For centuries in India, the Buddha and his teachings have been accused as being pessimistic. To some extent, this notion has also spread outside India to those countries where people are not acquainted with his teaching. Many Western philosophers have been influenced by this concept. In India, many eminent scholars and philosophers have fallen prey to this belief and, as a result, the masses have come to accept it as the truth.

During my own school days, my friends and I also accepted this belief that the Buddha was a pessimist. My mentality in those days was such that wherever I read any work by any poet that emphasised suffering, I would see this as an effect of the Buddha’s pessimism. In a few instances, I had even composed a few pessimistic poems myself. However, I later decided not to continue to author such works, believing that they would create a harmful atmosphere for individuals and society. I decided that if I wrote anything, it would only concern love for my motherland, social upliftment and happiness.

When I look back at my childhood, I find that it is when I first came in contact with Arya Samaj that I was influenced by the belief that the Buddha’s teaching is pessimistic. I read Maharshi Dayananda in his famous work Satyarth Prakash where he wrote, "According to the Buddha there is nothing but misery in the entire world—sarvasya saṃsārasya duhkhātmakatvaṃ…. However the truth is that there is happiness as well as misery in the world. It is a falsehood to say that the entire universe is full of misery." This belief, received from Arya Samaj in pre-War Myanmar, became deeply ingrained in my mind and was further strengthened when I came to India during World War II. In those formative days of my youth I read many articles and commentaries on the pessimistic teaching of the Buddha.

The writings of Dr. Radhakrishnan, a distinguished philosopher of our times and ex-President of India, further affected my thinking with his observations that:

However, despite these earlier intellectual conditionings, it became very clear to me after reading the original words of the Buddha and after experiencing Vipassana (the practical essence of his teaching) that many baseless allegations have been made against the Buddha and his teaching during the last 1000 to 1500 years. This happened because the accusers were not truly familiar with the teaching of the Buddha. Their allegations had no foundation in what the Buddha actually taught. Over the centuries, the repetition of these false accusations caused them to become stronger and more dogmatic. The teachings of the Buddha were blackened to such an extent that not a trace of the truth about him or his teachings remained in India. While I do not believe that Dr. Radhakrishnan did this deliberately and that these distortions of truth were committed unknowingly, his writings reveal how blemished India’s view of the Buddha had become. I conclude that this happened because the Buddha’s original words had long since disappeared from India. Therefore, the Buddha was quoted out of context, and even worse, things that he never said were put into his mouth. Thus, the fallacious and misleading belief that the Buddha was a pessimist became stronger and stronger.

The extensive collection of the original words of the Buddha (Tipiṭaka) returned to India during the lifetime of Dr Radhakrishnan following the Sixth Synod in Rangoon (Yangon) from 1954-56. The Government of India published the many volumes of the Tipiṭaka through the Nava Nalanda Mahavihara under the able guidance of Ven. Jagdish Kashyap. Dr Radhakrishnan even wrote a common preface to all the books of the Tipiṭaka. However, it is evident that, as the President of India, he was extremely busy and apparently had no time to read and appreciate the contextual meaning of the teachings of the Buddha contained in these books. Otherwise, he would certainly have altered his prior beliefs about the asserted pessimism of the Buddha.

The erroneous things said in India about the Buddha and his teaching have continued unabated for more than a thousand years. No one has ever clarified the truth of this matter. On the contrary, more and more people have been reiterating these falsehoods. It is unlikely that the critics were repeating these fallacies out of spite towards the Buddha. Like many scholars, they depended on whatever inaccurate things were already written about the Buddha.

The practice of mischaracterizing even the motivation of the Buddha for seeking the truth continues today. An Indian mystic recently said about the Buddha:

Such contemporary misunderstandings are entirely rational in light of their long history in India. I also would have maintained similar views had I not read the original words of the Buddha and seriously practised Vipassana, the practical aspect of his teaching.

The loss of Pali literature and its practical aspect of Vipassana from India lead to much fallacious criticism about the Buddha and his teaching. This process has continued unabated for more than a thousand years. People have become greatly confused by it. Otherwise how could a widely respected scholarly mystic with a large following in India and abroad say—

As if the Buddha had no knowledge of the two states! It has also been incorrectly said about the Buddha’s teaching that "There is nothing but misery in the beginning, middle and the end of human life," while the Buddha actually said more than once that we experience both happiness and misery in life. He said—Dukkhassantaraṃ sukhaṃ—pain is followed by pleasure, and Sukhassantaraṃ dukkhaṃ—pleasure is followed by pain.

