Life and Journey of Gautama Buddha Essay

As with the Brahmins, Siddhartha’s experience with the Samanas is not a fulfilling one. Hesse writes, “he slipped out of his Self in a thousand different forms. He was animal, carcass, stone, wood, water, and each time he reawakened” (Pg-15). Siddhartha learned a great deal from the Samanas, yet he was still unable to reach enlightenment. During his time with the Samanas, Siddhartha never saw or heard of a single person achieving enlightenment. Feeling disillusioned with the teachings of others, Siddhartha decided to leave the Samanas, and seek out the venerable Buddha. Siddhartha seeks out the Buddha and hears his sermon, but he ultimately decides to seek his own path to enlightenment. In leaving the Buddha, Siddhartha begins to follow a Buddhist path. Siddhartha says, “But there is one thing that this clear, worthy instruction does not contain; it does not contain the secret of what the Illustrious One himself experienced he alone among hundreds of thousands" (Pg-34). In this part of his journey, Siddhartha realizes that no one can teach him how to achieve enlightenment. As Gautama did before him, Siddhartha heads out to find his own path to enlightenment.

Siddhartha becomes a rich man and soon loses his desire to search for Nirvana.  Along with Kamala, a man named Kamaswami influences Siddhartha.  He convinces Siddhartha that material possessions can "fill" his life.  Siddhartha takes the advice, and he begins to live his life for money.  He starts to gamble and to compromise his true beliefs for material pleasure. While living in the village, Siddhartha slips into a deep depression.  He feels that he has lost a part of his soul, and he attempts to commit suicide.  However, during this attempt, Siddhartha becomes reborn and longs once again for Nirvana (http://splavc.spjc.cc.fl.us/hooks/ew/SmithSidd.html).  At this time, Siddhartha meets a ferryman named Vasudeva.  Vasudeva fascinates Siddhartha the way Buddha did (Welch 71).  Vasudeva tells Siddhartha that the way to find inner peace is by listening to the river.  He also tells Siddhartha that the river will teach him two things; however, Siddhartha must learn these things on his own.  Siddhartha's relationship with the ferryman is the key for Siddhartha to reach Nirvana.  Eventually, Siddhartha takes the place of Vasudeva as ferryman, and he soon attains

He sat with the ferryman to express how he will not live in agony anymore for he had understood the cycle of life. The ferryman listened carefully to him and then departure after noticing that he had taught Siddhartha every mystery from the river. As his main goal was to impart everything there was to Siddhartha; until he become old and tired to retire. “I’ve been waiting for this hour, my dear. Now it has come, let me leave… now it’s enough. Farewell, hut, farewell, river, farewell, Siddhartha” (137). Then, the ferryman passed his position to Siddhartha as an inheritance.

Early in the novel, Siddhartha abandon his father to go after a group of Samana’s who he thought would show him the path to salvation. As predicted, Siddhartha went in with one

Siddhartha was determined to never go back to his life of wealth. Siddhartha approached the same river where he met the ferryman years before. He saw the water as mirroring the emptiness within him. About to slip into the water, the word "Om" emanated from his soul. Siddhartha realized that destroying his body would not end his suffering. He fell asleep. Siddhartha woke up with a sense of rebirth and repeats “Om” to himself. Then Siddhartha noticed Govinda but Govinda had not recognized him. Govinda left to get back to being a monk.

SIddhartha learns the third Noble Truth, suffering ends when desire ends, in Chapter 4 “The Awakening”. In the chapter, Siddhartha departs from the Buddha and his friend, Govinda, behind. He now had the freedom to do whatever he needed to do to uncover what he desired to know. On his path away he says, “I was seeking Brahman, Atman, I wished to destroy myself, to get away from myself, in order to find in the unknown innermost, the nucleus of all things, Atman, Life, the Divine, the Absolute. But by doing so I lost myself on the way”(31). This quote explains that Siddhartha ponders about his desire to attain more wisdom and how he knows that desire causes suffering. He realizes that he was inaccurate to do this and that he needs to end his desire

Siddhartha’s protected environment could no longer satisfy him when he discovered the unfortunate truths of every person 's life. Occasionally, the prince would leave the palace to take trips into the city. His father, wanting to shelter him, would orchestrate these trips to avoid the unpleasantries of life. The story goes that four sights led Siddartha to leave his established life. He experienced these sights on outings he was taken on by his charioteer named Chandaka. Even though care was taken to hide these things the prince saw old age, disease, and death that drastically changed his view of the world. On a fourth outing, he saw a holy man and a practicing ascetic. This is when he first perceived these realities of human life. He suddenly became aware of the causes of suffering in the world. This encounter showed him, what he thought was the way to overcome life 's sufferings, the ascetic path. At the age of twenty-nine he left his wife, his son, and his palace behind to lead a life of extreme asceticism that he believed could lead him to the answer of overcoming human suffering. For six years Siddhartha Gautama followed asceticism and meditation. He practiced the yoga discipline under two masters, Arada Kalama, and Udraka Ramaputra. Not finding the answers under his two teachers he left to engage in extreme asceticism and was joined by five others; Ashvajit, Vashpa, Bhadrika, Mahanaman, and Kaundinya. These men became followers of Siddhartha. After six years, he

