How and What Did the Buddha Realize?

Hello. It’s the fourth day of our India pilgrimage. Today, we visited Bodh Gaya, where the Buddha attained enlightenment. In the afternoon, we returned to Sujata Academy to have a conversation with international branch members and held a meeting with the Dharma teachers leading the pilgrimage.

At 5:30 AM, still dark, the pilgrimage group departed for Bodh Gaya after finishing the dawn prayer. After leaving the school and entering the village road, darkness still lingered. The group walked quietly, illuminating their path with mobile phone lights.

Despite the early hour, villagers had already begun their day. They were sweeping their front yards and drawing water from hand pumps while children chattered. Though the children’s figures were dim in the darkness, their bright voices calling out “Namaste!” (Hello!) could be heard.

The pilgrimage group walked quietly to avoid disturbing the villagers, but a procession of 400 people was hard to miss. Fortunately, most of the children were students from Sujata Academy, so they didn’t find the group unfamiliar and came out to the road to greet them warmly. About an hour after leaving Sujata Academy, dawn broke and the surroundings brightened.

Soon after, a foggy sandbank appeared. It was the bank of the Niranjana River.

On days when the river is dry, it’s possible to cross wearing shoes, but today the river was flowing, so everyone took off their shoes to cross the water. Fortunately, the water wasn’t too cold.

After crossing the river and passing the sandbank, we arrived at the place where the Buddha had collapsed. The pilgrimage group recited sutras, imagining the situation at that time. Walking a bit further, the JTS Meditation Center appeared. The flowering trees on the walls seemed to welcome the pilgrimage group.

At 7:30 AM, we entered the meditation center and had breakfast with packed meals, sitting in groups in the spacious open area.

After the meal, Sunim explained about the meditation center.

“This place is close to where the Buddha collapsed on the banks of the Niranjana River. We’ve secured the land to build a meditation center, but we haven’t been able to build it yet because there’s no one to manage it. How about each of you coming to India and taking charge of it?” (laughter)

He then talked about the background of establishing Sujata Academy.

“The place where Sujata Academy is located is the center of where the Buddha practiced asceticism for six years. People ask how we were able to build a school there, but the site where the school was built was originally considered the most useless land by the villagers. It was the most worthless land for farming. However, it became the most meaningful place as it’s where the Buddha realized the futility of asceticism and discovered the Middle Way.”

Sunim told the story of how the Buddha collapsed due to weakness while bathing in the Niranjana River after six years of ascetic practice, and also pointed out the place where Sujata offered milk porridge.

“Behind this place is where the Buddha ate the milk porridge. Later, people built a temple here and called it ‘Sujata Temple’, but now it has been changed to a Hindu temple. Now, let’s move to the site of Sujata’s offering.”

As we left the meditation center, many people, both adults and children, from the surrounding neighborhood had come out and were lined up. Sunim distributed handfuls of candy he had prepared to the people.

After distributing the candy, we arrived at the site of Sujata’s offering, and Sunim provided an explanation.

“This place is about halfway between where the Buddha collapsed and Sujata’s house site. It’s where the Buddha received the milk porridge offering from Sujata. There used to be two stupas here symbolizing the Buddha and Sujata, but the smaller one has been removed. Not only here, but even at Pragbodhi Mountain, which we visited yesterday, they are destroying heritage sites to install cable cars. As we speak, precious heritage sites are gradually disappearing.”

Looking at the stupa built at the site of Sujata’s offering, we made three bows, recited sutras, and then chanted the Heart Sutra.

Afterwards, the pilgrimage group visited the site where the Buddha converted Uruvela-Kassapa and the snake cave where he kept the fire-breathing dragon, then walked along the rice paddy ridges to Sujata Stupa.

Upon arriving at Sujata Stupa, Sunim explained about Sujata’s merit.

