2,500 years ago one man's spiritual
journey was the beginning of one of the
world's major religions today about
three hundred and seventy-six million
followers he is simply called the Buddha
and he grew up the son of a king
sheltered from the realities of human
suffering when he finally learned the
harsh truth he left his family and set
off on a path to understand life itself
first as a monk and then as a teacher in
this week's biographic Sui take a look
at the Buddha Siddhartha Gautama
the founder of Buddhism was a man named
Siddhartha Gautama he was the son of a
chieftain and believed to be born in
lumbini modern-day Nepal in the sixth
century BC his father suitor Donna
translating to he who grows pure rice
presided over a large clan called the
Shakya in either a republic or an
oligarchy system of rule his mother was
Queen Meir of Satya who is said to have
died shortly after his birth the infant
was given the name Siddhartha meaning he
who achieves his aim when Siddhartha was
still a baby several seers with the
power of supernatural insight into the
future predicted he would either be a
great spiritual leader military leader
or a king since adolphus mother died he
was brought up by his maternal aunt Maha
pooja party his father hoping to steer
Siddhartha in the direction of the
throne shielded him from any religion of
any kind and sheltered him from seeing
human hardship and suffering as such he
was raised in the lap of luxury and
blissful ignorance where he knew nothing
about aging disease or death at the age
of sixteen Siddhartha's father arranged
his marriage to his cousin yasodara who
was also a teenager she gave birth to
Rahul er some years later Siddhartha is
said to have remained living in the
palace until the age of 29 and that was
when everything changed according to the
story one day Siddhartha traveled
outside of the palace gates and he was
deeply disturbed by the sight of an old
man his charioteer channa explained to
Siddhartha that all people grow old and
that death is an integral part of life
this prompted Siddhartha to secretly
venture outside the palace on more and
more trips when leaving it was said that
the horse's hooves were muffled by the
gods service to prevent the guards from
knowing of his departure outside the
gates on these trips he encountered a
sick man a decaying corpse and a
homeless holy man also known as an
ascetic channet old Siddhartha but
ascetics give up their material
possessions and forego physical
pleasures for a higher spiritual purpose
after witnessing the reality of human
hardship and suffering Siddhartha had no
interest in living at the palace he left
his wife and child to discover the true
meaning of life first by living as a
traveling beggar-like the ascetics that
he saw on the streets
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Siddartha first went to the city of
rejig our herons began begging on the
streets in order to survive he was
recognized there by the king's men and
he was offered the throne he rejected it
but promised to come back and visit once
he had attained enlightenment
once he left the city he met a hermit
brahmin saint named Alara Kalama
kilometer sidarthur a form of meditation
known as the sphere of nothingness
Siddhartha eventually became his
teachers equal and Kalama offered him
his place saying you are the same as I
am now there is no difference between us
stay here and take my place and teach my
students with me but Siddhartha he
didn't stand instead he moved on to
another teacher who darker Rama putas
once again he achieved high levels of
meditative consciousness and was asked
to succeed his teacher
Siddhartha refused the offer once again
and he moved on through the practice of
meditation Siddhartha realized a state
of perfect equanimity and awareness and
he was on the path to enlightenment he
also realized that living life as an
extremely deprived beggar as he had done
wasn't working it had been six years and
he had eaten very little and fasted
until he was incredibly weak
[Music]
after starving himself for days
siddhartha famously accepted milk and
rice pudding from a village girl named
Sujata
he was so emaciated she thought he was
the spirit there to grant her a wish
Siddhartha after having this meal
decided against living the life of
extreme self-denial since his spiritual
goals were not being that he instead
opted to follow a path of balance known
in Buddhism as the middle way at this
turning point his five followers
believed he was giving up and they
abandoned him soon after he began
meditating under a fig tree and
committed himself to staying there until
he had found enlightenment he meditated
for six days and nights and reached
enlightenment on the full moon morning
