Buddha Biography

Gautam Buddha was the founder of Buddhism. He attained enlightenment under a Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya (currently this place comes under the state of Bihar, India). Gautam Buddha real name is Siddhartha Gautam, he was born as a prince in Lumbini and grew up in a royal family. He gave up all the comforts of life and left the royal palace and his family in the search of truth and enlightenment. He practised and preached that no material comfort in life can provide perennial happiness, and attachment leads to suffering. 

The famous emperor Asoka was enlightened by the preachings of Buddhism on the truth of life and gave up the path of violence and bloodshed. Buddha taught Dhamma to five of his disciples in his first sermon in a deer park at Sarnath. The first Buddhist Sangha was formed at this place. The doctrines of Buddhism have been propagated by the disciples of Gautam Buddha throughout the world, and his doctrines have helped to simplify the dharma chakras to many. Buddha is one of the most significant spiritual leaders of all time and preached the eternal power of truth through Buddhism. He preached to his disciples that the path of discipline leads to salvation. 

The time span between 563 B.C. and 483 B.C. is referred to as the Buddha period. Here’s a biography of Gautam Buddha wherein we will learn more about the various phases of his life. The information about Gautama Buddha provided here is quite helpful for writing a short note on Gautam Buddha.

Early Life of Buddha

Let us now learn about Buddha background, his family, his childhood, and how he renounced every earthly luxury to attain enlightenment. It provides a detailed view of the life of Gautama Buddha.

Birth and Childhood

Gautam Buddha was born to King Suddhodana and his wife Maha Maya. They were the chief and chieftainess of the Shakya clan, their capital was Kapilavastu. They named him Siddhartha Gautam. Before his birth, his mother had a dream of a beautiful white elephant entering her womb. He was born to her when she was strolling in a palace garden in Lumbini. When he was born, lotuses were blooming at every step under his feet. His mother died on her way to her parents’ home seven days after giving birth to him. Hence, he was raised by his mother’s sister, Mahaprajapati. In his childhood, during a festival, he was left all by himself for a day, and later he was found lost in meditation under a tree. The shadow of the tree remained constantly at the same place so as to protect him from the scorching sun. 

After the birth of Siddhartha, the court fortune-tellers of Suddhodana predicted that either he would renounce every material comfort of life or would become a ruler. Seven astrologers predicted this whereas one of the fortune-tellers predicted that there wasn’t any doubt that the child would grow up to be a Buddha. Thereafter, Suddhodana attempted to keep Siddhartha engrossed in the royal luxury and pleasure. He enjoyed a life of opulence with majestic palaces, attendants, and in this way his father, shielded him from all the sorrows of life. He wasn’t aware of the sufferings of old age, death, and sickness. However, Siddhartha learned about these sufferings and sorrows that ensue attachment as he grew up. Hence, he renounced the royal comforts and pleasure of opulence and went on in the search of enlightenment. 

Maya’s sister, Mahaprajapati was also married to the chief Suddhodana. She raised infant Siddhartha and played a pivotal role in his life. She was his foster mother and is referred to as Mahaprajapati Gautami. She was the first Buddhist nun and she taught Siddhartha that he should include women in his Sangha as well. 

Marriage and Children

Before setting out in the search for enlightenment, Siddhartha married princess Yashodhara, when he was 16 years of age. King Suppabuddha and his wife Amita were the parents of Yashodhara. Amita, the mother of princess Yashodhara, was Suddhodana's sister. Princess Yashodhara hailed from the royal family of Kolya. The prince and the princess shared the same birthday and they got married when they were 16 years old. At the age of 29, prince Siddhartha and princess Yashodhara had a son named Rahula. Siddhartha fondly called his son ‘fetter’. This is the Buddha background in a nutshell.

Why did Siddhartha Leave Kapilavastu?

