STORY OF BUDDHA

I am Buddha.I am honored to meet you. This is my story. The title Buddha means Enlightened One or Awakened One. In history, the Buddha refers to Gautama Siddhattha Buddha. Siddarth was born around 565 B.C. in Lumbini Park in the city of Kapilavastu in the ancient northern India, today's Nepal. He became Siddhattha Gautama, due to his aunty Gautami who served him after his mother Mahamaya's death. ." Mahamaya died on the seventh day after her delivery and her sister, Mahapajapati became the step mother of Siddhattha. Siddarth Gautam became Buddha after getting enlightenment when he was at the age of 48 years. It means birth Buddha was around 517 B.C.. The prince Siddarth grew up in an environment of care and love, respect and joy. However, he was sometimes unhappy. Buddha studied science and technology, art and philosophy, religious knowledge under the tuition of famous scholars, riding, archery, and fencing. Suddodhan 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. Siddhattha soon married the princess Yasodhara - a beautiful woman. Their son was named Rahula. Hoping to give his son pleasure, King Suddhodana arranged four trips outside the city of Kapilavastu, one through each of its four gates. On the first three occasions, Siddhattha met with - an aging man, a sick man and a corpse. In the fourth trip he met a calm, serene ascetic monk, who inspired Siddhattha to have same kind of life. "The four 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. With his great compassion, the enthusiastic prince decided to give up his worldly glory and desire, and leave home. 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 coarse clothes, the prince chose to become a Samana. Siddhatha went to Rajaghar, 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 only reaching a state of absolute tranquillity could attain the true liberation from the attachment of ignorance and suffering. He left his teachers to continue his search for the ultimate truth. He next practiced 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. Practicing 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. Realizing that asceticism had no effect in attaining enlightenment, Siddhattha decided to give up austerities. He accepted a bowl of milk from a maid Sugata. He ate and gradually recovered his strength. Knowing that neither meditation nor ascetic austerities could lead to the Enlightenment, Siddhattha stopped following existing methods but turned to find his own way. He prepared a seat with soft grass under a Bodhi tree. Sitting in the lotus posture, he made a vow not to leave until he attained enlightenment. Having struggled with Mara Papiyan (the Evil King representing all kinds of desires, hatred and ignorance) in deep meditations in the state of Samadhi, he was finally enlightened. He discovered the reality of universe, and found the path to free humanity from the suffering of birth and death thus attaining eternal happiness. --------------------------------- ******************* These are Four Nobel Truths 1. The Noble Truth of Suffering: Rebirth, old age, disease, death, sorrow, lamenting, 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. They behind leave only sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair. 2. The Noble Truth of The Arising of Suffering: 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 six fold craving, namely the eye craves for forms, the ear craves for sounds, the nose craves for odors, 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: 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: 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.