Thel ife of the historical Buddha and how Buddhists remember the Enlightened One.
The Life of the Buddha
The life of the historical Buddha is well known to the many millions of Buddhists around the world. Historians might quibble with some details but Buddhists see no reason to question the dates or places of the main events – after all, if all of reality and of life is impermanent and enlightenment is only to be found by rejecting desire for earthy things, then arguing about physical details makes no sense at all. So, the story is well-known and contains few important controversies.
The Buddha was born in Lumpini in what is now Nepal, close to the borders with northern India in a time when borders were very fluid. His birth was in the 6th century BCE and his family was rich and powerful. A tradition has it that his father was informed by wise men (gurus) that his son was destined either to become a great king or the perfect one who would lead the world to freedom and spiritual enlightenment. The father was not thrilled by this announcement as he, as fathers often do, wanted his son to follow in his own footsteps. Consequently, he kept his son confined to the palace grounds in order to prevent him becoming involved with issues beyond being a prince in his own household. He also arranged for the young man, Gotama as he was called, to be married at an early age and did what he could to keep his mind on earthly things.
However, Gotama had a charioteer who took him for trips around the palace grounds and, in the course of those trips, he came across a series of sick and dying animals and people. As a result, he could not keep his mind from dwelling on the impermanence of life and the world and, despite the birth of a son, he could not confine himself in the palace any longer and went forth into the forest as a mendicant monk. His family and, especially, his wife, were devastated. However, Gotama would listen to no appeals and continued his search for personal enlightenment in the outside world. For some years he sought the truth through asceticism and, in particular, fasting. It is said that he fasted so intensively that he could count every bone in his body. He attracted a number of apostles to him who were impressed by his fervour. When Gotama eventually resolved that this extremism was not leading to any spiritual understanding, he abandoned his asceticism and his apostles left him in disgust. Nevertheless, from then onwards, Gotama accepted the charity of the villagers who would occasionally come to offer him food and he kept himself alive through this means.
His attempts at enlightenment continued and, after a long spiritual struggle, he finally achieved it as he meditated beneath a bodhi tree. His realised that the main part of the human condition was desire, desire for some impermanent thing of the world for such things as power, money, sex, food or love. Once the mind can be trained to look beyond this desire, then it will be freed from the endless cycle of birth, desire and death known as samsara. Through various steps within spiritual training and advancement, it is possible to free the mind from this desire and, hence, take the step into heaven, which is freedom from samsara.
Having achieved this freedom, he devoted his time to teaching others how to manage the same step. Apostles, including those who previously abandoned him, came to hear his wisdom and to learn from his example. In due course, he was reconciled with his family, including his wife, all of whom also became apostles of his. He lived for many decades afterwards and devoted himself to teaching and leading others towards enlightenment. He was greatly loved by his followers and a number of them also became enlightened under his guidance. Gotama the Buddha of this universe is remembered, therefore, as the person who showed others the way to becoming spiritually enlightened and who is capable of offering guidance to everyone who attempts to walk the same course.
References and Further Reading
Armstrong, Karen, Buddha (London: Phoenix, 2002). There are many books and biographies about the historical Buddha, many of which are perfectly good. However, Karen Armstrong’s book is recommended for its readability, comprehensiveness and the fact that the whole book encompasses fewer than 200 pages.
John Walsh, Shinawatra University, March 2007
