Birth of the Buddhist Faith
More than 2,500 years ago, Prince Siddharta Gautama was born in what’s presently called Lumbini in Nepal. He was born a prince and his birth was received with many uncommon signs that suggested a life of greatness. The prince’s father asked a wiseman who lived within the kingdom for guidance about his boy. The sage man theorized that the prince, Siddharta Gautama, would either follow in his father’s footsteps and turn out to be a great king or he would become a spiritual leader.
In hopes that his son would definitely end up his heir, the king did his best to separate the prince from those activities that might motivate him toward a spiritual existence. The prince was bombarded by luxury and excess, all of the benefits that his royal status could provide. Siddharta Gautama turned out to be to be a smart scholar and outstanding sportsman. He married a stunning woman whom he loved and they bore a child.
At the age of 29, the prince found out that the world surrounding him was a great deal more problematic than he experienced in the walls of his palace. Out and about amongst the people of the kingdom, he observed actuality: sickness, old-age and death. The great shock of this finding left the youthful prince shaken. He decided then to dedicate himself to ending the suffering. Leaving behind his wife and child behind, the prince forsaked his worldly property and embarked on a spiritual quest.
Guatama commenced a course of study under numerous instructors to master their particular practices. With the help of Alara Kalama, he soon started to learn meditation and discovered an exalted form referred to as absorption. This permitted him to accomplish a state of nothingness where there was no moral or cognitive dimensions. While this was useful it was clear to the former prince that it wouldn’t eliminate the suffering he had witnessed. Guatama continued his search for other people who could possibly aid him on his spiritual voyage. Udraka Ramputra, aided Gautama to perceive a state of neither perception or non-perception, but this to wasn’t just what he was looking for. The next step in the quest led Gautama to Uruvilva in Northern India. It was there he chose an ascetic way, experiencing a life of deprival for nearly 6 years. This only resulted in the destruction of his entire body, weakness and self-destruction. Even though it cost him his five followers, Gautama rejected this ascetic way of life.
The end of this spiritual journey appeared as far away as ever, so the Buddha sat down under a Bodhi tree and announced that “flesh may wither, blood may dry up, but I shall not rise from the spot until Enlightenment has been one.” After 40 days and nights of thought and meditation, the Buddha at long last achieved Enlightenment.
It is the Buddhist understanding that at that moment he achieved a state of being that surpasses anything else in the world. Each of our normal experiences are based on preconceptions and circumstances: how we were raised, our experiences, imperfections and shortcomings. Enlightenment is a state in which the complicated inner workings of existence become apparent and the cause of man’s suffering identified.
For the next 45 years, the Buddha journeyed through much of what is now north India. He taught the way of Enlightenment to all that desired to understand. This particular instruction came to be referred to as the dharma or “the teaching of the enlightened one. The Buddha took many disciples that subsequently achieved their own Enlightenment and they taught others.
Buddhists believe that Buddha achieved a state of existence that goes out beyond anything else in the world. If normal experience is based on conditions – childhood, mindsets, viewpoints, perceptions, and so forth – Enlightenment is Unconditioned. It was a state when the Buddha acquired insight into the deepest workings of life and therefore, into the cause of human suffering, the challenge that had set Him on His spiritual journey originally.
The Buddha wasn’t a god and did not consider himself as a divine person. He was just a human who endeavored to transform himself through self reflection and meditation. Buddhists view him as an ideal and his journey as a guideline that can lead them on the path to enlightenment.
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