Thus, pleasure and pain follow each other as day follows night. This cycle of existence of pain-pleasure and pleasure-pain has been going on for so long! We always like the pleasure that comes after the pain. However this pleasure always changes into pain. And this pain is far more distressing after the elation of a temporary pleasure. This distressing cycle goes on due to saṅkhāras (conditioning, karmas) born of taṇhā (craving and aversion). Therefore was the Buddha wrong in saying sabbe saṅkhārā dukkhā—all conditionings are suffering?

All spiritual traditions of India think of the cycle of birth and death as suffering. When the cycle is regarded as suffering, should not the cause of this cycle also be regarded as suffering? When the Buddha discovered the cause of suffering and said that this cause (the saṅkhāras born of craving and aversion) was also suffering, his entire teaching was censured with the label sarvaṃ duhkhaṃ, sarvaṃ duhkhaṃ—all misery, all misery. And this misrepresentation was applied to a teaching whose sole aim is the opposite of misery: total liberation from the cycle of birth and death, and attainment of eternal, ultimate happiness!

This attainment of ultimate liberation is the aim of all Eastern spiritual traditions. The Buddha taught a method that actually takes one to this state where visaṅkhāragataṃ cittaṃ—the mind is freed of all conditioning, and taṇhānaṃ khayamajjhagā—all taṇhā of craving and aversion is destroyed. No new conditionings are generated that will cause new births. Khiṇaṃ purāṇaṃ navaṃ natthi sambhavaṃ—all old conditionings are eradicated and new ones cannot be made. The meditator becomes totally free from the cycle of birth and death.

The Buddha diagnosed and explained the entire cycle of becoming—the inexorable process of constantly changing pain and pleasure, and the root cause of this relentless cycle. He gave the panacea of Vipassana that liberates us from this cycle and takes us to ultimate, everlasting happiness. It is clear that this great teacher of teachers who is known all over the world for his compassionate nature was falsely accused of promulgating misery. Our welfare and the welfare of all humanity lies in not repeating this falsehood.

The Indian mystic mentioned earlier also criticised the root motivation for the going forth of Prince Siddhattha Gotama:

In other words, the assertion is that the Buddha did not leave home to help others; he chose homelessness only to satisfy his curiosity or to serve himself and, therefore, his going forth was not logical or beneficial. It was a sad surprise for me to come across this comment. Even esteemed scholars did not know much about the facts of the Buddha’s life. This is because the words of the Buddha have not been available in India for millennia.

When Prince Siddhattha grasped the realities of old age, disease and death, he was troubled but not just because he himself would one day have to endure this suffering. The truth is that he developed immense compassion for the countless beings who suffer these miseries. Then the question arose in his mind: is there a way out of this misery for all beings? He was confident that—

Where so many miseries exist, there also exists (ultimate) happiness;

where (repeated) births exist, there also exists the desired state of unborn;

for those encumbered by afflictions due to past deeds, there is a Noble Path of deliverance;

I want to find out that Path which gives liberation from the cycle of becoming.

He did not investigate the path of liberation only for himself, but to help all beings afflicted in the ocean of saṃsāra.

What is the use of I alone gaining liberation and realising the truth through such strenuous efforts? After attaining perfect enlightenment, I should become helpful to men and gods in their liberation.

It was natural that he had this intention. It was because of this wholesome volition that he went through so many lives as a Bodhisatta and was fulfilling his pāramis (merits, qualities) by helping those with whom he came in contact.

Now this was the last life of that Bodhisatta. By attaining enlightenment he became liberated and helped others to get liberated. Obviously, it was of primary importance to liberate himself. How can a blind man show the way to another blind man? How can a handicapped person help another handicapped person? How can one ensnared in a trap help other entrapped ones to free themselves? The aim to leave the householder’s life was not just to fulfil his curiosity about the ultimate truth but to liberate himself in order to also help many others. Therefore, it is incorrect and most unfortunate to imply that the Buddha chose the life of homelessness to serve himself.

One more criticism commonly levelled against the Buddha is that there was no need for him to leave the householder’s life to search for liberation. It is held that the ultimate truth of reality is within each person. However, this charge does not take into account the fact that the path to experience ultimate reality within oneself had been lost. Therefore, it was necessary to search for and rediscover the technique. Had Vipassana been available at the time, there would have been no need to rediscover it. However, an Enlightened One arises only at a time when the technique of Vipassana is lost and only various jhānas (absorption or concentration techniques, encompassing mundane jhānas up to the eighth jhāna) remain. These jhānas are also to be found within ourselves and can be misleading and delusionary. People take the bliss of any one of these jhānas to be the ultimate happiness, and do not practise to go beyond it. The technique of Vipassana that takes one to the state beyond the mundane field of all senses, including the mind, gets lost. A Bodhisatta rediscovers it through his own efforts.

