Maria Johann U. Juelar

 Siddhartha Gautama Buddha

The life of Siddhartha Gautama, the person we call the Buddha, is shrouded in legend and myth.Although most historians believe there was such a person, we know very little about him.The"standard" biography appears to have evolved over time. It was largely completed by the "BuddhaCarita," an epic poem written by Aśvaghoṣa in the second century CE.Siddhartha Gautama, who would one day become known as Buddha ("enlightened one" or "the awakened"), lived in Nepal during the 6th to 4th century B.C. While scholars agree that he did in fact live, the events of his life are still debated. According to the most widely known story of his life, after experimenting with different teachings for years, and finding none of them acceptable, Gautama spent a fateful night in deep meditation. During his meditation, all of the answers he had been seeking became clear, and achieved full awareness, thereby becoming Buddha.

Our future Buddha,Gautama, Siddhartha he was born in Lumbini  (in modern day Nepal). Siddhartha is a Sanskrit name meaning "one who has accomplished a goal" and Gautama is a family name. His father, King Suddhodana, was the leader of a large clan called the Shakya It's not clear from the earliest texts whether he was a hereditary king or more of a tribal chief. It is also possible that he was elected to this status.Suddhodana married two sisters, Maya and Pajapati Gotami. They are said to be princesses of another clan, the Koliya from what is northern India today. Maya was the mother of Siddhartha and he was her only child, dying shortly after his birth. Pajapati, who later became the first Buddhist nun, raised Siddhartha as her own.When Prince Siddhartha was a few days old, a holy man prophesied over the Prince (by some accounts it was nine Brahmin holy men). Siddhartha he was foretold that he would be either a great military conqueror or a great spiritual Teacher .King Suddhodana preferred the first outcome and prepared his son accordingly. He raised the boy in great luxury and shielded him from knowledge of religion and human suffering. At the age of 16, he was married to his cousin, Yasodhara, who was also 16. This was no doubt a marriage arranged by the families. Yasodhara was the daughter of a Koliya chief and her mother was a sister to King Suddhodana. She was also a sister of Devadatta, who became a disciple of the Buddha and then, by some accounts, a dangerous rival. The Buddha's basic teachings are usually summarized using the device of the Four Noble Truths:There is suffering, There is the origination of suffering, There is the cessation of suffering, There is a path to the cessation of suffering.

The Four Noble Truths of Gautama Siddhartha is about to express the basic orientation of Buddhism.The First Noble Truth: is often translated as "life is suffering." This is not as dire as it sounds, it's actually quite the opposite, which is why can be confusing.Much confusion is due to the English translation of the Pali/Sanskrit word Dukkha as "suffering." According to the Ven. Ajahn Sumedho, a Theravadin monk and scholar, the word actually means "incapable of satisfying" or "not able to bear or withstand anything. Dukkha also refers to anything that is temporary, conditional, or compounded of other things.The skandhas are the components of a living human being: form, senses, ideas, predilections, and consciousness. The actual word from the early scriptures is tanha, and this is more accurately translated as "thirst" or "craving."We continually search for something outside ourselves to make us happy. But no matter how successful we are, we never remain satisfied.The Second Truth is about the cause of suffering is a greed or desire.The Buddha taught that this thirst grows from ignorance of the self. We go through life grabbing one thing after another to get a sense of security about ourselves. We attach not only to physical things but also to ideas and opinions about ourselves and the world around us. Then we grow frustrated when the world doesn't behave the way we think it should and our lives don't conform to our expectations. Buddhist practice brings about a radical change in perspective. Our tendency to divide the universe into "me" and "everything else" fades away. In time, the practitioner is better able to enjoy life's experiences without judgment, bias, manipulation, or any of the other mental barriers we erect between ourselves and what's real. The Buddha's teachings on karma and rebirth are closely related to the Second Noble Truth.The Second Noble Truth tells us that we cling to things we believe will make us happy or keep us safe. Grasping for one ephemeral thing after another never satisfies us for long because it's all impermanent. It is only when we see this for ourselves that we can stop grasping. When we do see it, the letting go is easy. The craving will seem to disappear of its own accord The Third Noble Truth is about that suffering can be dispelled by the all abandonment of desires.and the Four Noble Truth is about to hold that such abandonment of desires can be achieve by following the Noble Eightfold Path.The Buddha summarised the correct attitude and actions in the Eight-fold Noble Path: right view, right aspiration, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration.