The Story of Lord Buddha

The Buddha, the founder of the great religious philosophy of Buddhism, lived in North India and was known as Siddhartha. He was born in B.C. 560 and died at the age of eighty in B.C. 480. Gautama was his family name. His father, King Suddhodana, ruled over the land of the Sakyans at Kapilavatthu, a small city on the banks of the little river Rohini, some hundred miles north-east of the city of Varnasi. His mother Mahamaya, was a princess of the Koliyas. One day Queen Maya, lay asleep and had a wondrous dream. She dreamt a brilliant white light shining down to her from the sky, and in the rays of this light was a magnificent elephant of light flew closer and closer to the Queen and finally melted into her body. Queen Maya awoke, filled with greater happiness than she had ever felt before. She, together with the king asked the wise men at the palace what this strange and wonderful dream might mean. The wise men answered "O Your Majesties, this dream is a most excellent one! It means that the Queen will give birth to a son, and this prince will someday become a great man. Not only you, but the entire world is fortunate that the Queen will have such a special child." Hearing this good news, the King and Queen were overjoyed. The King was especially happy because he longed for a son who would someday rule his kingdom in his place. And now it seemed his wish was being granted.

On a full-moon day of May, Queen Mahamaya was travelling from Kapilavatthu to Devadaha, her parental home, according to the custom of the times, to give birth to her child. But that was not to be, for halfway between the two cities, in the Lumbini grove, under the shade of a flowering Sal tree, she brought forth a son. Lumbini or Rummindei, the name by which it is now known, is 100 miles north of Varinasi and within sight of the snowcapped Himalayasi.

The baby Princes birth was greeted by two streams of celestial shower and other wondrous events. Gentle rains fell, although out of season; heavenly music was heard and delicious scents filled the air. The body of the child bore at birth the thirty-two auspicious marks (Mahavyanjana) which indicated his future greatness, besides secondary marks (Anuvyanjana) in large numbers. After that, the baby Prince rose on his feet, turned toward the north and took seven steps, each step was miraculously cushioned by a lotus sprung up from the earth. With a resounding voice comparable to the lion roar yet most endearing as the voice of the Brahma King, the Prince stated: I am the supreme being. I am the most advanced being in the world. I am the most sublime being in the world. This is my final birth.

On the fifth day, the Prince was named Siddhartha which means wish fulfilled and the astrologers again predicted to king Suddhodana: "The child, on attaining manhood, would become either a universal monarch (Chakravarti), or abandoning house and home, would assume the role of a monk and become a Buddha, a perfectly enlightened soul, for the salvation of mankind". Then the king said: "What shall my son see to make him retire from the world ?" "Four signs - A decrepit old man, a diseased man, a dead man and a monk - these four will make the prince retire from the world" replied the astrologers.

Queen Mahamaya, the mother, passed away on the seventh day after the birth of her child, and the baby was nursed by Maya's sister Mahaprajapati. Though the child was nurtured till manhood in refinement amid an abundance of material luxury, the father did not fail to give his son the education that a prince ought to receive. Prince Siddhatha became skilled in many a branch of knowledge, and in the arts of war easily excelled all other. Nevertheless, from his childhood the prince was given to serious contemplation. When the prince grew up the father's fervent wish was that his son should marry, bring up a family and be his worthy successor; but he feared that the prince would one day give up home for the homeless life of an ascetic. It had a reason too. The Prince joined the Ploughing Festival with his father. King Suddhodana settled the young Prince under the shade of the Jombhu tree (Jave Plum). As he waited for his father, the Prince sat cross-legged and relaxingly went into meditation. Soon, he developed the First Jhna. The power of his deep meditation caused miracle, the shade of the tree did not shift despite the movement of the sun. The shade was seen to provide protection to the prince throughout the duration of his meditation. King Suddhodana was filled with reverence and saluted his son who was in deep meditation.

At the age of sixteen the prince married his beautiful cousin Princess Yasodhara, after winning a tough competition with other contestants according to the custom of that time.

