discuss the life and teachings of gautam buddha
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Answer:
An Insight into the Life and Teachings of Gautam Buddha
The Story of the Making of Gautam Buddha from Siddharth Gautam. Born to Shakya Chief of Kapilvastu, Suddhodana, and...
A Sheltered Childhood and Youth. King Suddhodana, wishing for his son to be a great king, shielded him from any contact...
Buddha’s Enlightenment. After leaving the palace, Buddha went from place to place over a period of 6 years, learning and...
Three Jewels. The ideals of Buddhism are collectively known as the ‘Three Jewels’
Answer:
Lord Buddha was born in 566 B.C. in a village called Lumbini in Kapilvastu. He was named Siddhartha. His father Suddhodana wished his son to become a great monarch.
Legends say that astrologers who cast the child’s horoscope predicted a brilliant future for Siddhartha either as a spiritual leader or as a conquering hero. In the former case he was to be guided by four signs i.e. old age, sickness, death and renunciation.
Since his father did not want this to happen, he built three castles for his son’s residence so that Siddhartha may not come across these four signs. One day the prince went out for a drive and came across a man leaning on a stick.
The sight profoundly upset him and he learnt from his charioteer all about sickness. The next day he met an old man, on the third day a dead body and on the fourth a recluse.
The Buddhist scriptures say that God had assumed these forms for detracting the prince from the worldly life his father had planned for him.
Later he was married to Yasodhara, daughter of Dandapani, noble of his kingdom. But marriage did not solve life’s problem for Siddhartha. In spite of having a family life, one dark night he left the palace without being seen by anybody.
After leaving the palace Siddhartha attached himself to several teachers, one after another, but in his attempt to find a solution to the mystery of life none of them was helpful and finally he decided to tread the path alone.