It is also worth noting that after witnessing the three miserable states of life, Prince Siddhattha saw a samaṇa (shramaṇa; an ascetic, especially one who believes in his own efforts for liberation). How is it possible that the Prince—tormented by his comprehension of the misery inherent in the three states—did not talk to this samaṇa, who appeared so serene? The Prince may have learned from the ascetic that the ultimate truth is to be sought within oneself. However, one has to practise methodically, by following a systematic meditation technique. It cannot be done merely by staying at home. To practise it, one needed to leave the householder’s life and go to various teachers of the Samaṇa tradition.

The influence of the Samaṇa tradition was very evident in Kapilavastu at the time of the Buddha. It had pagodas commemorating two of the three Buddhas before Gotama Buddha in this aeon (Kakusandha and Koṇāgamana). Although Vipassana meditation of the Samaṇa tradition had been forgotten by that time, various concentration techniques (jhānas) had continued. Āḷāra Kālāma of the Kālāma republic, which lay to the east of Sākyan kingdom, was a famous teacher of jhānas. While the main centre of his teaching was in Magadha, there was a branch in Kapilavastu also. Prince Siddhattha might have learned from the samaṇa he encountered that Āḷāra Kālāma was staying in Magadha at that time.

To learn the technique of introspection, it was necessary for Prince Siddhattha to leave home. So he went to Magadha to learn absorption concentrations up through the seventh jhāna. Through this practice he experienced the bliss of deep absorption but not of ultimate liberation. Therefore he went to another teacher of the Samaṇa tradition, Uddaka Rāmaputta, and learned the eighth jhāna. Even this, the highest practice known at the time, did not result in his liberation from all suffering. After this, he tried extreme, self-tormenting penances for six years. These also proved futile. Then, through his own efforts, he discovered the Noble Eightfold Path of morality, concentration and experiential wisdom. Through this Path he attained perfect enlightenment and became a sammāsambuddha. Perfect enlightenment is not achieved by reading scriptures or indulging in the intellectual acrobatics of philosophical beliefs. The Buddha could not receive it from any teacher because at that time the path of liberation had been lost to the world.

When someone attains enlightenment, his heart and mind become full of infinite loving kindness and infinite compassion. He wants to distribute this benevolent practice to more and more people. This compassionate volition brought him to the Deer Park of Sarnath near Varanasi where he gave the Teaching for the first time to the five ascetics who had come from Kapilavastu. They became arahats (literally, those who have destroyed all their defilements) and tasted true lasting happiness. He stayed there for three months and showed the path of liberation to fifty-five more seekers. They also became arahats, fully enlightened.

Thus, when sixty people had become arahats, he declared to them the well-known historic exhortation:

Caratha, bhikkhave, cārikaṃ—Go your ways, O monks!

Bahujanahitāya bahujanasukhāya lokānukampāya—for the welfare of many, for the benefit of many, out of compassion for the world.

He declared, "Let not two go in the same direction". Two bhikkhus should not travel together. They should go separately to different places so that more and more people can learn, and benefit from, Dhamma. He exhorted them to: "Teach the Dhamma that is beneficial in the beginning, beneficial in the middle and beneficial in the end; absolutely complete and totally pure."

If one practises only sīla (morality), the starting point of this pure path of Dhamma, one becomes happy in this life and gets divine happiness after death. If one practises the middle part of Dhamma, samādhi (concentration of mind), one enjoys the bliss of absorption and after death gets brahmic happiness. And if one gets rid of all the kammas (conditionings) through the practice of paññā (penetrating wisdom)—the final part of the Path—then one experiences the infinite happiness of nibbāna and after death attains the eternal, permanent and deathless state. In this manner the Noble Eightfold Path is absolutely complete; there is no need to add anything to it. It is totally pure; it contains no impurity that needs to be removed.

In this manner, these sixty arahats, with compassionate hearts, helped many others throughout their lives. They had only one aim: Bahujanahitāya bahujanasukhāya—the benefit and happiness of many.

In the remaining forty-five years of his life, the Buddha trained thousands of arahats to guide others; and he himself travelled ceaselessly to many places to distribute the nectar of Dhamma. His entire life was spent in distributing happiness. This Samaṇa tradition continued to teach Vipassana which liberated innumerable people for centuries after the Buddha.

These unfortunate comments—that the Buddha’s motive in leaving home was not to help others; that he should have sought the ultimate truth while remaining at home—how will they be viewed by those people of the neighbouring countries of India who know the facts about benevolent Vipassana? By those who know the words of the Buddha and know that he worked day and night for the good, benefit and happiness of many? We are making a laughing stock of ourselves in front of our neighbours who know the truth about the Buddha. Let us not repeat these mistakes for the sake of our welfare and our honour.

