Shakyamuni buddha enlightenment

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Shakyamuni buddha teachings

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Shakyamuni

Buddhism originates in the teachings of Shakyamuni (Siddhārtha Gautama), who was born in what is now Nepal some 2,500 years ago.

Shakyamuni was born a prince, but from a young age he became aware of and was profoundly troubled by the problem of human suffering. He became increasingly possessed by a longing to abandon the secular world and go out in search of a solution to the inherent sufferings of life. Buddhist scriptures describe four encounters which served to awaken in him an awareness of four sufferings common to all people—birth, aging, sickness and death—and a desire to seek their solution. Eventually, he renounced his princely status and embarked on a spiritual quest to understand how human suffering could be overcome.

For several years, he subjected himself to ascetic disciplines but found it impossible to reach emancipation through such self-mortification and eventually rejected these practices. Then, near the city of Gaya, he seated himself under a pipal tree and entered meditation. There he attained an awakening, or enlightenment, to the true nature of l

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The Life of Shakyamuni Buddha

A brief look at the background of who the Shakyamuni Buddha was, the major events of his life, and the incredible legacy that he left behind for the world with the creation of Buddhism.

The birth of the Buddha

In 563 or 566 B.C.E., a prince was born to a noble family of the Shakya clan, in a very beautiful park called Lumbini Grove, which lay in the foothills of the Himalayas (in present-day southern Nepal). This beautiful park was not far from the capital city of the Shakya kingdom, Kapilavastu. The prince’s father, King Shuddhodana, named his son Siddhartha. He was a member of the Kshatriya, or royal warrior caste, and his clan lineage, the Gautamas, was ancient and pure. His mother was Mahamaya or Mayadevi, daughter of a powerful Shakya noble, Suprabuddha. Before the conception of Siddhartha, Queen Mahamaya dreamed that a white elephant, extraordinary and utterly beautiful, entered her body. Soon after the birth, soothsayers predicted that the young prince would become either a Chakravartin, a universal monarch, or an “awaken

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Depending on the tradition, Buddha can be seen as an ordinary man who achieved liberation through his own extraordinary effort, or as an already-enlightened-being who manifested activities 2,500 years ago to show the path to enlightenment. Here, we look at the life of Buddha, and see what kind of inspiration we can gain for our own spiritual path.

According to traditional dating, Shakyamuni Buddha, also known as Gautama Buddha, lived from 566 to 485 BCE in central north India. Different Buddhist sources contain numerous, varying accounts of his life, with further details appearing only gradually, over time. It is difficult to ascertain the accuracy of many of these details, seeing as the first Buddhist literature was written down only three centuries after Buddha passed away. Nevertheless, just because certain details emerged in written form later than others is not a sufficient reason to discount their validity, as many could have continued to be passed down in oral form.

Generally, traditional biographie