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About
Buddha In
the sixth century before the Christian era, religion
was forgotten in India. The lofty teachings of the Vedas
were thrown into the background. There was much priest
craft everywhere. The insincere priests traded on religion.
They duped the people in a variety of ways and amassed
wealth for themselves. They were quite irreligious.
In the name of religion, people followed in the footsteps
of the cruel priests and performed meaningless rituals.
They killed innocent dumb animals and did various sacrifices.
The country was in dire need of a reformer of Buddha's
type. At such a critical period, when there were cruelty,
degeneration and unrighteousness everywhere, reformer
Buddha was born to put down priestcraft and animal sacrifices,
to save the people and disseminate the message of equality,
unity and cosmic love everywhere. Buddha's father was
Suddhodana, king of the Sakhyas. Buddha's mother was
named Maya. Buddha was born in B.C. 560 and died at
the age of eighty in B.C. 480. The place of his birth
was a grove known as Lumbini, near the city of Kapilavastu,
at the foot of Mount Palpa in the Himalayan ranges within
Nepal. This small city Kapilavastu stood on the bank
of the little river Rohini, some hundred miles north-east
of the city of Varnasi. As the time drew nigh for Buddha
to enter the world, the gods themselves prepared the
way before him with celestial portents and signs. Flowers
bloomed and gentle rains fell, although out of season;
heavenly music was heard, 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. Maya died seven days after her son's
birth. The child was brought up by Maya's sister Mahaprajapati,
who became its foster-mother.
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Story of Lord Buddha
There was once a king named Suddhodana and a queen named Mahamaya
who lived in the city of Kapilavastu in the sixth century
B.C.One day, as the queen was resting in her palace, she dreamt
that a white elephant carrying a white lotus in its trunk
entered her right side.A group of astrologers predicted that
the young prince would grow up to be either a great emperor,
or that he would turn his back on privilege and power to become
a great spiritual leader. Some time later, a baby was born
to the queen. He was named Siddhartha Gautama.Until one day,
when Prince Siddhartha finally persuaded his father to let
him go outside the palace walls to see the city. What Siddhartha
did not know was that his father had ordered the city streets
cleared of anyone who was old or sick. So when Siddhartha
and his groom set out for their tour of the city in chariots
they saw many young and happy people. However, they also happened
upon a feeble old man who was lying at the side of the road.
As this was different from anything Siddhartha had ever seen
before, he asked someone to explain what was wrong with the
man. It was only then that Siddhartha learned about how people
get old. Siddhartha was very moved by the suffering of the
old man. He journeyed out into the city three more times and
saw a sick man, a dead man and a sage. These visits led to
his realising the fundamental truths of life. Siddhartha left
his wife and son at the palace and set out to learn the way
of finding salvation and understanding.At the edge of the
city, he took off his princely robes, cut his hair and sent
his groom back to the palace with his horse. Siddhartha wandered
through the forests seeking understanding from wise men and
ascetics. However, this did not bring him satisfaction or
greater understanding.
Finally,
Siddhartha settled under a tree to meditate.
While he sat under the tree, demons came to tempt him. However,
he resisted them. After many days of meditating, Siddhartha
achieved Enlightenment. From that point, he was known as the
Buddha. The Buddha delivered his first sermon at Sarnath.
In this sermon he shared the knowledge he had gained through
meditation and set the Wheel of the Law in motion. For the
rest of his life, the Buddha travelled around sharing his
teachings with many people. The Buddha died in 483 B.C. at
the age of 80.
Upon
his death he attained Nirvana.
After his body was cremated, his ashes were divided up and
taken to eight different sites.At each of these sites, a mound-like
structure called a stupa was built to contain the ashes.Over
time, many stupas were built and rebuilt, serving as centres
of worship for the Buddha's followers.
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