The Buddha has also been criticised for leaving behind his beautiful young wife and new-born child and his tearful parents. The critics forget that Siddhattha, after attaining enlightenment, helped them get the infinite happiness of liberation. If he had remained at home, he would have been able to give them only the lesser happiness of worldly comforts and companionship. Instead, his entire family attained full liberation. For centuries serious Vipassana meditators have known through personal experience that this happiness of liberation from defilements is far superior to worldly happiness.

From the assertion that his philosophy and teachings were nothing but suffering and misery, the implication is that the Buddha himself was miserable and unhappy. Nothing could be further from the truth. As a perfectly Enlightened One, the Buddha had come out of all the miseries of the world, and lived a life full of contentment and infinite happiness in every situation. To others also he gave nothing but happiness.

Once he was sleeping on a bed of dry leaves fallen from a tree on a cattle path in Aḷavī. At that time an Āḷavaka prince named Hatthaka had set out for a stroll. When he saw the Buddha, he asked, "Venerable sir, did you sleep happily?"

The Buddha replied, "Yes, young man, I slept well. I am one of those people in the world who sleep happily."

To this Hatthaka said, "This is a cold autumn night, in the season of snowfall. The hooves of cows have made the land coarse and uneven. The bed of leaves is thin. There are very few leaves on the tree. A cold wind is blowing from all directions and you have but tattered clothes on you. How could you sleep happily?"

The Buddha replied, "A householder or a son of a householder sleeps in a proper house on a soft bed with pillows and blankets. However, the fire of craving for sensual pleasure may be burning inside him. In that case, smouldering in the heat of desire, he sleeps in misery. A Buddha has extinguished all his craving—destroyed it, uprooted it, put an end to it forever, like the severed trunk of a palm tree, from which new leaves cannot grow. Craving does not exist in the Buddha. It cannot arise in a Buddha. The Buddha is an arahat. An arahat always sleeps happily."

A similar incident:

When Anāthapiṇḍika went to see the Buddha in Rājagaha for the first time it was very late in the night. The Buddha was taking a walk in the open. Anāthapiṇḍika asked him,

"Venerable sir, Exalted One, did you sleep happily?"

The Buddha replied:

Detached and dissociated from all sensual cravings and cooled, the brāhmaṇa (arahat) having experienced nibbāna always sleeps happily.

Then he added—

Having destroyed all desire, having removed fear from the heart, having acquired true peace of mind, a liberated detached arahat indeed sleeps happily.

Not only arahats, every follower of Dhamma sleeps happily. Therefore it is said:

A practitioner of Dhamma sleeps happily.

Ascetics who have renounced the worldly life and are steadfast on the path of Dhamma always sleep happily: sukhaṃ supanti muniyo.

Everyone whose mind vibrates with the thrilling rapture of Dhamma certainly sleeps happily: Dhammapīti sukhaṃ seti, vippasannena cetasā.

Well contented with the ambrosia of Dhamma (one) always sleeps happily: sukhito dhammarasena tappito.

A Buddha is dhammabhūto (Dhamma personified), brahmabhūto (brahma personified); completely cooled. He always sleeps happily. All the arahats who followed his teaching and attained liberation achieved happiness.

One more example:

Bhaddiya was from the Sākyan royal family. He was ordained by the Buddha. He often uttered the words "Aho sukha, aho sukha!" ("O happiness, O happiness!") spontaneously under the shade of a tree or in the darkness of his meditation cell.

The Buddha called him and asked him, "Bhaddiya, why do you utter these joyous words?"

Bhaddiya answered, "Venerable sir, earlier when I was a king, the royal guards were constantly near me—whether I was in my private chambers or outside; in the city or outside its limits; in the district or beyond the district. Venerable sir, I lived hidden behind these guards with constant fear and worry in my mind. Now, on the other hand, see! I live alone in the jungle, at the root of a tree or in a cell, always free from fear, serene, free from doubt, not craving anything, peaceful and trusting in mind, satisfied with whatever I get through alms. Venerable sir, observing this change in me, I utter these words of joy: "Aho sukha, aho sukha!".

A disciple of the Buddha always dwells happy.

He experiences the burning of sensual craving in neither mind nor body. Thus, day and night he lives happily.

Arahat bhikkhu Aṅgulimāla, who had become liberated proclaimed:

I sleep happily, dwell happily and spend my life in happiness. I am free from the bondage of death. Ah, this happened because of the Lord’s compassion!

As long as there is the burning of craving or anger, there is no happiness. One lives a happy life only after gaining liberation from craving and anger. Anyone who generates anger becomes miserable. But with the practice of Vipassana as taught by the Buddha, the same person—

Having put an end to anger, sleeps happily; having put an end to anger, lives without grief.

