Who was the Buddha?
Buddhism started with the Buddha. The word ‘Buddha’ is a title, which means ‘one who is awake’ — in the sense of having ‘woken up to reality’. The Buddha was born as Siddhartha Gautama in Nepal around 2,500 years ago. He did not claim to be a god or a prophet. He was a human being who became Enlightened, understanding life in the deepest way possible. Siddhartha was born into the royal family of a small kingdom on the Indian-Nepalese border. According to the traditional story he had a privileged upbringing, but was jolted out of his sheltered life on realising that life includes the harsh facts of old age, sickness, and death. This prompted him to puzzle over the meaning of life. Eventually he felt impelled to leave his palace and follow the traditional Indian path of the wandering holy man, a seeker after Truth. He became very adept at meditation under various teachers, and then took up ascetic practices. This was based on the belief that one could free the spirit by denying the flesh
Normally we refer to Shakyamuni Buddha as the historical Buddha. Born in 563 BCE as Siddhartha Gautama, the son of a prince, after observing suffering he renounced his heritage to become a wandering ascetic. Later he found that within the “Middle Way” between wealth and extreme poverty was the path for escaping from the cycle of suffering (samsara) and the attainment of freedom from suffering (nirvana). The content of his teaching, based upon his path to Enlightenment, can be found in his Four Noble Truths. Shakyamuni Buddha is considered the historical Buddha of our age. Actually Buddhists believe that there were other Buddhas before him and that there will be others after him.
In the year 563 B.C. a baby was born into a royal family in northern India. He grew up in wealth and luxury but eventually found that worldly comforts and security do not guarantee happiness. He was deeply moved by the suffering he saw all around and resolved to find the key to human happiness. When he was 29 he left his wife and child and set off to sit at the feet of the great religious teachers of the day to learn from them. They taught him much but none really knew the cause of human suffering and how it could be overcome. Eventually, after six years study and meditation he had an experience in which all ignorance fell away and he suddenly understood. From that day onwards, he was called the Buddha, the Awakened One. He lived for another 45 years in which time he travelled all over the northern India teaching others what he had discovered. His compassion and patience were legendary and he had thousands of followers. In his eightieth year, old and sick, but still happy and at peace,
The Buddha was not a god, but a man whose own efforts led him to enlightenment. He was born in Lumbini, Northern India (now Nepal) in the 6th Century B.C., on the full-moon day of May, to the royal family of Gotama. He was called Prince Siddhatta, and at sixteen married the lovely princess Yasodhara. His life was one of endless pleasure and privilege. He hadn’t a care in the world. His father, however, had. Shortly after his birth, several astrologers predicted that Siddhatta was destined to become either a great ruler or a Buddha. But his father, who did not wish to see his son become a religious ascetic, shielded Siddhatta from every form of ugliness and pain, hoping to keep him ignorant of the world’s suffering. At the same time he tried to strengthen his son’s attachment to worldly pleasures. That strategy worked until Siddhatta, during several chariot rides through the kingdom, happened to see an old man, a sick man, and a human corpse. Finally he saw the fourth “sign,” a holy man
In this unit: To find out who the Buddha was, you need to go back to the beginning. The Buddha lived in India more than two thousand five hundred years ago. His teachings are known as Buddhism. Even as a boy, Siddhartha, the Buddha-to-be, liked to meditate. This is how he became enlightened. His teachings help people to live wisely and happily.
