Who was the Buddha? From Birth to
Renunciation and Nibbana
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma-
sambuddhassa Honour to him, the blessed One, the
worthy One, the fully Enlightened One. Dh 24
The Buddha was known as Siddhattha Gautama,
a unique human being who was self-Enlightened. In his
historical life he was known as Sakyamuni the Buddha.
At this life he chose to become a Bodhisatta, who
destined to attain Buddhahood, and become a future
Buddha, through the cultivation of his mind. The
Buddha was indeed a man but an extraordinary man,
who was born he made himself so. He perceived the
talent possibilities and creative power of man and
without arrogating to himself to divinity advised his
followers to emulate him, for Buddhahood is talent in
all. Through his own efforts, Buddha practiced to
perfection the ten supreme qualities of generosity,
discipline, renunciation, wisdom, energy, endurance,
truthfulness, determination, goodwill and equanimity.
Through his mental purification, Buddha opened the
doors to all knowledge. He knew all things to be known
cultivated all things to be cultivated, and destroyed all
things to be destroyed.
There was a kingdom called Sakya and
Kapilavatthu was its capital. It was located at the
foothills of the Himalayas, to the North of India. The
Ruler of this Kingdom was King Suddhodana Gautama.
He belonged to the Gautama clan. The King's wife
whose name was Queen Mahamaya. Queen Mahamaya
arrived at Lumbini Pleasure Park, on Friday the 15th of
June. (This according to the Lao tradition and in terms of
solar calendar, this day is identical with Full-Moon Day
of the month of May. After a long journey, Queen
Mahayama ordered the officials to break journey to
enable her to rest awhile in the shade of trees. On the
fullmoon day of May, in the year 623 B.C. (the sixth
lunar month which we call Visakha). The Queen
Mahamaya gave birth to a son under the Sala trees in a
beautiful park called Lumbini. The Bodhisatta Prince
walked upon Seven Lotuses, scanned in all directions
immediately after he was born. "In his noble voice that
he was born to dispel the darkness of ignorance and to
show the world how to be free from suffering"
(Dhammananda 15)
Five days after the birth of Bodhisatta Prince,
King Suddhohana invited many sages and requested
them to select a fitting name for the Prince. The sages
held discussion and selected the name 'Siddhartha' as the
most suitable for the Bodhisatta Prince. The name was
means "Fulfilled Wish". Two days after the naming
ceremony of the Prince Siddhartha, Queen Mahayama
passed away. Queen Mahayama was a virtuous Lady of
a noble Royal Dynasty. After the death of Queen
Mahayama, Prince Siddhartha was raised by his aunt
Queen Maha Prajapati Gautami, who was also his step-
mother. she looked after the Prince as her own child. In
the consequence, Prince did not know His real mother
was.He was born a prince who seemed to have
everything and grew up in wealth, luxury and receiving
an education befitting a prince. At sixteen he married to
his cousin named PrincessYasodhara, generally known
as Bimba. They lived a happy married life for the next
thirteen years, and during that time Princess Yasodhara
gave birth to a son whom they called Rahula. His wife
was majestic, cheerful day and night, and full of dignity
and grace.
During a trip to Pleasure Garden, he saw four
things that made him, very thoughtful about life. He saw
an old man, a sick person, a dead body and a Bhramin
monks ascetic. When he saw the sights, one after
another, the realization came to him that worldly comfort
and security do not guarantee happiness, not bring him
real happiness while other people were suffering. He
wanted to find the way out of these universal Suffering,
the real happiness, the happiness that all people could
share. He was deeply removed by the suffering he saw
around. One night in His twenty-ninth years old, in that
still night Prince Siddhartha decided to leave the Palace,
his wealth, his wife, and his royal son. He bade his
sleeping wife and son a silent farewell without
awakening anyone. The Prince left the city on his great
white horse Kanthaka, and rode off toward the forest.
Only Channa accompanied them. After riding for a
while Prince siddhartha stopped and turned around for a
last look at the city of Kapilavastu, bathed in moonlight.
He decided to leave to find the cure not for Himself
only, but to find the key for all human happiness. After
the Prince Siddhartha and Channa reached the bank of
the River Anoma on horse-back by dawn. Prince
Siddhartha shaved his head and deciding to become an
Ascetic solely because he was determined to overcome
all the suffering of the whole mankind.
