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Shakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, was born into the Gautama clan and given the name Siddhartha. "Shakyamuni" is an honorific title used by Buddhists, meaning "Sage of the Shakya clan." The name combines "Shakya," his tribal name meaning "able," with "muni," a term of respect that can be translated as "sage" or "silent one."
Over 2,500 years ago, in the northwestern part of ancient India at the foot of the Himalayas, there was a small kingdom called Kapilavastu (in present-day Nepal). This beautiful and prosperous land was surrounded by lush forests, fertile plains, and grasslands ideal for cattle grazing.
The king of this land was Suddhodana Gautama, whose name means "pure rice," earning him the title "Pure Rice King." He belonged to the Shakya clan. His queen was Mahamaya, the eldest daughter of King Suprabuddha from the neighboring city of Devadaha.
King Suddhodana and Queen Maya had a loving relationship but remained childless for many years. The king was deeply troubled by the lack of an heir. It wasn't until King Suddhodana was 50 and Queen Maya was 45 that they finally conceived their first child.
According to Buddhist legend, Queen Maya's pregnancy came about after she dreamed of a white elephant with six tusks entering her right side. From that moment, the queen experienced great joy, free from worry and anger, with all greed and deceit vanishing from her heart. She spent her days walking peacefully in quiet groves and by tranquil streams.
Following the custom of the time, when it was time for the queen to give birth, she set out for her parents' home. On the journey, the royal party stopped at Lumbini Grove, located between Kapilavastu and Devadaha. Feeling fatigued from travel, Queen Maya decided to rest in the garden. As she reached up to grasp a branch of a sal tree, she unexpectedly went into labor and gave birth to the prince.
The prince was born in 565 BCE, on the eighth day of the fourth month in the Chinese lunar calendar. Buddhists celebrate this day as "Buddha's Birthday" or the "Bathing Buddha Festival."
Buddhist scriptures describe miraculous events surrounding the prince's birth: heavenly music played, flowers rained from the sky, and divine beings stood guard. The universe was said to be filled with radiant light, and all things flourished. Two streams of pure water – one warm, one cool – poured from the sky to bathe the newborn prince. It's said that the infant could walk immediately after birth, taking seven steps, with lotus flowers springing up beneath his feet. Pointing one hand to the sky and the other to the earth, he declared, "In the heavens above and the earth below, I alone am the Honored One."
On the fifth day after the prince's birth, King Suddhodana invited renowned scholars to name the child. After much discussion, they agreed on the name Siddhartha Gautama. Siddhartha means "one who achieves his aim" or "every wish fulfilled."
Tragically, Queen Maya passed away seven days after giving birth to Siddhartha. The young prince was then raised by his aunt, Mahaprajapati Gautami, who later married King Suddhodana. Mahaprajapati was known for her beauty, gentleness, and grace. She cared for her nephew Siddhartha with great love and devotion.
According to Buddhist tradition, shortly after Siddhartha's birth, a famous sage named Asita visited the palace to read the prince's fortune. Upon seeing the child, Asita was first overjoyed but then began to weep. When King Suddhodana asked why he was both happy and sad, Asita explained that he was delighted because the prince's exceptional features indicated that he would become either a great "wheel-turning king" (a righteous monarch who rules the four quarters of the earth) or a supreme spiritual teacher. However, Asita wept because he knew he would be too old to hear the prince's teachings when the time came.
King Suddhodana, hearing the sage's words, felt both joy and concern. While he hoped his son would become a great ruler, he was determined to prevent the prince from pursuing a spiritual path. From that day forward, the king did everything in his power to shield Siddhartha from the realities of the world that might inspire him to seek a life of religious devotion.
As a child, Siddhartha was often lost in thought, deeply moved by the things he observed in the world around him. During the traditional "King's Plowing Ceremony," when Siddhartha accompanied his father to the fields, he witnessed farmers laboring under the hot sun, oxen being beaten as they pulled plows, and small creatures like earthworms being eaten by birds, which were in turn preyed upon by snakes and hawks. This cycle of struggle, where the strong devoured the weak, deeply troubled the young prince. He retreated to sit under a rose-apple tree, lost in contemplation.
