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Siddhartha Gautama
Siddhartha Gautama, better known as the Buddha, was the founder of Buddhism. He sought
enlightenment to remove evil and suffering from life. Gautama achieved enlightenment, or nirvana,
after years of meditation and study and preached among those who would hear his message. His
religion was based on reason and the development of qualities by individuals. Gautama's message
of nonviolence and the transitory nature of this world found a receptive audience, making
Buddhism one of the most widespread of all modern religions.
Much of what is known of Gautama's life comes from legends, and no contemporary account of his
life is known to exist. Although traditional sources on Gautama's life vary widely, many scholars
agree that he was born after 600 BCE. According to some sources, he was born about 563 BCE in
southern Nepal. His father was king of the Shakya clan, which was part of the warrior caste, and one of the honorifics
later given to Gautama was Shakyamuni, or "sage of the Shakyas." Some legends state that Gautama could speak and
walk when he was born. He received a privileged upbringing and was a sensitive youth who was apparently concerned at
an early age with philosophical and religious questions. Gautama's father tried to insulate his son from these matters. He
built a palace for Gautama's residence and surrounded him with worldly pleasures. Gautama married a woman named
Yashodhara, and the couple had a son named Rahula. Nonetheless, Gautama became aware of troubles in the world
during four chariot rides he took outside the palace gates; on the first of these rides, he saw an elderly person; on the
second, someone who was sick; on the third, a dead person; and on the fourth, he witnessed monks meditating.
Following his discoveries, when he was around 30 years old, Gautama renounced his worldly possessions and become a
wandering ascetic.
During Gautama's life, India was divided into small, often warring states, and it was dominated by a hereditary priestly
class known as the Brahmins. There were also many itinerant ascetics wandering India at the time, and Gautama was
one of them. Most were searching for religious truths, with the most important question concerning transmigration. The
theory of transmigration said that the human soul, or atman, was entrapped in the world by an endless cycle of rebirths,
or samsara. After death, the soul was reborn as another life form. The particular form depended upon the soul's karma,
which was based on the ethical deeds performed by the soul during the previous life. The ultimate goal for a soul was the
release from the cycle of births, deaths, and rebirths. To cleanse the soul of bad karma, a person needed to practice
yoga, a system of achieving ascetic discipline over the body, mind, and motivations. Different methods of yoga were
taught by different ascetics.
At first, Gautama tried meditation with two hermits. Although he achieved a high level of meditative consciousness, he did
not feel as though this method was the answer to his problem. He then tried extreme ascetic austerity. Gautama was able
to suspend his breathing and suffered through prolonged fasting, but again, he did not feel that he was closer to his goal.
He finally decided to remain in meditation under a tree until he achieved enlightenment, or bodhi. Traditions vary in their
descriptions of how Gautama attained his goal. According to one version, he meditated beneath the tree for seven weeks
before he became enlightened. Another version holds that Gautama experienced the radical change in one night and
afterward remained near the tree for seven weeks as he contemplated the event. Traditions agree, however, that during
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his meditation Gautama ascended through several stages of trance before acquiring enlightenment. At that point, about
six years after he had left the palace, Gautama became the Buddha, or enlightened one.
The Buddha could have taken the immediate reward of complete release from this world, but he chose to remain and
spread his message, thanks to his love of mankind. He traveled to the city of Sarnath and gave his first sermon in Deer
Park. The sermon was later recorded by his disciples, and it sets forth the basic teachings of the Buddha. Through his
sermon, the Buddha said he was setting the wheels of dharma in motion.
The Buddha called his path the Middle Way. As he saw it, the extremes in life were hedonistic pleasure in worldly things
and extreme asceticism. He condemned both as unprofitable to one seeking religious truth. Instead, one needed to
practice a mean between the two. The Buddha laid out his Four Noble Truths based upon his experiences, observations,
and reasoned evaluation of the world. The first truth was that all existence was fundamentally painful and sorrowful. It
was marked by impermanence and was without any lasting essence. The second truth was that pain and sorrow were
caused by ignorance and sensual cravings. These cravings also helped bind the soul at death and condemned it to
another round of rebirth with the accompanying sorrows and pain. The third truth was that the elimination of sensual
cravings would break the chain of rebirth and lead to nirvana, the achievement of a state of mystical transcendence. The
final truth was that to achieve nirvana, the appropriate yoga was the Eightfold Path, developed by the Buddha.
The Buddha's teachings were optimistic. He believed that every person, no matter what their class or economic status,
had the potential to improve their destiny. Even those who could not achieve nirvana in their current lifetime could improve
their karma and therefore have a better rebirth. He also taught that every person should practice compassion, love, and
noninjury toward living creatures. His simple message quickly attracted followers. At first, they were no more than a small
number. As the number grew, a more formalized religious community, or sangha, developed. Although a monastic
disciplinary rule was developed, the Buddha believed that the monks should not be placed under the authority of others.
In one of his sermons, he told the monks to "Be lamps unto yourselves." Each one had to follow their own path to
enlightenment. The Buddha also encouraged the participation of women in the faith. He opposed any restrictions based
on race, class, or any other factor.
Buddhism spread rapidly among certain groups, especially the urban merchant and artisan classes. Missionaries carried
it throughout India, southern Asia, and China. It became remarkably diverse, with different sects adding or accepting
certain facets. For some, the Buddha remained a human founder, while for others he was an omniscient and loving deity.
Many scholars believe that the Buddha himself died about 480 BCE, though dates up to a century later have been
suggested.
Further Reading
Conze, Edward, Buddhist Thought in India: Three Phases of Buddhist Philosophy, 1983; Rahula, Walpola, What the
Buddha Taught, 1989; Warder, A.K., Indian Buddhism, 1980.
Select Citation Style:
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MLA
Watts, Tim. "Siddhartha Gautama." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras. ABC-CLIO, 2014. Web. 3 June 2014.
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