancient Hindu’s Tradition.
But the truth is, Buddha is not a God. Buddha is a title that given to a person that already gain the enlightenment. Buddha means “The Enlightened One”. The current Buddha, Siddhartha, is not a son of God or something like that. Siddhartha is a prince of a little kingdom in Nepal. Siddhartha born as a son of Suddhodana, a king that comes from Sakya Tribe.
So, instead called as Son of God, we better call Buddha as Son of Suddhodana. Because Buddha is an ordinary human that gained the enlightenment. Not a God, or even an angel.
And this can be a bitter truth for you or maybe can become a great news for you. In Sutta or even the whole Tripitaka, Buddha never mentioned any thought about “Almighty God” like Abrahamic Religions belief. Even, Buddha reject the idea of creator and the ruler of this world. Buddha said that all things in this world controlled by the power of nature called “Panca Niyama” and not comes from a single authority like Almighty God.
2. Buddha Is A Prophet
Another misunderstanding comes from the idea of the “Enlightened One”. In many Abrahamic doctrines like Islam or Christian, prophet is a person that gained a vision or sometimes enlightenment from the Almighty God. For example, Isaiah gain the vision and prediction about the Messiah long time before Jesus born to this world. So, from this definition and arguments, many people said that Buddha is a Prophet of Hinduism.
The answer is no. Buddha is not a prophet.
In Buddhism concept, there is no even a single word that said Buddha is a prophet that comes to this world to spread the word of God. Buddha gain the enlightenment from himself and then he spread the Dhamma that he found also by himself. So, Buddha is closer to the philosopher like Plato or Zeno rather than closer to the Christian or Islamic prophet.
Because what Buddha said in 45 Years of his life, comes from the experience and original idea that he proposed. That’s why, many people especially in Europe or America, sees the Buddha only as the philosopher, not as the holy figure.
3. Buddha Isn’t A Historical Figure
This one also happens to some holy figure like Jesus or Mohammad. Many people are skeptical and thinks if all this holy figure is only a fairy tale that people on that era made to proof their faith. Yeah, we can’t really argue with all of this. In history, many person has “exaggerated storytelling” about the holy figure especially.
But, is The Buddha really not a historical figure?
The answer is no. The reason why Buddha is a historical figure, because we can verify the Buddha’s relic that appear in many places around India and Southeast Asia.
Buddha’s relic originally comes from the Buddha ashes right after he died. Some of these relic located in the Pagoda and many temple around India and Southeast Asia due to the popularity of Buddhism. Also, we still can visit many places that Buddha had visited before. And from the description that we get from Tripitaka, many historian and anthropologist also already found the proof on how the condition when Buddha lives that time.
Honestly, there are many more misunderstanding about Buddhism and the Buddha. Such as the Buddhism and Nihilism is related, or Buddhism is related with pessimistic, and so on. These topic sometimes discussed even on the Buddhist Communities itself. So, yeah, many things that we still don’t know about Buddha actually.
Even though I’m not a really Buddhist person. Closer to the Atheism. I could say the idea that Buddha told to this world is really good and radical. If there’s an opportunity to see the Buddha, all I want to say is “You Rock, Baldman!”. And the misunderstanding about the Buddha, honestly becomes a way for me to know about the Buddha more. Not as a God, or even a Prophet, but as a Philosopher and a person that is very wise and radical.
