The Buddha: Traditional accounts

Siddhartha Gautama (c. 563-483 BC) was born in the ancient kingdom of Modern Nepal. His father, Suddhodana, was king of the Sakya clan. His mother was named Maya. In common with many other great religious leaders, many miraculous stories were associated with his birth. He emerged from his mother's side without causing her any pain. The earth shook as he was born. As a newborn, he was miraculously showered with water. He was given the name SiddhArtha Gautama. SiddhArtha means "one who has achieved his aim." Gautama was his clan name. He was sometimes referred to as Aakyamuni which means "the sage of the Sakyas." His parents raised him in a state of luxury in the hope that he would become attached to earthly things and to pleasure

Four Sights
At the age of 16, he was married to his wife Yasodhara. When he was 29, his wife had a son, Rahula. Shortly after his son's birth, he took four journeys of the city. Simply we can say that he had four sights. During the first sight he was deeply disturbed by seeing an elderly, helpless, old man. On the second, he saw an emaciated and depressed man suffering from disease. On the third, he spotted a grieving family carrying the dead body of one of their own to a cremation site. He reflected deeply upon the suffering brought about by old age, illness and death. On his fourth sight, he saw a religious mendicant a Monk -- who led a reclusive life of meditation, and was calm and serene. The four encounters motivated him to follow the path of the mendicant and find a spiritual solution to the problems brought about by human suffering.

Quest for truth

Siddhartha struggled to find an answer for these miseries of human. He first tried meditation, which he learned from his teachers. He then joined a group of similarly-minded students of Brahmanism in a forest where he practiced breath control and fasted intensely for six years. He is said to did fasting for whole day. Even he tried to take only one piece of rice in a day, only to protect his health from dying. Later! He rejected this path. He determined that a better path to achieve the state of Nirvana -- a state of liberation and freedom from suffering -- was to pursueMiddle Way."

Enlightenment of Buddha
One night, at the age of 35, he was seated underneath a large tree -- later known as the Bodhi tree. He began to experience some major spiritual breakthroughs: During the first watch of the night, he developed the ability to recall the events of his previous reincarnations in detail. During the second watch, he was able to see how the good and bad deeds that many living entities performed during their lifetimes led to the nature of their subsequent reincarnation into their next life. During the third watch, he learned that he had progressed beyond "spiritual defilements," craving, desire, hatred, hunger, thirst, exhaustion, fear, doubt, and delusions. He had attained nirvana. He would never again be reincarnated into a future life. He had attained enlightenment! "He became a savior, deliverer, and redeemer."

After his enlightenment:

He assumed the title Lord Buddha (one who has awakened; the one who has attained enlightenment by himself). His name is pronounced differently in various countries. In the West, it is often pronounced "Boo-duh;" in India: "Boo-the" with the stress on the "th." For seven days, he puzzled over his future: whether to withdraw from the world and live a life of seclusion, or whether to reenter the world and teach his Middle Way. He decided on the latter course: to proclaim his Dharma (teachings) to other humans so that they could also attain enlightenment. He located five of his fellow seekers with whom he had earlier fasted, and rejoined them near Benares. They quickly became aware of the changes brought about by his enlightenment. It was to them that he preached his first sermon. It contained the essential teachings of Buddhism. All five accepted his teachings and were ordained as monks. After the Buddha's second sermon, all five achieved enlightenment. They are referred to as Arhants (saints).

The Buddha's later life:

He wandered around Northeast India for decades, teaching all who would listen. He covered a "territory some 150 miles long by 250 miles wide, an area somewhat smaller than Ireland or the state of Pennsylvania." He had tens of thousands of disciples and accumulated a large public following. He later established an order of monks and a corresponding order of nuns. His wife Yasodhara became the first nun. His health began to fail when he was in this late 70s. After forty-five years of teaching, he died in a small town named Kusinagara, at the age of 80, apparently of natural causes. His final words were: "Decay is inherent in all things. Be sure to strive with clarity of mind" for Nirvana. The traditional date of his death used by Theravadin Buddhists is 544 or 543 BCE. However, dates have been suggested from 544 to 380 BCE.

He did not choose a successor. He felt that the Dharma -- his teachings -plus the Vinaya his code of rules for the monks and nuns -- would be a sufficient guide. Two and a half centuries later, a council of Buddhist monks collected his teachings and the oral traditions of the faith into written form, called the Tripitaka. This included a very large collection of commentaries and traditions; most are called Sutras (discourses).

Biblography:
1: Richard Gombrich, Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benres to Modern Colombo. Routledge 2: "Buddhism". (2009). In Encyclopdia Britannica. Retrieved November 26, 2009, from Encyclopdia Britannica Online Library Edition. 3: Keown, Buddhism, Oxford University Press, 1996 4: Kogen Mizuno, Essentials of Buddhism, Shunju-sha, 1972, English translation, Kosei, Tokyo, 1996, 5: Zen Buddhism: A History (India and China) by Heinrich Dumoulin, James W. Heisig, Paul F. Knitter 6: Alexander Wynne, The Origin of Buddhist Meditation. Routledge, 2007. 7: Goldstein, Joseph (2002), One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism, HarperCollins