The Story of Buddha

Stories about the lives of those who founded the world's great religions tend to be magical and fantastic. The story of Siddhartha called the Buddha, is no exception to this rule. Sit back and relax while I tell you the wonderful story of Siddhartha, who founded the religion known as Buddhism.

Long, long ago in a small kingdom in the foothills of the Himalayas, a great mountain range that runs along India's northern border, a queen named Maya had a startling dream. She dreamed that a white elephant with six tusks came down from heaven and touched her on her side.

The dream seemed more real to her than any other dream she had ever had, and she awoke instantly. She woke up her husband, King Suddhodana, and told him what had happened. He agreed that it was a most unusual dream, and the next morning they told a wise, old man who was able to interpret dreams.

The wise man said the dream meant that Queen Maya was going to have a child who would be a great leader of humankind. He would either be the greatest king or the greatest saint who had ever lived.

Queen Maya and King Suddhodana were very happy with this news at first because they had been wishing for a child who would be heir to their throne. But on second thought they felt uneasy about the wise man's suggestion that their child could become a holy man. Such a person would probably be the opposite of asking: a wandering teacher, like the holy men and women of India, uninterested in ruling a kingdom.

When the time came for the Queen to have her child, she was journeying to visit her parents in a neighboring kingdom. With her attendants, she stepped into a garden along the roadside, grabbed onto the limb of a tree, and gave birth to a magnificent baby boy.

The gods and goddesses of heaven appeared in the sky to watch the special birth. The baby stepped out of his mother's side and took seven steps in all four directions to claim dominion over the earth. The trees and shrubs of the garden burst immediately into bloom, and a rainbow appeared across the sky.

The King and Queen decided to name their child Siddhartha, which means "the one who brings much good."

As Prince Siddhartha grew up, many events in his life indicated his potential greatness. He not only was able to win games of strength and courage easily, but he seemed more sensitive than most children.

One day a swan fell from the sky at his feet. The swan had an arrow through its wing. Siddhartha removed the arrow and gently rubbed the swan's wing with medicine.

The Prince's cousin, Devadatta, appeared from the woods with his bow and arrows and said, "Give me that swan. It's mine. I shot it. I will have it for supper."

Siddhartha said, "No the swan is only wounded, and it can be nursed back to health."

The two boys argued and finally went before the King and Queen with their problem. The King and Queen were uncertain about what to do and asked the advice of the oldest person in the court. That person was respected by all and said, "Everyone values one's life more than anything else. Let the swan be given to the person who tried to save its life, not to the person who tried to take its life."

Devadatta was furious that Siddhartha got the swan. Through the years his hatred for Siddhartha continued, and there are many adventure stories about his attempts to beat Siddhartha in various ways.

When Siddhartha grew up, the time came for him to be married. His father and mother invited princesses from various neighboring kingdoms to come and be introduced to their son. As each princess was introduced, Siddhartha gave her a present from a pile of special gifts his parents had provided for the occasion. The King and Queen watched their handsome son carefully, but he did not seem interested in any of the princesses as they came one by one before him.

Finally, the last princess, Yasodhara, stood before him. His eyes suddenly lit up, and he leaned forward to greet her with special attention. But all the gifts were gone! Yasodhara asked, "O Prince, where is the gift you have for me?"

Siddhartha was startled as if awakened from a dream. The table was empty. He did something unheard of in those days. He took off his own royal ring and gave it to her.

Siddhartha and Yasodhara were married after a series of contests sponsored by her father. Princes from many lands competed in them, and Siddhartha's chief rival was always his cousin, Devadatta. In the final contests, Siddhartha strung a bow too difficult for anyone else to string and shot an arrow through the center of the target, pushing Devadatta's arrow through the target and out the other side. The arrow continued through the air and out of sight.

All through the years of Siddhartha's youth, his parents remembered the wise man's prediction that their child would either become a great king or a great saint. They were afraid that the latter might come true and did everything to make him happy in the palace. In fact, they prevented him from seeing any unhappy sights. They kept any sick or injured people away from him and discouraged him from going outside the palace grounds.

Siddhartha became curious about the world beyond the palace walls and secretly arranged to ride outside with one of the royal charioteers. On the first trip, he saw an old person bent over in pain and walking with the support of a cane. He asked his charioteer about this, and the charioteer replied, "This is an old person, bent over by age. Everyone has to grow old some day."

On the second trip, Siddhartha saw a person crouched down on the ground, crying in agony He asked why the person was crying, and the charioteer said, "This is a person suffering from a serious disease. Anyone may get ill at any time. All of us suffer some sicknesses during our lives." On the third trip, Siddhartha saw a funeral procession going by and asked what it meant. His charioteer answered, "Here is a person who has died and is being brought to the place of cremation. Everyone must die some day. We usually do not know when it will happen, but just as each of us is born, so each of us must die."