Siddhartha Gautama, who later became known as the Buddha, was born as a prince to the royal family of Kapilavastu, whose kingdom was located in the Himalayan foothills. At the time of his birth, sages predicted that he would become a universal conqueror, a conqueror of either the physical world or of men 's minds. It was the latter conquest that came to pass. Giving up the pleasures of the palace Siddhartha went on to seek the true purpose of life, Siddhartha first attempted the path of severe asceticism, only to abandon his efforts after six years, as it was a futile exercise. He then sat down in yogic meditation beneath a banyan tree until he achieved enlightenment. He was known henceforth as the Buddha, or "Enlightened One."

The origin, traditional Buddhism began in the 6th century BC with the historical personage born Siddhartha Gautama, but better known by a variety of titles including Shakyammi, Tathagata, or most commonly Buddha, the enlightened one. The legend of the Buddha’s life has acquired plenty of variations and embellishments over the years, but the basic facts are accepted as traditional, including the dates of his birth and death (563-489 BC by Western reckoning, 624-544 according to Sri Lankan tradition). The story of Buddha’s birth is encrusted with myth and fable as that of any God-figure in human history. For instance, he is said to have issued from his mother’s womb stating that his cycle of rebirths was about to end. Again, some Buddhists

It seemed to him as if the river had something special to tell him, something which he did not know, something which still awaited him... The new Siddhartha a deep love for for this flowing water…” (Hesse 100). From this one can infer that if Siddhartha were to kill himself, he would not have a second chance to follow the path to find nirvana. He continued because of the sacred word

Siddhartha was the child of the king of the time named Śuddhodana and his wife the queen. When, the queen fell pregnant, the kingdom was overjoyed as the king now had a male heir to his kingdom so that when he died, someone could take over and be the most powerful man in the land. However, just before Siddhartha was born, the queen had a dream. The royal dream experts and soothsayers concluded that her son would either become a great teacher or a powerful king. The king therefore thought the best thing for his son would be to become a king in the lap of luxury and not a religious man who devoted their life to religion.

Siddhartha Gautama was the first historical Buddha. He was born in Lumbini Nepal, during the 5th century BCE. Mahayana Buddhism started spreading in the 3rd century BCE. Over the years, it has grown to be the fourth largest religion in the world.

After Siddhartha makes the choice to leave his Brahmin life and take up the life of a Samana, he learns the three strenuous and painful characteristics of thinking, waiting, and fasting, which ultimately become useful for his next step towards enlightenment: adopting the life of the wealthy. In the Forests of India, where the Samanas wandered, Siddhartha searched to find his “self” and destroy it by meditating for extensive periods of time, and ignoring the constant pain that came to him. “Silently the ascetic stood until his shoulders and legs no longer froze, till they were silent, till they were still. Silently he crouched among the thorns, Blood dripped,

500 years before Jesus was even born, the man who was the most well known Buddha lived. He was protected for nearly three decades from the outside world as his father tried very hard to keep the prophecy intact and protect his son from the outside world .The King had high hopes that Siddhartha would become a great ruler as the prophecy foretold. According to the film, The Buddha, Buddha’s mother, the queen had a dream where an elephant gave her a lotus flower, then entered into her. She then told her husband about the dream and asked for the sages to interpret it and they did. The sages interpreted the dream to say that she would have a son and that he may choose one of two paths: First that he would be a great warrior and rule the kingdom with success, and the second path would be that he would be a leave the palace, cast love aside and become wandering monk. So Siddhartha’s father did what any great father would do and tried to keep him away from all pain and suffering so that he would become the great soldier foretold. For three decades his so lived a private, secluded and pampered life. Soon he began to leave the palace grounds and discovered

Buddhism arose in northern India in the 6th century BCE. The historical founder of Buddhism, Siddharta Gautama (c.560-480 BCE) was born in a village called Lumbini into a warrior tribe called the Sakyas (from where he derived the title Sakyamuni, meaning 'Sage of the Sakyas'). According to tradition Gautama's father, Suddhodana was the king of a small principality based on the town of Kapilavastu. His mother, Queen Maya, died seven days after Gautama's birth. Following the death of Maya, Suddhodana married Maya's sister, Prajapati, by whom Gautama was brought up in great luxury and sheltered from the harshness of the outside world.