Buddhism

             "Buddhism begins with a man. In his later years, when India was afire with his message, people came to him asking what he was. Not 'Who are you?' but 'What are you?' 'Are you god?' they asked. 'No.' 'An angel?' 'No.' 'A saint?' 'No.' 'Then, what are you?' Buddha answered, 'I am awake.' His answer became his title, for this is what Buddha means. The Sanskrit root budh means to awake and to know. While the rest of humanity was dreaming the dream we call the waking human state, one of their number roused himself. Buddhism begins with a man who woke up."("Buddhism" The Worlds Religions p.60)
             Buddha was born a prince named Siddhartha Gautama in a small kingdom in what is now Nepal in 563b.c.e. Gautama's birth is described as a miraculous event, his birth being the result of his mother's impregnation by a sacred white elephant that touched her left side with a lotus flower. The scriptures claim that when Gautama was born "immeasurable light spread through ten thousand worlds; the blind recovering their sight, as if from desire to see his glory" ("What Man Believes" Evans p.141) Shortly after his birth, his father consulted with a number of astrologers, all of whom declared that the newborn prince would become a great king and that he would rule the world in truth and righteousness. Among these astrologers, there was one who declared that if the prince were to see a sick person, an old person, a corpse, and a world-renouncing ascetic, he would become dissatisfied with life and become a wandering monk in order to seek final peace. King Shuddhodana decided he wanted his son to have the former destiny and went to no ends to keep his son on this course, surrounding him with pleasant diversions during his early years, such as palaces and dancing girls. Finally the prince convinced his father into...

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Buddhism. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 18:15, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/54623.html