of May a week before he turned 35 at the
time of his enlightenment he gained
complete insight into the course of
suffering and the steps necessary to
eliminate it he called these steps the
Four Noble Truths after his awakening
the Buddha met two merchant brothers
from the city of Bakker in modern-day
Afghanistan
the brothers Tripura and Baja lika
offered the Buddha his first meal after
enlightenment and they became his first
lay disciples according to some texts
each of these brothers gave her hair and
they were enshrined at a temple in
Rangoon Burma
legend has it that initially Buddha was
reluctant to spread his knowledge to
others as he was doubtful of whether the
common people would understand his
teachings but then the king of gods
Brahma convinced Buddha to teach and
that was what he set out to do the
Buddha traveled to Deer Park in northern
India where he set in motion what
Buddhists call the wheel of Dharma by
delivering his first sermon to the five
companions who had abandoned him earlier
together with him they formed the first
five Buddhist monks all five attained
Nirvana estate along the path to
enlightenment yet not full enlightenment
they were known as the ones who were
worthy or perfected people from the
first group of five it steadily grew to
sixty within the first few months and
eventually the Sangha reached more than
1,000 people the Sangh had traveled
through the subcontinent expounding the
dharma this continued throughout the
year except during the four months of
the vasa rainy season when ascetics of
all religions rarely traveled one reason
was that it was more difficult to do say
without causing harm to animal life at
this time of year the Sangha would
retreat to monasteries public parks or
forests where people would come to them
the first vasana was spent at varanasi
when the Sangha was formed after this
the Buddha kept a promise to travel to
rajagaha the capital of Magadha to visit
king bimbisara during this visit Sara
Potter and moudgalya Yana were converted
to acai one of the first five disciples
after this they were to become the
Buddha's two foremost followers the
Buddha spent the next three seasons at
Vala vana bamboo grove monastery in
rajagaha the capital of Magadha upon
hearing of his son's awakening sadhana
sent over a period ten delegations to
ask him to return on the first nine
occasions the delegates failed to
deliver the message and instead joined
the sang her to become era house the
tenth delegation led by coloured ie a
childhood friend of gautuma who also
became an air offence however delivered
the message now two years after his
awakening the Buddha agreed to return
and made a two-month journey by first to
Kapilavastu
teaching of the Dharma as he went at his
return the royal palace prepared a
midday meal but the Sangha was making an
arms round
in kapilavatthu hearing this at her
Donna approached his son Buddha saying
ours is the warrior lineage of muhammara
not a single warrior has gone seeking
arms the Buddha is said to have replied
that is not the custom of your royal
lineage but it is the custom of my
Buddha lineage several thousands of
Buddha's have gone by seeking arms
Buddhist texts say that Sutra Donner
invited the sanger into the palace for
the meal followed by a Dharma talk after
this he is said to have become a sort of
Panna during the visit many members of
the royal family joined the Sangha the
buddhist cousins an ardor and an Narada
became two of his five chief disciples
at the age of seven his son Rahul er
also joins and became one of his 10
chief disciples his half-brother nanda
also joined and became an arahant
his wife reportedly became a nun
throughout his life butter encouraged
his students to question his teachings
and confirm them through their own
experience this non-dogmatic attitude
still characterizes Buddhism today
[Music]
Buddhism is the fourth largest religion
in the world and it is also one of the
oldest established in the sixth century
BC in present-day Nepal India unlike
other religions Buddhists do not worship
a God instead they focus on spiritual
developments with the end goal of
becoming enlightened though not in the
intellectual sense of the word in the
Western world enlightenment is most
often associated with the 18th century
European enlightenment period movement
characterized by a rational and
scientific approach to politics religion
and social and economic issues in
Buddhism the simplest explanation of
attaining enlightenment is when an
individual finds out the truth about
life and experiences and awakening where
they are freed from the cycle of being
reborn central to Buddhism is the notion
that to live is to suffer and everything
is in a constant state of change all