Legend has it that as Siddhartha sat beneath the tree, he began to levitate, much to the amazement of his father and aunt, who bowed before him in reverence.
As Siddhartha grew, he developed into a remarkably handsome and intelligent young man. His father, King Suddhodana, had high hopes for him, envisioning Siddhartha as a future wheel-turning king who would achieve great things. From the age of seven, the prince began studying all the subjects and skills expected of a royal heir. By the time he was twelve, Siddhartha had mastered the highest levels of learning in ancient India, including the Five Sciences and the Four Vedas.
The Five Sciences comprised:
- Linguistic studies (Shabdavidya)
- Arts and crafts (Shilpasthanavidya)
- Medicine (Chikitsavidya)
- Logic (Hetuvidya)
- Philosophy (Adhyatmavidya)
The Four Vedas included:
- Rigveda (hymns and mantras)
- Samaveda (melodies and chants)
- Yajurveda (prose mantras)
- Atharvaveda (spells and incantations)
The Vedas were considered the highest spiritual texts of the time, revered by the Brahmins and required reading for the nobility.
In addition to his academic studies, Siddhartha also trained in martial arts, becoming skilled in horseback riding, archery, and swordsmanship.
King Suddhodana organized a grand martial arts competition, in which all the Shakya princes participated. Siddhartha excelled in riding and archery, winning the championship and earning universal admiration.
Noticing that his son seemed to dwell too much on the sufferings of the world, and fearing that Siddhartha might develop a desire to renounce worldly life, King Suddhodana built three luxurious palaces for the prince – one for each season (winter, summer, and rainy season). He also selected hundreds of beautiful young women to entertain the prince with song and dance at all times. When Siddhartha turned sixteen, the king arranged for him to marry his cousin, Princess Yasodhara, hoping that a life of pleasure and family responsibilities would keep the prince from thoughts of renunciation.
However, all of this failed to capture Siddhartha's interest. Instead, he found the constant entertainment tedious and disruptive, leading him to deeper contemplation: "There are countless sorrows and worries in the world that remain unsolved. Can the pursuit of pleasure alone bring liberation? Life is short – how long can one enjoy such pleasures?" As a result, Siddhartha often escaped the clamor of the palace to walk alone in quiet groves and by riverbanks, lost in thought.
Most fathers worry about their sons becoming too indulgent in sensual pleasures, regardless of whether they are kings or commoners. But King Suddhodana feared his son's quiet, contemplative nature might lead him to renounce the world. The king constantly monitored Siddhartha's mood, trying to cheer him up whenever he seemed melancholy. When he noticed that the prince found the palace entertainment overwhelming, he arranged for Siddhartha to go on chariot rides, instructing the charioteer to take the prince to places filled with joyful people and beautiful scenery. However, Siddhartha preferred solitude and asked his charioteer, Channa, to take him outside the city.
On one such outing, as Siddhartha approached the eastern gate of the capital, he encountered an old man with white hair, a bent back, and difficulty walking. The sight of this elderly person made Siddhartha realize that aging was an inescapable fate for all humans. He reflected on how people are cherished as children, handsome and carefree in youth, full of energy in adulthood, but must endure many hardships in old age.
Saddened by this sight, Siddhartha asked Channa to turn the chariot towards the southern gate. There, they came across a person covered in sores, moaning in pain. This encounter led Siddhartha to contemplate the inevitability of illness and the countless times people must suffer from disease throughout their lives.
Next, they headed to the western gate, where they witnessed a group of people carrying a corpse, followed by wailing relatives. Siddhartha sighed, thinking about the terror of death that no one can escape, the fear it brings when it approaches, and the immense sorrow it causes to loved ones. These sufferings, he realized, were endless and inescapable for all beings.
Finally, Siddhartha's chariot arrived at the northern gate, where he saw a monk (known as a "shramana" in India at that time) walking towards them. The monk wore a simple robe that left his right shoulder bare, carrying a staff in one hand and a bowl in the other, his demeanor serious and serene. Siddhartha thought to himself that surely this renunciant must be free from the many sorrows and troubles of ordinary people.
