In an attempt to show people the importance of their knowledge, wisdom and good deeds, the Buddha once said, ‘The fragrance of a flower goes from mountain to mountain, the fragrance of a person goes beyond the mountain.’ No matter how beautiful and fragrant it is, its scent only reaches a short distance until the wind blows it away, but there is no other short sentence that is more formulaic and intense in its expression than this.

Again, the fragrance of a flower is also temporary, as long as it is a flower. The fragrance of enlightenment lasts for eternity. An example of this is the Buddha himself. What to speak of the common people who were contemporary with Siddhartha Gautama, who was born twenty-five hundred years ago, there is no trace of the emperors of that time. The clouds of time, however, could not prevent the glory of Shakyamuni Gautama, who attained enlightenment. On the contrary, as time passes, the Buddha becomes more relevant, true, bright and extremely necessary.

Why? As the saying goes, the fragrance of flowers spreads over mountains, the fragrance of people spreads over mountains, he attained the highest flower of human consciousness, Buddhahood, and he revealed to the world the means to completely destroy suffering. Then, Ashoka, who had been killing people in the frenzy of power, thinking that he would conquer the world, took refuge in him in the fire of repentance and started preaching the Buddha's philosophy all over the world, believing that this was the true way to conquer the world.

The life of the finger-fingered people, who were eager to kill countless people without meaning due to the false vision of liberation after wearing a garland of a thousand fingers, also found the true path of life in the light of the knowledge of Shakyamuni Buddha.

As civilization changed its course, many religions, philosophies and sects were born. As human knowledge matured, the more people began to question those philosophies and religions. Some beliefs and rituals were proven false by science. As science developed, the more Buddha was proven to be true. And, the more people became unhappy, the more they searched for him. After all, what is there in Buddha that others do not have? That is – truth that can be tested by one's own experience.

To get rid of suffering, religious traditions urge us to take refuge. Krishna says – Sarva dharma parityajya, maamekam sharanam braj (Abandon all religions and take refuge in me). Christ says – Do not talk about knowledge, just love me, surrender, serve me and only then will you enter the kingdom of God. Mohammed says – Take refuge in Allah alone.

All gurus promise happiness after taking refuge in them, having faith and believing in them. Buddha, however, proclaims that even if someone tells you, do not believe, awaken your own conscience – Appa Deepo Bhava.

His statement that the vision of truth cannot be achieved without becoming a light yourself was not a sermon but his own living experience. The idea that suffering can be eradicated only by taking refuge in an imaginary God or the priests and scholars of those imaginary Gods like the agents of the modern betting market and having faith in them gave birth to a great hypocrisy. The pages of world history are stained with blood with countless stories of exploitation and wars in the name of religion. Buddha, however, stands completely apart from this. There is no room for deceit in his teaching that there is no knowledge in believing in someone without knowing it himself. His teaching has made man not a follower of anyone, but a glorious explorer of independent discovery.

The life of Buddha, who left his throne and kingdom in a society of thousands of greedy people who spent crores to win the post of ward chairman and were eager to die and kill if they did the same, in search of knowledge, seems attractive. However, the real attraction of Buddha is not in his sacrifice, but in the knowledge he gained. And, in the light of that knowledge, every person has the possibility of reaching his state, so the attraction towards him is increasing.

Buddha is not the name of a person. It is an ultimate state of consciousness. In a normal state, a person is in suffering. Because, his conscious state is polluted due to various thoughts, emotions and experiences. A person in such a sad state does not have the light of knowledge. Therefore, he is a Buddha. In this sense, we are all Buddhas. Siddhartha Gautama himself was a Buddha. But when he was able to completely destroy suffering and knew its solution, the light of knowledge was fully illuminated in him, which is the natural state of every human being. And he became a Buddha. And, he saw – every Buddha can be a Buddha.

In the state of true enlightenment, he saw – there is suffering in the world, there is a cause of suffering, there are paths beyond suffering and there is life beyond suffering. The entire philosophy of Buddha is based on these four truths. These four truths are called the highest or noble truths of life.

No philosophy or special knowledge is needed to understand that there is suffering in life. Not only humans but every living being has to face something step by step, that is suffering. Having a body, we experience suffering and happiness, that is something that all living beings naturally experience. Knowingly or unknowingly, all our efforts are motivated in a way to eliminate suffering and increase happiness. In doing so, a kind of pattern is formed in our life. And, at the center of that pattern is craving. This fire of desire, which can never be satisfied, sometimes makes a person angry, sometimes sad, sometimes angry, and sometimes disappointed. From corruption to theft and from murder to suicide, this desire is the cause.

What is the cause of this great organizer of suffering? Buddha's sermon states that it is ignorance. Another name for ignorance is ignorance. Not only humans, but all living beings are surrounded or covered by this darkness of ignorance. However, only humans have the consciousness and ability to recognize that darkness as darkness and search for light. Therefore, Buddha has called human life the most important life. Only the living being who has assumed the body of a human has the ability to attain Buddhahood, that is, to destroy suffering forever.

Humans are spending this precious human life only in earning wealth, attaining position, and enjoying the pleasures of youth. In order to manage a mind that is not calm even after getting it or not getting it, people have become addicted to gambling, entertainment, pleasure, and intoxicants ranging from cannabis, ecstasy, alcohol, hashish, and heroin. When the mind is not calmed even by this, they are doomed to wander in many dark mental alleys of tension, anxiety, restlessness, and confusion. In this emotional state, many crimes and self-harming misdeeds are born. Even in wars fought in the name of so-called patriotism, if we look for the cause, we find this same confusion, restlessness, and anger.