“This place where we’ve arrived is the stupa built on the site of Sujata’s house, who offered food to the Buddha. In India, there are several stupas remaining that follow the Buddha’s footsteps. The largest among them is the Kesaria Stupa, located on the way from Vaishali to Kushinagar. The second largest is the Anathapindika Stupa in Shravasti, and the third largest is this Sujata Stupa. Sujata Stupa was once abandoned in the middle of the village, but it has been steadily maintained in recent years. The Bodhi tree growing on top of the stupa was planted as a memorial about 30 years ago when excavation work was carried out. Over time, that tree has grown tall like this. The last meal the Buddha had just before his enlightenment was Sujata’s milk porridge. That’s why later generations praise Sujata’s offering as the highest merit. It might be easy to make offerings to the Buddha, but it’s not easy to make offerings to an unknown practitioner. That’s why Sujata’s merit is passed down as the greatest merit. Even today, what’s important is not that our work becomes famous or well-known, but helping those who are not known – that’s what can be called true merit.”

The pilgrimage group bowed three times towards the stupa, chanted Buddha’s name, and circumambulated it once. They then crossed the large bridge over the Nairanjana River and arrived at the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya at 10 AM.

The staff members who arrived earlier had already prepared a space under the large Bodhi tree in front of the main stupa for the group to pay homage. Once all pilgrims had gathered and donned their kayasas, they began circumambulating the stupa.

After completing the circumambulation, they returned to their seats, bowed three times towards the main stupa, and engaged in a brief meditation.

After the meditation, when the group requested a Dharma talk from Sunim, he began his discourse on the events that took place here in Bodh Gaya.

“Welcome to Bodh Gaya, where the Buddha attained enlightenment. This morning, we departed from Pragbodhi Hill where the Buddha practiced asceticism for six years. We passed by the place where he collapsed while bathing and where he regained his health after receiving an offering from Sujata. We then crossed the Nairanjana River. Now, we have arrived at the Bodhi tree where the Buddha entered his final period of intense practice.

How and What Did the Buddha Realize?

The most important teachings of Buddhism are the law of dependent origination and the Middle Way. The Buddha discovered the Middle Way at Pragbodhi Hill and realized the law of dependent origination here in Bodh Gaya where we are now sitting. Terms like Buddha, liberation, nirvana, and samsara were originally used in India. The difference lies in the interpretation of these terms in Indian tradition versus Buddhism. However, the Middle Way and the law of dependent origination are unique to Buddhism and cannot be found in traditional Indian thought. This uniqueness of Buddhism originated here in the Bodh Gaya area. Here, the Buddha discovered that neither the traditional pursuit of happiness through hedonism nor the newly emerging asceticism proposed by new thinkers was the true path to liberation. The only path to liberation was the Middle Way, which does not lean towards either extreme. Following desires and suppressing desires are both merely reactions to desire. The third path that the Buddha discovered is not between these two paths, but a new path that abandons both. It involves merely being aware of desire without following or rejecting it. Not reacting to desire is the true way to become free from desire. Before discovering the new path of the Middle Way, the Buddha practiced asceticism. The most important principle of asceticism was not to care for the body. To achieve this, firstly, he ate only coarse food. Secondly, he did not seek comfortable bedding. This is similar to how animals in nature do not prepare a comfortable place to sit. Thirdly, he did not wash his face or body. However, after realizing the Middle Way, the Buddha recognized that deliberate asceticism was unnecessary. So, the first thing he did was go to the river to bathe. Seeing this, the five ascetics who had been practicing with him judged that he had abandoned his practice and fallen into indulgence. The Buddha simply bathed in the flowing river water, without heating it or adding bath salts. Even animals go to the river to bathe when it’s hot. This shows that the principle of asceticism they had adhered to was more extreme than what is natural. Furthermore, when they saw the Buddha accept the milk rice porridge offered by Sujata, the five ascetics concluded that he had completely fallen from the path and they left for the Deer Park near Varanasi. The Buddha didn’t even have a chance to explain the Middle Way to them.