Shortly thereafter, Siddhartha wished to go out on a chariot ride in his city. His father arranged for the prince to go out on a ride only after removing every sick and old man from the route. However, one old man escaped the kinsmen’s notice and the prince saw him during his chariot ride. On enquiring, he came to know that the man was in his old age and he is not the only old one in the world. Siddhartha was told that his father, himself, his wife, and every other kinsmen would grow old one day, and that is the truth of life. He went out of the palace premises thrice more after that day. He came to terms with the other painful truths of life. When he took the trips outside his palace premises, he first came across a sick person, shortly after, he saw a corpse was being taken for cremation, and finally, he came across a beggar meditating under a tree. 

He was unquestionably moved when he came to know about the sorrows and pains of life. On coming to terms with the sorrows of life, he requested his father to allow him to retire to the forest in the search of the truth beyond the cycle of life and death. King Suddhodana offered to give him anything and everything he had but to let him go. Siddhartha asked his father if he could ensure no death, no ailments, no old age, and no loss of fortune for him. His father could not deny these sorrows of life. Thereafter, Prince Siddhartha was unmoved by the earthly pleasures and comforts. The night when he left for the search of enlightenment, he went to his wife’s chambers before leaving, to look at his beautiful wife and infant son, sleeping peacefully. After that, he left to become an ascetic. 

Buddha’s Journey to Enlightenment

After leaving Kapilavastu, Siddhartha changed his attire from the princely robes to that of a hunter and started eating only what he received in his begging bowl. He led a simple ascetic life and practised meditation. With time, he discovered that he could attain a blissful state of unmoved concentration through meditation. He was inquisitive about the cycle of life and death. He gained knowledge of all that his teachers preached and taught, but he still knew that they all would be reborn after death. 

In the search for enlightenment, he joined a group of five hermits, who were leading a life of self-mortification to reach beyond the earthly attachments. Siddhartha practised their methods and eventually had reduced his daily meal portion to that of a small pea. This form of Buddha is depicted in many pictures, where his eyes are sunken, his ribs are showing up, and his physique is reduced to an emaciated one. However, through all this time, he discovered that there is no setting free from the cycle of rebirth on this path of self-mortification. Thereafter, he accepted a meal of rice and cream offered to him by a young lady. 

Buddha’s Enlightenment

After a span of six years, Siddhartha was still unsure of the right path to liberation or Nirvana from the cycle of life and death. He left the path of self-mortification and had no teachers to look up to either. The five hermits continued with the path of self-mortification while Siddhartha decided to sit and meditate till the time he could find true liberation from the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. He kept meditating every day and on one full-moon night in May, he was subject to the wrath and fury of the Goddess of desire, Mara. She threw at him the adversities of rain, storm, burning ashes, rocks, mud, hot coal, weapons, and even darkness. However, he was unmoved by it all and continued meditating on true love, and all the weapons of fury were converted to a shower of fresh flowers upon him. 

On this night, Siddhartha recollected memories of all his previous lives and had a vision of his names, birthplaces, castes, and even of the food that he consumed. His next vision of this night was the deeds that lead to the rebirth of living beings. He understood that rebirth is the consequence of a living being’s deeds in its past life. In the last watch of that night, Siddhartha attained the ultimate enlightenment and rose above ignorance. He discovered the four truths of life: the suffering, the original source of suffering, the end of suffering, and the path to end suffering. He got to know how ignorance influenced the actions of living beings, and how their actions led to birth, old age, death. 

He attained Nirvana and became Buddha, the enlightened one on this night, by rising above ignorance, to experience the blissful state beyond the cycle of rebirths. He preached that when one is free from ignorance, one becomes enlightened and free from the cycle of birth, ageing, death. Buddha attained enlightenment under a Bodhi tree, in Bodh Gaya. He stayed near the tree for the next seven weeks, cherishing his enlightenment. After those seven weeks, Buddha received the gift of food from two merchants in a bowl offered by the Gods of directions. On receiving the food from the merchants, he gave them a few of his hairs in return. 