Buddhists believe unless one has become
enlightened they will be reincarnated
again and again for principles that the
buddha came to understand during his
meditation under the Bodhi tree these
are the truth of suffering
Dook are the truth of origin of
suffering sama daya the truth of
cessation of suffering and near Adha and
the truth of the path of cessation of
suffering maha suffering comes in many
forms three obvious kinds are suffering
corresponding to the first three sides
the Buddha saw in his first journey
outside his palace old age sickness and
death the Buddha the problem of
suffering goes much deeper though life
is not ideal it frequently fails to live
up to our expectations human beings are
subject to desires and cravings but even
when we are able to satisfy these
desires the satisfaction is only
temporary pleasure does not last and if
it does it becomes monotonous even when
we are not suffering from outward causes
like illness or bereavement we are
unfulfilled or unsatisfied this is
simply the truth of suffering the next
noble truth is the origin of suffering
our day-to-day troubles may seem to have
easily identifiable causes thirst pain
from an injury sadness from the loss of
a loved one in the second of his Noble
Truths though Buddha claimed to have
found the cause of all suffering and it
is much more deeply rooted than our
immediate worries the Buddha taught that
the root of all suffering is desire
tanja this comes in
forms which he describes as the three
roots of evil or the three fires or the
three poisons the three roots of evil
are greed and desire represented in art
by a rooster ignorance or delusion
represented by a pig and hatred and
destructive urges represented by a snake
the third noble truth is the cessation
of suffering nirodha the Buddha taught
that the way to extinguish desire which
causes suffering is to liberate oneself
from attachment this is the third noble
truth for possibility of liberation the
Buddha was a living example that this is
possible in a human lifetime
estrangement here means disenchantment a
Buddhist aims to no sense conditions
clearly as they are without becoming
enchanted or misled by them Nirvana
means extinguishing attaining Nirvana
reaching enlightenment means
extinguishing the three fires of greed
delusion and hatred someone who reaches
Nirvana does not immediately disappear
to a heavenly realm Nirvana is better
understood as the State of Mind that
humans can reach it is a state of
profound spiritual joy without negative
emotions and fears someone who has
attained enlightenment is filled with
compassion for all living things after
death an enlightened person is liberated
from the cycle of rebirth
but Buddhism gives no definite answers
as to what happens next
the Buddha discouraged his followers
from asking too many questions about
Nirvana he wanted them to concentrate on
the task at hand which was freeing
themselves from the cycle of suffering
asking questions is like quibbling with
the doctor who is trying to save your
life the fourth noble truth is the path
to the cessation of suffering Magha
this final noble truth is the Buddhist
prescription for the end of suffering
this is a set of principles called the
Eightfold Path the Eightfold Path is
also called the middle way it avoids
both indulgence and severe asceticism
neither of which the Buddha found
helpful in his search for enlightenment
the eight stages are not to be taken in
order that rather support and reinforce
each other
at the age of 80 booter announced that
he would soon reach parinirvana Rawley
final deathless state and abandon his
earthly body after this the buddha ate
his last meal which he had received as
an offering from a blacksmith named
Kunda balling violently ill buddha
instructed his attendant inada to
convince kunda that the meal eaten at
his place had nothing to do with his
passing and that his meal would be a
source of the greatest merit as it
providers the last meal for a Buddha the
Buddha's teachings began to be codified
shortly after his death and continued to
be followed one way or another and with
major discrepancies by at least 400
million people to this day there are
numerous different schools and sects of
Buddhism the two largest are Theravada
Buddhism which is mostly popular in Sri
Lanka Cambodia Thailand Lao and Burma
Myanmar and then there is Mahayana
Buddhism which is strongest in Tibet
China Taiwan Japan Korea RINs Mongolia
Buddhist sects do not typically look to
preaching in vert people but they do
look tell people on the path to
enlightenment if with a pure mind a
person speaks or acts happiness follows
them like an effort departing shadow so
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