Siddhartha Gautama Buddha

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Maximilian Beringer http://mberinger.weebly.com Siddhartha Gautama- The Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha (“the awakened one”), was born in the sixth century B.C. in what is now modern Nepal. Siddhartha’s mother died while Siddhartha was still a baby. His father Suddhodana, was the ruler of the Shakya people and Siddhartha grew up living his life as a prince. According to custom, he married at the young age of 16 to a girl named Yasodhara. They had one son. His father had ordered that he live a life of total seclusion and luxury, not having to face sufferings and other tribulations. But one day, Siddhartha ventured out into the world and was confronted with the reality of inevitable sufferings of life. The realization that he, …show more content…

Soon after, the Buddha delivered his first sermon in a place named Sarnath, also known as the deer park. This was a key moment in the Buddhist tradition because it was traditionally known as the moment when the Buddha “set in motion the wheel of the law”. He explained the middle way between asceticism and a life of luxury, the four noble truths, and the impersonality of all beings. The four noble truths comprise the essence of the Buddha’s teachings, though they leave much left unexplained. They are the truth of suffering, the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of the end of suffering, and the truth of the path that leads to the end of suffering. Around this time, the Buddha’s first disciples joined him and the Buddhist monastic community known as Sangha, was established. The Buddha preached his vision to many others in areas around Sangha for about 45 years. During that time, he visited his father, foster mother, and son, who joined the Sangha along with other members of the Shakya clan. Ananda, a cousin of the Buddha, also became a monk and persuaded him to admit women into the …show more content…

Though Buddhists have never reached a full agreement on its meaning, nirvana is a Sanskrit noun translated as “extinction”. The act and effect of blowing at something to put it out, to blow out, or to extinguish. The religious use of the word is used even earlier than Buddhism itself and is also present in other Hindu sects such as Jainism. The concept of Nirvana is the idea of a state of bliss and liberation from individuality and the suffering of the cycle of birth and death. Different schools took the concept of Nirvana differently. The reason for this is because Buddhist texts do not provide a clear definition of nirvana, but rather express its meaning by using metaphors. For example, the Pali Canon (Buddhist scripture) interprets Nirvana “as when a flame is blown out by the wind”. The metaphor refers to the extinction of greed, hatred, and delusion. After this, one is no longer subject to the cycle of death and rebirth. Other schools have differing views of nirvana and see it as the culmination of personal discipline and self

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