Gotama

Gautama Buddha childhood, education, career, accomplishments, beliefs

Siddhārtha Gautama was a spiritual leader who founded Buddhism.

The time of his birth and death are uncertain: most early 20th-century historians dated his lifetime as [|c.] 563 BCE to 483 BCE,[|[2]] but more recent opinion dates his death to between 486 and 483 BCE or, according to some, between 411 and 400 BCE.[|[3]][|[4]] By tradition, Gautama is said to have been born in the small state of [|Kapilavastu], in what is now [|Nepal], and later to have taught primarily throughout regions of eastern [|India] such as [|Magadha] and [|Kośala].[|[5]][|[6]]

Siddhartha was brought up by his mother's younger sister, [|Maha Pajapati].[|[26]] By tradition, he is said to have been destined by birth to the life of a prince, and had three palaces (for seasonal occupation) built for him. Although more recent scholarship doubts this status, his father, said to be King Śuddhodana, wishing for his son to be a great king, is said to have shielded him from religious teachings and from knowledge of human [|suffering]. When he reached the age of 16, his father reputedly arranged his marriage to a cousin of the same age named [|Yaśodharā] (Pāli: Yasodharā). According to the traditional account,[[|which?]] she gave birth to a son, named [|Rahula]. Siddhartha is then said to have spent 29 years as a prince in [|Kapilavastu]. Although his father ensured that Siddhartha was provided with everything he could want or need, Buddhist scriptures say that the future Buddha felt that material wealth was not life's ultimate goal.

Buddha was born approximately 560 B.C. in the land of Northern India. Through his life, Buddha gave the concept of Nirvana an unprecedented exposure to a large portion of the Eastern world with his achievement of and subsequent teachings about the state of enlightenment. As a religion, Buddhism contains the attainment of Buddhahood or Nirvana as a central tenet of its teachings. Within the realm of Christianity, the historical Christ echoed the same teaching, though in a veiled form, by saying that the Kingdom of Heaven is within us.

In Buddhist thought the world has but a relative reality in that it is a Maya or illusion in which we go round and round the whirlpool of Samsara, the endless cycle of birth and death, gain and loss, pain and pleasure until we begin to search for a way out of the maelstrom of matter. In this objective world nothing is lasting, everything contained within it is in a state of flux or constant change. But the real source of all pleasure, truth, goodness and permanence is not dependent on the objective world at all but is instead contained within us. The inner essence or core of awareness of each of us is the Atma, the real source of all bliss. We experience a small fraction of this bliss as the senses go out after objects in the world. The world is illusory and the pleasures to be had in it are but momentary and fleeting. Buddha sought the means to attain the inner bliss of Nirvana which is permanent.

The story of the life of the Buddha was popularized in the West through the book __Siddhartha__ by Herman Hesse, though the author takes great liberties with the actual facts of the life of young Prince Siddhartha who later became Gautama Buddha. Within the last few decades, many movies have been made of the story. The movie the Razor's Edge, touches upon the difficulties involved in treading the path of spiritual unfoldment leading to Nirvana. The movie takes it's title from the Katha Upanishad which contains the statement: [] []