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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.
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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