How Significant Moments in Buddha's Life Informed the Assigned Tradition

Zen Buddhism Buddha or the Enlightened One existed in many incarnations before his final lifetime as Siddhartha or Gautama Buddha, who was born in 563 BC in Nepal. He had already been a king in many of his previous lifetimes and he always "descended on earth like a religious, social and cultural reformer" (Sharma, 2002, p. 18). Almost all of Buddha's life is "legendary," however, and based not on contemporary records but stories written down 800 to 1,000 years after his death (Lux and Michaels, 2006, p. 4).

His father was King Sudhodana of Sakya and his mother Queen Maya, had a dream that he was going to be born as a magnificent white elephant. According to legend, when his parents took him to the temple five days after his birth, all the other gods bowed down to him as the universal savior. Asita, the greatest ascetic of the age, also visited the infant and recognized his godhood when he rested his head against him.

As a young prince, Siddhartha lived in a palace surrounded only by beauty, happiness and luxury, and his father arranged his marriage to princess Yasodhara, the most beautiful lady in the country. Yet Buddha was discontented with this artificial life, especially when he saw the suffering and misery of the common people outside of the palace, including hunger, poverty, disease and death.

Determined to find the cause of all these evils and a way to escape from them, he left the palace at age sixteen and took up the life of an ascetic monk and beggar. He did not achieve true enlightenment after five or six years, but one day while sitting under the sacred Bodhi tree of wisdom, he vowed to remain there until he died to find the truth.

After being tempted and attacked by armies of demons, he learned about his previous incarnations and the endless cycle of birth, death and rebirth. Buddha then discovered the Four Noble Truths that suffering was universal, and that it was caused by suffering, but also that it could be overcome by the Noble Eightfold Path of right views, right intentions, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.

He also learned that Buddha-hood existed in all living things and that "anyone can potentially become a Buddha" (Schober, 1997, p. x). Buddha was then given the choice of entering Nirvana or remaining on earth to teach Enlightenment and he chose to remain. Over time, he gathered a group of disciples, including his cousin Ananda and his son Rahula, and he also accepted women followers. For the next 45 years, he travelled around India, spreading the teaching of the Four Noble truths and the Noble Eightfold Path.

He advised his followers to avoid the extremes of hedonism and asceticism, and follow the middle path of knowledge and illumination. All Buddhists were to carry out works of charity, mercy and loving-kindness while they lived in the physical world, but not become.