He renounced everything including his family
and hope in exchange for the search for Truth which no
one had found. He became a Ascetic Siddhartha and
spent the next six years studying with many Brahmin
teachers and practicing extreme self-denial in the forest.
The five ascetics, Kondanna, Bhaddiya, Vappa,
Mahanama and Assaji taught him much but non really
knew the cause of human suffering and how it could be
overcome. Ascetic Siddhartha was disappointed and
unsatisfied with the teaching of Sages and five ascetics
could not give Ascetic Siddhartha a solution to old age,
sickness, death and the unceasing problems of life.
Ascetic Siddharatha decided to sought a new original
path between the two (the Middle Way) to achieve
Enlightenment through self-effort and without seeking
the assistance of others.
Six years after becoming a homeless monk, on
the full moon night of the month of May (Vesakha the
sixth lunar month), he sat under the Bodhi tree at Gaya,
deeply absorbed in meditation, unaided and unguided by
any supernatural power and solely relying in His efforts
and wisdom. He reached the real happiness he sought
and realized the true nature of all life and all things as
they are truly are. This real happiness is called the
Enlightenment. At the age of 35 years, he was fully
Enlightenment (Buddhahood) or . He was transformed
from an earnest truth seeker into the Buddha, the
Enlightened One or Awakened One.
The term Buddha is not a proper name rather
than a description of one who in spiritually awakened.
The Buddha found out the truth of life. From that day
onwards, he was called the Buddha, or Awakened One.
The Buddha found out the truth of life and life is
full of problems. He taught three principles of
Buddhism to guide their thoughts and actions. Narada
Thera explains these principles are as follows:
"Not to do any evil
To do good deeds.
To purify the mind"
This is the Teaching of the Buddha (165)
Buddha lived for 45 years in which time he traveled all
over northern India teaching others what he had
discovered. For nearly half a century, the Buddha
walked on the dusty paths of India teaching the truth,
which is called the Dhamma, to his followers and to all
human being. The Enlightened One sent out his sermon
to every places and everybody who would listen, without
making any distinction between classes. He would
preach men, women, beggars, and kings, making no
distinction between the classes. He gave men the power
to think for themselves, raised the worth of mankind,
and showed that man can reach to the highest knowledge
and supreme Enlightenment by his own efforts.
After of forty-five years of preaching the truth,
Buddha passed away at the age of eightieth years. The
Buddha felt that his end was coming closer. He went to
Kusinara, and there on the full moon day of Visakha
month, under two sala trees. Buddha entered into deep
meditation and passed away.
 The was the first most active missionary in the
world. He wandered from place to place for forty five
years preaching His Doctrine to the masses and the
intelligentsia. Till his last moment, he served humanity
both by example and by precept. Buddha left behind
thousands of followers, monks, nun, and vast treasure
store of Dhamma Teaching. The Buddha exhorts his
disciples to depend on themselves for their deliverance,
for both purity and defilement depends on oneself . The
Buddha once says to his disciples to be self-dependent
the Buddha says in the parinibbana Sutta:
" Be ye islands unto yourselves, be ye a refuge unto
yourselves, seek not for refuge in others" (Thera 3).
" A unique being, an extraordinary man arises in this
world for the benefit of the many, for the happiness of
the many, out of compassion for the world, for the good,
benefit, and happiness of gods and men. Who is this
unique being? It is the Tathagara, the Exalted, Fully
Enlightened One" (Angguttara Nikaya 22).
In 'The Three Greatest Men in History' historian
H.G. Wells writes, "In the Buddha you can see clearly a
man-simple devout, lonely, battling for light-vivid
human personality, not a myth. He too had a message to
mankind universal in character. Many of our best
modern ideas are in closest harmony with it. All the
miseries and discontents are due, He taught, to
selfishness. Before a man can become serene he must
cease to live for his senses or himself. Then he merges
into a great being. The Buddha in different language call
men to self-forgetfulness 500 years before Christ. In
some ways the Buddha is nearer to us and our needs. He
was lucid upon our individual importance, sacrifice and
service than Christ and less ambiguous upon question of
personal immortality."