Gautama Buddha

Introduction

Buddha, also known as Siddhartha Gautama, was the son of the Shakya clan chief. Buddha belonged to Kshatriya Varna. He was never interested in earthly pleasures and since childhood, he was in search of true knowledge. He was never allowed to leave the Palace till the age of 29 when he escaped the palace without informing anyone. That day he saw four things which completely changed his life. He saw an old man, a sick man, a dead man and an ascetic. These 4 things came as a revelation to Buddha.

Buddha, also known as Siddhartha Gautama, was the son of the Shakya clan chief. Buddha belonged to Kshatriya Varna. He was never interested in earthly pleasures and since childhood, he was in search of true knowledge. He was never allowed to leave the Palace till the age of 29 when he escaped the palace without informing anyone. That day he saw four things which completely changed his life. He saw an old man, a sick man, a dead man and an ascetic. These 4 things came as a revelation to Buddha.

These signs made him realise that everyone would grow old, everyone would die and everyone would be sick and lose everything they love. He realised that life was made of suffering and that these sufferings came from wants or loss. He left all the riches, pleasure and his family and started looking for true knowledge. For years he wandered here and there living an ascetic life and following different ways to attain knowledge. At last, in Bodh Gaya of Bihar, he sat down under a Pipal tree and started meditating and attained enlightenment.

Buddha

AKS.9955, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Early life and Enlightenment

• Siddhartha Gautama was born 2500 years before modern time, that was a period of change.

• The social condition of society was changing, many new Janpadas and Mahajanpadas were forming and people were looking for the true meaning of life.

• That period is seen with the emergence of many new sects and religions.

• Buddha was the son of the Kshatriya chief of the Sakya clan. He was a prince and had all the riches and pleasures on earth.

• After he was born, the astrologers predicted that he either would be a chakravartin king or a Buddha.

• Buddha left his home at the age of 29 and renounced all earthly pleasures and went in search of true knowledge.

• Buddha wandered here and there in search of knowledge and he followed many saints who were also searching for true knowledge.

• After years of rituals and starvation Buddha did not attain enlightenment. He adopted the harshest ascetic means yet he was not satisfied.

• One day he went to the nearby village of Gaya in Bihar and sat under a pipal tree and vowed that he would not get up until he knew about the meaning of life.

• He meditated there for 7 weeks without getting up and realised the secret of life without suffering and gained enlightenment.

• He realised that life is suffering and all the suffering is because of wanting and attachment, one can free himself from suffering if he realises that everything is in flux and attachment would bring more suffering.

• After attaining true knowledge, he became the Buddha.

Buddha Teaches his disciples

myself, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons

Teachings of Buddha

• After attaining enlightenment, he travelled with his followers and spread his knowledge.

• He formed the Sangha, a community of followers of Buddha. Anyone who was a follower of Buddha could join the sangha.

• He preached his first sermon in Sarnath where he introduced four noble truths to his followers.

• The four noble truths were

• The first truth was, “Life is suffering”.

• Second truth was, “The suffering is because of wanting”.

• The third truth was, “Suffering can end with the end of want”.

• The final truth was, “There is a way which will lead one away from want and suffering”.

• He promoted non-violence toward all, and he taught people to be kind towards animals also.

• He claimed that the results of our Karma or action result in our lifetime and also affect us in the next life.

• He was against the varna system and was against the Brahmanical structure of society. He claimed that all humans should be treated equally.

• Buddha always used the language understood by common folks, so for that purpose, he adopted the use of the Prakrit language.

Eightfold path by Buddha

Buddha claimed that after knowing the four truths one is directed towards an eightfold path, which leads a person to live a life without suffering. These eightfold paths are

• Right view.
• Right action.
• Right speech.
• Right intention.
• Right livelihood.
• Right mindfulness.
• Right effort.
• Right concentration.

By realizing the four truths and following these eight paths one can break the cycle of existence and attain nirvana. While following these four truths and following the eightfold paths one can experience loss or pain but it will be different from suffering because then the person will not be ignorant of nature.

At the age of 80, Buddha accepted a spoiled meal and became severely ill and died in Kushinagar or Kushinara, in modern-day UP. Before dying he requested that after being cremated his remains were to be kept in various stupas across the region.

After his death, his followers made a pilgrimage from his birthplace to the place of enlightenment, to the place of his first teaching to the place of his Mahaprivana or passage. Buddhism became the dominant religion in India after Buddha's death and many great kings like Ashoka became its biggest Patronage.

Conclusion

Siddhartha Gautama was the former name of the Buddha. He was born in the year 563 BCE and died in 483 BCE. He was born in Lumbini, which is in modern-day Nepal. His father was chief of the Sakya clan and since childhood Siddhartha was different. One day he saw four signs, an old man, a sick man, a dead man and an Ascetic. After seeing these signs he realised that life is full of suffering and there is no escape from it. So, he left all his possessions and home and went in search of the truth. After years of hard meditation, he became the Buddha.

FAQs

Q1. What was the Sangha?

Ans: Sangha was a community of followers of Buddha. These followers walked from place to place with Buddha and spread his teachings.

Q2. Why did the Buddha use the Prakrit language?

Ans: Buddha wanted to spread his knowledge to common folks and Sanskrit was spoken by only the high-class Brahmans, so buddha chose the language of commons, which was Prakrit.

Q3. What are the stupas?

Ans: Stupas are structures, where the last remains of Buddha were kept after his cremation. There are many stupas in India.

Q4. What was the pilgrimage of Buddhism?

Ans: After the death of Buddha, Buddhists started a yearly pilgrimage from the birthplace of Buddha to the place of his enlightenment to the place of first teaching and last the place of his cremation.

Q5. How did Buddhism become famous?

Ans: After the death of Buddha, his followers kept spreading his teachings, Sangha were flourishing the ideas of nirvana and kings like Ashoka became the great patronage for Buddhism.