Hārita was a bhikkhu who had gone forth from a Brahmin clan of Sāvatthi. These are his delightful words upon attaining liberation –

Indeed, the nibbāna taught by the Perfectly Enlightened One is ultimate happiness. It is without grief, without blemish, secure. All miseries completely and finally end there.

Aggika Bhāradvāja, a Brahmin from Ukaṭṭhā, was a worshipper of fire. He used to undergo severe penances in the jungle by torturing his body. After coming in contact with the Buddha, he learned Vipassana. And after a few days’ practice of the technique he became liberated and attained the stage of arahat. When friends asked him about it, he replied,

(Leaving the path of torture) I have attained (the ultimate) happiness (of nibbāna) using this joyful method. Behold the greatness of Dhamma! (Reaching the state of an arahat) I have attained the three supernatural powers. I have completed the practice of the Buddha’s teaching!

When a householder established in the teaching of the Buddha gave away his daughter in marriage, he gave her this advice:

And he explained how to do it: To fulfil the responsibilities of a daughter-in-law in the new home is conducive to happiness. If one’s elders are standing, one should: take a seat only after they have sat down; take meals only after serving food to the elders; and go to bed only after serving and fulfilling the needs of the elders in the family—these are all conducive to happiness.

For householders, the words of the Buddha are full of abundant benediction for their happiness.

Some examples:

Serving one’s mother and father results in happiness in the world.

Sukhāṃ yāvajarāsīlaṃ—Following morality until old age brings happiness.

Sukhā saddhāpatiṭṭhitā—Having confidence in the Truth brings happiness.

Sukho paññāya paṭilābho—Development of wisdom brings happiness.

Pāpānaṃ akaraṇaṃ sukhaṃ—Abstaining from evil brings happiness.

Athamhi jātamhi sukhāsahāyā—Help from friends and relations when one is in need brings happiness.

Tuṭṭhī sukhāyā itarītarena—Remaining content with what one has brings happiness.

Puññaṃ sukhaṃ jīvitasaṅkhyamhi—Meritorious deeds bring happiness even after death.

Sabbassa dukkhassa sukhaṃ pahānaṃ—Eradicating all suffering (through the practice of Vipassana) brings happiness.

It is clear that the Buddha’s teaching conveyed not only the ultimate happiness of liberation from the cycle of birth and death, but also what brings happiness in mundane life. How misguided to call him a pessimist!

A Buddha arises in the world to distribute happiness.

The peerless, remarkable Buddha arises in the world and brings into light the Truth, the Dhamma. The Buddha brings into light eternal and supreme happiness.

Therefore it is said:

Happy is the arising of a Buddha, happy is the teaching of Dhamma, happy is the coming together of Saṅgha and happy it is to meditate together!

When a Buddha arises, he distributes nothing but happiness.

What to talk of a Buddha, even the arising of any saint in the world is rare:

Rare is a saint in this world. He does not take birth everywhere.

Where a saintly person is born, that clan’s happiness increases.

An ordinary virtuous person is a cause of welfare of his clan. However a Buddha is a cause of welfare for all humanity. He preaches the benevolent Teaching, by following which people can live peaceful and happy lives, full of the truth-based Dhamma.

Living Dhamma, engrossed in Dhamma, thinking only of Dhamma and always mindful of Dhamma, a meditator bhikkhu never leaves the path of the truth-based Dhamma.

Such a meditator monk is:

Peaceful in body, peaceful in speech, master of a concentrated mind, leaving behind the worldly blemishes; such a peaceful bhikkhu is truly called a "calmed one".

One, who is thus calmed, lives happily and sleeps happily.

The "calmed one" always sleeps happily.

One who has attained ultimate peace has attained ultimate happiness. Ultimate peace is ultimate happiness. One who has attained nibbāna has experienced the ultimate bliss.

There is no happiness greater than the peace of nibbāna.

Such meditators having attained ultimate peace live happily even in adverse circumstances.

We live happily;

Without enmity among enemies;

Without affliction among the afflicted;

Without attachment among those with attachment.

How does one attain this state of ultimate bliss?

Solitary meditation and drinking deeply the peace that comes from a serene mind.

Enraptured in the joy of Dhamma, a meditator becomes fearless and without any evil.

Such a meditator always lives happily. One who is without enmity becomes fearless. If one has a violent mind, full of enmity, then he will suffer the painful affliction that comes from hatred.

Whenever the mind gives up violence, misery gets extinguished.

When misery is eradicated, life is full of happiness. To attain this blissful peace, it is essential to undertake meditation. One must meditate in a solitary cell:

A bhikkhu who has retired to a solitary cell, and with serene mind practices Vipassana in the right way, enjoys divine happiness.

