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Few of the details of the Buddha's life can be independently
verified, and it is difficult to determine what is history and
what is myth.
According to most Buddhist traditions, Siddhattha Gautama, the
future Buddha lived many lives before coming to our present
world era. In his many existences during the long, long period
of time and in the one hundred thousand worlds, the future
Buddha had fulfilled the Ten Paramitas, and, in order to save
this world, he was to be born in our era and to become a fully
enlightened Buddha.
Siddhartha Gautama was born in Lumbini (a town situated in
modern Nepal, near the Indian border) under the full moon of
May to the clan of the Shakyas, a warrior tribe. The day of
his birth is widely celebrated in Buddhist countries as Vesak.
Gautama's father was the king of Kapilavastu in Magadha, and
Gautama was born a prince, destined to a life of luxury.
Before Siddartha Gautama's birth, his mother dreamed
of a white elephant presenting her with a lotus flower.
During the birth celebrations, a seer announced that this baby
would either become a great king or a great holy man.
Since King Suddhodana had long awaited a child, he and
everyone else in the palace rejoiced at the birth of a son.
The King immediately called a famous wise sage, Asita. Asita
told the king, "If he remains at home, the child will become
the Wheel-rolling King. If he leaves home, he will become the
great teacher, the Buddha."
His father, wishing for Gautama to be a great king, shielded
his son from religious teachings or knowledge of human
suffering.
His mother Maya, died, on the seventh day after her delivery
and Maya's sister, Mahapajapati became the step mother of
Siddhattha. The prince grew up in an environment of care and
love, respect and joy. However, he was sometimes unhappy.
At a palace festival, the young prince sat down under a tree
and was soon lost in meditation. It is said that though the
shadows of all the trees had lengthened, the shadow of the
tree under which he sat had not moved.
Buddha studied science and technology, art and philosophy,
religious knowledge under the tuition of famous scholars,
riding, archery, and fencing. He excelled at everything. His
expected much from his son and made him crown prince and heir
apparent.
But this did not please the young man, who steadily grew to be
thoughtful and depressed.
To cheer him up, his worried father and foster mother built
three palaces, one for cold weather, one for hot weather, and
one for the rainy season. They appointed many beautiful court
ladies to wait on him and arranged banquets with dancing and
music.
Hoping to give his son pleasure, King Suddhodana arranged four
trips outside the city of Kapilavastu, one through each of its
four gates.
At the age of thirteen, Gautama was escorted by his attendant
Channa on four subsequent visits outside of the palace.
There, he came across the "four sights": an old crippled man,
a diseased man, a decaying corpse, and finally an ascetic.
Gautama realized then the harsh truth of life - that death,
disease, age, and pain were inescapable, that the poor
outnumbered the wealthy, and that even the pleasures of the
rich eventually came to nothing.
"The four sights/gates" represent the state of mind of the
prince with respect to the suffering of aging, illness and
death. Superficial prosperity in economy and relative
stability in political environment cannot relieve people from
worry, fear, anxiety and suffering and cannot lead them to
ultimate happiness.
As the boy reached the age of 16, his father arranged a
marriage to a cousin of the same age, Yashodhara, and she gave
birth to a son, Rahula. Although his father ensured that
Gautama was provided with everything he could want or need,
Gautama was constantly troubled and internally dissatisfied.
The future Buddha bid farewell to his wife, Princess Yasodhara
and new son, Rahula, before renouncing the householder's life
to seek an end to suffering. He would devote himself to search
for the ultimate truth.
Though his love to his family may have hindered him, the birth
of his son, Rahula, provided a favorable occasion for his
departure since with the birth of his son, Siddattha had
fulfilled his karma to his father and his wife according to
the Indian tradition.
Departing from the palace and the wearing rags, the prince
chose to become a Samana.
The young ascetic practiced extreme self-mortification for six
years in the hopes of discovering Truth. It is said he ate
little more than a single sesame seed or grain of rice each
day. After these six years he determined to continue his quest
in a new manner. He practiced a Middle Way between
self-mortification and self- indulgence.
During that time, Siddhatha went to Rajagaha, the capital of
Magadha, which was the centre of culture with many orthodox
and unorthodox monks.
By that time, the two major disciplines for the sake of
enlightenment were meditation and ascetic austeritics.
Siddhattha studyied meditation under two famous teachers,
Alara-Kalama and Uddaka-Ramaputta.
The state attained by Alara-Kalama was that of a much higher
formless world where physical matter no longer exists.
Uddaka-Ramaputta reached an even higher state at which neither
thought nor non-thought existed.
Siddhatha did not find it difficult to attain either state.
Attaining these states of mind did not ease his mental
anxieties, because once he stopped meditation, he returned to
the mental state of depression.
He knew that the true liberation from the attachment of
ignorance and suffering could be attained only by reaching a
state of absolute tranquility.
