The Buddha and His Teachings

About the year 543 B.C., in a region which is now the land of Nepal, a son was born to King Suddhodana, ruler of the Sakiya clan. The child was named Siddhatta Gotama, and his father surrounded him with vast stores of material wealth and luxury.

Although the young prince was given an excellent education, King Suddhodana took measures to prevent the boy from learning of the misery and suffering which prevailed throughout the world. However, we are told that on a certain occasion young Siddhattha rode through the village streets and beheld a man old and decrepit, then he saw a man severely stricken with illness, a dead man, and finally an ascetic or holy man. Shocked by the cruel realities of life and moved by a deep compassion for the sufferings of humanity, the young prince abandoned the pleasures of his aristocratic heritage and went forth alone in search of truth and salvation.

First, he sought out the great spiritual teachers of his day and mastered their meditative exercises. He soon realised, however, that trance states and myusticism are not the paths to salvation. Next, he undertook the disciplines of rig orous self-mortification, as was commonly practiced in ancient India. But asceticism proved to do little more than produce a weak and fragile body.

Finally, after six long and strenuous years he sat in quiet meditation beneath the now- famous Bodhi Tree. There looking deep into the nature of his own being, he achieved a level of insight which few men have known. This he called Nirvana, and from that time forth he became known as "The Buddha" or "The Enlightened One". The remaining 45 years of his life were dedicated to the service and instruction of his fellow beings.