Gautama Buddha

Life of Gautama Buddha:-

• The founder of Buddhism was Gautam Buddha, was born as Siddhartha.

• Siddhartha was born in 566 BC at Lumbini (now falls in territory of Nepal) in the Sakya clan of Kshatriya. That is why Buddha is also known as Sakyamuni.

• He died at 80 years of age in 486 BC at Kushinagar (near Gorakhpur in uttar Pradesh).

• The mother of Siddhartha was ‘Mahamaya’ who died after giving birth to him. Thereafter, he was brought up by ‘Prajapati Gautami’ his maternal aunt. Therefore, he was also called Gautam.

• The name of  his father was Sidhdhodhana. He was the only son of his father.

• Siddhartha was married to Yashodhara. He also had a son named Rahul. But neither his wife nor his son were able to tie him to the worldly life.

• He then left his home and became an ascetic at the age of 29 in search of truth and end of sorrows . This event in Buddha’s life is known as “Mahabhishkramana”.

• Buddha’s teachers were – Alara and Udarak.

• After seven years of roaming around, at the as of 35, Siddhartha got enlightenment at Uruvela while meditating on the bank of river Niranjana under a Peepal(Banyan) tree. This tree is called the Bodhi Tree. The place is known as Bodh gaya.

• Buddha attained the knowledge on the Poornima of Vaishakha month.

• He then gave his first sermon at Sarnath(Varanasi). This historic event in buddha’s life is known as “Dhammachakra Parivartan”.

• As mentioned above, Buddha passed away in 486 BC under a Sal tree in Kushinagar (Kushinagar was under Licchhavi Kingdom).

• Various notable rulers of his time were Buddha’s disciples such as Prasenjit, Bimbisara, and Ajatsatru.

• Some famous Bikshuks of Budhdhism were Sariputra, Ananda, Mahakassapa, Annuradha, Upali, and Rahul.

Eight Fold Paths: the path consists of various interconnected activities related to knowledge, conduct, and meditative practices:-

1. Right view

2. Right intention

3. Right speech

4. Right action

5. Right livelihood

6. Right mindfulness

7. Right effort

8. Right concentration