On the fourth trip outside the palace, Siddhartha saw a man sitting under a tree. He had a peaceful, radiant expression on his face, and Siddhartha was struck by it. The charioteer told him, "There is a saint who has given up the usual ways of living to wander from place to place searching for the meaning of existence."

Siddhartha was deeply moved by these four experiences. He thought for days about them, and somehow all the pleasures and riches of the palace lost their importance for him. Even the recent birth of a son did not alter his mood.

One question kept burning in his mind: why is there suffering in human life? After much soul-searching, he resolved to leave the palace and become a wandering monk like the man he had seen on his last journey, so he could search for the answer to his question.

He knew that his family would oppose his leaving, so he secretly arranged with his charioteer to leave one night after everyone had gone to sleep. Before he left, he took one last look at his beautiful wife and son. He was sure that they would be well taken care of, but he knew he would miss them. Then he mounted his horse and rode outside of the palace walls unnoticed. He gave his horse and expensive jewelry to his charioteer and sent him back to the palace.

Siddhartha joined a small group of holy men in the forest and began to experiment with various kinds of yoga and meditation. He heard that the strict control of one's eating might help one meditate, and he began to eat less and less food. At one point, he lived on one grain of rice a day for several weeks and lost so much weight that he looked like a living skeleton.

One day he fell to the ground unconscious. The other monks thought he had died, but later he awakened and continued his meditation. Just at that moment, a young herdswoman found him while she was looking for one of her animals that had gone into the forest. She took pity on him and brought him a bowl of food. Siddhartha realized that he might die before finding the answer to his question, so he began to eat. The other monks rejected him because they thought he had given up his serious quest. Siddhartha told them that he was convinced that starving himself would not help him reach the truth.

Siddhartha's search continued for several years, but he still had not found the answer to his question about suffering. Finally, on his birthday, during the month of May when the moon was full, he resolved to sit under a great Bodhi tree until he found the answer or died trying.

The gods in the heavens rejoiced at his decision, but the demon Mara was terrified and angry. Mara symbolizes greed, hatred, ignorance, and jealousy.

Mara caused a g mat thunderstorm to crash down on Siddhartha, but he would not move. Mara then brought before him visions of beautiful dancers, gold and jewels, and delicious foods. He still kept to his meditation. Finally, Mara sent an army of monsters to attack Siddhartha from all sides with wild, blood-curdling screams. But when they came near him, they all magically turned into flower petals.

Mara realized his defeat and faded away like a bad dream. Soon a bright glow came from every part of Siddhartha's being. He had his answer! He arose to his feet and went to find the other monks with whom he had spent so much time. He found them camped in a deer park near the sacred river Ganges. When he walked up to them, they saw by the expression on his face that he had become enlightened. He then told them of the answer he had found, what are now called the Four Noble Truths:

I. Everything and everyone in existence suffers.
II. Suffering is caused by selfishness, greed, and desire.
III. Selfishness, greed, and desire can be stopped.
IV. They can be stopped by following eight steps:
      1. Believe only what is true, or right belief.
      2. Live in a loving, nonviolent way, or right purpose.
      3. Learn to speak well to others, or right speech.
      4. Treat yourself well but do not overindulge, or right conduct.
      5. Choose a good vocation, or right vocation.
      6. Be alert and sensitive about life, or right effort.
      7. Train your mind to think clearly, or right thought.
      8. Meditate regularly on the meaning of life, or right meditation.

"By these eight steps one can go beyond all forms of suffering and achieve that indefinable state called Nirvana when one will be enlightened." said Siddhartha.

Siddhartha's friends accepted him as their leader, and they resolved to follow the eight-fold path he recommended. They came to call him "Buddha" which means "the enlightened one."

Buddha accepted everyone into his new movement at a time when lower classes of people and women of any class were not allowed to join most religious orders. In time, he returned to the palace of his family and taught them about his great discovery. They joined his movement, and his son became a monk under his guidance. Even his cousin, Devadatta, joined the movement, but not before some jealous attempts to destroy Buddha.

Buddha lived to a ripe old age and died after eating spoiled food that was unknowingly served to him when he was a guest in a person's home. It is written that he knew of the bad food and forbade his followers to eat it. He ate it to honor the hospitality extended to him and not offend his host. Before he died, he assured his host that he was not to blame because he did not realize the condition of the food.

After his death, the followers of Buddha came to be called Buddhists and their religion, Buddhism. At one time most of India was Buddhist, and the religion eventually spread to most other Asian countries. Today, Buddhism has almost totally disappeared in India but remains the major religion of many other countries of eastern Asia.