Around 2600 years ago a most extra-ordinary event occured. This event is so rare for even aeons(an unimaginably long period of time). It was the birth of a great Buddha. Before the birth of a Buddha no one in the world knew a path to stop the samsara(the never ending cycle of rebirth). When the Buddha preached what he knew the humans,devas(heavenly beings) started following the noble eightfold path to cease suffering,sorrow and all lamentations. When Buddha taught about the mass of sorrow one had to face with every birth, people started to fear this endless journey of the samsara. Some ordained into the Sangha(monks), some followed the path as ordinary lay people. Many devas and humans were thereby able to attain the supreme bliss(nibbana).
In this aeon we are lucky because it is a Maha-Bhadra aeon(which means an aeon with the arising of 5 buddhas) and already 4 buddhas have arisen.They are Kakusanda,Konagama,Kassapa,Gautama (we are currently in the Gautama Buddha's era), Maithree Buddha's era is yet to come. Most of the aeons are without the arising of the Buddhas, in which the world has no option to get rid of all suffering. Nibbana is not an eternal heavenly birth, but it is the ending of the causes which gives rise to birth. When the causes are destroyed there is no more birth, no more suffering. It is well explained in the Buddha's explanation of the Pattica Samuppada(dependent origination).
What most humans do is even after they hear the Buddha's discourses on the mass of suffering one is bound to suffer, they forget it and think that it is a solution.They say out of foolishness,`why should we worry about getting rid of sorrow.We have everything in life. We have all the happiness we want already." The negative aspect of this is that they are blind of the suffering that is ahead of them. If they end up in hell or in an animal realm, it would have been all in vain because they have just lost a valuable human life which is ofcourse extremely rare to get. Practicing the dhamma in this short life we have obtained is the most wisest decision as the Buddha had said. Going after various other beliefs is a waste of time, it may help you to end up in hell(Buddha proved the concept of a God Almighty wrong, he said the world was formed by a cause and effect theory). It is also a waste of time to follow Mahayana,Hinayana which are later concepts of other people(not the Buddha), only the Theravada tradition protects the original Buddha's teachings(found mostly in Sri Lanka).
Overall, let us all take effort and make a strong will to get rid of all forms of suffering within this Gautama Buddha's era itself.
MAY YOU ATTAIN NIBBANA!
Editor