Lord Buddha the Enlightened One
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If we could see the
miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change.
~ Buddha~
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The
Buddha was a son of the rulers Sakyas. He was married at
the age of 16 and lived in luxury and comfort sheltered from the
harsh realities of life. When he was 29 he realized that
men are subject to old age, sickness and death. He became
aware of the suffering inherent in existence. He resolved
to give up princely life and become a wandering ascetic (samana)
in search for the Truth.
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With
the two of samanas he attained mystical states of
elevated consciousness but he failed to find the Truth. He
continued his search and was joined by five ascetics in a grove
near Uruvela, where he practiced sever austerities and
self-mortification for six years. When he fainted away in
weakness, he abandoned ascetic practices to seek his own path to
Enlightenment. Discarding the teachings of his
contemporaries, through meditation he achieved Enlightenment, or
ultimate understanding. There after the
Buddha
instructed
his followers in the dharma (truth) and the "Middle
Way" a path between worldly life and extremes of
self-denial.
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The
essence of the
Buddha's early preaching was said to be the four Noble
truths: 1) life is fundamentally disappointment and suffering.
2) suffering is a result of one's desires for pleasure, power,
and continued existence; 3) to stop disappointment and suffering
on must stop desiring; and 4) the way to stop desiring and thus
suffering is the Noble eight fold path - right views, right intention,
right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right
awareness and right concentration. The realization of the truth of
anatman (no eternal self) was taught as essential for the
indescribable state of release called nirvana.
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