His whole body is filled with the boundless rapture of bliss:

When one practises Vipassana properly, one experiences not only bliss in mind and rapture in body but also the happiness of the infinite peace of the deathless.

Whenever one directs one’s attention anywhere within the body (understanding the contact of mind and body), one is aware only of arising and passing. One enjoys bliss and delight and experiences the deathless (which is the field of the Noble Ones).

This is the supreme happiness of nibbāna; this is supreme peace.

If some one is doleful, he can only spread misery. He cannot

and does not uphold the welfare of all.

In contrast, the Buddha wished well for all with these words:

May all beings be happy.

An incident from his life:

A Brahmin youth named Ambaṭṭha insulted the Buddha with many foul words. When Ambaṭṭha’s teacher Pokkharasāti heard about his impropriety, he begged forgiveness from the Buddha on behalf of his disciple. On that occasion, the Buddha said:

O, Brahmin, let (your disciple) Ambaṭṭha be happy.

Another incident:

Suppavāsā of Koliya state was carrying a baby for a much longer time than normal. She was in extreme pain at the time of delivery of the baby. She sent a message to the Buddha about her condition. Great compassion arose in the Buddha and he sent his blessings:

Suppavāsā, daughter of the Koliyas, may you be happy. May you be healthy and give birth to a healthy boy.

His blessings bore fruit. Such was the compassion of the Buddha and such were his words of benediction. Yet he is called a pessimist by those that criticise him.

Another incident:

After his retirement, King Kosala’s royal priest had gone south and settled on the banks of the Godavari. This priest, Brahmin Bāvarī, was 100 years old when he heard that a Sammā Sambuddha (A Self-enlightened One) had arisen in the state of Kosala. He sent his sixteen chief disciples to examine the claim. Upon reaching Sāvatthi, these disciples satisfied themselves that Samaṇa Gotama was indeed a Buddha. When one of the disciples saluted the Buddha and extended greetings on behalf of his teacher Bāvarī, the Buddha gave these words of blessing:

May Brahmin Bāvarī be happy along with his disciples! May you also be happy, O Brahmin apprentice! May you live long!

Would a pessimist who believes that life is nothing but misery give blessing for a long life (which would be a curse for extended suffering)? I think not.

The Buddha’s mind was always full of loving-kindness. He taught his disciples to practice the meditation of loving kindness—that is, compassionate love, regard for the welfare of all beings:

May all beings be happy within themselves.

Wherever people practise Vipassana in ten-day courses around the world, they have the experience of this loving kindness. After having purified their minds as much as possible in ten days of intensive Vipassana meditation, they learn the practice of loving kindness (mettā bhāvanā). Even during the course, the meditation site is charged with the vibrations of the benevolent proclamation:

Bhavatu sabba maṅgalaṃ! (May all beings be happy!)

How can the people of a country that lost the meditation technique of Vipassana properly grasp that the Buddha was a promulgator of Dhamma, of welfare, of happiness?

When a householder invites a bhikkhu to offer him food and thus avails the opportunity of earning merits, the bhikkhu usually chants a mettasutta (verses of loving kindness). One feels great joy to hear these words of benediction. The same words of loving-kindness are heard in the early morning chanting in a ten-day Vipassana course permeating selfless love and creating a delightful atmosphere for meditation.

One should not do any mean thing that would invite censure from wise men. Let all creatures indeed be content, secure and happy within.

Whatever living creatures there are, moving or still, without exception, long or large, middle-sized or short, small or big, visible or invisible, living far or near, whether they already exist or are coming into being, let all creatures be happy within.

One man should not humiliate another; one should not despise anyone anywhere. One should not wish another misery out of anger or repugnance.

Just as a mother would protect with her life her son, her only son, so one should cultivate infinite selfless love towards all beings.

All loving-kindness towards all the world. One should cultivate an unbounded mind, above and below and across, without obstruction, without enmity, without rivalry.

Standing or walking or seated or lying down, as long as one is free from drowsiness, one should practise this mindfulness. This (they say) is the brahma state.

Similar delightful words are found at many places in the Pali literature. Even if this country had preserved only the Dhammapada, a tiny fraction of this huge literature, they would not have mistakenly come to view the Buddha as a negative, pessimistic person. The first two verses of the Dhammapada are:

All bodily and vocal actions have mind as their precursor, mind as their supreme leader; of mind they are made. If one speaks or acts with an impure mind, suffering follows him as the wheel follows the hoof of the animal yoked to the chariot.

All the bodily and vocal actions have mind as their precursor, mind as their supreme leader; of mind they are made. If with a pure mind one speaks or acts, happiness follows him like his shadow that never leaves him.