After being left alone, as the Buddha’s health improved, he sought a place to practice meditation in a relaxed yet alert state, neither tense nor indulgent, according to the newly discovered principle of the Middle Way. Having received rice porridge from Sujata and recovered his strength at a place where the river flowed in a Y-shape, he seemed to hesitate whether to cross the river to the east or west. According to scriptures, the mountain spirit of Dungeshwari urged him to “Come to the east and attain enlightenment,” while a celestial being advised, “Cross the river and go west.” After some deliberation, the Buddha crossed the river and went west, arriving at this very spot. We are now sitting not far from that river. The Buddha sat here under the Bodhi tree, facing east with the tree at his back. Now, between this Bodhi tree and the great stupa, there is a square stone. This was carved later to symbolize the spot where the Buddha sat. It is called the ‘Vajrasana’ or ‘Diamond Throne,’ considered the most sacred place by Buddhists as the site of the Buddha’s enlightenment. Thai Buddhists have covered it with a golden structure. People sit on both sides under the Bodhi tree to pray because the ‘Vajrasana’ is here. As the Buddha was about to sit facing east with the Bodhi tree at his back to begin his meditation, a shepherd was cutting grass nearby. When the Buddha asked the shepherd the name of the grass, he replied “Kusha.” Kusha translates to “auspicious grass” in Chinese. The Buddha received a bundle of this grass from the shepherd and spread it on the ground to sit on. In Korean custom, this would be like spreading a bundle of rice straw on the ground instead of sitting directly on the bare earth. Spreading rice straw makes the ground softer. Similarly, he sat on the spread Kusha grass. According to scripture, he resolved, “I will not rise from this seat until I have attained enlightenment.” This is called the ‘Great Determination.’ It represents an unwavering will to persevere even unto death. The scriptures show that during his ascetic practices, he always approached them with the determination of a soldier going to war, resolved to fight to the end without surrender. However, having now discovered the Middle Way, he entered into deep meditation without such tension, but in a relaxed state. The scriptures state that it took 7 weeks to attain enlightenment. In other words, he practiced for 49 days. After 49 days of intense practice, all ignorance vanished the moment he saw the morning star. It was as if a person with closed eyes had opened his eyes, or as if a light had been lit in the dark night – everything became clear. What did the Buddha realize, and what did he see upon his enlightenment? He saw the endless cycle of birth and death of countless beings in this world. He saw at a glance the impermanence of numerous beings, forming when conditions gather and dispersing when conditions disappear. And he attained the divine eye, knowledge of past lives, and the extinction of defilements. The divine eye is knowing the result when causes and conditions are formed. If something happens to me now, it is due to some past cause. When we know the cause, there is nothing to resent. We willingly accept everything because we know that everything we receive is the result of our past actions. This knowledge of past causes is called knowledge of past lives. When we form causes and conditions, we know what the future results will be, and when we receive results, we know what past causes and conditions we created. There is nothing to suffer when we know this. This awareness of the relationship between past and present, present and future, always being awake in the present, is the extinction of defilements. One must attain the extinction of defilements to become an Arhat.

This Is the End of Suffering!

In this way, the Buddha resolved all the questions he had since childhood. All his own afflictions disappeared. So he declared, “This is the end of suffering!” And he savored the silence and joy of enlightenment for 49 days in that place.

