Published On:Wednesday 15 October 2014
Posted by Celebrate Life Style information Blog
The Buddha
-Karathota Dhammasiri Bhikkhu: The Buddha, whose personal name was Siddhattha, and family name
Gotama, lived in North India in the 6th century B.C. His father Suddhodana, was
the ruler of the kingdom of the Sakyas (in modern Nepal). His mother was queen
Maya. According to the custom of the time, he was married quite young, at the age
of sixteen, to a beautiful and devoted young princess named Yasodahara. The young
prince lived in his palace with every luxury at his command. But al of a sudden,
confronted with the reality of life and the sufering of mankind, he decided to find
the solution - the way out of this universal sufering.
At the age of 29, soon after the birth of his only child, Rahula, he left his
kingdom and became an ascetic in search of his solution. For six years the ascetic
Gotama wandered about the val ey of Ganges, meeting famous religious teachers,
studying and fol owing their systems and methods, and submitting himself to
rigorous ascetic practices. They did not satisfy him. So he abandoned al traditional
religions and their methods and went his own way.
Gotama, lived in North India in the 6th century B.C. His father Suddhodana, was
the ruler of the kingdom of the Sakyas (in modern Nepal). His mother was queen
Maya. According to the custom of the time, he was married quite young, at the age
of sixteen, to a beautiful and devoted young princess named Yasodahara. The young
prince lived in his palace with every luxury at his command. But al of a sudden,
confronted with the reality of life and the sufering of mankind, he decided to find
the solution - the way out of this universal sufering.
At the age of 29, soon after the birth of his only child, Rahula, he left his
kingdom and became an ascetic in search of his solution. For six years the ascetic
Gotama wandered about the val ey of Ganges, meeting famous religious teachers,
studying and fol owing their systems and methods, and submitting himself to
rigorous ascetic practices. They did not satisfy him. So he abandoned al traditional
religions and their methods and went his own way.
It was thus that one evening, seated under a tree (since then known as the
Bodhi- or Bo-tree, the "Tree of Wisdom"), on the bank of the river Neranjara at
Buddha-aya (near Gaya in modern Bihar), at the age of 35, Gotama attained
enlightenment, after which he was known as the Buddha, 'The Enlightened One'.
After his Enlightenment, Gotama the Buddha delivered his first sermon to a
group of five ascetics, his old col eagues, in the Deer Park at Isipatana (modern
Sarnath) near Benares. From that day, for 45 years, he taught al classes of men and
women -kings and peasants, Brahmins and outcasts, bankers and beggars, holy men
and robbers - withoutmaking the slightest distinction between them. He recognized
no diferences of caste or social groupings, and the Way he preached was open to al
men and women who were ready to understand and fol ow it. At the age of 80, the
Buddha passed away at Kusinara (in modern Uttar Pradesh in India).
Today Buddhism is found in Ceylon, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Tibet, China, Japan, Mongolia, Korea, Laos, Formosa, in some parts of India, Pakistan and Nepal, and also in Soviet Union. The Buddhist population of the world
is over 500 mil ion