He left his teachers to continue his search for the ultimate
truth.
He next practised asceticism, which was very common among
Samanas. They believed that the human suffering was caused by
the attachment to the physical body and the mental spirit.
Suffering can only be freed by detaching the spirit imposed by
the body. Therefore, they tormented themselves for the purpose
of weakening the power of the physical body over the mental
spirit, until the body was destructed.
Siddhattha passed through the country of Magadha to the town
of Uruvela, where he settled in a grove of trees to find
enlightenment.
Practising austerities for six years, he was extremely tough
on himself and put himself through many difficult tests after
which was became so weak his body was nothing more than skin
and bones.
Soon thereafter, a young woman offered the future Buddha a
bowl of rice and milk.
He accepted it, restored his strength, and began his practice
anew.
He sat under the shade of a pippala tree (now called a Bodhi
tree) determined not to rise until fully enlightened. He
accepted a bowl of milk from a maid Sugata. He ate and
gradually recovered his strength. Soon he realized the 4 Noble
Truths and the secret to true peace and happiness.
These Are My Four Nobel Truths
1. The Noble Truth of Suffering: There is Suffering - Rebirth,
old age, disease, death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and
despair, association with objects we dislike, separation from
objects we love, not to obtain what one desires cause
suffering. There are also many happy hours and pleasure in
man's life-time, but according to the law of nature, they are
impermanent and these last only for a short time and vanish
into nothing. Only sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and
despair are left by them behind.
2. The Noble Truth of The Arising of Suffering: Suffering has
an origin - The Threefold Craving leads every being from birth
to birth and is accompanied by joy and lust, seeking its
gratification here and there, namely: Sensual Craving, Craving
for Existence and Craving for Wealth and Power. There are also
a sixfold craving, namely the eye craves for forms, the ear
craves for sounds, the nose craves for odours, the tongue
craves for taste, the body craves for objects, and the mind
craves for noun, dreams or illusions. These Cravings and
ignorance of the law of nature are the condition of origin of
individual suffering.
3. The Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering: Suffering
Can Cease - The condition of cessation of suffering is the
complete fading away and extinction of this three fold
craving, forsaking it and giving it up, the liberation and
detachment from it. The condition of mind of a person who has
been giving up his threefold cravings or this sixfold craving
together with ignorance can realize Nirvana (or the Extinction
of the Cravings).
4. The Noble Truth of The Path leading to the Cessation of
Suffering: There is a Path our of Suffering - It is the 'Noble
Eightfold Path' (or the 'Middle Path' because it avoids the
two extremes of sensual pleasure and self-mortification), that
leads to the Cessation of Suffering.
He discovered the reality of universe, and found the path to
free humanity from the suffering of birth and death thus
attaining eternal happiness.
As a Buddha, an awakened one, he returned to teach his five
fellow practitioners the Noble Truth of Unsatisfactoriness,
the Noble truth of the Cause (Craving), the Noble Truth of
Cessation, and the Noble 8-fold Path leading to the cessation
of all suffering. The wheel of Dharma had been set in motion.
The Buddha gained many followers. On one occasion 1,250 monks
gathered spontaneously to hear his teaching. (This day is
commemorated as a holiday in Buddhist countries.)
This engraving depicts the Buddha's first sermon, which
according to the Dhammacakka Pavattana Sutta took place in the
Deer Park at Sarnath in northern India.
After 45 years of teaching the Dharma, the Buddha passed into
Parinirvana. In his last sermon, he encouraged his disciples
to diligently seek the truth and not to hold on to that which
is impermanent.
Words of Kindness
This is what should be done
Be the one who is skilled in goodness,
And who knows the path of peace:
Let them be able and upright,
Straightforward and gentle in speech.
Humble and not conceited,
Contented and easily satisfied.
Unburned with duties and frugal in their ways.
Peaceful and calm, and wise and skillful,
Not proud and demanding in nature.
Let them not do the slightest thing
That the wise would later reprove.
Wishing: In gladness and in safety,
May all beings be at ease.
Whatever living beings there may be;
Whether they are weak or strong, omitting none,
The great or the mighty, medium, short or small,
The seen and the unseen,
Those living near and far away,
Those born and to-be-born,
May all beings be at ease!
Let none deceive another,
Or despise any being in any state.
Let none through anger or ill-will
Wish harm upon another.
Even as a mother protects with her life,
Her child, her only child,
So with a boundless heart
Should one cherish all living beings:
Radiating kindness over the entire world
Spreading upwards to the skies,
And downwards to the depths;
Outward and unbounded,
Freed from hatred and ill-will.
Whether standing or walking, seated or lying down
Free from drowsiness,
One should sustain this recollection.
This is said to be the sublime abiding.
By not holding to fixed views,
The pure-hearted one, having clarity of vision,
Being freed from all sense desires,
Is not born again into this world.
I would be honored if you would
Join me in Meditation.
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