

I've just started reading a book. It's a
pretty good one called "Letting Go Of The
Person You Used To Be: Lessons on Change,
Loss and Spiritual Transformation by Lama
Surya Das. The writer is a Buddhist and in
the first few pages tells the story of the
very first Buddha. I asked some friends if
they knew who Buddha was but none were able
to tell me. They have seen many
Buddha's...everywhere seems full of
them...shops which sell ornaments, jewellery
shops, 'new age' shops which sell crystals
etc...wherever you look you see a Buddha, so
it seems, but not many stop to wonder who
Buddha was.
There have been many Buddha's, but this is
the story of the very first one and who
Buddhism is based on today:
More than 2,500 years ago in ancient India,
on the border of what is now Nepal, there
was a parent who wanted his child to live a
pain-free life. His name was King
Suddhodana, and he was the father of the
man, born as Siddhartha, who we know as
Gautama, the Buddha. Suddhodana was a
powerful leader, wealthy enough to build a
walled castle filled with flower gardens,
elegant food, gracious furnishings,
beautiful music, and great luxury.
Legend has it that before Siddhartha, the
child who was to become the Buddha, was
born, his mother had a dream. She saw her
son as a great spiritual warrior, a radiant
Bodhisattva who was transformed into a white
elephant. The elephant climbed a golden
mountain, then a silver mountain, and
finally, carrying a white lotus in his
trunk, touched the mother on her side. The
white elephant then dissolved like vapour
into her pregnant womb.
The seers summoned to interpret the dream
told the king that the child who was to be
born would either be a universal ruler or an
enlightened sage, a Buddha. Like many
parents, the king wanted his son to follow
in his footsteps; he didn’t relish the
notion of raising a child who would renounce
the world in favour of monasticism and a
homeless mendicant’s begging bowl. With that
in mind, the wise men issued a warning: If
the king wanted his son to embrace a royal
vocation, he must make certain that the
young prince never left home, for if he went
forth into the world, he would see
suffering. Then he would most certainly be
moved to become a spiritual seeker.
Because Suddhodana wanted his son to live
the life of a prince, not an ascetic, he
decided that he would protect his son from
the sight of any suffering. Then, as now,
the world was filled with poverty, pain,
injustice, sickness, and death. To make sure
that his beloved child never came in contact
with the miserable aspects of life, the king
determined to keep his son in the palace
surrounded by high walls and provided with
all the luxuries of life. And whenever the
young prince appeared reflective or
questioned the meaning of life, the king
ordered more lavish sporting competitions
and entertainments, reminding everyone that
the prince was never to go out beyond the
palace walls. Suddhodana was a loving
parent; he wanted desperately to shield his
son from unhappiness. And, of course, he
couldn’t, because eventually the young
prince Siddhartha convinced his faithful
charioteer to take him out into the city.
That’s when Siddhartha saw those things that
he had been sheltered from his entire life.
Siddhartha saw a sick man, and elderly
crippled man, and a corpse at the cremation
ground for the first time, he saw poverty
and pain.
When he ventured beyond his father’s palace
walls, Siddhartha suddenly became aware of
the range of human suffering. Think about
how deeply the young prince’s innate
compassionate heart must have been touched
by what he saw. Siddhartha lost his precious
innocence. He lost the ability to avoid or
deny reality and the fact of the misery that
was on display among the people around him.
With these losses everything in Siddhartha’s
world changed; he became thoughtful and
restless. He was disturbed by what he had
viewed. Siddhartha’s encounter with loss
readied and prepared him for what he saw on
this next trip outside the palace walls.
That’s when Siddhartha met a wandering
ascetic Hindu holy man, a peaceful and
radiant sadhu, who seemed to have mad peace
with life. Siddhartha realised that he
needed to understand more about the cyclic
nature of life and death; he wanted to find
answers that would remedy universal pain and
suffering. He made the decision to seek the
truth on the spiritual path and give up the
life he had in favour of the new life that
awaited him. He slipped out of his father’s
palace in the middle of night, under the
cover of darkness, while the divas and
angels using their soft wings, muffled the
sound of his horses footsteps.
These four sights, representing sickness,
aging, death, and peace, are said by history
to be the turning point of youthful Prince
Siddhartha’s iconic life. Siddhartha’s
response to the loss of innocence, points
out something that most of us know. Whenever
we lose something – anything – we come to
one of life’s little crossroads. With every
loss or separation comes the possibility of
change, growth, and transformation. Each
loss provides a genuine opportunity for
learning. We can gain through loss if we
open ourselves to this counterintuitive
jewel. This is the positive kernel that is
potentially contained in each loss that any
one of us suffers, like the inner irritant
that can produce a lustrous pearl.
Siddhartha was 29 years old when he left his
father’s palace.
On his travels, Siddhartha learned the
teachings and philosophies of the most
prominent thinkers and spiritual wise men of
the time, but none of the answers he gained
satisfied him. It was a case of the blind
leading the blind. Siddhartha soon joined a
group of five pupils of a former teacher.
They tried to become in touch with their
senses through abstinence and penance.
Siddhartha practiced this form for six
years. He abstained until his body became
shrunken and withered. His veins protruded
from his skin, which had dried up. For the
six years he suffered he eventually realised
the absolute futility of complete abstinence
and penance.
Taking guidance from all his findings,
Siddhartha came upon the Middle Path of
thinking, or the Majjhima Patipada. Sitting
under a Bodhi tree in deep meditation, he
attained enlightenment and became Buddha.
Buddha taught that suffering was due to the
selfishness of clinging to life and its
passions. As Buddha, Siddhartha taught his
philosophy until the age of 80, when he
passed into Nirvana. (Nirvana being a
Sanskrit word meaning an end of suffering,
the ultimate enlightenment which is for all
eternity....Heaven.)
Buddha was therefore a man, and anyone who
has attained enlightenment can be Buddha. A
Buddha exists to teach and to point out the
path of salvation. Buddha teaches people to
rely on themselves and no one else.
Depending on others for salvation is
negative, while depending on oneself is
positive. According to Buddhism, anyone can
reach a state of perfection and
enlightenment. The concept is far more
spiritual than religious.






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