The Buddha’s Life and Its Significance

The Buddha

Siddhartha Gautama, who later became known as the Buddha, was born in the 6th century BCE in what is now modern-day Nepal. He was born into a royal family and lived a life of luxury and privilege. However, despite being shielded from the harsh realities of life, he was exposed to the sufferings of old age, sickness, and death when he ventured outside the palace. These encounters prompted him to seek answers to the existential questions of human suffering and the nature of existence.

The Four Sights

To seek answers, Siddhartha ventured beyond the palace walls and encountered four sights that deeply impacted him. These sights were an old man, a sick person, a corpse, and a wandering ascetic (a holy man). These sights exposed him to the unavoidable realities of human existence: ageing, illness, death, and the quest for spiritual understanding.

The Buddha's Ascetic Life

Deeply moved by the sufferings he witnessed, Siddhartha renounced his privileged life and embarked on a spiritual quest as an ascetic. For several years, he practised extreme austerities and severe self-mortification under various teachers, seeking liberation from suffering. However, he realised that such extreme practices did not lead to true enlightenment but only weakened the body and mind.

The Buddha's Enlightenment

Finally, Siddhartha abandoned the path of extreme asceticism and turned to meditation. Sitting under the Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya, India, he resolved not to rise until he attained enlightenment. On the night of the full moon in May, Siddhartha achieved the ultimate realisation and became the Buddha, which means "the awakened one" or "the enlightened one." He comprehended the nature of suffering, its causes, and the way to transcend it.