History of Buddhism –the life of the Buddha

When Siddhartha Gautama was born a wise man came to his father, the king, and told him that his son would either be a great king or a great holy man. The king was worried, he wanted his son to follow in his footsteps and become king. So Siddhartha was raised in luxury and his father made sure nothing would trouble him so that he would learn to love all the earthly things and would not choose to give everything up and become a holy man. He was married to a beautiful princess of a neighbouring country and they had a son, but he was not happy. One day he went out with his chariot to see the town. As he came near the town he saw a frail old man, he was distressed by this as he had never seen anyone who was old. He went back to the palace but the next day he went out again. This time he saw a sick man. He had never seen anyone who was sick, only healthy people were aloud into the palace, it distressed him deeply, so he went back to the palace again but the next day he went out again but this time he saw something that trouble him a lot. He saw a grieving family carrying a corpse. He thought about all he had seen. He thought about how much suffering was brought on by death, sickness and old age. He went out once more but this time he saw something which inspired him. He saw a holy man at peace with everyone and everything around him. That night Siddhartha left his wife, his son, his palace and all its luxury and went off to find the answers to why people get sick, get old, die, and why people suffer.

He travelled around always searching for the answers to his question. He sort out the wisdom of others learning their teachings but he still couldn’t find his answers. He tried many things. He tried starving himself and going through immense pain but he still didn’t find his answers until one day he was sitting under a bohdi tree and he began to make some major breakthroughs. He was able to recall he previous lives, he was able to see how the good and bad deeds that many living entities performed during their lifetimes led to their subsequent reincarnation into their next life, and then finally he reached nirvana. He had become enlightened.  

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He rejoined the world to teach people his Middle Way. He found five of his fellow seekers whom he had fasted with. They quickly became aware of the changes brought about by his enlightenment. The Buddha, the name Siddhartha had taken up after he became enlightened, taught them what is now the essential teachings of Buddhism. All five later became enlightened too and are referred to as the Arhants or saints.


When did Buddhism come to Thailand?

The first person that introduced Buddhism to Thailand was Emperor Asoka. Asoka helped the elderly monk named Moggallitissa to choose ...

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