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Lord Mahavira and His Times
became lay-devotees. Another influential supporter was Visakha, who built the Pubbārāma monastery for him.
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The Buddha visited Kapilvastu and converted the members of his family including his son Rahula and foster-mother Mahāprajapati Gomati. Buddha also spent the fifth Vassā at Vaiśāli, where Ambapāli, the famous courtesan became his devotee and offered her mango grove to the Samgha. The Buddha passed the ninth Vassā at Kausāmbi where queen Sāmavati of Udayana became his follower. He visited a distant place Verañjā (near Mathura) to spend his twelfth Vassa there. and deputed his disciple Mahakachchāyana for the propagation of Buddhism in Avanti. He converted king Pradyota and others to Buddhism. He made his last journey to Malla's capital Kusinārā where he gave up his body after a fatal illness and attained parinirvāņa at the age of eighty.
TEACHINGS
The earliest available source of our knowledge of the Buddha's teachings is the Pāli Piṭaka which consists of the five Nikayas, viz., Digha, Majjhima, Samyutta, Anguttara and Khuddaka. As many alterations and additions were made in it from time to time by the succeeding generations, it cannot be called homogeneous, nor is it possible to state definitely what actually were the original teachings of the Buddha.
Buddhism, like Jainism, was originally a moral code rather than a metaphysical or religious system. The Buddha instructed his followers to pursue practical methods in order to`arrive at the Truth. For the removal of ignorance, thirst, attachment, etc., for instance, he advocated the four Aryasatyas (Noble Truths), viz., (1) that worldly existence is full of misery (dukkha); (2) that thirst, attachment, etc., are the causes of worldly existence (samudaya); (3) that worldly existence can be ended (nirodha) by the destruction of thirst, etc. The Path is the well-known Eightfold Way, viz., right speech, right action, right means of livelihood, right exertion, right mindedness, right meditation, right resolution, and right point of view. The first three practices lead to physical control (Śila), the second three to mental control (chitta), and the last two to intellectual development (prajñā).
