BUDDHISM
Introduction
In the sixth century before the Christian era, religion was forgotten in India.
The lofty teachings of the Vedas were thrown into the background. There was
much priestcraft everywhere. The insincere priests traded on religion. They
duped the people in a variety of ways and amassed wealth for themselves.
They were quite irreligious. In the name of religion, people followed in the
footsteps of the cruel priests and performed meaningless rituals. They killed
innocent dumb animals and did various sacrifices. The country was in dire need
of a reformer of Buddha's type. At such a critical period, when there were cruelty,
degeneration and unrighteousness everywhere, reformer Buddha was born to put
down priestcraft and animal sacrifices, to save the people and disseminate the
message of equality, unity and cosmic love everywhere.
One of the glories of mankind is the appearance on earth of the truly great,
truly unique individual, the genius who influences the world.
There are many shining examples of such individuals among the billions who
have inhabited the earth . Shakespeare, Mozart, Plato, Einstein, Jesus, Mohammad,
Confuscious.. and a man named Siddartha Gotama, the man who became the Buddha.
Siddartha Gotama was both a real historical character and a mythical man
of legend.
Born in 563 B.C. in a prosperous kingdom of Northern India, now Nepal, he
was the son of a king and heir to the throne. He lived his early life as a
prince, protected by his parents from the harsh realities of life in the outside
world, and grew up in luxury. He was a man of exceptional physical appearance
- there are numerous references to the perfection of his physical body. He
married a beautiful young woman and they had a handsome son. He was destined
to inherit his father's position of wealth, power and prestige.
But in his twenties he renounced his royal inheritance, his temporal fortunes,
and even his family, after having witnessed what legend calls The Four Passing
Sights. One day, on seeing a decrepit old man he became aware of old age. Another
day he saw a diseased person lying on the road and became aware of illness.
On a third day, he saw a corpse and became aware of death. These sights filled
him with despair, but on a fourth day he saw a Brahman monk, and in thinking
about the life of renunciation he decided that he too would renounce his worldly
estate and go forth to seek an understanding of what made life so full of what
he later described as dukkha, and to seek the truth of existence leading to
the cessation of dukkha.
He was 29 when he made the break. For six years he lived as a solitary forest-dweller,
at first as the disciple of two renowned Hindu masters. Then, after deciding
he had learned all that they could teach him - which he felt was not enough
- he joined a band of ascetics and with them he practiced such extreme austerities
and ate so little that he nearly died.
Study with the Hindus had not brought him the enlightenment he was seeking,
nor had his experiment with asceticism. Rejecting self-indulgence as well as
self-mortification, he determined to follow what he called the Middle Path and
to devote himself to a course of mental cultivation and mystical concentration.
In the town of Bodhgaya in Northeast India, Siddartha Gotama sat down beneath
a fig tree (the Bo tree, from Bodhi, enlightenment) to embark on an extended
period of meditation, and determined not to rise until he had found the truth.
For 49 days he meditated, formulating a body of wisdom which was to bring
mankind a new religion. When he arose he was enlightened, he was the Buddha,
ready to go forth and teach others how to become enlightened.
Soon after his enlightenment the Buddha preached to a small group of the curious
and those who heard his words became his disciples. From then on the Buddha
devoted the rest of his life to teaching those who sought his advice, his compassion,
his wisdom.
The growth in the number of his disciples led to his establishment of the Sangha,
the Buddhist monastic order, and it was his disciples who passed along his teachings,
by word of mouth, from generation to generation. Not until some considerable
time after his parinirvana, or his death, were the words of the Buddha recorded
in written form.
As with other historic religious leaders, a vast literature of wonderful
and beautiful legend about the Buddha was to be written by his followers,
but the realities of Siddartha Gotama's life and his realisation of enlightenment
are as briefly summarised above.
"Look within", the Buddha taught, "for
thou art Buddha."
Birth
Buddha's father was Suddhodana, king of the Sakhyas. Buddha's mother was named
Maya. Buddha was born in B.C. 563 and died at the age of eighty in B.C. 483.
The place of his birth was a grove known as Lumbini(now in Nepal), near the
city of Kapilavastu, at the foot of Mount Palpa in the Himalayan ranges within
Nepal.
This small city Kapilavastu stood on the bank of the little river Rohini, some
hundred miles north-east of the city of Varnasi. As the time drew nigh for Buddha
to enter the world, the gods themselves prepared the way before him with celestial
portents and signs.
Flowers bloomed and gentle rains fell, although out of season; heavenly music
was heard, delicious scents filled the air. The body of the child bore at birth
the thirty-two auspicious marks (Mahavyanjana) which indicated his future greatness,
besides secondary marks (Anuvyanjana) in large numbers. Maya died seven days
after her son's birth. The child was brought up by Maya's sister Mahaprajapati,
who became its foster-mother.
Path of Enlightment of Lord Buddha.
01) Lumbini
02) Bodhgaya
03) Varanasi - Saranath
04) Rajgir
05) Nalanda
06) Vaishali
07) Kushinager
08) Sarawasti
An incredible transformation of a prince to an enlightened teacher, who walked
the land of India more than 2500 years ago. Truly a journey of immense value
on the path of self - discovery. Tread the places sanctified long ago by Lord
Buddha’s footsteps.
Click
Here For Reservation
French
:: 
Español
:: 
Italiano
:: 
Deutsch
:: 
Português