Buddha’s First Sermon at Sarnath

On achieving enlightenment, Lord Brahma descended from heaven and told Buddha that he must spread his knowledge among humans for the better. Buddha decided to go to his teacher first but they were not alive by that time. Then, he went to the five hermits with whom he practised self-mortification earlier. He found them at a deer park in Sarnath. It was his first sermon after enlightenment, and the five hermits were his first disciples. He taught them of the wheel of Dhamma and of the middle way between self-mortification and self-indulgence- the two extremes. He told them of the four truths that he learned. 

The first truth states that exist in any realm of the world is attached to suffering. He explained to them the sufferings related to human life. The second truth unveils the cause leading to suffering. It was non-virtuous actions of body, mind, and speech, which engender karma. These actions are always influenced by negative states of mind. The third truth tells about the ending or cessation of suffering. It tells about Nirvana, or liberation, the state beyond suffering. The fourth truth tells about the path to put an end to suffering. When one achieves the state wherein one has an insight into the absence of self, there is a realization that destroys the causes of suffering in the present life and destroys the scope of future sufferings. The path to attaining this state has been explained in an eight-fold way by Buddha. 

After the first sermon, Buddha put forth his doctrine of no-self or absence of self. His five disciples attained Nirvana and were free from the cycle of rebirth. They were the very first members of Buddha’s sangha of monks and nuns. They were supposed to enter the state of liberation upon death. The sermon at Sarnath is one of the most significant incidents of Gautam Buddha life story.

Buddha’s Death

Gautama Buddha died at the age of 80 in Kusinara (present-day Kasi), when he was suffering from the infirmities of old age. He knew that Buddhas can extend their lives for an eon, yet, as promised to the Goddess of desire, Mara, he chose to pass into the state of Nirvana. He instructed Chunda, a smith, to serve him his last meal, and the rest of the cooked meal to be buried. Buddha had told his disciples all the instructions for his funeral. He instructed the monks of his sangha to be led by the doctrines of Dhamma and Vinaya after his death. He expressed his wish of making pilgrimages at four places. 

The place where he was born, the place where he attained enlightenment, the place where he conducted his first sermon, and the place where he was passing into the state of liberation (Nirvana). His disciples who established shrines at the above places would be reborn as Gods. After explaining all his instructions to his disciples, Buddha passed into Nirvana, lying between two trees that blossomed when Buddha lied down on his right side. He was cremated in the same way as a universal monarch. His relics were distributed among his disciples and followers, to be enshrined in stupas. Buddha’s body was cremated by his chief disciple, Mahakashyapa. 

Buddha’s Nirvana

Buddha is said to have attained nirvana twice in the cycle of his life as Prince Siddhartha Gautama. The first being the enlightenment under the Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya, wherein he became free of all the future rebirths and gained the ultimate knowledge. Buddha’s second nirvana was when he passed away at Kusinara. It is the second nirvana when he was set free from his corporeal existence, whereas, the first nirvana is referred to as ‘nirvana with remainder’. Karma had woven the latter part of his life as Gautam Buddha even after he attained enlightenment. Hence, the second nirvana that he achieved through death, is referred to as the ‘nirvana without remainder’.   

Buddha’s Stupas

His relics were initially distributed in 10 portions, however, after about a century, emperor Asoka enshrined the relics in 84000 stupas, for pilgrimage, and veneration. The shrines preserving his relics symbolize his presence on this planet. There is a place called Samkashya, wherein he descended back on this planet after preaching the doctrines of Dhamma to his mother’s soul in heaven. Eight shrines are located at places that hold notable significance in buddha’s life story: his birthplace, the place where he attained enlightenment, the place where he turned the wheel of Dharma for the first time, the place where he died, and four other places where Buddha performed miracles. The shrines or stupas signifies his presence even though he has attained nirvana and is free from the cycle of rebirth.