the story of the Buddha's life like all
of Buddhism is a story about confronting
suffering he was born sometime between
the 6th and 4th century BC the son of a
wealthy King in Himalayan foothills of
Nepal it was prophesied that the young
Buddha then called Siddhartha Gautama
would either become the Emperor of India
or a very holy man since Siddhartha's
father desperately wanted him to become
the former he kept the child isolated in
a palace yang Gotama
had every imaginable luxury jewel
servants lotus ponds even beautiful
dancing women for 29 years Gotama lived
in bliss protected from the smallest
misfortunes of the outside world but
then he left the palace for short
excursions what he saw amazed him first
he met a sick man then an aging man and
then a dying man he was astounded to
discover that these unfortunate people
represented normal indeed inevitable
parts of the human condition that would
one day touch him too horrified and
fascinated Gotama made a fourth trip
outside the palace walls and encountered
a holy man who'd learned to seek
spiritual life in the midst of the
vastness of human suffering inspired by
the holy man Gautama left the palace for
good he tried to learn from other holy
men he almost starved himself to death
by avoiding all physical comforts and
pleasures as they did perhaps
unsurprisingly it didn't bring him
solace from suffering then he thought of
a moment when he was a small boy sitting
by the river he'd noticed that when the
grass was cut the insects and their eggs
were trampled and destroyed as a child
he'd felt a deep compassion for the tiny
insects reflecting on his childhood
compassion Gotama felt a profound sense
of peace he ate meditated and finally
reached the highest state of
enlightenment nirvana it refers to the
blowing out of the flames of desire with
this Gotama had become the Buddha the
awakened one the Buddha awoke by
recognizing that all of creation from
distraught ants to dying human beings is
unified by suffering recognizing this
the Buddha discovered how to best
approach suffering first one shouldn't
bathe in luxury
nor abstain from food and comforts
altogether instead one ought to live in
moderation the Buddha called this the
middle way this allows for maximal
concentration on cultivating compassion
for others and seeking enlightenment
next the Buddha described a path
transcending suffering called the Four
Noble Truths the first noble truth is
the realization that first prompted the
Buddha's journey that there is suffering
and constant dissatisfaction in the
world the second is that this suffering
is caused by our desires as the Buddha
said attachment is the root of all
suffering the third truth is that we can
transcend suffering by removing or
managing these desires the Buddha thus
made the remarkable claim that we must
change our outlook not our circumstances
we are unhappy not because we don't have
enough money love or status but because
we're greedy vain and insecure by
reorienting our minds we can grow to be
content with the correct behavior and
what we now term a mindful attitude we
can also become better people we can
invert negative emotions and states of
mind turning ignorance into wisdom anger
into compassion and greed into
generosity the fourth and final noble
truth the Buddha uncovered is that we
can learn to move beyond suffering
through what he termed the Noble
Eightfold Path the Eightfold Path
involves a series of aspects of behaving
right and wisely right view right
intention right speech right action
Right Livelihood right effort right
mindfulness and right concentration what
strikes the Western observer is the
notion that wisdom is a habit not merely
an intellectual realization one must
exercise one's nobler impulses on a
regular basis as one would train a limb
the moment of understanding is only one
part of becoming a better person after
his death the Buddha's followers
collected his sutras sermons or sayings
into Scripture and developed text to
guide followers in meditation ethics and
mindful living the monasteries that had
developed during the buddha's lifetime
grew and multiplied throughout China and
East Asia for a time Buddhism was
particularly uncommon in India itself an
early a few quiet groups of yellow clad
monks and nuns roamed the countryside
meditating quietly in nature but then in
the 3rd century BC an Indian king named
Ashoka grew troubled by the Wars he had
fought and converted to Buddhism he sent
monks and
nons far and wide to spread the practice
but his spiritual traditions spread
across Asia and eventually throughout
the world but his followers divided into
two main schools tera vaada Buddhism
which colonized Southeast Asia and
Mahayana Buddhism which took hold in
China in Northeast Asia today there were
between a half and one and a half
billion Buddhists in both east and west
following the Buddhist teachings and
seeking a more enlightened and
compassionate state of mind
intriguingly the Buddha's teachings are
important regardless of our spiritual
identification like the Buddha we're all
born into the world not realizing how
much suffering it contains and unable to
fully comprehend that misfortune
sickness and death will come to us too
as we grow older this reality often
feels overwhelming and we may seek to
avoid it altogether but the Buddha's
teachings remind us of the importance of
facing suffering directly we must do our
best to liberate ourselves from the grip
of our own desires and recognize that
suffering can be viewed as part of our
common connection with others spurring
us to compassion and gentleness
you