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Buddha Shakyamuni is the principal teacher and founder of Buddhism. The 2500 year ago, He was born a prince of the Skaya clan in Lumbini in Nepal. Upon his birth, it was predicted by a fortune-teller he will either great become a great emperor or become an incomparable spiritual master. So as all father king would want his son to be, his father wanted him to rule the Skaya Clan.
His father made a careful preparation in making sure Siddhartha (Buddha) would become king like himself. He built a beautiful palace full of beauty and luxurious life. As a prince, he lives a good life with all the finest food, clothes, and entertainment. The young servant always surrounded him, and he never saw any sign of suffering at his young age. Yet as he got older, he grew more and more curious about life outside the Palace.
With all his power, his father could not do much to turn away his request for permission to explore the world outside the Palace. But he has the power to hide all the old, sick, and dying from his sight. Yet Gautama the Buddha has seen all with is his eye. He saw women crying in the pain of birth. An old man with a bent body saw the sick person and corpse.
He was so shocked to see all the suffering in this world, and he asks his attendant. His attendant replied is all fact of life. We all suffer from Birth, Sickness, Old age and death. When he saw a monk meditating, he was told these monks are looking for ways to get out of all this suffering by renouncing their life and practising mediation.
For many nights Gautama could not sleep at all, and he wondered why being had to suffer like that. In the meantime, he got married to a gorgeous princess from the neighbouring state. Like him, his wife Yashodhara has a similar question about life and suffering. She was actively involved with the charity works in her kingdom. She would soon start the same in Gautama’s Kingdom too.
They soon gave birth to a son named Rahula, meaning a fetter on the path to enlightenment. Since his marriage, he has been thinking of renouncing this worldly life to the high path to end all this suffering. Yashodhara knew about the buddhas plan, and she was supporting him without his knowledge. When Rahula was old enough, buddha decided to leave all the world he knew to find answers. Behind his back, Yashodhara was also prepared for his departure, like asking their favourite horse to be prepared and arranging a warmer cloth approachable so that he would pick it on his way out.
Ever since he achieved enlightenment, people called him Buddha, meaning an awakened mind. After the enlightenment, he gave his first teaching at the deer park in Sarnath. Then he spread his teaching whole over the northern before he passes away at the age of eighty. His teaching is called Darma, and gradually, it spread across south and east Asia.
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