Seeing that all this was due to ignorance, the Buddha taught the eight noble paths to escape from it in a simple way that people could understand. The other eightfold path, or the path with eight limbs, is - right view, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right practice, right mindfulness and right concentration.

The more one adopts these eight simple paths, the more he gets rid of suffering. We can try this simple experiment in our own lives. The first starting point is perspective, which must be right. If the perspective itself is not right, then it is natural that all subsequent perspectives will be wrong. When we look at the world through black glasses, it appears black, and when we look at it through green glasses, it appears green. We are looking at the world through the invisible glasses of our experience-based perspective and seeing the scene accordingly. Just as the world is a flower in the eyes of a flower, we form an opinion about it without knowing the reality of the world and seek situations, people, systems and results that are in accordance with that opinion. However, truth is not something that can be contained in any perception. It is an element that must be absorbed as it is, separated from perception.

Buddha has called right view the way to see life and the world as it is. Buddha says – to be able to see everything as impermanent and non-self is the right view. We want to maintain happiness forever. The mind wishes that the things, time and people that we find dear never change. However, every material and immaterial thing in the world is perishable, impermanent and short. It is never possible to have a permanent grip on them. In the same way, one who can see and perceive every experience of life will not rejoice in its favorable conditions and will not be saddened by its unfavorable conditions.

All the material and immaterial things seen in the world do not have a permanent existence, that is, they are void. When you look at them, they are visible, but if you search deeply for their root source, you will find void. Just as a chariot is visible when you look at it, if you break down the thing called a 'chariot', you will find only a horse, a wheel, a reins, etc. . Then, if you search for the original source of each of those things, you will find the wheel in wood, wood in a tree, and a tree in a seed, and the seed in an old tree . And, each of these trees, horses, or any other substance is an element that has developed due to the proper combination of air, water, soil, rays of light, etc. . Knowing that a substance appears or disappears into existence due to many other substances or causes, it is not indestructible and eternal in itself is knowing the non-self aspect of the world . That is, knowing nothingness . Until you know this, a person will grasp the world roughly and will fall into deception step by step from its delusional state . And the experience of suffering will make him suffocate .

The discovery of modern science, ‘Quantum Physics’, has also discovered that there is no particle in the ultimate unit of matter, but rather that it exists in the form of waves, and that the same matter sometimes appears as a molecule and sometimes as a wave. This accurately confirms the Buddha’s philosophy of anatma or emptiness.

We move forward in life with many resolutions, plans and thoughts. But if all of them are such that they increase ignorance, then suffering is automatically born. If they are such that they reduce ignorance, then suffering is destroyed. Therefore, Buddha has taught that after right view, another important path is the need to have right resolve. Similarly, to eliminate suffering, the Buddha has called right speech, that is, right speech that does not cause suffering to oneself or anyone else, right action, that is, right livelihood, that is, a business or employment or trade that does not harm anyone, right practice, that is, the repeated use of these five things, right mindfulness, that is, living mindfully in every moment, and right concentration, that is, the work of making the mind calm without the help of any object, intoxicant, or person, the best ways to eliminate suffering.

To say this, he visited people's homes for the entire 44 years after attaining enlightenment. Tens of thousands of Buddha's followers followed this initiative during that time. Buddhist philosophy was established as a religion and at one time it influenced the entire world. British historian William Dalrymple recently wrote a book (in 2024) about how Buddhist philosophy influenced every corner of the hemisphere and all levels of civilization within a thousand years – ‘The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World’.

After the Muslim invasion of India and the beginning of Christian conquest of the world, the global influence of Buddhist philosophy declined for a thousand years. However, in the past 50 years, due to the discoveries and evidence made by Western psychology and science, especially neuroscience and physics, the Buddha has been sought more intensively.

Buddhist philosophy has become increasingly relevant in today’s complex, fast-paced and volatile world. Amid the rapid development of technology, consumerism, mental stress, war, environmental crisis and the decline of human values, the teachings of the Buddha have the potential to guide today’s humanity.

The Buddha preached the ‘middle way’ to avoid both extremes of excessive indulgence and harsh asceticism. Today's world also seems to be divided into two poles. On one side, excessive consumption, on the other, extreme renunciation or rejection. The middle path is the formula for balance in today's lifestyle. Work and rest, technology and nature, materiality and spirituality. Maintaining balance between all these is the need of the day. The middle path of Buddha shows the way to this balance.

Today, 'mindfulness' is becoming established as a scientifically proven practice all over the world. Its roots are found in the concept of right mindfulness or sati of Buddha. 'Mindfulness' is the art of living fully aware in the present moment. Today's psychologists have considered 'mindfulness' an effective way to reduce stress, anxiety and depression. But for Buddha, it is not just a treatment, but a whole philosophy of living life.

Today's world is full of violence, war, hatred and division. Conflicts between different countries, religious fanaticism, and ethnic divisions have all challenged the core values ​​of humanity. Buddha placed non-violence and compassion at the center of life. He said, ‘Just as fire cannot put out fire, it needs water, similarly hatred never ends hatred, it ends only with love.’ This message is very necessary for today’s world.