On the Life and Philosophies: Siddhartha Gautama
On the Life and Philosophies: Siddhartha Gautama
Siddhartha Gautama was born in the sixth century B.C. in what is now called the Southern Nepal. It was a small country that was ruled by a clan called the Shakyas whom the king is Shuddodana Gautama. Shuddodana Gautama was the father of Siddhartha. He was the head of his clan and the king of his country. It was said in the history that Shuddodana's wife, Mahamaya, gave birth to Siddhartha in such a strange manner. Queen Mahamaya was supposedly on her way to her father for the delivery of the baby when along the journey, she felt that she was already going to give birth. In the small town of Lumbini, there, a baby boy was born and they named him Siddhartha which means "he who has attained his goals." Queen Mahamaya died seven days after Siddhartha was born and so her sister, Mahaprajapati, raised the child.
King Shuddodana consulted Asita, a famous sooth-sayer, about the future of Siddhartha. And the sooth-sayer said that he would become one of two things: he would either become a great king or an emperor or he would save humanity. The king did not want his son to be devoted in a religious life so he raised Siddhartha in a very wealthy and pleasure-filled palace in order to prevent him in witnessing human misery or suffering. Siddhartha was married to Yashodhara and they had a newborn son named Rahula when Siddhartha left them to fulfill his curiosity. At the age of 29, Siddhartha realized that he could not be happy anymore after seeing these four sights: a sick man, a poor man, a beggar and a corpse. After leaving his kingdom, he began practicing the austerities and self-mortifications. He began to start an ascetic life and search a way to relieve universal suffering. Through the years of his study he realized that physical austerities were not the means to achieve liberation. Since then, he encouraged people to follow a path of balance rather than extremism and he called this "The Middle Way." From then on, Siddhartha became the Buddha or which they call the "Awakened One." He began teaching the foundation of all Buddhist belief: The Four Noble Truths followed by the Eightfold Noble Path.
Even before having a clear learning about Siddhartha Gautama, I have always admired Buddhism. Years before this semester, I have a friend who shared to me about Buddhism. Well it was not that clear but she just said that Buddhism is just simple. It is like living a simple life. From then on, I became curious about Buddhism. And now opportunity came and so we tackled about Siddhartha Gautama.
As I was reading about his life, it became clearer to me. It is living the middle way. I can say that I totally agree with him when he said that people either want the best or deny what it is actually there. People are never satisfied. People always want something new. People always desire for more. And this satisfaction will never be cured as people continue to ask more from life. Thus, human suffering starts to exist as we continue to seek things beyond our limitations. It is not bad to aim high; even Gautama did not say that. But to aim for more is something. Buddhism is not a religion though, it is a philosophy. Even God tells us not to be greedy and appreciate what we have. People tend to compete with one another. People tend not to be contented with what they have so a tendency of doing something just to gain more can occur. Buddhism tells us that as we desire for more, the more that we also welcome suffering.
All human life is suffering. The world is growing. From pencil to pen, from notebook to laptop, from trees to buildings, from human to robot, life continues to innovate and it never stops. People always want to discover something new, the desire to acquire more. I guess it is a human nature. But it is also the cause of everyone's suffering. All suffering is caused by human desire, particularly the desire that impermanent things be permanent. People have always wanted to stay young. Nowadays, it is not already an issue if someone had a botox or any surgery to enhance her or his looks. We drink different kinds of medicine; apply different kinds of skin enhancer; even a million dollar would not matter as long as we save our youth. But Buddhism does not tell us to do so. We will all get sick. We will all get old. And we will all die. And that is just the simple truth. Desiring for impermanent things to be permanent, that is when people start to do something even it means a thousand works. People come and go, and that is just one good example of an impermanent thing that we want to be permanent and we suffer if we hold on too much. Human suffering can be ended by ending human desire. It would be hard, I bet. But perhaps, it could really be the answer to our suffering. However, with just mere thinking about it, I doubt. It is a human nature to desire. Maybe, people just have to learn how to limit ourselves by not going to the extreme- extremely high and extremely low. Desire can be ended by following the "Eightfold Noble Path": right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration. Perhaps, Gautama was really a strange person even from the way he was born. Just by reading his eightfold noble path, it gives chills to my bones. Is there anyone out there who could do such thing?
Life is very tempting. It is very demanding. And it is already a human nature to desire for more. But we must also know that for every desire, there is always heartbreak and this you could call a suffering. If people could only delimit themselves to the things that are only beyond their control, then perhaps they could all achieve Nirvana, we could all achieve it, the ineffable ultimate. The Essence of Gratitude and Appreciation - Change Your Life in a Wonderful Way Cancer makes it harder to insure one's life Lifestyle insurance coverage protection for that Wellness Decreased Lapland and a locals way of life What is a term life insurance policy? Ways to Minimize Costs of Insurance for Long Term Care Term Life Insurance Advantages Whole Life Insurance – What is it? Life Insurance- Do I Really Need Coverage? Life Insurance- How to Evaluate Your Coverage Needs Life Insurance Glossary- Terms that You Should Understand Life Insurance Providers- What to Look For Life Insurance Quotes- How to Get Accurate Information