Maximilian Beringer

http://mberinger.weebly.com

Siddhartha Gautama- The Buddha

Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha (the awakened one), was born in
the sixth century B.C. in what is now modern Nepal. Siddharthas mother died while
Siddhartha was still a baby. His father Suddhodana, was the ruler of the Shakya people
and Siddhartha grew up living his life as a prince. According to custom, he married at
the young age of 16 to a girl named Yasodhara. They had one son. His father had
ordered that he live a life of total seclusion and luxury, not having to face suffering and
other tribulations. But Siddhartha was not content and one day, ventured out into the
world and was confronted with the reality of the inevitable suffering of life. Realizing that
he, like anyone else, could be subject to different forms of human hardships, drove him
into a personal crisis. By the age of 29, he abandoned his home and began to live as a
homeless ascetic.
After leaving Kapilavastu (the city he had lived in before), Siddhartha practiced
the yoga discipline under the direction of Arada Kalama and Udraka Ramaputra.
Siddhartha did not get the results he expected, so he left the masters. He engaged in
extreme asceticism and was followed by five others. For years he meditated and fasted.
During this time, he is said to have conquered most physical appetites and weaknesses.
In his efforts to subdue his body, Siddhartha nearly destroyed it. After six years, he was
still unable to attain the results he wanted, and he gave up his way of life. He realized
that his body was an important instrument and that he must honor the spirit by honoring

the body. He learned an important lesson. The Way cannot be found by either
indulgence or denial. A Middle Path must be walked. One day when he was 30, he sat
down under a tree and was given a bowl of rice milk by a young woman because he
reminded her of a figure she had seen in a dream of hers. In her dream, she had given
the bowl to the figure sitting under a tree, perceiving the figure as a god because of a
special glow around him. Siddhartha accepted the bowl and divided the milk into
numerous portions as to sustain him during his meditations. After finishing, he threw the
bowl into a nearby river, where it miraculously floated upstream. Siddhartha then bathed
in the river and sat down once more under the tree, later called the Tree of
Enlightenment. Here he attained Nirvana through meditation and became known as the
Buddha. Siddhartha had to make a decision of whether to stay in nirvana and not be
involved with sufferings in life, or share his vision. He chose to remain among people
and give help to other lost souls, giving him a new name, the Bodhisattva. A
bodhisattva is an enlightened being who voluntarily postpones his own nirvana in order
to help all other conscious life-forms find supreme release. He is not a savior, because
he did not intercede for others, he showed them a way. A bodhisattva no longer
perceives separateness. Soon after, the Buddha delivered his first sermon in a place
named Sarnath, also known as the deer park. This was a key moment in the Buddhist
tradition because it was traditionally known as the moment when the Buddha set in
motion the wheel of the law. He explained the middle way between asceticism and a
life of luxury, the four noble truths, and the impersonality of all beings. Around this time,
the Buddhas first disciples joined him and the Buddhist monastic community known as
the Sangha, was established. The Buddha preached his vision to many others in areas

around Sangha for about 45 years. During that time, he visited his father, foster mother,
and son, who joined the Sangha along with other members of the Shakya clan. Ananda,
a cousin of the Buddha, also became a monk and persuaded him to admit women into
the Sangha, thus establishing the Bhikkhuni Sangha, the female Buddhist monastic
community. The Buddhas adversary is reported to have been Davadatta, another one
of his cousins, who became a follower of the Buddha and later turned out to be
responsible for a division among the Sangha, and even tried to kill the Buddha. The last
days of the Buddha are described as such: He visited Vaishali, where he fell ill and
nearly died. After recovering, the Buddha traveled to Kushinagar. On his way, he
accepted a meal from a smith named Cunda, which made him sick and led him to his
death. Right before passing away, he encouraged his disciples to continue their activity.
The turning point of Siddharthas life was attaining nirvana. Though Buddhists
have never reached a full agreement on its meaning, nirvana is a Sanskrit noun
translated as extinction. The act and effect of blowing at something to put it out, to
blow out, or to extinguish. The religious use of the word is used even earlier than
Buddhism itself and is also present in other Hindu sects such as Jainism. The concept
of Nirvana is the idea of a state of bliss and liberation from individuality and the suffering
of the cycle of birth and death. Different schools interpreted the concept of Nirvana
differently. The reason for this is because Buddhist texts do not provide a clear definition
of nirvana, but rather express its meaning by using metaphors. For example, the Pali
Canon (Buddhist scripture) interprets Nirvana as when a flame is blown out by the
wind. The metaphor refers to the extinction of greed, hatred, and delusion. After this,
one is no longer subject to the cycle of death and rebirth. Other schools have differing

