Background Check on Buddha

 Title of Article: Buddha Database: Student Resources in Context

Everyone has heard at least one or two quotes from the infamous Buddha, but how much do we really know about him? I decided to start my research with the background of Buddha and how he decided to teach Buddhism in the first place. In the article, "Buddha" that I found in the database, Gale Resources in Context, they told the steps of Buddha's upbringing and how it led him to the lifestyle of Buddhism.

Source: http://www.artisansdangkor.com/shop/96-237-thickbox/buddha-under-tree.jpg

10 Main Points to Article:

(10 major points in Buddha's life)

1. Buddha (also known as Siddhartha Gautama) founded Buddhism in India in the 6th century B.C. A week after he was born, his mother died. His father, Suddhodana, was a warrior prince of the Sakya clan. Suddhodana then had wise men predict his son’s future. They said that he was going to be a king or religious teacher when he grew up. In order to keep his son from following a religious life, Buddha’s father raised him in luxury and sheltered him from suffering.

2. When Buddha was sixteen years old, he married a neighboring princess and had a kid a few years after. Since he now had more freedom and was still curious about the world, he decided to begin taking chariot rides outside the palace walls. It is said that on these rides he saw an old man, a sick man, a dead man, and finally a monk. These sightings were the first times he ever encountered suffering in the world.

3. After being overwhelmed with sorrow from seeing this suffering, he decided to become a monk and leave his wife and son at the age of 29 in hopes of ending this suffering in the world.

4. He tried finding the solution to ending suffering in the world by doing yoga, which did not help, and began to fast and self-torture. He then decided to try and find a middle ground between luxury and the monk’s life.

5. At the age of 35, he sat underneath a fig tree one night in the village of Bodh Gaya in northeast India. In the morning, he awoke to the answers that he had been searching for the past couple years.

6. This is when became known as the Buddha (“Enlightened One”) and “and the tree became known as the Bodhi Tree (‘Tree of Enlightenment’).”
7. He soon discovered that life is guided by Four Noble Truths:

a. Life is full of sorrow. All living things go through this suffering as they experience death          and rebirth in a continuous cycle (called samsura)

b. This sorrow is brought about by desires and attachment to worldly things.

c. People can overcome their desires and suffering by reaching nirvana, a state of inner peace and happiness.

d. Nirvana can be attained by living according to the Eightfold path.

8. “To follow this [Eightfold] path, people must know the Four Truths, resist doing evil things, say nothing offensive to others, respect life and property, work jobs that do not hurt any living thing, have only good thoughts, pay attention to their feelings and bodies, and practice proper concentration.”

9. During the next forty-five years of his life, Buddha decided to preach his message (dharma) which means “saving truth”.

10. “Buddha continued to preach until he died around the age of eighty, about 483 B.C. According to Buddhist teachings, he had reached final nirvana.”

Future Research Question: How has Buddha's teachings impacted the people of the past and how does it continue to have an impact on people who practice Buddhism?