The
Discovery of a New Dhamma
Gautama when he sat in meditation for getting new light was greatly in
the grip of the Sankhya Philosophy.
That suffering and
unhappiness in the world he thought was an incontrovertible fact.
Gautama was, however, interested in
knowing how to do away with suffering. This problem the Sankhya
Philosophy did not deal with. It is, therefore, on this problem—how to
remove suffering and unhappiness—that he concentrated his mind.
Naturally, the first question he asked himself was—"
What are the causes of suffering and unhappiness which an individual
undergoes?"
His second question was—" How to remove
unhappiness? “To both these questions he
got a right answer which is called 'Samma
Bodhi' (Right Enlightenment). It is
because of this that the Pipal Tree has come to be known as the
Bodhi Tree.
Before enlightenment Gautama was only a Bodhisatta. It is after
reaching enlightenment that he became a Buddha.
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