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Buddha And The Buddha Of Buddha

Decent Essays

A six-year spiritual journey completed by one single person, gave an unintentional birth to an entire religion. Siddhartha Gautama who set out on this spiritual journey reached complete enlightenment. Upon reaching his awakening, he became the Buddha. Over the course of the next few centuries, the religion grew and spread through many regions. The spread of Buddhism led to many representations of the Buddha. Although representations vary, the ultimate goal remains the same - complete enlightenment. 
 The first image, the footprints of Buddha, that originated in northwestern India may have shown reluctance in portraying a physical form of Buddha. This reluctancy may have stemmed from the belief that because the Buddha was the only being to reach enlightenment, there was no actual physical way to represent him. In addition, if one made an attempt at portraying Buddha, others may find their portrayal offensive or a false representation because he was seen as a different figure to multiple people. Another aspect is the possibility that because the Buddha had passed on to Nirvana, he cannon be physically present. In following the steps of Buddha, you could be reborn into this “Enlightened being”. 
 Included in the image of Buddha’s footprints, you will notice the wheel. The wheel serves as an effective symbol of the Buddha’s message because he believed in cycles and that to fully reach Enlightenment, one must go through many cycles or “rebirth” to reach Nirvana. The wheel can

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