THE BUDDHISM
THE LIFE OF LORD BUDDHA
THE LIFE OF LORD BUDDHA
There was a small kingdom in Nepal whose capital was Kepilvastu. One night, the queen of this kingdom, Queen Maya, wife of King Sudodhana, had a dream. She dreamt that she saw a brilliant white light shining down to her from the sky, and in the rays of the light there was a magnificent, pure white elephant. This elephant had six tusks. It flew closer to her and melted into her body. After waking up, she went to the king who in turn asked the wise men the significance of this dream. They told the king that the queen was going to give birth to a great man. In the course of time the queen gave birth to a male child in Lumbini which was on her way to her father's house. The boy was named Siddharth.
He was very sensitive from the childhood. He was greatly touched by pain, sickness, old age, etc. that we see in our daily lives. His father was quite concerned at his son's views of life, so he got his son married to a princess of a neighbouring state. Her name was Yashodhara. In the course of time, they had a son who was named Rahula.
One night, Siddharth left the palace in search of truth.
He came to Vaishali and spent some time amongst the Jain monks. He found this life style to be of extreme penance and austerity, so he left the place and went to the Magadha capital called Rajgriha, where King Bimbisar was ruling. Then he continued on beyond the Hindu holy town of Gaya. He crossed the Niranjana (Phalagu) river and entered a forest. He found a group of five wise men in the forest. They practised penance to control suffering. Siddharth practised extreme penance for six years and grew very weak and thin. Nearby the forest, lived Sujata and her husband, a herdsman. She once took a delicious meal called `khir (a kind of pudding)' in the local language into the forest as an offering to the spirits. On seeing Siddharath in meditation, she thought he was the spirit. So she offered him the food which he took. Finally, after some time, he obtained enlightenment under a fig (Pipal) tree.</h3>After his enlightenment, he travelled to Sarnath and gave his first sermon to the wise men who had left him in the forest. He also gave sermons on the Vulture Peak at Rajgriha to King Bimbisar . He went to Vaishali several times, and there he gave a sermon even to Amrapali who was the famous dancer. He accepted her invitation to come to her mango grove. It was not liked by the chiefs of Vaishali. It was here, he allowed women, his foster mother, his wife and Amrapali, etc., to join the Samgham ( Order ) as nuns at the request of his disciple Ananda. He died at Kushinagar close to his place of birth at the age of 80 in the year 483 B.C..
He was very sensitive from the childhood. He was greatly touched by pain, sickness, old age, etc. that we see in our daily lives. His father was quite concerned at his son's views of life, so he got his son married to a princess of a neighbouring state. Her name was Yashodhara. In the course of time, they had a son who was named Rahula.
One night, Siddharth left the palace in search of truth.
He came to Vaishali and spent some time amongst the Jain monks. He found this life style to be of extreme penance and austerity, so he left the place and went to the Magadha capital called Rajgriha, where King Bimbisar was ruling. Then he continued on beyond the Hindu holy town of Gaya. He crossed the Niranjana (Phalagu) river and entered a forest. He found a group of five wise men in the forest. They practised penance to control suffering. Siddharth practised extreme penance for six years and grew very weak and thin. Nearby the forest, lived Sujata and her husband, a herdsman. She once took a delicious meal called `khir (a kind of pudding)' in the local language into the forest as an offering to the spirits. On seeing Siddharath in meditation, she thought he was the spirit. So she offered him the food which he took. Finally, after some time, he obtained enlightenment under a fig (Pipal) tree.</h3>After his enlightenment, he travelled to Sarnath and gave his first sermon to the wise men who had left him in the forest. He also gave sermons on the Vulture Peak at Rajgriha to King Bimbisar . He went to Vaishali several times, and there he gave a sermon even to Amrapali who was the famous dancer. He accepted her invitation to come to her mango grove. It was not liked by the chiefs of Vaishali. It was here, he allowed women, his foster mother, his wife and Amrapali, etc., to join the Samgham ( Order ) as nuns at the request of his disciple Ananda. He died at Kushinagar close to his place of birth at the age of 80 in the year 483 B.C..
