Buddhism

Essay by deannamooseCollege, UndergraduateA+, October 2006

download word file, 12 pages 2.0 1 reviews

Downloaded 148 times

Introduction

Siddhartha Gautama was born in the sixth century B.C. to a king named Suddhodana and a queen named Mahamaya. The prince grew up within the palace walls, and had no contact with the outside world (Buddha Story, n.d., ¶ 1). Prince Siddhartha married a princess named Yashodhara, and they had a son named Rahula. They all lived within the world of wealth and power. Until one day, when Prince Siddhartha finally persuaded his father to let him go outside the palace walls to see the city (Buddha Story, n.d.,¶ 2).

On this one venture outside the palace walls, Gautama saw what is now refered to as the four sights, or the four heavenly messagengers.. Gautama saw an old crippled man which was the sign of old age, he saw a diseased man which was the sign of illness, he saw a decaying corpse which was the sign of death, and he saw an ascetic.

These four sights inspired Gautama; he decided to try and overcome old age, illness, and death by living the life of an ascetic. At age 29, Gautama left entire family and all his worldly belongings, to take up life as a lonely wandering monk (Gautama Buddha, 2006).

After Gautama abandoned his inheritance he decided to dedicate his life to learning how to overcome the suffering he had seen. He meditated with two hermits, and was able to achieve high-levels of meditative consciousness, but he was still not satisfied with the path he had chose (Gautama Buddha, 2006). "Gautama then chose the robes of a mendicant monk and headed to Magadha in what is today Bihar in India. He began his training in the ascetic life and practicing vigorous techniques of physical and mental self denial. Gautama proved quite adept at these practices, and surpassed even...