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The present-day
sublime thoughts and convictions of a common Hindu owe not a little
to the life and preachings of Buddha. And Buddha himself has been
revered as an Avataar of God by Hindus. Buddha Gaya where he
attained his supreme enlightenment has to this day remained one of
the most sanctified places of pilgrimage for the entire Hindu World.
Buddha's
philosophical analysis of the basic problem of human suffering and
misery helped to hold before the common man a purified and
simplified Eight-Fold Path of Salvation, i.e., the right type of
life-view, of intention, of speech, action, livelihood, effort,
frame of mind and of concentration. Buddha, like Mahaveera,
denounced the animal sacrifices in the yajnas and yagas
and himself stood as the very embodiment of compassion to all living
beings. He also forcefully brought home the limited merit of such
rituals and stressed that the attainment of Final Beatitude is the summum
bonum of human life.
As days passed, the effect of Buddha's teachings not only influenced
the Hindu people in general but contributed decisively in elevating
spiritually several races spreading over a vast region of the globe,
including areas such as the present-day Syria, Egypt, Afghanistan,
Sri Lanka, Brahmadesh, Siam, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Annam, Cochin,
China, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Malaya, China, Korea, Japan, Tibet and
Khotan in Central Asia.
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