Origin
and history of Buddhism
Early life of Buddha and the history of Buddhism
The buddhism and its history can be clearly
understood by the story of siddhartha gautama
Buddha.
The Buddhism and its history is based on the
teachings and life of Lord Buddha,earlier Siddhartha
Gautama (563 and 483 BC), a royal prince of
Kapilvastu, India. After originating in India,
Buddhism spread throughout the Central Asia,
Sri Lanka, Tibet, Southeast Asia, as well as
the East Asian countries of China, Mongolia,
Korea, Japan and Vietnam. Buddhism and its history
owe its origin to the socio-economic conditions
prevailing in India at that point of time.
The founder of Buddhism, Siddhartha Gautama
was a prince of the Sakya tribe. At the age
of twenty nine he left the comforts of his home
to seek answer to the cause of human sufferings.
Gautama became the enlightened one, the Buddha,
after wandering and meditation for six years.
On the full moon of May, with the rising of
the morning star, Siddhartha attained knowledge
at Bodh Gaya. Gautama Buddha delivered his first
sermon at Sarnath, near Varanasi. To preach
his religion, Buddha wandered in the North East
India for about 40 odd years. His hard work
bore fruit and a community or Sangha of monks
and nuns developed around him. The Sangha pursued
practice and propagation of Buddhism
The originof buddhism
and the story of gautama buddha
On the full moon day of May, in the year 623
B.C., a noble prince destined to be the greatest
religious teacher of the world was born in the
Lumbini Park at Kapilavatthu, on the Indian
borders of present Nepal, His father was King
Suddhodana of the aristocratic Sakya clan and
his mother was Queen Maha Maya. The beloved
queen died seven days after his birth. Her younger
sister, Maha Pajapati Gotami, who was also married
to the King, adopted the child while entrusting
her own son, Nanda, to the care of the nurses.
Great were the rejoicings of the people over
the birth of this illustrious prince. An ascetic
of high spiritual attainments, named Asita (also
known as Kaladevala), was particularly pleased
to hear this happy news. Being a tutor of the
King, he visited the palace to see the Royal
baby. The King, who felt honoured by his unexpected
visit, carried the child up to him in order
to make the child pay him due reverence. To
the surprise of all, the child's legs turned
and rested on the matted locks of the ascetic.
Instantly, the ascetic rose from his seat and,
foreseeing with his supernormal vision the child's
future greatness, saluted him with clasped hands.
The Royal father did likewise.
The
great ascetic smiled at first and then was sad.
Questioned regarding his mingled feelings, he
answered that he smiled because the prince would
eventually become a Buddha, an Enlightened One,
and he was sad because he would not be able
to benefit from the superior wisdom of the Enlightened
One owing to his prior death and rebirth in
a Formless Plane (Arupaloka). On the fifth day
after the prince's birth he was named Siddhattha
which means "wish fulfilled". His
family name was Goutama.
In accordance with the ancient Indian custom,
many learned brahmins were invited to the palace
for the naming ceremony. Amongst them there
were eight distinguished men. Examining the
characteristic marks of the child, seven of
them raised two fingers each, indicative of
two alternative possibilities, that he would
either become a Universal Monarch or a Buddha.
But the youngest, Kondanna, who excelled others
in wisdom, noticing the hair on the forehead
turned to the right, raised only one finger
and convincingly declared that the prince would
definitely retire from the world and become
a Buddha.
As a Royal child, Prince Siddhartha must have
received a royal education, although no details
are given about it. As a scion of the warrior
race he also received special training in the
art of warfare
At the age of sixteen, he married his beautiful
cousin of equal age, Princess Yasodhara. For
nearly thirteen years, after his happy marriage,
he led a luxurious life, blissfully ignorant
of the vicissitudes of life outside the palace
gates. Of his luxurious life as prince, he states:
"I was delicate, excessively delicate.
In my father's dwelling three lotus-ponds were
made purposely for me. Blue lotuses bloomed
in one, red in another, and white in another.
I used no sandal-wood that was not of Kasi.
My turban, tunic, dress and cloak, were all
from Kasi."
"Night and day a white parasol was held
over me so that I might not be touched by heat
or cold, dust, leaves or dew."
With the march of time, truth gradually dawned
upon him. His contemplative nature and boundless
compassion did not permit him to spend his time
in the mere enjoyment of the fleeting pleasures
of the Royal palace. He knew no personal grief
but he felt a deep pity for suffering humanity.
Amidst comfort and prosperity, he realized the
universality of sorrow.
One glorious day as he went out of the palace
to the pleasure park to see the world outside,
he came in direct contact with the stark realities
of life. Within the narrow confines of the palace
he saw only the rosy side of life, but the dark
side, the common lot of mankind, was purposely
veiled from him. What was previously conceived
only mentally, he now saw in vivid reality for
the first time? On his way to the park his observant
eyes met the strange sights of a decrepit old
man, a diseased person, a corpse and a dignified
hermit. The first three sights convincingly
proved to him, the inexorable nature of life,
and the universal ailment of humanity. The fourth
signified the means to overcome the ills of
life and to attain calm and peace. These four
unexpected sights served to increase the urge
in him to loathe and renounce the world.
Realizing the worthlessness of sensual pleasures,
so highly prized by the world ling, and appreciating
the value of renunciation in
which the wise seek delight, he decided to leave
the world in search of Truth and Eternal Peace.
When this final decision was taken after much
deliberation, the news of the birth of a son
was conveyed to him while he was about to leave
the park. Contrary to expectations, he was not
overjoyed, but regarded his first and only offspring
as an impediment. An ordinary father would have
welcomed the joyful tidings, but Prince Siddhartha,
the extraordinary father as he was, exclaimed
-- "An impediment (rahu) has been born;
a fetter has arisen". The infant son was
accordingly named Rahula by his grandfather.
The palace was no longer a congenial place to
the contemplative Prince Siddhartha. Neither
his charming young wife nor his lovable infant
son could deter him from altering the decision
he had taken to renounce the world. He was destined
to play an infinitely more important and beneficial
role than a dutiful husband and father, or even
as a king of kings. The allurements of the palace
were no more cherished objects of delight to
him. Time was ripe to depart.
It was in his twenty-ninth year that Prince
Siddhartha made this historic journey.
He journeyed far and, crossing the river Anoma,
rested on its banks. Here he shaved his hair
and beard and handing over his garments and
ornaments to Channa with instructions to return
to the palace, assumed the simple yellow garb
of an ascetic and led a life of voluntary poverty.
The ascetic Siddhartha, who once lived in the
lap of luxury, now became a penniless wanderer,
living on what little the charitably-minded
gave of their own accord.
He had no permanent abode. A shady tree or a
lonely cave sheltered him by day or night. Bare-footed
and bare-headed, he walked in the scorching
sun and in the piercing cold. With no possessions
to call his own, but a bowl to collect his food
and robes just sufficient to cover the body,
he concentrated all his energies on the quest
of Truth. The culmination of his search came
while meditating beneath a tree, where he finally
understood how to be free from suffering, and
ultimately, to achieve salvation. Following
this epiphany, Gautama was known as the Buddha,
meaning the "Enlightened One." The
Buddha spent the remainder of his life journeying
about India, teaching others what he had come
to understand. Buddha passed into eternity after
completing his Sahasra Chandra Darshana i.e.,
1000 full moon days (80th year) on the full
moon day of Vaishaakha - the day of his birth
as also of his Enlightenment. And to this day,
Buddha lives on as a beacon-light to billions
the world over, who yearn for the peace and
well-being of all living creation. The above
story clearly depicts the early life of Buddha
and the history of Buddhism
