Siddhartha Gautama is among the most influential figures in history, about whom not much needs be said for over the course of millennia, not only the facts but also, and likely times more, myths are told repeatedly – and you know how it works: There always comes a time when myth and truth are indistinguishable. What’s more is that once that time passes with the victory of myths, the truth generally loses and the sides switch: Myths become truth, and truth becomes myths and lies.
When this happened with Buddhism is not known. There are three (or, if Zen is included four) main schools and thousands of sects and movements under with each thinking they’re the right one. Buddhism surely is not an (extremely) structured religion, it’s even more of a belief than religion, thanks to which not only all of them can speak to each other but also Buddhism can coexist with other religions, at times absorbing stuff and in the others giving.
The natural outcome of this characteristic of Buddhism, together with the natural process mentioned above, is that it’s hard to know what essentially is originally Buddhist and what is not. Koreans today might not identify themselves as Buddhist but their history and culture refuses so. The central monastic body of Korea, following a 2001 decision by then government to revive, cherish, and spread authentic Korean culture, which then led to contemporary Korean cultural imperialism, decided to establish a commission to, in their own words, “resurrect the Buddha’s mind as nice and neatly as Jesus did two millennia ago”. The wording is chosen to please, I reckon, the Christians in Korea who, in official reports, add up to more than the number of Buddhists in the country.
It took two years of bureaucracy until the bureaucratic necessities for the commission were finalized and, in the end, in 2004 were the elections held. The first gathering was later in that year, and they officially started working in 2005, and effectively in 2006 for there were more important things to do that year. Many obstacles did the commission face over the course of past years, from deaths of its members to budget cuts, and work still continues. Initially the final report was expected to be released for the general public within two decades, yet the size of the work was realized to be times and times more than planned in the beginning. The date, in mid-2024, was postponed to 2039 from 2034, yet no one knows if this is a realistic estimation or not.
Such grand work already has borne some fruits, yet they aren’t publicized a number of reasons, the primary one being the will to reveal them all so that the effects will be more dramatic. I, thanks to a friend from Hagicheon Monastery, in a confidential one-on-one conversation, had the privilege to learn couple of them. Albeit I am not scared of Korean state, being declared persona non grata or even being assassinated for unveiling such info in this book, am scared to break the heart of a fellow mythologist and cannot dare tell all that I learned – but am, as of May 27, 2024, allowed to tell one thing about which I got the conditional permission, and the condition is met.
So, I guess we all know that Siddhartha Gautama sat under the holy Bodhi Tree for seven weeks. We also know that Jataka stories tell about Buddha’s previous lives both as human and animal. There also is an argument, not shared by all, that Siddhartha, after attaining Buddhahood and leaving his earthly body, actually had continued reincarnating. The number of lives he had differs, but as there are “Christian Jews”, there are “reincarnated Buddhists” also and that’s what matters for us.
Here comes the part for which I got permission. You’ll learn one of the biggest things not only about Buddhism but also about history of religions. Are you ready?
Yes, Siddhartha Gautama did indeed return to our world couple more times, a total of 2.521 lives he had on this earth with 630 of them happening after Buddhahood, but the concept needs to be clarified a bit. As Einstein showed us, we are living in a universe in which there are not three but four dimensions observable by us, with the fourth being time. We all are moving in time and unlike the other three, we move in only one direction without the possibility of stopping even for a moment or going towards the opposite side. Time is like a universal constant by which we all are bound.
But not everyone is. Things get confusing at this point for those that aren’t much into mythology, for which I’ll try to be brief and on the spot: Those gods in history, most of them are true and timeless beings – they are not bound by this universal constant and can travel in all dimensions. Buddha is one of those gods. He came and lived in this world, in various forms and times, for his compassion towards these little creatures some of his fellow gods created and filled on this earth was so great and he wanted us to be able to have eternal and happy lives as gods do. Whence these gods come, where they live, what do they consume… are questions yet to be answered and we don’t know if these ever will be answered.
What’s told so far isn’t the finding yet. The secret is this: Buddha lived in 2000s too and you know where? Turkey! Can you imagine how much it excited me? No, no. Of course I am not the Buddha. Would I be writing this book, and especially this chapter if I was?
I’ll keep this part brief too: He was a fierce opponent for all his life to all governments and the society alike. His nature forced him to do and be so. As if not enough, he was a fan of Fenerbahçe, a sports club that went through its almost six-score years history’s most unsuccessful times, adding to this pile of misery. He survived all these, like many millions of us nowadays do, and one of the biggest lectures is learned in this life: Whatever the hardship, any human can take a lot and still continue. His teaching can be summarized as taking the middle way, adding resistance is thanks to his Turkish life.
Don’t believe me? Please look at the photo below:
Yellow and blue are the colours of Fenerbahçe. Do you think that it was a mere coincidence? No, my friend. Einstein is right: Gods don’t play with dice. These colours are there, just under the Buddha with a very specific gesture for a reason: This gesture is called abhayamudra, translated as the gesture of fearlessness. Buddha, here, with his hat he was wearing when attending Fenerbahçe games, does the fearlessness gesture and tells us: I survived hell in life, what can scare me I ask ye?
I hope that I don’t need to tell you that he taught his fellow Indians about this gesture, because of which it was in place before Buddhism.
Let me conclude, my dear reader, that maybe Buddha still is walking among us and can be found on Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium’s stands. Who knows? If you’re into Buddhism, I urge you to pay a pilgrimage to Turkey and if you’re lucky, maybe you’ll meet the real Buddha. Who knows?
