Buddhism: Background, Origins, and Pillars
The life of Buddha is directly connected to the teachings of Buddha and reflect some of the main pillars of Buddhism. “Siddhartha Gautama, who would one day become known as Buddha (‘enlightened one’ or ‘the awakened’), lived in Nepal during the 6th to 4th century B.C” (biography.com). There are other religious figures that have made tremendous impacts on society, religion and the belief system of enormous groups of people; with many of these people, there is a lack of clarity regarding whether or not they actually lived. This is not the case with Buddha: most experts agree that he did live on earth for a period of time, though the exact milestones and experiences he had on earth remain under a certain amount of contention. “According to the most widely known story of his life, after experimenting with different teachings for years, and finding none of them acceptable, Gautama spent a fateful night in deep meditation. During his meditation, all of the answers he had been seeking became clear, and he achieved full awareness, thereby becoming Buddha” (biography.com). This story demonstrates one of the central tenets of Buddhism, a religion that stresses the awareness of all that is. Further examination into the life and life events of Buddha can provide deeper clarity regarding the religion as a whole.
Buddha, born...
Buddha’s father was a powerful man that ruled the group of peoples and Buddha’s mother died a week after giving birth to him. His father endeavored to shelter him from the painful realities of the world, and thus raised him in a palace of great lavishness and wealth. To continue to spare him pain, Buddha’s father endeavored to seclude him from all knowledge of human suffering. It wasn’t until Buddha’s late twenties, when he was a fully-fledged adult that he was exposed to life outside of the palace and saw how the rest of the world lived. For example, Buddha saw a frail old and dying man, and was forced to confront the realities of human mortality, sickness and the absence of health. “Siddhartha was overcome by these sights, and the next day, at age 29, he left his kingdom, wife and son to lead an ascetic life, and determine a way to relieve the universal suffering that he now understood to be one of the defining traits of humanity” (biography.com).
Finally, being exposed to the outside world had a powerful impact on Buddha and he endeavored to live a life of austere frugality, attracting a few followers, and on a quest of enlightenment which meant that he caused himself much of his own suffering via refusing water, food and meditating for long periods of time (biography.com). Eventually,…
