By: Lily Baker

Background:  He time of his birth and death are uncertain: most early 20th-century historians dated his lifetime at 563 BCE to 483 BCE.  Buddha was born in Lumbini; which is today Nepal.  Gautama is the primary figure in Buddhism, and accounts of his life, discourses, and monastic rules are believed by Buddhists to have been summarized after his death and memorized by his followers.  Various collections of teachings attributed to him were passed down by oral tradition, and first put into writing about 400 years later.

Family and Birth:  Budha was born in a small kingdom or principality of Kapilvastu.  Buddha's father was King Suddhodana, the leader of Shakya clan.  His mother, Queen Maha Maya and Suddhodana's wife, was a Koliyan princess.  Legend says that on the night Siddhartha was conceived, Queen Maya dreamt that a white elephant with six white tusks entered her right side, and ten months later Siddhartha was born.  The infant was given the name Siddhartha meaning "he who achieves his aim".  During the birth celebrations, a seer, Asita, journeyed from his home and announced that the child would either become a great king or a great holy man.  Suddhodana held a naming ceremony on the fifth day, and invited eight brahmin scholars to read the future. All gave the same prediction that the baby would either become a great king or a great holy man.  Kaundinya, the youngest, and later to be the first arahant other than the Buddha, was reputed to be the only one who unequivocally predicted that Siddhartha would become a Buddha.

Education:  At the age of thirteen, was sent on four subsequent visits outside of the palace.  There, he came across the "four sights": an old crippled man, a diseased man, a decaying corpse, and finally an ascetic.  Gautama realized then the harsh truth of life - that death, disease, age, and pain were inescapable, that the poor outnumbered the wealthy, and that even the pleasures of the rich eventually came to nothing.  The four sights represent the state of mind of the prince with respect to the suffering of aging, illness and death.  Superficial prosperity in economy and relative stability in political environment cannot relieve people from worry, fear, anxiety and suffering and cannot lead them to ultimate happiness.

Education:  After leaving his home in search of purpose, the young ascetic practiced extreme self-mortification for six years in the hopes of discovering Truth.  It is said he ate little more than a single sesame seed or grain of rice each day. After these six years he determined to continue his quest in a new manner.  He practiced both self-mortification and self- indulgence.  During that time, Siddhatha went to Rajagaha which was the center of culture with many orthodox and unorthodox monks where he studied meditation under two famous teachers, Alara-Kalama and Uddaka-Ramaputta.  The state attained by Alara-Kalama was that of a much higher formless world where physical matter no longer exists.  Uddaka-Ramaputta reached an even higher state at which neither thought nor non-thought existed.  Attaining these states of mind did not ease his mental anxieties, because once he stopped meditation, he returned to the mental state of depression.  He knew that the true liberation from the attachment of ignorance and suffering could be attained only by reaching a state of absolute tranquility. He left his teachers to continue his search for the ultimate truth. He next practiced asceticism, which was very common among Samanas. Siddhattha passed through the country of Magadha to the town of Uruvela, where he settled in a grove of trees to find enlightenment.

Four Noble Truths: 1.The Noble Truth of Suffering: There is Suffering - Rebirth, old age, disease, death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair, association with objects we dislike, separation from objects we love, not to obtain what one desires cause suffering. There are also many happy hours and pleasure in man's life-time, but according to the law of nature, they are impermanent and these last only for a short time and vanish into nothing. Only sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair are left by them behind. 2. The Noble Truth of The Arising of Suffering: Suffering has an origin - The Threefold Craving leads every being from birth to birth and is accompanied by joy and lust, seeking its gratification here and there, namely: Sensual Craving, Craving for Existence and Craving for Wealth and Power. 3. The Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering: Suffering Can Cease 4. The Noble Truth of The Path leading to the Cessation of Suffering: There is a Path our of Suffering - It is the 'Noble Eightfold Path'

Buddha on Sense Perception: “The validity of sense perception was not denied in early Buddhism. In fact, sense perception is the primary sources of our knowledge and understanding of the world. At the same time, Buddha emphasized the fact that sense perception tends to mislead man. This is not due to any defect in sense perception as such; it is due mostly to the manner in which man has been conditioned to interpret what he sees, hears, feels, and so forth. What one feels, one perceives.” (David J. Kalupahana)