Gautama Research Paper

Siddhartha Gautama was born in 600 BCE in Lumbini, Nepal. But while this seems of no consequence, maybe the name Buddha does. Gautama was given the nickname Buddha or “the enlightened one’ and “the awakened”. He was the spiritual leader and teacher whose life serves as the template and foundation of the Buddhist religion. Gautama lived in Nepal during the sixth to the fourth century BCE. It is commonly believed that he in fact did live but scholars debate the factuality of the events in his life’s story. Gautama was born as Siddhartha into a life of luxury as a prince in India; his father was the king of the Indian tribe, Shakyas. His mother died only seven days after his birth. But a holy man had prophesized that Gautama was destined for great things. Because of that prophesy Gautama’s father sheltered him from the world. He lived within the palace unknown to human hardship and religion. Gautama was married at the age of 16 but his isolation continues for another thirteen years. When Gautama was in his late twenties he was outside of the palace walls and saw an elderly person, but due to his seclusion he had no clue that humans aged and became frail. He was suddenly bombarded by the frailties of the human race. He continued to leave the palace to explore this new world he was so unaccustomed to. And on his explorations he saw a diseased man, a corpse, and an ascetic. But he did not know what the ascetic was and his charioteer explained that it was someone who renounced the world to seek the release from the human fear of death and suffering. He was so inspired he left the palace, his wife and son to lead the life of an ascetic. Gautama spent the next six years of his life devoted to learning and meditating. He partook in their practices using many different words of religious teachers as his guide. He practiced his new way of life with five others; they were so amazed and moved by his dedication they became his followers. Gautama’s answers never appeared through his meditation, so he took it upon his self to fast nearly to starvation, endure excruciating pain, and to refuse water. But he still was not reaching the level of satisfaction. He then had a young girl offered him a bowl of rice. He then realized the way to inner liberation was not through living under harsh constraints but to live a life of balance. His followers left shortly after his revelation due to thinking that he had lost his way/ But he had just created another and he called his new path the middle way. That night, Gautama sat beneath a Bodhi tree, promising to not to stop his search until the truths he sought came to him, and he meditated until the morning the next day. He stayed

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