Siddhartha+Gautama

Siddhartha Gautama once said, "If we can eradicate desire, all sorrows and pains will come to an end. We will enjoy Nirvana or eternal peace" (Sivananda). What Gautama means is that we can achieve peace if we stop wanting more than what we have. It wasn't until Siddhartha became Buddha that he realized this. Siddhartha came a long way to achieve Enlightment and become a Buddha. His determination led him to his success and he created the foundation of Buddhism (O'Brien). Siddhartha Gautama was born in 483 B.C. and was the heir to the Shakya clan (Brown). His mother named him Siddhartha which means "he who has attained his goals" (Boeree). His birthplace was at Lumbini near the Himalayan ranges within Nepal (Sivananda). His mother, Maya, unfortunately died shortly after giving birth to the young prince (Violatti). A week after he was born, a soothsayer prophesied that he would become either a great sage or a great king (Carol). Siddhartha's father, Suddhodana, had high hopes for him and was very upset about the prophecy (Sivananda). He didn't want Siddhartha to grow up to be a sage and become someone of lower class. He wanted Siddhartha to become his successor and become king of the Shakya clan. He made sure that Siddhartha's life was shielded from religion, pain, and suffering (O'Brien). Siddhartha was only greeted by young and happy people when he was in the palace (Boeree). He grew up with luxury and indulgence like how any other princes would live their lives (Sivananda). He never left the palace because of his father and he was deprived of many things when he was a child. Being locked up his entire life made him very clueless about what was out in the world (Boeree).
 * Introduction**
 * Personal Background**

At age 16, he married his wife, Yasodhara (Sivananda). He won her hand in marriage by beating all the other competitors at many different sports. He was very fit and skillful in the arts of war and he was very strategic (Boeree). The young couple had a son and named him Rahula (O'Brien). What made Siddhartha decide to follow the life of a sage was when he saw a sick, dying man. He never seen such a thing before when he grew up and he wanted to learn more. The ignorant prince eventually learned that people eventually get old, sick, and die (Boeree).

Siddhartha was a very kind and polite man that enjoyed helping others whenever he had the chance. He only saw a limited amount of people when he grew up but he was nice to those he came across (Sivananda). Growing up he studied many things and he was very smart, but because he studied so many things, he wanted to find out more about the world and see things he never seen before (Boeree). Siddhartha grew up living in the palace all his life. The prince lived a very luxurious life but he felt restless and was tired of being locked up. Siddhartha was curious about how the outside world was like. He wanted to explore and leave the palace for once in his life (Sivananda).
 * Personality Traits**

Because he was locked up, he was very inexperienced with many things and was very naive. For example, he was very shocked when he came across a sick, dying man. Siddhartha never saw a sick person in his life and he wondered why the man looked so miserable (Carol). His curiosity made him decide to find out the answers to pain and suffering. He was very determined to find those answers and reach Enlightment (Sivananda). The brave man was strong physically and mentally to be able to go through a strict ascetic life. Siddhartha was a very patient man to be able to meditate for weeks (Carol). His followers and the people he met all over India respected him and admired him (Sivananda).

After Siddhartha witnessed a dying man for the first time, he decided to do something that would change his life forever. At age 29, he left his palace and family behind. He wanted to search for the truth of pain and suffering (Boeree). Gautama went through a lot of pain and suffering to reach Enlightment. He undertook strict ascetic practices and almost died from it (Carol). The brave man spent six years as an ascetic (Boeree). His day only consisted of one grain of rice and one drop of water a day (Carol). After six years, he realized that "the path of liberation was through disciple of mind" (O'Brien). Starving himself was leading him nowhere and he was only killing himself so he gave up fasting and followed "the middle way" instead. He would eat in in moderation and meditate to reach Enlightment (Carol). His companions that were traveling with him at that time thought he gave up on his quest when they saw him eating so they left him. After being replenished, Gautama sat under a Bodhi tree and meditated. Gautama meditated under that tree for many days without moving. He fought the demon Mara who was trying to prevent him from achieving Enlightment (Boeree). After all the obstacles Mara threw at Gautama such as distracting him and having his daughter seduce him, which failed, he finally gave up and said the seat of Enlightment belonged to him. Siddhartha reached Enlightment and he was granted the name of Buddha (O'Brien). After Siddhartha finally became Buddha, he had so much knowledge about humanity, so he decided to teach others. He was very hesistant at first about teaching because words could not explain the things that he learned from reaching Enlightment. Gautama knew that listeners would misunderstand everything he said, but nevertheless he still decided to teach. He traveled to the Deer Park in Isipitana and he saw his old companions that he was traveling with during his early years of being an ascetic. There, he gave his first sermon, which is now a very holy site. His companions became his first disciples to learn Buddhism and they became his first followers (O'Brien). Siddhartha was only 35 years old at that time and he already achieved so much (Boeree).
 * Obstacles**
 * Historical Significance**

He created the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. The Four Noble Truths explained the truth about suffering, the cause of suffering, the end of suffering, and the path that frees us from suffering. The Eightfold Path consists of what Siddhartha believed were the eight aspects of life. It consisted of right understanding, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. Those are the foundations of Buddhism that his disciples had to remember (O'Brien).

Siddhartha started the beginnings of the community of monks, the Sramanas (Boeree). Many nobles, men, and the poor decided to become his disciple and join the Sramanas because Siddhartha was very influential. His teachings were very popular in India and it spread like wildfire (Sivanada). Gautama taught Buddhism for more than 45 years and it became very popular (Boeree). He attracted many followers everywhere he went and Buddhism soon became the most common religion in India (Sivananda). Buddha preached in favor of the equality of men, which was one of the main reasons why he attracted so many followers (Violatti). He even established an order of female ascetics, which was the very first in the world because woman did not have many rights like men did back then. His wife, Yasodharaa, became the first Buddhistic nun following her husband's teachings (Sivananda).

After Buddha turned 80 years old, he died from eating something that was tainted (Sivananda). Many shrines were built to honor Siddhartha and those became important pilgrimage sites (Brown). Even after his death, Buddhism was spreading to places outside of India. His followers continued to spread his teachings and they also taught the future generations. Even after many, many years, Siddhartha's will still lives on with us (Violatti).

Boeree, George.  "The Life of Siddhartha Gautama." //Webspace //. 1 Jan. 1999. Web. 30 Sept. 2014. **SE #2** Brown, Kathryn S.  "Life of the Buddha." //In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History//. Oct. 2013. Web. 8 Dec. 2014. **SE #6** Carol, Beverlee J. "How Siddhartha Gautama Became the Buddha." //How Siddhartha Gautama Became the Buddha.// 2010. Web. 17 Oct. 2014. **SE #4** O'Brien, Barbara. "The L ife of the Buddha." // About Religion //. Web. 18 Sept. 2014. **SE #1** Sivananda, Sri S. "Lord Buddha." //Lord Buddha//. 5 May 2005. Web. 13 Oct. 2014. **SE #3** Violatti, Cristian. "Siddhartha Gautama." //Ancient History Encyclopedia.// 9 Dec. 2013. Web. 15 Nov. 2014. **SE #5**
 * References**