Reading Notes: The Life of Buddha, Part A

Siddhartha's Garden Birth, Source

The Life of Buddha

Part One: King Suddhodana And Queen Maya

King Suddhodana reigned in Kapilavastu (South Central Nepal). His favorite Queen was Maya. Maya, seeking to improve her already virtuous life asked her king to let her live out the rest of her life in austerity and observing the holy law of abstinence. The granted her wish.

Part Two: Maya’s Dream

Maya had a splendid dream that she had become pregnant as a holy act.

Waking from the dream, she sought the peace of gardens and eventually a small wood. There she called for the king to join her. When he started to enter the wood, a disturbance came upon him which turned into an announcement from heaven that his wife would bear a child who would be Buddha.

Part Three: The Birth of Siddhartha

The queen wished to have the birth of her child among the innocence of the budding trees and flowers of the garden. The king had all the Sakyas and brahmans visit the garden after the baby was born and the king named it Siddhartha. 

Part four: Asita’s Prediction

It was proclaimed that Siddhartha would save the world from the torment of rebirth. Asita, a great hermit whose austerities were pleasing to the gods, wept at the notion that he would die without experiencing the goodness that the child would bring.

Part Five: Siddhartha at the Temple

The boy grew strong and virtuous. Jewelry that was placed on him dulled in his splendor, so a goddess said to keep them off him. The time came for the King to take his son to the temple. Once there the statues of the gods came to life and bowed at his feet praising him.

Part Six: Siddhartha’s First Meditation

During Siddhartha’s first meditation, he was approached by five hermits who praised him as he meditated. It was noticed that the shadow of the tree he meditated under did not move with the rest of the tree shadow’s in the wood. The king was summoned to witness this. Siddhartha awoke and stated to his father that, “We must stop working inn the fields, father; we must seek the great truths.”

Part Seven: The Marriage of Siddhartha

Siddhartha set about the virtues that he would seek in a wife. The king’s brahman searched and found Gopa. Gopa’s father contested that Siddhartha had never proven his worth in intelligence or fighting so Siddhartha asked the king to set up a competition for anyone to challenge him in any way. He won each contest and gained the praise of Gopa’s father.

Bibliography:

Andre Ferdinand Herold, The Life of Buddha, http://sacred-texts.com/bud/lob/lob03.htm#page_3