The content of the Buddha’s enlightenment is, first, the law of dependent origination. The Buddha spoke of dependent origination like this: “When this exists, that comes to be; with the arising of this, that arises. When this does not exist, that does not come to be; with the cessation of this, that ceases.” A more detailed expression of this law of dependent origination is the twelve links of dependent origination. The twelve links explain the process of tracing back the cause of causes. Spatial dependent origination became the teaching of ‘non-self,’ indicating the lack of inherent existence, while temporal dependent origination became the teaching of ‘impermanence’ from the perspective of cause and effect and change. Thus, the law of dependent origination is impermanence and non-self. When one knows the law of dependent origination, all suffering disappears; when one doesn’t know it, one can only suffer. When one knows impermanence and non-self, one attains nirvana; when one doesn’t know impermanence and non-self, everything becomes suffering. This is called the Three Marks of Existence. This is the most essential content of what the Buddha realized. The Four Noble Truths are the application of this to help the masses realize it. Recognizing the reality of suffering (the truth of suffering), investigating its cause (the truth of the origin of suffering), realizing that when the cause is extinguished, one reaches a state free from suffering (the truth of the cessation of suffering), and maintaining eight kinds of awareness to prevent the recurrence of suffering (the truth of the path). These are the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. Thus, the Buddha’s teachings are structured in a very simple system. It was later scholars who made the Buddha’s teachings more complicated.”

After the Dharma talk, we recited the sutra together.

After the recitation, Sunim added an explanation.

“Although the sutra was a bit long, it was good because it was detailed, wasn’t it? While the sutras contain mythical expressions derived from Indian culture, they also contain very factual content. The Buddha’s Dharma was taught about 2,600 years ago, but if it were taught right here and now, there would be no logical contradictions at all, and it’s truly an admirable teaching that we can marvel at. We should rejoice that we have encountered such a good teaching.

The Buddha’s teachings began with his enlightenment. Even after attaining enlightenment, the Buddha stayed here for seven weeks, during which time he seems to have deeply contemplated ‘How can I easily and systematically teach this good Dharma?’ After considering such methods of teaching as the twelve links of dependent origination and the Four Noble Truths, he tried to convey this Dharma to the great teacher Udraka Ramaputra, but he had already passed away. Eventually, the Buddha thought of the five ascetics with whom he had practiced in the past as people who could understand his enlightenment. At first, they did not welcome the Buddha who had returned. This was because they were trapped in their preconceptions. But the Buddha, undeterred, honestly shared his enlightenment, and they too eventually accepted this Dharma and attained enlightenment. This Dharma was on a different level from the existing teachings they knew. It wasn’t something that could be attained simply by practicing intensively using existing methods. This Dharma was universal to everyone and could actually be approached more easily, as proven by the conversion of Bhikkhu Yasa.

As you have seen today, Bodhgaya is the holy land and spiritual home for Buddhists worldwide. If Indian Buddhism takes root globally again in the future, Bodhgaya will be at its center.”

After concluding his explanation, Sunim gave the pilgrimage group two hours of free time to explore the holy site thoroughly. While the group slowly paid their respects at the sacred place, Sunim met with the chief monk of the Mahabodhi Temple. He expressed gratitude for accommodating the group’s event at the temple and presented a donation.

Sunim returned to Sujata Academy after 3 PM, rested briefly, and then at 4:30 PM, he had a conversation with members of international and overseas branches residing abroad.

Sunim asked the members about their impressions and any inconveniences they had experienced during the pilgrimage so far. The members freely shared their thoughts and opinions.

Immediately after finishing the conversation with the members, from 6 PM, he held a meeting with the Dharma teachers leading the pilgrimage. They discussed situations that the Dharma teachers should be mindful of during the pilgrimage and aspects of the progress so far that needed to be reviewed.

As the meeting concluded, Sunim made a suggestion to the person in charge of the evening program.

“Tonight’s program is about introducing JTS projects and having a Q&A session, right? In that case, it would be better if I don’t attend. When I’m there, people tend to direct all their questions to me. It would be better for the Dharma teachers who have worked in India to answer the audience’s questions.”

“Yes, I understand.”

After reviewing the next day’s schedule, Sunim proofread manuscripts in his accommodation and concluded the day.

Tomorrow, he plans to broadcast the morning Dharma assembly and then attend the 31st anniversary celebration of Sujata Academy’s founding.