It is clear that whatever one does with an impure mind will be unwholesome and will definitely result in misery. Similarly whatever one does with a pure mind will be wholesome and will definitely result in happiness. These two verses alone would have clarified to anyone that the Buddha’s teaching is not fatalistic and that he is stating truths about both suffering and happiness.

If one looks at the Dhammapada one finds that there are twenty-six chapters on various aspects of Dhamma, which teach one to live happily here and hereafter. One such chapter is Sukha Vagga (Chapter on Happiness). We note that there is no chapter on misery! This should prevent anyone from saying that the Buddha was pessimistic or that he was lacking in a positive attitude.

Whenever the Buddha talked about suffering, he did so only to bring to light its root causes and to encourage people to eradicate these causes. Whenever the Buddha talked about happiness, he did so to bring to light its basis, and to encourage people to develop it.

Instead of talking of the cause of misery and its eradication, if the Buddha had said:

then, he could be truly called a fatalist, a pessimist, and a cynic lacking positive attitude and promulgating inaction. If so, certainly the Buddha would have been the cause of harm not only to this country, but also to the entire human society. In that case, it would have been commendable to end his teaching not only in India but in the rest of the world as well.

But the truth is that the Buddha never said, "There is no escape from misery". Instead, he gave a practical, here-and-now method to come out of all misery. We in India lost the experiential aspect of his teaching. Our repeated distortion of the theoretical aspect of his teaching deprived us of its benefit. Whosoever around the world preserved it, benefited from it. The time has come now for us to understand the real facts, to heed their manifest lesson and to follow the practical path taught by the Buddha.

The Buddha wanted to create an inclination in the minds of the people to free themselves from misery. This was why he taught the truth about suffering, its cause and how to come out of it. In this light, how can the following statement stand? "The Buddha’s view of life seems to be lacking in courage and confidence. Its emphasis on sorrow, if not false, is not true…" If anything, such a statement only proves the writer’s ignorance of the Buddha’s teaching. Who can deny the reality of suffering associated with birth, decay, disease and death, association with the unpleasant and disassociation from the pleasant; of wanted things not happening, and unwanted things happening? Are not these realities true?

We get attached to the five aggregates thinking, "This is my mind," "This is my body," and we cling to them as "me" and "mine". This deep attachment to these five aggregates leads to the repeated cycle of birth and death. Who can deny the truth of this reality of suffering? At least all the spiritual traditions of India accept the cycle of becoming as misery and aim at getting liberated from this cycle, to attain the deathless.

The Buddha said in this context:

(Before becoming liberated) I took repeated births in this misery.

Before attaining Buddhahood, a Bodhisatta thinks thus:

Oh, all people suffer so much!

Getting born, decaying, dying, passing away and arising again.

One does not know how to come out of the misery of repeated births and deaths.

A Bodhisatta searches for the answer and rediscovers the noble liberating Path of sīla-samādhi-paññā (morality, concentration and experiential wisdom) using which he liberates himself and helps many others to get liberated.

Therefore it is said:

An ignorant person repeatedly falls in the womb (takes repeated births).

Again and again one is taken to the cemetery.

How foolish it is to go through the suffering of dukkhā jāti punappunaṃ repeatedly, out of ignorance!

Yet:

Finding out the way out of (the cycle of) becoming

Having great wisdom, (the Buddha) does not take birth again and again.

Many others besides the Buddha became liberated by taking up this very Path. We have a treasury of the joyous utterances of hundreds of bhikkhus and bhikkhunis, wherein they declare their attainment of liberation.

Some examples:

Ekadhammassavaṇiya was the son of a businessman from Setabba. In the joyful mood of liberation, he declared:

My passion has been extinguished.

All becoming has been eradicated.

The process of (repeated) births has been ended.

Now there is no more birth for me.

For countless lives I have kept running in this endless cycle of becoming.

From the suffering of (repeated) births, I have become liberated. The accumulated stock of misery has been destroyed.

Padmāvatī was a courtesan of Ujjain and the mother of Abhaya. She was ordained by the Buddha as a nun and through her serious practice of meditation, she became an arahat. Padmāvatī imparts these words:

Evaṃ viharamānāya—Thus, following the teaching of the Buddha,

Sabbo rāgo samūhato—Uprooting all the craving for sensual pleasure,

Pariḷāho samucchinno—Extinguishing the burning of passion,

Sītibhūtamhi nibbutāti—(I have) attained nibbāna to become transcendently cool and peaceful.

Aparā Uttamā was born in a prominent Brahmin family of Kosala. Describing her meditation and resulting liberation, she joyfully exclaims:

My dream of experiencing the state where there is nothing to hold on to (nibbāna) has been fulfilled. I, a rightful daughter of the Buddha, ever enjoy the bliss of nibbāna.

