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| Pic by Sadaham Yathra |
In his early twenties, Siddhartha encounter unusual persons which he hadn't stumble upon in his early days. Those encounters were- an old man who was bent and trembling; a sick man suffering from disease; witnessed a funeral procession and a corpse; and lastly a wandering monk. due to these experiences, he became discontent despite all the affluence he had in his palace.
On the night of his 29th birthday, the prince left his family and set out to know the answers about the origin of suffering and how to overcome it.
Siddhartha Gautama, at first studied under the well-known teachers of his days. He learned deep meditation and followed the yogic practices. Later on, he discovered that his teachers could offer him no more. So he left along with five other fellow.
At one point during his wandering period, he punished his body and starved to death. The main motive behind this was to obtain spiritual development. At that time, It was believed that body and its desires were an obstacle to spiritual development.
However, at the point of near death, he experience something. He felt that when the string of the lute, a musical instrument is too loose, it is impossible to produce a rhythmic music. If the string is too tight, then there is a possibility of breaking the string. But if the string is tuned then it will produce a pleasant sound. Therefore he felt that the austere way will only harm his body. He also realized that in this way he won't find his answers and only end up without answers. Therefore, He began to eat normally again. But this eating behavior was uncomfortable for the other five fellows. so they left him assuming him to be an impersonator.
He was all alone but did not quit his dream. He sat under a Bodhi tree and determined not to move until he gets the answers he sought. His meditation was deep and on the night of the full moon in May, he was enlightened. Later on, this place was known as Bodh Gaya.
When he experienced enlightened, he felt complete relaxed. He understood the cycle of birth, death and the wheel of life. He understood his true nature and that of all living beings. This was the end of his spiritual journey, and at that moment he became "the Buddha, Enlightened one".
Birth of Buddhism
After he became Enlightened, he pursued his life's mission, to spread the knowledge what he achieved. He accepted many men from higher and lower castes as followers. With an initiation from his aunt, he also accepted women as followers. Therefore, the Buddhist philosophy was then open to all, rich and poor, men and women of all levels of society, and all were equal in the community. He founded an order of monks. He roamed around towns, villages, and cities for the purpose of teaching about the cycle of birth, death, and wheel of life.When Gautama Buddha was in lead, the Buddhism was purely philosophical but after he achieved parinirvana, the community slowly evolved into a religion-like movement. The teaching of Siddhartha Gautama Buddha became the basis of Buddhism.
It is recorded that by 3rd century BCE, the Buddhism was very different in compare to the earlier context because the Mauryan Indian Emperor Asoka the Great (304-232 BCE) turned Buddhism into State religion of India. He provided a favorable social and political climate for the acceptance of Buddhist ideas, encouraged Buddhist missionary activity.
It is also recorded that the community in Buddhism was dispersed and was settled communities in different locations. The major factors for such fragmentation were doctrinal disagreements, language differences, loyalties to specific teachers. It was also recorded that about 18 schools of Buddhism were into practice but in reality, it was more than that, around 25.
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