Siddhartha
Gautama, also known as Sakyamuni (sage of the Sakya
clan), was the originator of historical Buddhism. When
Siddhartha was born, in northern India, it was
prophesied that he would either become a great clan
leader or a great spiritual teacher. To keep Siddhartha
from becoming a sage, his father kept him enclosed
within their palace, shielding him from the outside
world. All of life’s pleasures were readily available to
him, and he never lacked for anything. Despite this, he
longed to experience the world.
When he was 29, he snuck out of the
palace to see the world for himself. In his
explorations, three things he saw changed his life: a
sick man, an old man, and a dead man. Having been
shielded from these aspects of life, Siddhartha was
shocked. During this time, he also met a wandering
ascetic who had renounced all worldly possessions and
claimed to be better off for it.
Discovering the fact that all people
were subject to old age, sickness, and death, the
privileges of his royal status no longer meant anything
to him. Wealth and pleasure could not shield anyone from
suffering. He now had to know why life was the way it
was. So, he left his palace, his wife and child, his
noble inheritance, cut off his hair, discarded his silk
robe, and became a wandering ascetic.
Siddhartha spent many years beating
and starving himself, practicing many austerities, until
he came to the conclusion that pain and asceticism
didn’t bring any spiritual insight. Having found no
illumination in either pain or pleasure, Siddhartha
renounced this path as well. He quit his severe
practices and began eating food again.
Restoring his body to a state of
health, he left his ascetic companions and soon after
went off alone into the woods. Siddhartha gave up
searching through worldly means and simply sat under a
tree and began to meditate unceasingly. It is here that
he realized the ‘middle way’ between extremes and
attained enlightenment.
The next 45 years of his life were
spent teaching others the path to enlightenment until he
died at the age of 80.
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