When Siddhartha was 29 years old (some sources say 19), his beautiful wife Yasodhara gave birth to a son. While the entire kingdom rejoiced at this news, Siddhartha felt a deep sense of gravity. He named his son Rahula, which means "fetter" or "impediment." Siddhartha, who had already been contemplating leaving home to pursue a spiritual path, feared that having a son would increase his attachment to family life. The name Rahula also carries the meaning of being "bound" or "tied down," suggesting that having a child would constrain him like being caught in a snare.
Finally, on a certain day, Siddhartha earnestly pleaded with his father, King Suddhodana, to allow him to leave the palace and become a wandering ascetic. The king was thunderstruck by this request and, with tears in his eyes, begged Siddhartha to abandon the idea of renunciation and instead prepare to inherit the throne. Siddhartha then presented his father with four conditions under which he would agree to stay: if the king could guarantee that (1) he would never grow old, (2) he would never fall ill, (3) he would never die, and (4) nothing would ever decay or be lost.
Realizing the determination in his son's heart and his own inability to dissuade him, King Suddhodana resorted to increasing the guard around the prince to prevent him from leaving the palace.
The king ordered the palace maidens to stay close to the prince at all times, playing beautiful music, dancing gracefully, and using all their charms to please him. However, one night, Siddhartha awoke to find the exhausted entertainers asleep around him, their hair disheveled, makeup smeared, and bodies in ungainly postures. Some were talking in their sleep or drooling, others were snoring loudly, their usual allure completely gone. This sight startled the prince, making him realize how much of the world was illusory. He felt he could no longer hesitate or delay – he had to break free from all of this. His emotions were like a raging fire consuming the entire palace, and he knew he had to escape immediately.
At midnight on the eighth day of the second lunar month, Siddhartha rose and went to the bedroom where his wife and son slept. He gazed silently at the sleeping Yasodhara and Rahula, bidding them a silent farewell before resolutely turning away from the luxurious palace his father had built for him.
Siddhartha then went to the stables and woke his charioteer, Channa, asking him to saddle his white horse, Kanthaka. With Channa accompanying him, the prince mounted his steed and, while everyone in the palace slept, leapt over the city's northern gate. Under the pale moonlight, they galloped towards the distant forests.
By dawn, Siddhartha had reached the banks of the Anoma River in the forest near Rama Village, over a hundred miles from the capital. There, he drew his sword and cut off his hair, disguising himself as a wandering ascetic. He then instructed Channa to return to the palace and inform King Suddhodana of his departure to pursue the spiritual life.
Siddhartha's decision to renounce his royal position and pursue a spiritual path was influenced by both societal factors and personal realizations. He lived in an era of intense conflict between various states in ancient India, with class and ethnic tensions running high. His own Shakya clan was relatively weak and constantly threatened by more powerful neighbors, facing the possibility of annihilation. This led him to perceive that all worldly phenomena and concepts were in a constant state of flux, with no lasting happiness and endless suffering. Moreover, witnessing the inevitability of old age, sickness, and death in human life, and realizing he too was subject to these fates, Siddhartha became deeply troubled by the inescapable nature of suffering in life. To find spiritual liberation from these concerns, he ultimately chose the path of renunciation.
Siddhartha began his spiritual journey by studying meditation under two renowned teachers: Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta, near Rajagriha in the kingdom of Magadha. Later, he spent six years practicing severe asceticism near the Nairanjana River. Eventually, he realized that extreme asceticism was not the path to liberation and moved to Gaya (Bodh Gaya), where he sat in meditation under a pipal tree, contemplating the Four Noble Truths and the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination. It was here that he finally achieved enlightenment at the age of 35 (some sources say 30).
He gave his first sermon at Deer Park in Sarnath, near Varanasi, to his five former companions. From then on, he traveled throughout the Ganges basin in northern and central India, teaching and establishing a monastic order, laying the foundations for what would become Buddhism. He gained many followers in Rajagriha, converting both King Bimbisara of Magadha and his son, King Ajatashatru. In Shravasti, he won the devotion of King Prasenajit of Kosala.
Tradition speaks of 500 disciples, with ten particularly renowned ones known as the Ten Great Disciples. At the age of 80, Shakyamuni Buddha passed away in the city of Kushinagar, leaving behind a legacy that would profoundly influence the spiritual landscape of the world for millennia to come.
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