To attain nibbāna I completed the development of all the seven bojjhaṅgas (factors of enlightenment) as taught by the Buddha.

My yearning for all the sensual pleasures—of this world and of heaven—has been eradicated. The cycle of becoming has ceased. Now there is no rebirth for me.

If the scholars of our country had read even a few quotations from the hundreds of utterances of the Buddha and his disciples, they would not have committed the grave error of characterising the liberating teaching of this supreme historic person as fatalistic and pessimistic.

The Buddha is accused of being "dukkha-vādī". In Indian languages, the word vādī is used in three ways:

1. To denote those who establish a philosophy and argue to prove its efficacy. The Buddha did not establish the philosophy of misery and pessimism, and therefore had no need to argue in favour of it. He always said that arguing for any philosophy is wrong: Vivādaṃ bhayato disvā, avivādaṃ ca khemato.

2. To denote those who are blindly devoted to a traditional belief and use any means to disseminate it—such as fundamentalists who are ready to use terrorism for their cause. No one could accuse the Buddha of spreading sorrow in this manner.

3. To denote those who speak or give discourses. The Buddha used to give many discourses and hence he could be called vādī in this sense. However, the Buddha always taught Dhamma, the Truth. Therefore we see that in his lifetime he was often called saccavādī, tathavādī, kammavādī, kiriyavādī, kālavādī, piyavādī, hitavādī, yathāvādī tathākārī. (Speaking only the truth; speaking only the facts; speaking of Law of kamma; speaking for a detached action; speaking at the proper time; speaking agreeable words; speaking for the benefit [of the listener]; and a speaker who practises what he preaches, and preaches what he practises). He always spoke the words of truth; therefore even his opponents called him dhammavādī, speaker of Dhamma, speaker of the Truth.

An incident from his life:

A famous Brahmin, Āshwalāyana, was a contemporary of the Buddha. He was an erudite scholar and a Brahmin leader. When other Brahmins pleaded with him to take up an argument with the Buddha, he refused, saying that he could not argue with a dhammavādī (speaker of the Truth).

Even the opponents of the Buddha during his lifetime did not call him "speaker of sorrow" or "preacher of pessimism". He would have been characterised thus if he were always talking only of suffering and not of happiness. In reality, there is none else in the world who is a greater sukhavādī (preacher of happiness).

The Buddha did discuss misery, but only in order to eradicate it. He discussed happiness so that true happiness could be attained.

He explained how the mass of suffering arises. (…evametassa kevalassa dukkhakkhandhassa samudayo hoti.)

And then he explained how the mass of suffering is extinguished, uprooted. (…evametassa kevalassa dukkhakkhandhassa nirodho hoti.)

Systematically describing suffering, he explained: Jāti pi dukkhā. As long as there is the cycle of birth and death, one has to endure suffering. True liberation from suffering is to be liberated from this cycle of birth and death. To this end he taught the simple, logical and practical technique of Vipassana which gives concrete results here and now. It is vastly different from all arguments and superficial philosophical beliefs. The Buddha undertook an analytical study of his own experiences of truth and encouraged his disciples to practise based on their own direct experience. The Buddha’s entire teaching is based on one’s own direct experience. In his teaching, there is no place for blind faith in the scriptures.

Today in India, the word vedanā means "pain". However, at the time of the Buddha, vedanā meant "one’s own experience". He classified vedanā in a scientific analytical manner. In one classification, he described two types of vedanā: kāyika and cetasika (bodily and mental). In another classification, he described three types of vedanā:

Bhikkhus, there are three types of experiences.

Which three?

Pleasant sensation, unpleasant sensation and a third, which is neither pleasant nor unpleasant.

We find this reference to three types of sensations many times in the words of the Buddha. He never spoke exclusively about unpleasant sensations (dukkhā vedanā). Those who are under the false impression that the Buddha’s teaching is solely about misery, will realise this for themselves if they read the words of the Buddha.

The Buddha commonly referred to these three types of sensations. However, he detailed many more classifications of sensations, based on his own subtle experiences gained from his profound introspective analysis. At times, he described the sensations he experienced as five distinct types. At other times, he divided them into six; at times, eighteen; at times thirty-six; at times, one hundred and eight types. From this, it is abundantly clear that he did not describe only unpleasant sensations.

In the famous passage beginning with Jāti pi dukkhā..., the Buddha enumerated eleven types of unpleasant experiences.

He has also described three aspects of suffering:

(1) dukkhadukkhatā—whatever is perceived directly as bodily and mental pain or misery.

(2) saṅkhāradukkhatā—w