Gautama Buddha
Gautama Buddha was the
founder of Buddhism, a religion based on the unbounded love for humanity
and personal salvation from suffering.
His life is
exemplary, to be imitated as the ideal one and that is why it is the
cornerstone of the Buddhist religion.
In personal
control of one’s life, in the story of entitlement, in his renunciation, in his
achievement of spiritual growth and in redeeming knowledge he had been
portrayed as a super Hero.
In the face of death also he maintained his
characteristic calm and meditative state and left those assembled around him impressed
with his composure. Buddha was probably born about the year 560 B.C into the
aristocratic Sakya clan, in kapilavasthu in the wooden garden of Lumbini.
His father was Suddhodana while his mother was
Queen Maya, who died 7 days after giving his birth, So his father
married his mother sister prajapati. His Family name was Gautam and the prince was named Siddhartha on the 5th day of
his birth.
Legend has
it that his father prevented him from leaving home to become a Monk by giving
him a life of indulgence and surrounding him with sensual pressures. He was
married to Yasodhara at a young and and
bore him a son who was name Rahul.
Every effort
of his father to tie him down failed when Gautam encountered the reality of old
age, sickness and death while out for a chariot ride.
On his return to the palace, he was a transformed man, reflecting upon the
suffering and sorrow against the princely pleasures that sheltered him and
transient nature of it all.
In the depth of the night, after a last
glimpse of his wife and sleeping infant, he left the palace in search of truth.
Thus began his historic quest if the inner peace, in the
Twenty-Ninth year of his birth.
He travelled far across the Ganges to a place
near Gaya, where he lived for 6 years and seeking wisdom through the practice
if penance of the ascetic. When nothing happened he realized the mortification
of flesh had to be rejected just like over indulgence in sensual powers.
Spiritual happiness was possible only with healthy body in one’s pursuit of of
wisdom.
This was the 1st step to the middle
way, which became the central point of his Dharma. Gautam dreamed the five
dreams pointed to the fact that He was about to become Buddha.
The next day he accepted a meal of some rich
milk rice, specially prepared with utmost care by a lady named Sujata. He went
and sat under the Bodhi Tree facing east with
resolve of getting up after entitlement.
On the night of the full moon, he ascended the
four stages of dhyana and when the bodhisattva’s victory making him the Buddha
or the entitled one. He preached his 1st
sermon in the Deer park near Varanasi.
This sermon contains the essence of the
Buddhism. After 45 years of teaching his doctrines to the people with a serene
mind and firm resolve of his purpose, He died in Kusinagar, as a result of
eating of contaminated food.
He was nearing the age of 80. Buddha’s greatness lies in his noble disposition, deep
vision, and profound wisdom yoked with a warm sense of compassion.
His rejection of Hinduism as it existed then,
for more logical thought, had a great influence on people and till today his
teachings guide a lives of Millions all around the globe.
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