In the year 624 BC, in Kapilawaththu (Nepal)
Siddhartha Gautama was born as a prince. His
father was King Suddhodana and his mother was
Queen Mahamaya. When he was sixteen he
finished his education and he married Princess
Yasodara. King Suddhodana handed over his
kingdom to his son Siddhartha. They had a baby
name Rahula. When king Siddhartha was 29
years old he decided to renounce lay life.
Siddhartha left from his kingdom and went to
several well-known teachers to study the ultimate
nature of reality. But their teachings didn’t satisfy
him and he set out to find his own path. Six years
later he went to Bodgaya near the Neranjana
River and sat under a tree. Siddhartha's mind
was calm and relaxed. As he sat his
concentration deepened and his wisdom grew
brighter. In this clear and peaceful state of mind
he began to examine the true nature of life. "What
is the cause of suffering,” he asked himself, “and
what is the path to everlasting joy?" In his mind's
eye he looked far beyond his own country, far
beyond his own world. Soon the sun, planets, the
stars out in space and distant galaxies of the
universe all appeared to him in his meditation. He
saw how everything, from the smallest speck of
dust to the largest star was linked together in a
constantly changing pattern: growing, decaying
and growing again. Everything was related.
Nothing happened without a cause and every
cause had an effect on everything else.
As he realized this, deeper truths appeared to
his mind. He looked deeply into himself and
discovered that his life as Siddhartha the Prince
was but the latest in a series of lifetimes that had
no beginning - and that the same was true of
everyone. We are born, live and die not one time,
but again and again. He saw that death is only the
separation of the mind from its present body.After
death the importance of Karma is central to the
next journey. When one life ends, another begins
- and in this way the wheel of death and birth
keeps spinning around and around. He also saw
one life to the next we are constantly changing
and constantly affecting one another. Sometimes
we are rich and comfortable; sometimes we are
poor and miserable. Occasionally we experience
pleasure, but more often we find ourselves with
problems. And Siddhartha also saw that as our
conditions change, so do our relations with
others. We have all been each other's friend and
enemy, mother and father, son and daughter
thousands upon thousands of times in the past.
Then he looked at all of the suffering in the
world. And he saw how living beings create their
own misery and joy. Blind to the truth that
everything is always changing, they lie, steal and
even kill to get the things that they want, even
though these things can never give them the
lasting happiness they desire. And the more their
minds fill with greed and hate, the more they
harm each other - and themselves! Each harmful
action leads them to more and more
unhappiness.
They are searching for peace yet find nothing
but pain. Finally, he discovered the way to end all
this suffering. He was filled with a radiant clear
light. He was no longer an ordinary person. With
a calm and peaceful smile, he arose from his
meditation. In the golden daybreak, so it is said,
Siddhartha looked up and saw the morning star.
And then a great understanding came to him. He
saw in his mind all the life of the world and the
planets; of all the past and all the future. He
understood the meaning of existence, of why we
are here on this earth and what has created us.At
long last he found the truth; he attained
enlightenment and established the principles of
Karma. Now he was the Lord Buddha, the fully
liberated one, awakened and enlightened. The
search of six long years had ended. It was a day
when the full-moon shone, casting a bright silver
light on the whole countryside, a day in the month
of Vesak (May)
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