views of nirvana and see it as the culmination of personal discipline and self cultivation.
Regardless of the varying definitions of nirvana, it is definitely a state of bliss in which
the person who has attained it is enlightened.
Central to Buddhas teachings is a notion of free will and that every thought,
behavior, and attitude has a consequence. These consequences are called karma.
From the Pali kamma, a term referring to acts of the will that are expressed in thought,
word, and deed. Every action has a reaction, the law of moral causation. It includes past
and present actions and is not to be confused with fate or predestination. Good or bad
karma results from ones own actions. However, not everything that happens is due to
karma. If karma was the only law in this world, then a person with good karma would
always be good, and a person with bad karma, will always be bad. With karma, the Four
Noble Truths comprise the essence of the Buddhas teachings, though they leave much
left unexplained. These truths are the truth of suffering, the truth of the cause of
suffering, the truth of the end of suffering, and the truth of the path that leads to the end
of suffering. In short, we suffer because we are partial to ourselves. A person with too
much ego thinks of him/herself as unique and special in ways that emphasize
difference. According to the Buddha, the loss of this false ego results in the emergence
of the soul or true self, the Buddha nature. The reborn soul acts from love rather than
fear and, helps rather than judge. To lose the ego, he teaches us to love and be kind.
Combining karma and the Four Noble Truths as a new way of life into an Eightfold Path
of wisdom, right conduct, and right mental training, leads to release of suffering. The
Eightfold Path are as follows: right understanding; right purpose; right speech; right

conduct; right livelihood; right effort; right mindfulness; right meditation. As explained
modernly by Gerald Heard, an Anglo-Irish historian and philosopher:
1) First you must see clearly what is wrong.
2) Next you must decide that you want to be cured.
3) You must act.
4) Speak so as to aim at being cured.
5) Your livelihood must not conflict with your therapy.
6) That therapy must go forward at the staying speed, that is, the critical velocity that
can be sustained.
7) You must think about it incessantly.
8) Learn how to contemplate with the deep mind.
Although it may sound simple and obvious, simple is not always easy. For example, one
of the most effective ways, and the first step to treating an alcoholic is for them to admit
that they are powerless over alcohol and for them to fully view their condition. The
Eightfold Path is designed to change us by changing our way of seeing things, our
behaviors, and our emotions. This way we replace the self-centered egoistic me, with a
compassionate heart.
Just as what happened with Jesus and Muhammed, Buddhist sects and divisions
arose after Siddharthas death. The two main branches of Buddhism are Hinayana and
Mahayana. Other branches such as Japanese Zen Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism
are seen as branches of the Mahayana branch. However, unlike quarrels among other
religious sects, Buddhists tend to take less hostile and more tolerant tones. Varying

schools accept other schools because, after all, they are all personally involved in their
own salvation.
My opinion on this religion/philosophy is a very practical one. I agree with the
Middle Path way of practicing it, and I try living my life in this Middle Path. I try staying
as self-disciplined as I can (which can be very challenging), and I try to treat everyone
with respect and kindness. I, without a doubt, believe in the concept of karma. My
actions will always have a consequence, and yet, I know that life will always have me
going down the path I must to experience what must be experienced in order for my
spirit/soul to mature and grow, be it good or bad experience. Unfortunately, as much as I
try to stay disciplined, slothfulness and other young adult needs that my body feels like
it must undertake, creep up on me and seem to leave me powerless. With time, these
needs will become easier control, or so I trust. I have yet to try meditation. Ultimately, I
want to be able to view everything as one, just as legend claims that Siddhartha was
able to accomplish after nirvana. I believe that this reality is an illusion and that the
greatest trick it plays on us, is the illusion of separation. Another simple, yet infuriatingly
hard-to-achieve goal that I would like to be able to succeed in before my passing, is the
ability to let go. Family, friends, worldly belongings, and other similar examples should
all be let go, so as to continue on to the next reality. Again, this is extremely hard and
many are not able to accomplish such a feat. How can one just let go of their family,
friends, loved ones? Ultimately, all reality is an illusion and all of them (family, friends,
and even enemies) are you, aspects of you, as you are to them. Even I dont fully
understand this statement, but as most others (including me) dont fully understand the
teachings of the Buddha, I believe in what I have come to interpret from not just the

Buddha, but from my experiences in this life, as well. I may not be perfect and all- loving
yet, but I believe that with time and experience, I will be able to achieve all of my goals.
(Including being able to get rid of the my and I from the previous sentence and the
above paragraph!)