The Buddha is the Person who Suffered Most

From Buddhist Encyclopedia

• From a chapter in the book - The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived by Ven. Weragoda Sarada Maha Thero

The Buddha endured endless suffering, both when he was Ascetic Siddhartha, and even in a large number of births before that. The Aspirant Buddha endured all the possible sufferings, following the advice of those ascetics who believed that self-mortification was the only path Liberation. The tried out all forms of austerities that involved the torturing of the body.

"O Sariputta, I lived without wearing clothes, naked, like a naked ascetic, giving up civilized ways; I had food served on my palm and licked it. If I was invited to a home for meals, I rejected such invitations. I followed the rites of not accepting food prepared for me; food taken out of an ordinary pot; food taken out of a cooking-pot; food served over the threshold; food served over a log; food served over a rice-pounder; food served by one of two persons taking meals; food given by an expectant mother; food given by a woman suckling a baby; food served without giving it to a dog that looks on, and food served at a fly-infested place. I did not accept flesh, fish or intoxicating drinks.

"Sariputta, I went for meals only to one house. I lived on just one lump of food. I want to just two houses for meals. I lived on just two lumps of food. I went to seven houses for meals. I lived only on seven lumps of food. I lived on a small plate of rice, on two plates and on seven plates. I took meals once a day, once in two days, once in seven days, and once in a fortnight.

"I took only raw greens for my meals. I practised austerities eating only millet, raw rice, skins and offal, rice-bran, wild rice, grass, wild roots, windfall fruits. I wore coarse hemp, clothes of mixed varieties of thread, shrouds from corpses, bark-strips, leopard skins, grass strands, clothes of human hair, blankets of horse-hair, and clothes of owl-feathers.

"Instead of shaving my hair and beard, I plucked out my facial hair with seeds of palms. I practised the austerity of not sitting in any seat. I practised the rites of lying supine, sitting on my heels, walking on thorns, and sleeping on thorn-beds.

"Sariputta, so severe were my austerities that I refrained from bathing for years. As result of this the sweat caked on my body and it split in places. My body was like an ancient pillar that had split with age. But, it never occurred to me either to rub off this layer of caked sweat, or to get another to rub it off. One imagine how severe my austerities were.

"Sariputta, I hated sin so much that I walked about carefully, lest tiny insects should die. I showed kindness, thinking that even in a drop of water there was insect life. Sariputta, in the forest I sought total solitude. If I saw a cow-herd, a grass-cutter or a forest frequenter, I would leave that part of the forest and go to another part. Just as a wild animal would run from one forest-grove to another at the sight of men. I totally refrained from seeing humans, thinking may I not see humans, and may humans not see me.

"Sariputaa, I who was an ascetic in the quest for purity, spent the whole night in the forest during winter when the snow fell heavily shivering in the cold. Sariputta, I lay down to sleep in a cemetery, with bones and skeletons as pillows. Children of cow-herds would come there and spit and urinate on me. They showered me with dust and stuck twigs in my ears. But, I never had an evil thought about them.

"Sariputta, just like some ascetics I also thought that purity comes from food. On one occasion, I subsisted on a single jujube fruit. You may perhaps think that at that time, jujube fruits were large. But, in reality the jujube fruits were of the same size as they are today. There is no difference, then and now. When I subsisted on a single jujube fruit, my body became exceedingly emaciated. My body became like withered creepers. My buttocks became hoofs of animals. My spine was like a string of beads. My ribs were like the rafters in a dilapidated house. The pupils of my eyes in their deep sockets gleamed like the reflections of stars in a deep well. The skin of my skull was shrivelled like the skin of a raw bitter gourd that had bee dried in the sun.

"Sriputta, I was so emaciated due to the little food I took that when I touched my belly, it was my back-bone that I stroked. When I touched my back-bone, it was my belly that felt. Due to the scant food I took my back-bone and my belly wall were cleaved together. When I tried to answer calls of nature, I would fall flat on my face. If I stroked my body my body-hair, decayed at their roots, would fall off.

"Sriputta, I too followed these ascetics and recluses who believed that, with austere food habits, one would be able to achieve purity. I too subsisted upon a green-gram or a grain of rice. Sariputta, you may think that a grain of rice at that time was larger than it is today. But, it is not so. At that time too it was of the same size as now.

But, Sariputta, even with these austerities, I was able to obtain the noble insights and intellect that would raise me from the level of ordinary human intelligence to the higher level of wisdom of an exalted person."

(Majjhima Nikaya – Maha Siha Nada Sutta)

Buddha gave this account of the tremendous suffering he endured not to any ordinary person, but to Ven. Sariputta, his Chief Disciple. This description will show clearly how much the Buddha had suffered. No individual in the whole of human history has suffered as much as the Buddha has. He endured all this suffering not for self-gain, but because of his compassion for men – to seek out the truth – to realize Nibbana (Liberation).

He suffered the worst possible privations a human being could. He revealed this suffering, with all the humility to his Chief Disciple. Most people are given to the habit of being reluctant to talk about their past suffering once they achieve success from small beginnings, after having suffered and having been poor. Most people tend to think it demeaning or an insult. But, the Buddha did not realize supreme Enlightenment by living a life of luxury in vast palaces. He stated that he realized Enlightenment by renouncing all that luxury and through the experiments and experiences of suffering, privation and austerity. The life of the Buddha is excellent proof to establish the fact that, to achieve great ideals, and reach greatness, it is essential to endure suffering. Those who rendered a great service while enjoying luxury, are rather rare. Those who realized high ideals while enjoying luxury are also rare.

If one wants to render a high service, one must undergo suffering. One must give up luxuries. Most come down to the level of ordinary folk. Must witness the suffering endured by the masses. One must taste that kind of life. The suffering of others cannot be eradicated unless one endured that kind of suffering. If one were to serve mankind genuinely, one must possess experiences acquired through suffering, like the Buddha.