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"Started out as a prince, but rejected the
pleasures of the world to seek enlightenment"
Buddha, the Indian philosopher and founder of Buddhism, was born in
Kapilvastu, India, just inside present-day Nepal, over 2500 years ago. The
whole life of Buddha can be seen in an illustrated form.
The Conception
Siddhartha Gautama, known as Buddha, the "Awakened," was the
son of the ruler of Sakya-land, a region lying to the northeast of India,
now Nepal. The date of his birth is placed about 557 BC.
The New Birth
Buddha showed an early inclination to meditation and reflection,
displeasing his father, who wanted him to be a warrior and ruler rather
than a religious philosopher. Yielding to his father's wishes, he married
at an early age and participated in the worldly life of the court. But the
four encounters mainly a sight of a decrepit old man, a severely ill man,
and a corpse being carried to the funeral pyre by mourners brought a
disenchantment with his life of pleasure. He was born a warrior prince,
but at the age of twenty-nine, after having married and had a son, he
determined to renounce the world. Abandoning his family and possessions,
he gave himself up to asceticism and concentration of thought, and started
the search of knowledge to satisfy his spiritual quest.
Enlightenment
Wandering as a mendicant over northern India, Buddha first investigated
Hinduism. He took instruction from some famous Brahman teachers, but he
found the Hindu caste system repellent and Hindu asceticism futile. After
seven years, he concluded that this method brought him no nearer to the
wisdom he sought as a means of escaping rebirth into a life which he had
found not worth living, and for a time he tried starvation and
self-torture. This also availed him nothing; when suddenly, sitting under
the sacred fig-tree at Bodhi Gaya, he became illumined and saw the Great
Truths. Henceforth he was "Buddha."
His Teachings
Gautama's first aim had been merely his own salvation; but moved by pity
for mankind he resolved to bestow on others the Four Great Truths and the
eight-fold path. Beginning his sermon at Benaras, he traveled along with
his followers, through the valley of the Ganges River, teaching his
doctrines, gathering followers, and establishing monastic communities that
admitted anyone regardless of caste.
Ultimate Departure
Buddha was one of the greatest human beings, a man of noble character,
penetrating vision, warm compassion, and profound thought. After 45 years
of missionary activity Buddha died in Kusinagara, Nepal but Buddha's
teachings have influenced the lives of millions of people for nearly 2500
years.