Life Of The Buddha

Topics:	Buddha
Words:	884
Pages:	2 This essay sample was donated by a student to help the academic community. Papers provided by EduBirdie writers usually outdo students' samples.

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Siddhartha Gautama who later on in life becomes Buddha is the son of Maya and King Suddhodan. As soon as he was born he was able to talk and to walk and when he walked lotus blossoms grew in his steps. To show him off to the world Siddharthas father wanted to have a ceremony. Aceita who was an astrologer had shown up to the ceremony unexpectedly and told Siddharthas parents that he would become nothing or become master of the world by using his powers to be able to read stars. When Maya fell ill she gave siddhartha away to her sister before she died so that she could treat him as her own and really care for her. When Siddhartha grew up he married princess Yasodhara. He was protected from everything bad in the world and grew up to believe the world was just as perfect as his own life.

When Siddhartha forst discovers death he confronts his father about hiding poverty, illness and death from him. He felt bad about the luxurious lifestyle he was living and wanted to find some sort of ander to suffering. As his son was born he learns this information and becomes scared of when his family will die or take ill. He therefore decided he wanted to find the answer to suffering and made the hard decision of leaving his with and his son to find out. A mist then fell over eveything and the whole court fell into a deep sleep. While everyone was asleep Siddhartha and his friend Chanda took off on their journey.

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When the travel began Siddhartha discovers ascetics who are people who have given up all comforts of life and have promised that they will never leave the forest. Siddhartha then gives Channa his jewls and robes and cuts off his long hair to then set into the forest to join the ascetics to try discover a way of freedom. Siddhartha and his followers lived in the forest for six years in silence and never left. They would eat anything natural that they would find in the woods and drink rain as water. They did this in aim to master suffering by making their minds so strong they forgot about their bodies.

When Siddhartha was meditating underneath a tree one day he heard a boat passing on a nearby river where he heard a musician speaking to his student saying “if you tighten the string too much it will snap and if you leave it to slack it won’t play” and that’s when Siddhartha realised that he had been following the wrong path for six years. As he bathed for the first time he repeated the lines to nearby animals and a village girl overheard him and then give him her bowl of rice. When Siddharthas followers seen him bath and eat the bowl of rice they felt betrayed. This is because they thought their master had given up the search for freedom and enlightenment, as Siddhartha tried to persuade them to eat with him they walked away and decided to no longer follow him. Siddhartha believed he had found the way to enlightenment as he stated “ the path to enlightenment is the middle way. It is the line between all opposite extremes.” Siddhartha then stated that “if I can reach enlightenment let this bowl float upstream” and that is exactly what the bowl did. Siddhartha and found the middle way and had become healthy again. As he was meditating one day five girls had appeared they all looked perfectly innocent however were the daughters of Marrah the lord of darkness. These five girls were the spirits of ignorance, greed, fear, desire and pride. Marrah has sent them to attempt to persuade Siddhartha away from his search which he was committed to. He tried to tempt Siddhartha by disguising the great temptations of life as simple form, Siddhartha looked far beyond this which made Marrah very angry. Marrah three everything he could has Siddhartha however his mind was just too strong therefore Marrah was finally defeated.

After meditating for 49 days Siddhartha realised what the problem was and that was that people are never satisfied and they always want more in life meaning that there is always suffering in their life. Siddhartha became englighted and became fully Buddha. Siddhartha wanted more people to realise this, some of his good friends listen and decide to follow them, they become Siddharthas disciples and he preaches to them alongside others. In this time in India most people are Hindu were they believe in rebirth and reincarnation meaning your born you live and then you die and that this cycle continues and continues. Buddha believes that by being reborn you can’t escape suffering, people are confused and ask him where they go if they aren’t reborn. This is where Buddha explained that you do not go to a place however you go to a condition where you do not want anything which is called nirvana meaning meaning that all your wishes are blown out and you are now at a place of peace. Till the end of his life Buddha travelled preaching about how to get to nirvana. When he does he now has many disciples to pass on his teaching.

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