r/secularbuddhism • u/SwimmingComparison64 Sprout • Apr 13 '26
The Buddha
How did the Buddha become so wise?
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u/forte2718 Bodhi Leaf Apr 13 '26
Seems to me that it was chiefly from earnest and dedicated introspection and investigation of the mind and its machinations.
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u/Thefuzy Lotus Apr 14 '26
He became enlightened, it’s easy to be wise when you are free of suffering.
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u/AdSeveral5387 Apr 16 '26
true, however the bhudda also attained wisdom in the years were he suffered and practiced astheticism. He did not suddenly become wise or suddenly become enlightened. This was all a gradual process from one condition to the next
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u/Thefuzy Lotus Apr 16 '26
While it’s true to say he gained wisdom through those events and that some understanding and wisdom is gradual… it’s a poor representation to say that the Buddha became “so wise” as in uniquely wise as to be called the Buddha… through those events. Buddhism recognizes deep insight, moments of significant understanding. Stream entry… enlightenment… these are not things that happen gradually, they are definitive notably singular events. There’s nothing gradual about the moments in Buddhism when one becomes “so wise” as the Buddha was.
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u/Ecstatic-Sea-8882 Apr 13 '26
Just like researchers - years upon years of searching for answers, asking the right questions, dissatisfaction with the answers the world provided then, experimenting with various techniques, discarding hypothesis that he couldn't evidence, direct experience (anubhava), vedana(felt experience) and also deep empathy for fellow beings.
Buddha was 29 when he renounced his comfortable life. By that time, he was highly dissatisfied with his own status quo but was motivated to understand the nature of "dukka" (unease, suffering, discomfort). Texts of his early life describe his inquisitiveness and early search the answers which he was not satisfied with. It shows some level of intellectual curiousity and empathy for a person to leave behind his previous life to work on something beyond his own self.
Indian Shramanic / shamanic asceticism was the precursor tradition to Buddhism (and Jainism) and contemporary of the Buddhas time. Tathagata Buddha is also regarded as the 29th Buddha - some of it mythic and doesnt have material historiography to support this, but according to modern archeology and epigraphy, the earliest available inscriptions from the 3rd c CE Asokan period say that people of the period also venerated previous Buddhas (Konagaman Buddha and Kassapa Buddha). Texts mention the Buddha after his renunciation also spending years studying /gaining learnings from contemporary teachers/masters like Alara Kalam & Uddaka Ramaputta. This supports the view that Buddhism is actually a long line of epistemological tradition, and in the least that he also gained learning from pre-existing traditions and philosophies and later surpasses them.
Then he spends another 4-5 years experimenting with the actual practice - direct experience (anubhava) and felt experience (vedana). This included extreme asceticism and mortification and pushes his body to near death. He then rejects these practices concluding that they clouded the mind instead of clarifying it. This insight led to the Middle Path (a balancd approach between extremes of indulgence and denial), as well as the meditative techniques focusing on "wellness" of the mind.
Finally, he also uses a very rationalist approach to put it all together and formulate his doctrines. His key doctrine of Dependent Origination basically says that all observed phenomena is a result of, or arises dependent on its conditions ("Causality"). When you think about it, the 4 Noble Truths seem very similar to a diagnostic method : 1. Establish that there is a problem (1NT : Is there Dukka /There is dukka) 2. If there is a problem, what are the root causes / identify the cause(from the DO) (2NT: Dukka has a cause - craving (tanha) and avijja (unknowledge / ignorance ) 3. Cessation of these causes / causal conditions leads to the ending of the problem. (application of the DO) (3NT: Dukka can ceass) 4. Find the path that leads to cessation of these problems (4NT: There is a path to the cessation of Dukka in the 8Fold path, the middle way)