The princess was of the same age as the prince. For thirteen years, he led a happy marriage and luxurious life, ignorant of the vicissitudes of life outside the palace. There were three palaces built for different seasons, the cold, the hot and the rainy season. Lacking nothing of the earthly joys of life, he lived knowing nothing of sorrow. King Suddhodana's endeavors to keep life's miseries from his son's inquiring eyes only heightened Prince Siddhattha's curiosity and his resolute search for Truth and Enlightenment. With the advance of age and maturity the prince began to glimpse the woes of the world. The sight of a decrepit old man, a sick man, a corpse and a monk finally induced Siddhartha to renounce the world. The more he came in contact with the world outside his palace walls, the more convinced he became that the world was lacking in true happiness

Thoughts of renunciation flashed through the prince's mind and in deep contemplation he turned homeward. The heartthrob of an agonized and ailing humanity found a responsive echo in his own heart.

At the age of twenty-nine, the prince with a superhuman effort of will renounced wife, child, father and a crown that held the promise of power and glory - in quest of the supreme security from bondage. It was his deep compassion that made his determination unshakable even by the last parting glance at his beloved wife asleep with their baby in her arms.

At dawn, Prince Siddhartha and Dunpa, the charioteer riding the horse Kanthaka, left the city of Kapilvastu, cross the Anoma river and start a homeless life.

Cutting off his hair, shaving off his beard, the Prince instructs Dunpa to return to the palace with his garments, ornaments and precious sword.

Prince Siddhartha dwells in the snow-capped mountain caves to engage in spiritual practice.

This was the great renunciation. Dedicating himself to the noble task of discovering a remedy for life's universal ill, he wandered in search of way to deliverance. He practiced severe Tapas (austerities) and Pranayama (practice of breath control) and determined to attain the supreme peace by practicing selfmortification. Struggling thus, for six long years, he came to death's very door, but he found himself no nearer to his goal. He abstained almost entirely from taking food. He was reduced to a skeleton. He became exceedingly weak.

Then it happened that he remembered the peace of his meditation in childhood under a rose-apple tree, and confidently felt: 'This is the path to enlightenment'. He knew, however, that, with a body so utterly weakened as his, he could not follow that path with any chance of success. Thus he abandoned selfmortification and extreme fasting and took normal food.

Gautama sat in a meditative mood underneath the shadow of the large tree from early morning to sunset, with a fiery determination and an iron resolve: "Let me die. Let my body perish. Let my flesh dry up. I will not get up from this seat till I get full illumination". He plunged himself into deep meditation. At night he entered into deep Samadhi (superconscious state) underneath that sacred Bo-tree (Pipal tree or ficus religiosa). He was tempted by Maya in a variety of ways, but he stood adamant. He did not yield to Maya's allurements and temptations. He came out victorious with full illumination.

He attained Nirvana (liberation). His face shone with divine splendor and effulgence. He got up from his seat and danced in divine ecstasy for seven consecutive days and nights around the sacred Bo-tree. Then he came to the normal plane of consciousness. His heart was filled with profound mercy and compassion. He wanted to share what he had with humanity. He traveled all over India and preached his doctrine and gospel. He became a savior, deliverer and redeemer.

For a week, immediately after this enlightenment, the Buddha sat at the foot of the Bodhi tree experiencing the bliss of deliverance. At the end of the seven weeks, he made up his mind to communicate the Dharma wheel, his, discovery of the Ancient Path, to his former friends, the five ascetics at the deer park in Varanasi. With the proclamation of the Dhamma, for the first time, and with the conversion of the five ascetics, the deer park at Isipatana (Sarnath) became the birth place of the Buddha's Dispensation (Buddhasasana), and of the Sangha, the community of monks, the ordained disciples. Before long fifty-five others headed by Yasa, a young man of wealth, joined the order of the Sangha. When the rains ended (vassana, July-October), the Buddha addressed his disciples, the Accomplished Ones (arahats), now sixty in number and said:

'Released am I, monks, from all ties whether human or divine. You also are delivered from fetters whether human or divine. Go now and wander for the welfare and happiness of many out of compassion for the world, for the gain, welfare and happiness of gods and men. Let not two of you proceed in the same direction.

Thus did the Buddha commence his sublime mission which lasted to the end of his life. With his disciples he walked for over forty-five years enfolding all within the aura of his boundless compassion and wisdom. Lord Buddha attained Parinirbbana in the Sala grove. He lay down on the couch, prepared between twin Sal trees, as per his instruction, with his head northwards. Divine coral tree flowers and divine sandalwood powders fell from above on Buddha's body out of reverence.

At this memorable spot where Prince Siddhatha, the future Buddha, was born, Emperor Asoka, 316 years after the event, erected a mighty stone pillar to mark the holy spot.