Buddhism
Buddha's Core Teachings
Who is Siddhartha Gautama?
Buddhism began with a young prince named Siddhartha Gautama, born in 623 B.C. into a royal family in Lumbini. Siddhartha Gautama lived majority of his young life being sheltered in his kingdom by his father, King Suddhodana. King Suddhodana went to great lengths to provide all the luxuries his kingdom could offer to his son in order to keep Siddhartha on the path to becoming an equally great leader as King Suddhodana. Siddhartha was always surrounded by beautiful, young, healthy individuals. King Suddhodana went to these great lengths because of the predictions the a prophet made a prophecy the day Siddhartha was born. The prophets predictions for Siddhartha’s future consisted of him becoming a powerful monarch or a great holyman (Gyatso). King Suddhodana did not want his only son to lead a life as the a great holy man because it meant that Siddhartha would give up all desire for worldly pleasures and renounce his title as the future king. Therefore, King Suddhodana and the people of the kingdom went as far as arranging a marriage for Siddhartha Gautama in order to prevent him from leading a life as great holy man with Yasodara, the daughter of a respected Shakya family. The young prince reluctantly granted his father's wishes and married Yasodhara and had a son named Rahula in c. 534 BCE.
About Buddha
Despite the king's attempts, the young prince ventured off on his own at the age of 29 and discovered the truths about suffering, after witnessing a very old man, a sick man, and a deceased body (Biography.com). Siddhartha became fully aware of the fact that all livings beings are significantly affected by how frail they are. The discovery of this truth that all living beings experience suffering, pain, and death in the endless cycle of rebirth, Siddhartha was left with a deep compassion for all human beings (Gyatso). With this understanding in hand, Siddhartha was determined to find an end to the cycle of suffering, pain, and death. Siddhartha “...developed a sincere wish to free all of them from their suffering. Realizing that only a fully enlightened Buddha has the wisdom and the power to help all living beings in this way, he resolved to leave the palace…” (Gyatso). The following 6 years after Siddhartha discovered his need to find an ending to all suffering, Siddhartha dedicated his life to living as an ascetic and partaking in different practices from several other religions. However, none of the practices gave Siddhartha the results he desired. Siddhartha came to the realization that extreme practices, such as, enduring pain and starvation were not leading him to the answer he was searching for. With this understanding in mind, Siddhartha decided to meditate for several days under the Bodhi tree “...purifying his mind, seeing his entire life, and previous lives, in his thoughts. During this time, he had to overcome the threats of Mara, an evil demon, who challenged his right to become the Buddha...and Siddhartha finally saw the answer to the questions of suffering that he had been seeking for so many years”, in this very moment, at the age of 35, Siddhartha Gautama reached enlightenment and became fully aware of all the answers needed to end suffering (Biography.com). Siddhartha became the Buddha at this moment. Shortly after reaching enlightenment, Buddha gave his first sermon in which he addressed his new teachings. The sermon consisted of some of the core teachings of Buddhism that exists today. Some of the teachings include the Six Realms, the Four Noble Truths, and the Eightfold Path
Siddhartha's Road to Enlighenment
