The fourth largest religion in the world is known as Buddhism. It is a religion of peace
and understanding, as well, nobility and truth.
Two and a half thousand years ago, the son of a queen was about to be born. But on the
night of the full moon, the Queen Maya experienced a dream. In her dream it told that a special
being known as the Buddha will be born again. The story goes on to tell that four guardians
deities of the world carried the Queen up to the Himalaya mountains on her bed. They
then anointed her with perfume and heavenly flowers. A white elephant with six tusks then
descended from heaven, carrying a lotus flower in it’s trunk, and entered her womb. Thus,
the Buddha would be born of Maya. The boy was named Siddhartha Gautama, but after giving
birth to her child, Queen Maya fell ill, and died only days later.
The family summoned priests to predict Siddhartha’s future, the priests found signs of a great
being upon him, and his fate was told to be either a world emperor, or a spiritual leader.
His father was keen on bringing him up as a great political leader, and sheltered him
from seeing the outside world. But at the age of nine, when Siddhartha was allowed outside
the palace, he noticed the suffering present in the world, the tedious work done so he
did not have to, and the agony that animals felt in the wild. He formulated a thought,
that everything was connected, and all actions had consequences. This would be one of the
cornerstone for his teachings, Karma. But to curb this interest in understanding and
philosophy, The Buddha's father attempted to form a perfect place to live, one which
Siddhartha would never want to leave. And so, In his palace in India he was surrounded
by luxury. Every whim and desire was satisfied, and at the age of sixteen his father found
him a beautiful bride. His father was beginning to think palace life was finally suiting his
son, but this was wishful thinking. And Siddhartha experienced his first glimpse at the outside
world. He made four journeys, and saw four signs. Each journey would reveal to him an
aspect of life that had been hidden from him.
On his first journey he noticed an old decrepit man, and was revealed the process of aging
Siddhartha then noticed a sick man, and was revealed that all men can become sick
He then saw a corpse, and was appalled to discover that all things die, and are reborn,
to suffer and die again and again. Lastly Siddhartha finds a beggar, and wonders why
anyone would want to give up luxury to wander the hillsides, and his servant explains that
the man is seeking a greater understanding of the world. After returning to the palace
he learned of the fantasy his life really was. Although his wife had just given birth
to his child, Siddhartha knew he must leave the palace to seek greater understanding for
himself. He exchanged his riches for rags, and entered
the outside world, alone for the first time.
At this time in India, the world was in spiritual unrest. There were countless new spiritual
leaders and religions popping up all over, but Siddhartha felt that the solution to life's
suffering needed to be available to everyone, instead of an exclusive group.
He searched for a way of life that overcame the suffering he had seen. He traveled around
northern India, meeting teachers and gurus so that he could achieve this way of life
he was searching for. He began to meditate, and experiment with forms of fasting and religious
practices. Although he realized forcing your body to be one would not work, and one day,
he came across a musician tuning his sitar. And noticed that if he tuned it too tightly,
it would snap, and if it was too loose, it would not play. And that only in the middle,
would the string play. And this simple realization lead Siddhartha to understand that only this
place in the middle could lead him to where he wanted to be, a state of tuneful harmony,
known as enlightenment.
After six years, Siddhartha had been in search of complete wisdom, but had not found it.
But then, Siddhartha found a tree, and sat underneath it, and vowed not to leave until
he had reached enlightenment. He relinquished the pain, and began to focus on the slow movement
of his breath, coming in and out, and he began to become one. Siddhartha’s mind was now
so focused he could travel to every depth of his mind. And at this point, the Demon
Mara, lord of ego and illusion appeared to him. This demon could make any illusion real
in Siddhartha’s mind. Mara summoned an army of demons to attack him, firing flaming arrows
at him. But he turned the arrows into Lotus blossoms, that fell harmlessly before him.
Mara then tried to tempt him with his three daughters. But Siddhartha was able to easily
overcome this temptation. And at this point, Siddhartha realized, that Mara was the personification
of himself and his own temptations, and once he overcame this, he truly became the Buddha.
He continued to stay under the tree for seven days in absolute bliss. In this state, he
realized that once desire is removed, dissatisfaction and suffering will be removed as well. And
this became known as the Birth of Buddhism.
The Buddha summed up his wisdom in four noble truths, the foundations of all Buddhist beliefs
The first noble truth explains that there is suffering in life
The second noble truth discloses the cause of that suffering, which is desire
The third truth reveals that there is a cure for desire
And the fourth and final truth, the Buddha explains this cure, it is known as the eight-fold
path, and leads to enlightenment.
In Buddhism, it is believed that everything has a unique spirit, and continually lives,
dies and is reborn. This is the cycle of life. But to be born as a human is a rare chance
that Buddhists believe should not be wasted. But, if one achieves enlightenment in their
life, when they die, they are not reborn. They achieve Nirvana, the state of eternal
bliss, free from suffering, death, and rebirth.
The commandments of Buddhism are quite simple, Morality, meditation and wisdom. As well,
Buddhists are taught not to indulge in acts of desire. If one practices these tenets,
they may reach understanding for themselves, and may finally become enlightened.
Buddha also taught of Karma, which is the idea that all your good actions combined with
bad in your previous life equate to how your newt form will be. the Worse your karma, the
worse your next life, but the better the karma, the better life you will get.
Buddhists believe that there was no creator, and that the universe, in whatever form it
may be is eternal. Some Buddhists reject the idea of gods altogether, but even the Buddhists
who do accept the realm of the gods, claim that they are no more wiser than humans, simply
a different realm, and they have suffering as well. There is no supreme god in Buddhism,
and can be described by some as even non-theistic. Some question whether Buddhism is even a religion
itself. Many describe it as a philosophy, simply a way of life. It does not focus on
faith, or belief, it focuses on truth.
The Buddha returned to his palace, but he
knew he must leave, but before doing so, he ordained his son a Buddhist monk, and went
on to teach the way of life, for the next 40 years, until dying at the age of 80.
It is one of the first world religions, and is practiced by around 400 million people
around the world, it is a religion where the path to serenity and understanding lies in
the mind of each and every one of us.