Buddhism: An
Introduction
page 2
HISTORY:
Buddhism is based on the teachings of its founder, who was known as the
Buddha. The term buddha is a participle of the Sanskrit verbal root Budh,
"to awaken," and is employed as the title "the Awakened
One," or "Enlightened One." The Buddha, whose personal
name was Siddhartha Gautama, was born in Kapilavastu in Nepal near the
Indian border, and is generally believed to have lived from 560 to 480
B.C.
Siddhartha was born a prince in the kingdom of the Sakyas, and lived
in a palace with many luxuries. He is reported to have married a young
princess named Yasodhara at the age of sixteen, and to have fathered a
son, Rahula. During his time there was intense intellectual and spiritual
ferment in the region, and while confronted with the reality of life and
the suffering of mankind, he decided to find the solution to end universal
suffering.
At the age of 29, Siddhartha left his family and kingdom to become an
ascetic. He spent the next six years of his life wandering about the valley
of the Ganges (India) meeting famous religious teachers such as Arada
Kalama of Vaisali and Udraka Ramaputra of Magadha, studying various Hindu
teachings, and practicing spiritual and yogic exercises and asceticism.
Siddhartha gained a reputation for his severe ascetic practices, such
as fasting and extensive meditation, and for his perseverance in trying
to find Truth.
After undergoing many years of severe austerity without discovering the
answers to liberation, Siddhartha abandoned his attachment to the religious
systems that he had been following. It was while seated under a tree (since
known as the Bodhi Tree, "Tree of Awakening") meditating along
the bank of the river Neranjara at Bodhgaya (near Gaya in modern Bihar,
India), at the age of thirty-five, that Siddhartha attained enlightenment.
He was therefore known as the Buddha.
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