Siddhartha Essay Research Paper The Life of

Siddhartha Essay, Research Paper

The Life of the Buddha

Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, was born in the 6th or 5th century BC in the kingdom of the Sakyas on the borders of present day Nepal to King Suddhodana and Queen Mahamaya of the warrior caste. The boy would grow to become the Buddha, the spiritual leader whose life and teachings are the foundation of the lives of millions of Buddhists today.

The story of Siddhartha’s life actually begins with a dream that Queen Mahamaya had before the prince was born: She dreamt that a white and silver elephant entered her womb through her side. Brahmans (wise men) who interpreted the dream said that her child would become either a great ruler or a great spiritual leader.

Predictions of Siddhartha’s greatness were made again when Mahamaya gave birth to her son in Lumbini on the full-moon day of May. Upon Siddhartha’s arrival the King’s religious advisor, the great sage Asita, determined also that the prince had the bodily markings of one who would become a buddha, and five days later at the naming ceremony for Siddhartha (which means “one whose aim is accomplished”) eight Brahmans who specialized in interpreting bodily marks echoed these sentiments.

Queen Mahamaya died seven days after the birth of her son, and Siddhartha was raised by his aunt Mahapajapati. Because the king wanted his son to become a great ruler he filled boyhood days with luxury so as to dissuade him from ever wanting to leave the

palace for a religious life. In the “Collection of the Gradual Sayings of the Buddha” the Buddha himself reported to have said:

Bhikkus [monks], I was delicately nurtured, exceedingly delicately nurtured, delicately nurtured beyond measure. In my father’s residence lotus-ponds were made: one of blue lotuses, one of red and another of white lotuses, just for my sake..Of Kasi cloth was my turban made; of Kasi my jacket, my tunic, and my cloak..I had three palaces: one for winter, one for summer and one for the rainy season.in the rainy season palace, during the four months of the rains, entertained only by female musicians, I did not come down from the palace.

Although the young prince was provided with comfort he was not satisfied with life. He married a princess named Yasodhara at 16 years of age, but the real turning point in his life came when he was 29 years old.

At the age of 29 Siddhartha saw four signs of suffering which he had never seen; an old man, a sick man, a dead man, and an ascetic. Realizing now that all beings are subject to suffering and death, Siddhartha became overcome with grief, and he was impressed with the calmness and tranquility of the religious man. After hearing of the birth of his son, Rahula, he decided to make what is known as the Great Renunciation. In the middle of the night he left his princely life for the life of an ascetic.

Siddhartha traveled as an ascetic for years. He became the pupil of sages and rapidly mastered their philosophies. From Alara Kalama he attained the mystical state of “the sphere of no-thing.” He then went to Uddaka Ramputta, another great sage, where he learned “the sphere of neither-perception-nor-nonperception.” Still not satisfied with his spiritual attainment, Siddhartha continued his quest for absolute truth.

On his journey Siddhartha was joined by a group of five ascetics, among them was Konanna, a Brahman who had predicted at the name-giving ceremony that the child Siddhartha would most certainly become a Buddha one day.

For nearly six years Siddhartha practiced extreme asceticism. What he looked like and what happened to him is described in words attributed to the Buddha himself in the ancient text Majjhima Nikaya:

Because of so little nourishment, all my limbs became like some withered creepers with knotted joints; my buttocks like a buffalo’s hoof; my back-bone protruding like a string of balls; my ribs like rafters of a dilapidated shed; the pupils of my eyes appeared sunk deep in their sockets as water appears shining at the bottom of a deep well; my scalp became shriveled and shrunk as a bitter gourd cut unripe becomes shriveled and shrunk by sun and wind; the skin of my belly came to be cleaving to my back-bone; when I wanted to obey the calls of nature, I fell down on my face then and there; when I stroked my limbs with my hand, hairs rotted at the roots and fell away from my body.

Many of the pictures and other representations of the Buddha portray him in this poor state of health. Siddhartha realized that such an extreme way of life could not lead him to what he sought, his companions were disappointed with his rejection of their way of life and left him.

Alone, Siddhartha accepted a meal of milk-rice from a young lady, and meditated under what is known as the Bodhi tree, or the tree of Enlightenment. He was determined to stay under the tree until he had attained Enlightenment. It was here that Siddhartha faced Mara, the lord of the world of passion, who tried to keep him from reaching his goal. Armed with demons, Mara was unable to defeat Siddhartha who was supported by the 10 paramitas or great virtues. Siddhartha Gautama had perfected the great virtues during his previous lives as a bodhisattva (buddha-to-be). After having defeated Mara, Siddhartha remained under the tree (one night to several according to different accounts). It was du